THE LETTER KILLS: ON SOME IMPLICATIONS OF 2 CORINTHIANS 3:62

The paper focuses on an argument put forward by Augustine in his De doctrina Christiana: there are passages in the Bible that need to be read in a literal, contextual, and ultimately rhetorical perspective. This approach to the Bible (usually overshadowed by Augustine's own parallel emphasis on the importance of allegory) was needed to deal with customs—for instance the patriarchs' polygamy—that had to be evaluated, Augustine argued, according to standards different from those prevailing in the present day. This need inspired Augustine to utter some sharp remarks on the need to avoid (as we would say today) ethnocentric, anachronistic projections into the Biblical text. The long‐term impact of Augustine's argument was profound. The emphasis on the letter played a significant role in the exchanges between Christian and Jewish medieval readings of the Bible, which affected Nicholas of Lyra's influential commentary (Postilla). The same tradition may have contributed to Valla's and Karlstadt's audacious hermeneutic remarks on the Biblical canon, which covertly or openly focused on contradictions in the Biblical text, questioning the role of Moses as author of Deuteronomy. Traces of those discussions can be detected in Spinoza's Tractatus theologico‐politicus. The paper suggests that the emphasis on a literal, contextual reading of the Bible provided a model for secular reading in general. The possible role of this model in the aggressive encounter between Europe and alien cultures is a matter of speculation.     

近年来中国特色社会主义理论体系研究述评

本文从概念内涵、发展演进、内容架构、基本特征、价值意义等主要方面对近年来中国特色社会主义理论体系研究进行了梳理和评述,在此基础上提出了深入研究中国特色社会主义理论体系应重点关注的四个问题。     

民法解释在处理旅游合同纠纷中的作用——以孟元诉中佳旅行社旅游合同纠纷案为例

现今旅游纠纷日益增多,而在我国旅游行政管理部门及司法实践中,普遍存在＂无法可依＂的认识误区,以及回避纠纷性质,重结果轻分析的倾向。《最高人民法院公报》公布的＂孟元诉中佳旅行社旅游合同纠纷案＂及其判决,虽然并未引起旅游业界、法学界的太多争议,但其在旅游合同性质认定及解除权问题上的认定,存在着一定的问题和瑕疵。本文从民法解释的角度重新审视该案,并对该案判决提出较为具体的不同意见,以呼吁业界通过解释现行民事立法,充分发挥其在解决旅游民事纠纷中的作用。     

Towards an understanding of local protest: hospital closure and community resistance

The aim of this paper is to suggest an analytical framework through which the complex question of hospital closure and local protest can be further explored. The significance of this area of study lies with the extraordinary events that surrounded a campaign to save the Kidderminster General Hospital from downsizing. Whilst the hospital was not saved, the local campaign committee organizing the protest took their fight into the political arena and were successful in gaining a parliamentary voice in the 2001 general elections. Such an achievement has had considerable political implications, however, the question asked here is how might we begin to interpret the events that took place. To this end, the paper draws on current geographical literature in an attempt to construct a framework that accounts for both national policy debates and the local context within which such campaigns emerge.     

Recent research on Chinese republican history

Chinese republican history has proved to be the most dynamic subject area within Chinese history studies – with the most substantial research achievements – since China adopted its policy of reform and opening up in 1978. This paper provides an overview of new developments and trends in the recent study of Chinese republican history by Mainland Chinese scholars.     

The Bruce dynasty,Becket and Scottish pilgrimage to Canterbury,c.1178-c.1404

In 1187 Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen, Leonor of England, founded a Cistercian nunnery, Santa Maria Regalis de Las Huelgas, on the outskirts of Burgos. Despite the clear allegiance of the foundation to the Cistercians from the outset, the idea that the abbey was inspired by and even modelled on the nunnery of Fontevraud in Anjou is an encroaching commonplace in accounts of medieval Spanish history and art history around 1200. This study re-evaluates the arguments for that perception and puts forward a different reading of the early years of Las Huelgas, not as a foreign importation but as a peculiarly Iberian, even Castilian, institution.     

Using Teaching Observations and Reflective Practice to Challenge Conventions and Conceptions of Teaching in Geography

Cultural activities such as teaching and learning are highly complex systems that are deeply embedded in a wider culture and these factors impede change. Despite feeling directly the effect of the recent drive towards mass participation in higher education, most lecturers have not accounted for these changes in their teaching methods. Unless lecturers engage in critical reflection and ongoing discovery they stay trapped in unexamined judgements, interpretations, assumptions and expectations. Collaborative teaching observations and reflective practice were conducted by the author and colleagues with a range of experience within a geography department. Several surprising discrepancies appeared between lecturers' expectations and observations of the teaching sessions. The experience showed that, regardless of teaching experience, lectures allow the lecturer in his/her routine practice to neither appreciate his/her performance nor be aware of student understanding. Reflection on these experiences caused the re-evaluation of events and experience and the investigation of other firmly held beliefs that were frustrating and difficult to explain. If lecturers are to become proactive in their professional development, to question their teaching practice and become reflective practitioners, then our teaching culture must embrace the need for change and differences in teaching and learning.     

两周金文中的动词同义词连用

同义词连用现象是古汉语复音词产生的主要途径之一,而动词又是词汇中较大的一宗,本文就两周时期金文中的动词同义词连用现象做了一些考察,这些对我们正确理解两周时期的铭文内容都会大有裨益。     

《中国共产党历史》第二卷对中华人民共和国史研究的意义

2011年出版的《中国共产党历史》第二卷记载了中国共产党自1949年10月中华人民共和国成立至1978年12月中共十一届三中全会召开这段历史,该书不仅是党史研究的一项重大成果,而且对国史研究也具有重要意义:为正确把握新中国前29年历史的重大问题提供了基本参照;披露了140多件文献档案,整理了一系列统计数据,为深入研究新中国前29年的历史提供了有价值的新史料;其编写方法为研究编纂新中国前29年的历史提供了有益的借鉴和启示。