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Kashmir Conflict through a Woman’s Perspective: A Feminist Reading of Nayeema Mehjoor’s Lost in Terror
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The Indisputable Fact of the Baptism: The Problematic Consensus on John’s Baptism of Jesus
Get PDFAs there is now an emerging “Quest” for the historical John the Baptist, it is important to look at how previous quests have treated his baptism of Jesus. Often regarded as a virtually indisputable fact of history, the baptism is asserted almost blindly without any argumentation or with only a few minimal points in its favor. In this essay, the case for the baptism is briefly evaluated and found to be entirely lacking, hinged instead on problematic assumptions and errant uses of the criteria of authenticity. Disavowing these uses, there instead emerges a rather simple set of arguments in favor of the baptism being ahistorical. It is argued that we do not have enough evidence to find the baptism historical, which has drastic ramifications on those attempting to produce biographies of both Jesus and John
Nuancing the ‘Millennium’ in the Writings of Norman Cohn
Get PDF The great historian of apocalypticism Norman Cohn’s work The Pursuit of the Millennium demonstrated that certain anxiety-filled socio-political situations produced apocalyptic expectation among the masses which was exploited by charismatic charlatans who set themselves up as messianic saviours, often with devastating results. Cohn believed that understanding these socio-political and religious factors could help explain why so many people embraced Nationalism Socialism and Communism in the twentieth century. This article argues that while Cohn’s approach towards the medieval and modern movements is valid and important, he nevertheless misrepresents the apocalyptic expectations of intertestamental Judaism and early Christianity by not taking into serious consideration the nuances in their respective approaches towards the ‘last things.’ This article provides definitions of related terms, apocalypticism, eschatology, chiliasm, and millenarianism or millenarism, before demonstrating that Cohn’s conflation of them under the latter—that is, the ‘millennium’—does not accurately reflect the belief of the earliest Christians—exhibited by their main apologetic representatives (Papias, Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian)—that God’s kingdom, which was ostensibly meant to be ushered in by the apocalyptic millennium—is experienced already in the Church but will not be consummated until the second coming of Christ (i.e. the already/not yet tension). It contextualises Cohn’s approach and the precipitating factors that led to his assessment in order to demonstrate that, while he indeed set the benchmark for just how scholars analyse the expectation of the end-times in intertestamental Judaism, earliest Christianity and the Middle Ages, more work needs to be done to consistently represent what the intertestamental Jews and earliest Christians believed about the ‘last things.’ 
The Rise of New Media and its Impact on the EU Referendum Vote
Get PDFThe advancement in technology has generated a shift in how individuals create, consume, and engage with media sources throughout the world. The introduction of new media has also created untold consequences ranging from the relationship with AI to the use of it with the political sphere. Media coverage of the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom is a telling case. The Reuters Institute report indicated that in a sample of 2,378 articles the United Kingdom newspapers focussed on pro-leave sentiments 41% of the time as opposed to the 27% which indicated a pro-remain position. Therefore, the relationship between the new media’s capabilities, and in turn its influence, demands further elaboration which this article supplies. 
Chris Mead. Wondrous Strange: Seven Brief Thoughts on New Plays: Sydney: Currency Press, 2022. 176 pages. AU$29.99. ISBN: 9781760627539 (Paperback)
Get PDFStephen Carleton reviews, Chris Mead's, Wondrous Strange: Seven Brief Thoughts on New Plays (2022)
Socio-political and economic correlates influencing abortion policies across the states in America
Get PDFIn United States abortion has been the divisive issue in social and political front. In June 2022, a long-awaited ruling of US Supreme court officially reversed 1973s ruling on Roe v. Wade that established the constitutional right to abortion. Access to abortion has been facing challenges by the right wing formal and informal socio-political agencies placing reproductive health of women at risk. Pro-life conservative groups across the states have been attempting to make abortion difficult to access through enacting laws prevailing societal norms and patriarchal values based on religiosity. Utilizing the social determinants of health and system perspectives this study measures the cumulative effect of sociopolitical and economic variables on abortion policy scores of the states using multiple linear regression model. Independent variables in the model are state's 2020 presidential election outcome, prevalence of teen abortion, unemployment among women living in poverty, and enrollment of women in higher education. As hypothesized, presidential election outcome was identified as a predictor of state's abortion policy attribute and the extent of policy being supportive or restrictive. Bivariate analyses show significant associations between dependent variables and the predictors in expected direction such as, states with supportive abortion policy had higher enrollment of female in college or graduate school compared to that of states with restrictive abortion policy. Implications and recommendations for future research are provided
Valuable Ukrainian printed books from the 16th – 17th century in Bulgaria
Get PDFDuring research work in the central Bulgarian libraries and archives our attention was drawn to the presence of early Ukrainian printed books from the end of the 16th century. Our interest in them increased during field expeditions to provincial museums and churches, where among the liturgical books we found later Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra editions. In this report, we share our observations of these valuable collections. We offer systematized and updated information about the distribution of Ukrainian printed books from the 16th-17th century in Bulgaria. We pay close attention to the five copies of the Ostroh Bible from 1581 preserved in our country and we discuss some rare early editions from Lviv and Kyiv found in our libraries. We trace the ways of dissemination of these publications in the Bulgarian lands, their long-term use and significance