Sewanee: The University of the South
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"A strange, strange book: The Strange Beauty of the Song of Songs"
No full textThe Song of Songs is one of the most curious books in the Biblical canon. This thesis explores the history of exegesis of Song of Songs. Chapter One begins with an overview of modern biblical scholarship’s attempts to define and situate the elusive book within its historical context. Chapters Two through Four survey the long history of interpretation of the Song, especially the long-standing use of allegory that has dominated the Song’s interpretation for centuries. Modern exegesis also factors into Chapter Four, including the Song’s inspiration for particular theologies such as feminist, queer, and ecological readings. Chapter Five ventures a translation by the author and a new reading that looks at the Songs as an intra-Trinitarian love song that takes place within Godhead itself. This thesis defends the idea that the Song of Songs is a strange, strange book, and as such it is uniquely suited to offer insights into a strange, strange God
Participation in Mystery: Restoration of an Ancient Concept for the Renewal of Christian Life and Liturgy
No full textThis project examines the understanding of the liturgy and sacraments as active participation in the paschal mystery. Following the development of the pastoral theology of Odo Case, its immediate influence on papal encyclicals, Vatican II, the Liturgical Movement, and the formation of the BCP 1979, the liturgy is identified as the fundamental ecclesial practice (in bodily, performative action) for knowing and experiencing the living Christ. The sacraments are the personal, saving work of Christ, manifested in the visible, communal,, and official ritual actions of the church. In the liturgy, the assembly becomes one with Christ, embodying the divine purpose of redemption, and participates in the saving agency of Christ, forming its identity and shaping its mission and praxis. They study, by examining the liturgies of Holy Week and the Great Vigil of Easter, explores the liturgy as the primary action to know the living Christ as it transforms the church into the body of Christ and the sacramental presence of Christ in the world. This thesis calls for a renewed understanding of the liturgy as active participation in the paschal mystery and its transformative impact on the church’s identity, vocation, and mission. It also suggests that this understanding has implications for contemporary Christian life and the potential renewal of the church. Finally, the project offers a practical application of this theology in proving mystagogical lectures for use during the fifty days of Easter
Parker Boyden Oral History Interview Records
No full textParker Boyden of Clarion, Pennsylvania was interviewed by Romy Ahn, Sewanee student, on February 25th, 2024 on Zoom. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included: discussing their boarding school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and response to the Black Lives Matter movement. We hope that this conversation will assist scholars with a further understanding of race in the United States during the early twenty-first century. Please click on the link to see the full interview.Dr. Andrew Maginn, Visiting Assistant Professor of Histor
Judith Kaufmann Oral History Interview Records
No full textJudith Kaufmann of Falls Church, Virginia was interviewed by Eli Baastiansten, a Sewanee student, on November 25th, 2023 on Zoom. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included: her interracial marriage and spreading awareness about racial inequality. We hope that this conversation will assist scholars with a further understanding of race in the United States during the early twenty-first century. Please click on the link to see the full interview.Dr. Andrew Maginn, Visiting Assistant Professor of Histor
Overcoming the challenges of Human HSP60 and ERK5 inhibition in cancer through heterobifunctional degraders and improved analogs
Full text linkHuman Heat Shock Protein 60kDa (HSP60) and Human Extracellular Regulated Kinase 5 (ERK5) are two distinctly functional proteins that are present in a variety of cancers. Because of this, both proteins have become of recent interest for development of anti-cancer therapeutics. Previous small molecule Inhibitors (SMI) have been developed for HSP 60 that target ATP hydrolysis sites (Type 1 inhibitors) or target important structural Cysteine residues of the protein (Type 2 inhibitors). Both have seen limited success of anti-cancer activity in vivo, but are limited by both required concentration and unwanted side effects. Our approach to this problem is taking pre-existing SMIs and creating heterobifunctional degraders, known as Proteolysis targeting Chimeras (PROTAC), using polyethylene glycol (PEG) linkers and E3 ligase ligands. This allows for manipulation of the ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS) to degrade target proteins . Two of the designed HSP60 inhibitors use this methodology (using mizoribine and epolactaene tert-butyl ester as HSP60 ligands), while our third is an improved analog of myrtucommulone that aims to reduce its off target reactions with the microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase 1 (mPGES-1) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) enzymes, involved in the arachidonic acid synthesis pathway. ERK5 is a signaling kinase found in the relatively new fourth Mitogen-activated Protein (MAP) Kinase pathway. Typical inhibition by SMIs has caused paradoxical activation of the protein rendering this approach null. Furthermore, PROTAC design using multiple ERK5 ligands has been shown to have no anticancer activity. Because of this, our approach to ERK5 is designing other heterobifunctional molecules using a different methodology. We use BIX 02189 as our ERK5 ligand, a PEG linker, and FBnG as an S-guanylation impersonator molecule. This methodology hijacks the macroautophagy system instead of the UPS. These molecule designs are a good starting point for the future of ERK5 and HSP60 targeted therapeutics
Mapping Soil Carbon with Farmers Who Practice Renegenerative Management
Full text linkInnovative farmers around Tennessee’s southern Cumberland Plateau are stewarding
their lands in the hopes of increasing soil carbon levels by using regenerative practices, such as improved cover cropping and rotational grazing. By removing atmospheric CO2 and
storing it in the soil, these practices may provide tools in the fight against climate change. In partnership with the Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers coalition (SeTNYF) and Skidmore
College’s The Soil Inventory Project (TSIP), we conducted a pilot study on six small farms implementing these practices to begin assessing the impact of regenerative management on soil carbon content. We used a participatory research method aimed at involving farmers at every stage of the process, particularly in formulating research objectives and interpreting data. On each farm in the summer of 2022, we collected soil samples at 2 depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm) in two areas: (i) where regenerative practices were implemented and (ii) in adjacent, unmanaged areas. The sample size (n) depended upon farm size, but a total of 423 samples were collected and analyzed for total organic carbon (TOC). This project quantifies and compares soil carbon (as well as soil nitrogen and C:N ratios, phosphorus, base cations, and soil pH) between regeneratively managed plots and unmanaged plots on the six farms. Based on these results, we created maps using ArcGIS to share with farmers the data analysis of the sample points. The maps allow farmers to visualize carbon density on their land and have georeferenced plots to walk precisely to the sample point. Finally, presenting our findings in unstructured interviews, we gathered farmers’ invaluable insights regarding the data we collected on their farms. With a robust baseline, we will continue to monitor these farms in the future for changes in soil carbon.The SeTNYF coalition is growing the next generation of farmers through community-building, resource and knowledge sharing, and advocacy. The project will substantially help SeTNYF farmers compare soil carbon dynamics in response to regenerative practices over time. We are hopeful about the future of regenerative agriculture’s impact on our soil, our communities, and the environmental landscape of our world.Dr. Deborah McGrath, Ph.D. - Department of Biology, The University of the South,
Jess Wilson and Emma Chapman - Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers Coalitio
Kaila Seger Oral History Interview Records
No full textKaila Seger of Sewanee, Tennessee was interviewed by Lizzy Ray, a Sewanee student, on October 28th, 2023 in person. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included how it affected her views on government policy and encouraged her to be aware of the history of modern race relations in the United States. We hope that this conversation will assist scholars with a further understanding of race in the United States during the early twenty-first century. Please click on the link to see the full interview.Dr. Andrew Maginn, Visiting Assistant Professor of Histor
Discovering the Deep Motivators of Spring Gatherers in Southern Appalachia
No full textSituated within a spacious wooded neighborhood in Sewanee, Tennessee is Hat Rock Spring, where a built structure supports the flowing waters of a perennial spring. Individuals from local and regional municipalities travel to this source to gather water for domestic consumption. Through ethnographic data collected in the form of informal interviews and spontaneous focus groups, I contend that the individuals who visit this spring site form an “imagined community” and hold “deep motivators” for spring visitation. The people who compose this imagined community demonstrate their unity through the construction and continual maintenance of the spring site, in addition to their vibrant activism to protect the integrity of the spring waters in the face of adversity. Expanding current scholarship on spring use, and based on my ethnographic evidence, I propose a new understanding of deep motivators for spring visitation related to personal history and spiritual belief. My research employs the anthropological concept of “religious creatives” to explore how individuals pull from various cultural ontologies and religious beliefs concerning sacred waters and incorporate them into their current practices of water collection at Hat Rock Spring
