Åbo Akademi: Open Journal Systems
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The reconfiguration of the European Archive in contemporary German-Jewish migrant-literature
No full textA considerable number of Eastern European migrant authors of Jewish origin are currently lifting Holocaust memory to a new level. Writing in German about events taking place in remote areas of the world, they expand the German framework of memory from a national to a transnational one. By partaking in reconsidering what is ‘vital for a shared remembering’ of Europe, this branch of writing reflects the European Union’s political concern for integrating the memories of the socialistic regimes in European history writing without relativising the Holocaust. In Vielleicht Esther, Katja Petrowskaja consults various national and private archives in order to recount the history of the mass shooting of over 30,000 Ukrainian Jews at Babij Jar – a canyon near Kiev. Thus, she ‘carries’ a marginalised event of the Holocaust into the German framework of memory and uncovers the layers of amnesia that have not only concealed the event amongst the Soviet public but also distorted and for ever made inaccessible her family’s past
Normative Dilemmas in Sweden's Ethical Review Policy for Animal Experiments
Get PDFAnimal experimentation is a contentious ethical issue. In many countries, the debate over the morality of animal research has led to the institution of ethical review systems for animal experiments. This article discusses and problematizes the current regulations, policies, and recommendations governing the ethical review of animal experiments in Sweden. It is argued that the ongoing paradigm shift in society’s view of animals prompts a serious re-evaluation of the values underpinning the routine use of sentient nonhumans animals in research. Following from this, two lines of argument are pursued in the article. First, I make the claim that the organizational and administrative exigencies of the current ethical committee system in Sweden is likely to work to the animals’ disadvantage and undermine a fair assessment of their interests. Second, and more importantly, I reconstruct the utilitarian principles that the ethical review is supposed to be based on and argue that the reasons given for choosing utilitarian standards are undeveloped and reveal an justifiable speciesist bias. Moreover, I argue that even if we should accept these principles, the existing ethical review system would fail to meet the demands of a consistent utilitarian calculus, mainly due to its outdated understanding of how animal models work and what they allow us to predict
Jeesus ja psykobiografia – Osa 2: Yksilöpsykologiset tekijät
Get PDFJeesuksen psykobiografinen tutkimus, osa kaksi. Onko historiallista Jeesusta mahdollista tutkia Bowlbyn kiintymussuhdeteorialla
What Can We Know of Jesus And His Activities? – Arguments for the Historicity of Jesus
Get PDFA historian's view on the historicity of the historical Jesu
Becoming Christians
No full textPrayers in Christianity are often considered to be a theological or pastoral topic; while social scientific studies generally tend to reduce them, like prayers in other religious contexts, to the status of psychological responses bringing comfort to the practitioner, or a collective construction connected with social and cultural institutions. However, what prayer actually is, and what it means to Christians who practise it remains an open issue for further, more intensive and thorough study. Based on fieldwork in an urban church in China, this article provides some perspectives on contemporary Chinese Christians and their prayer life, attempting to elaborate its possible significance, especially in terms of subject-formation processes within these Christians. Meanwhile, this article argues that, in working towards a better understanding of Christians, it is more efficacious to take ‘Christians’ as those who are, rather than a given or acquired identity, or a status of being, engaged in a process of becoming through a practice, or set of practices, which in this case is prayer,. Moreover, in the case of this Chinese Christian church, the practise of prayer also indicates some reflections on the cultural and religious diversity of contemporary Chinese society
Memory, shame and dignity
No full text'Memory, shame and dignity' is a presentation given by the Swedish journalist and author Göran Rosenberg at the Centre for the Study of Jewish Thought in Modern Culture, Copenhagen, 5 May 2015
From Inside the Cage to Outside the Box
Get PDFNonhuman animals are currently treated as property under U.S. and Australian law, leaving them open to various kinds of exploitation. There has been a gradual evolution away from this property paradigm in both countries, but significant work remains to ensure that nonhuman animals are afforded adequate legal protections. This article considers the legal avenues available to protect nonhuman animals in the U.S. and Australia, focusing particularly on the attribution of legal personhood. Section 2 of the article reviews attempts by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) to establish legal personhood protections for nonhuman animals through writ of habeas corpus petitions under U.S. common law. Section 3 surveys the options for recognition of animal personhood under Australian law, discussing issues of standing, habeas corpus, and guardianship models. Section 4 discusses the growing movement to assign legal personhood rights to natural resources. The article proposes that to the extent that natural resources have received legal personhood protection to recognize their inherent value, similar protections should be afforded to animals. In the meantime, habeas corpus, standing, and guardianship theories provide valuable procedural platforms for incremental progress toward protecting nonhuman animals in both the U.S. and Australia
Jesus and Psychobiography – Part 2: Characteristic Adaptations
Get PDFPsychobiographical study of Jesus, part two. Can we study historical Jesus with the Bowlby's attachment theory
Diversity and elite religiosity in modern China
No full textThis article looks at religious diversity among late imperial and modern Chinese elites; by contrast with most of the existing literature, which looks at correlations between social class and religiosity, this article adds the dimension of the exercise of personal choice and agency in the context of a vast and variegated religious repertoire. After reviewing existing theoretical models, it argues for the importance of two factors: a level of commitment to religious practices, in both the public and private realms, and knowledge (about the religion of others, whether one engages in such religion or not). It then charts these two factors on a graph onto which individuals can be placed, and thus grouped into types. These types represent a new and fruitful way of thinking about religious diversity