‘TALMUDICAL COMMONWEALTHSMEN’ AND THE RISE OF REPUBLICAN EXCLUSIVISM

2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 809-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC NELSON

ABSTRACTThis article makes the case that modern ideological republicanism has its roots, not in Athens or Rome, but in Jerusalem. It begins from the observation that republican political theory underwent a dramatic transformation in the middle of the seventeenth century. Before 1650, republicanism had always been a ‘relative’ position: those who argued in favour of republican government did so because they believed that republics were better than monarchies for various reasons. None of them had any interest in arguing that monarchy was an illegitimate constitutional form. In the second half of the seventeenth century, however, we see for the first time the appearance of what we might call republican ‘exclusivism’, the claim that republics are the only legitimate regimes. This article argues that the ‘exclusivist’ turn was prompted by the Christian encounter with a tradition of rabbinic commentary on two chapters of the Hebrew Bible (Deut. 17 and 1 Sam. 8), according to which the Israelite request for a mortal king was regarded as an instance of the sin of idolatry. It further demonstrates that the English pamphleteers at the centre of this story – John Milton, James Harrington, and Algernon Sidney – were themselves deeply conscious of the degree to which their views had been shaped by the writings of the ‘Talmudical commonwealthsmen’.

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 165-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Green

The publication in these pages of an article by Peter Mark and José da Silva Horta on the Sephardic communities of the Petite Côte in the early seventeenth century represents a significant step forward in our understanding of the Jewish presence in west Africa. Using previously unreferenced material, Mark and Horta have filled out for the first time the nature of this community, and in particular provided valuable evidence as to the group's connections with Lisbon and Amsterdam.This type of assiduous documentary research has long been needed for this topic. Although some Africanists have referred to the Jewish presence there, such references have tended to draw on the same few documentary sources. So though the work of Jean Boulegue, Antonio Carreira, and Nize Isabel de Moraes has been important in drawing the attention of Africanists to the Jewish presence in Senegambia, one can say that, in general, historians of the upper Guinea coast have not systematized the place of the Sephardim in discourses related to their area of study.Meanwhile, there is almost a complete absence of reference to the Jewish presence in west Africa among historians of the Sephardim. There are perhaps two overriding explanations for this lacuna. For one thing, these communities were comparatively small and did not have an extended lifespan, and it is of course natural that historians of the Sephardim should concentrate on the most important communities of the diaspora. For another, we suspect that the absence of their commentary on this subject is not entirely unrelated to fears as to what might be uncovered, since it is notorious that one of the major activities of Europeans in Africa at this time was slaving. The implication of a significant number of Sephardim being involved in this activity would not sit comfortably with the traditional interpretation of many historians of the Sephardim that their subjects were, essentially, victims of persecution, and that, where they were slave owners, they treated their charges much better than did Christians.


Author(s):  
Adi Ophir ◽  
Ishay Rosen-Zvi

This chapter traces the developments of various terms denoting “others” in biblical literature. In much of the biblical corpus, Israel is still one goy among many, and the difference between it and its Others is neither binary nor stable. After a brief analysis of the dynamics of familial and ethnwic separations in Genesis and Exodus, this chapter concentrates on the priestly and Deuteronomistic modes of separating peoples, examines the novelty and limitedness of the Deuteronomistic legislation, where the nokhri (stranger) is systematically contrasted for the first time with the Israelite (referred to as “your brother”), and follows the various modes of separations and their rationales.


Author(s):  
Dominic Scott

This chapter presents a reading of Plato’s Republic. The Republic is among Plato’s most complex works. From its title, the first-time reader will expect a dialogue about political theory, yet the work starts from the perspective of the individual, coming to focus on the question of how, if at all, justice contributes to an agent’s happiness. Only after this question has been fully set out does the work evolve into an investigation of politics—of the ideal state and of the institutions that sustain it, especially those having to do with education. But the interest in individual justice and happiness is never left behind. Rather, the work weaves in and out of the two perspectives, individual and political, right through to its conclusion. All this may leave one wondering about the unity of the work. The chapter shows that, despite the enormous range of topics discussed, the Republic fits together as a coherent whole.


Author(s):  
Geoffrey Parsons Miller

This chapter explores the thesis that the historical narratives of the Hebrew Bible address abstract ideas about politics, government, and law. Taking issue with critics who view the Bible’s spiritual and theological message as incommensurable with political philosophy, the chapter argues that the stories of politics and kingship in the Hebrew Bible’s historical books set forth set forth an impressive political theory that rivals, in some respects, the work of Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek thinkers. The key is to bring out the general ideas behind the specific narrative elements. The chapter illustrates this thesis by examining the Hebrew Bible’s treatment of a number of classic problems of political theory: anarchy, obligation and sovereignty, distributive justice, and the comparative analysis of political organizations.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 741
Author(s):  
Zheng Wang ◽  
Ge Yang ◽  
Biao Ren ◽  
Yuan Gao ◽  
Xian Peng ◽  
...  

The infection of Enterococcus faecalis and its interacting microorganisms in the root canal could cause persistent apical periodontitis (AP). Antibacterial root canal sealer has favorable prospects to inhibit biofilms. The purpose of this study was to investigated the antibacterial effect of root canal sealer containing dimethylaminododecyl methacrylate (DMADDM) on persistent AP in beagle dogs for the first time. Persistent AP was established by a two-step infection with Enterococcus faecalis and multi-bacteria (Enterococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Actinomycesnaeslundii, Streptococcus gordonii). Root canal sealer containing DMADDM (0%, 1.25%, 2.5%) was used to complete root canal filling. The volume of lesions and inflammatory grade in the apical area were evaluated by cone beam computer tomography (CBCT) and hematoxylin-eosin staining. Both Enterococcus-faecalis- and multi-bacteria-induced persistent AP caused severe apical destruction, and there were no significant differences in pathogenicity between them. DMADDM-modified sealer significantly reduced the volume of periapical lesion and inflammatory grade compared with the control group, among them, the therapeutic effect of the 2.5% group was better than the 1.25% group. In addition, E.faecalis-induced reinfection was more sensitive to the 2.5% group than multi-bacteria reinfection. This study shows that root canal sealer containing DMADDM had a remarkable therapeutic effect on persistent AP, especially on E. faecalis-induced reinfection.


1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 551-551
Author(s):  
N. Zacharias ◽  
M.I. Zacharias ◽  
C. de Vegt ◽  
C.A. Murray

The Second Cape Photographic Catalog (CPC2) contains 276,131 stars covering the entire Southern Hemisphere in a 4-fold overlap pattern. Its mean epoch is 1968, which makes it a key catalog for proper motions. A new reduction of the 5687 plates using on average 40 Hipparcos stars per plate has resulted in a vastly improved catalog with a positional accuracy of about 40 mas (median value) per coordinate, which comes very close to the measuring precision. In particular, for the first time systematic errors depending on magnitude and color can be solved unambiguously and have been removed from the catalog. In combination with the Tycho Catalogue (mean epoch 1991.25) and the upcoming U.S. Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC) project proper motions better than 2 mas/yr can be obtained. This will lead to a vastly improved reference star catalog in the Southern Hemisphere for the final Astrographic Catalogue (AC) reductions, which will then provide propermotions for millions of stars when combined with new epoch data. These data then will allow an uncompromised reduction of the southern Schmidt surveys on the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS).


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 298
Author(s):  
Yefen Zhu ◽  
Yanlei Kang ◽  
Ling Zhu ◽  
Kaxi Yu ◽  
Shuai Chen ◽  
...  

Canagliflozin (CG) was a highly effective, selective and reversible inhibitor of sodium-dependent glucose co-transporter 2 developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The crystal structure of CG monohydrate (CG-H2O) was reported for the first time while CG hemihydrate (CG-Hemi) had been reported in our previous research. Solubility and dissolution rate results showed that the solubility of CG-Hemi was 1.4 times higher than that of CG-H2O in water and hydrochloric acid solution, and the dissolution rates of CG-Hemi were more than 3 folds than CG-H2O in both solutions. Hirshfeld surface analysis showed that CG-H2O had stronger intermolecular forces than CG-Hemi, and water molecules in CG-H2O participated three hydrogen bonds, forming hydrogen bond networks. These crystal structure features might make it more difficult for solvent molecules to dissolve CG-H2O than CG-Hemi. All these analyses might explain why the dissolution performance of CG-Hemi was better than CG-H2O. This work provided an approach to predict the dissolution performance of the drug based on its crystal structure.


Tempo ◽  
1950 ◽  
pp. 15-18
Author(s):  
Dennis Arundell

Ever since the seventeenth century composers of English operas have been handicapped by the snob-preference for foreign works irrespective of their merits. In Purcell's day a second-rate French composer, whose past is still shrouded in Continental mystery, was so boosted in London even by Dryden that it was only through an open-air performance by Mr. Priest's school-girls at Chelsea that Dido and Aeneas convinced both London theatre managers and eventually Dryden himself that Purcell was “equal with the best abroad.” In this century, when the usual opera favourites were established, it has been even more difficult for English opera-composers to get a showing (at one time it had not been unheard of for English operas to be translated into Italian or German for production in this country): but twenty-five years ago the Royal College of Music followed the example of Mr. Priest by producing for the first time Vaughan Williams' Hugh the Drover, which was afterwards given publicly by the British National Opera Company, and in 1931 under the auspices of the Ernest Palmer Opera Fund, introduced The Devil Take Her, the first opera by the Australian composer Arthur Benjamin. The enthusiasm of the singers, headed by Sarah Fischer and Trefor Jones, the cunning skill of the conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham and the practical knowledge of the producer, John B. Gordon, who had had so much experience at Cologne and who was at the time doing such good work for opera at the Old Vic, all combined to make the performance outstanding.


2013 ◽  
Vol 668 ◽  
pp. 410-414
Author(s):  
Rui Xia Zhang ◽  
Bin Liao ◽  
Zhi Guo Liu ◽  
Xian Ying Wu

In order to realize the extensive application of technologies of MEVVAII and FAD, the composite equipment has been developed for surface modification and coating films. In this paper, for the first time, the servo control system based on ACR9000 has been used to control workpiece-stage of the composite equipment. Eight target disks are installed on workpiece-stage. Each of target disks can be mounted about 1300 PCB micro tools. So, the equipment can satisfy the requirement for mass production. Experimental results show that the coating unevenness is less than ±14%, better than those of traditional equipments which is less than ±29%. The main purpose of the paper is to introduce the design of workpiece-stage and its three motion modes of rotary positioning, uniform rotation and variable speed rotation, and coating effects corresponding to three motion modes have been verified by experiments.


2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 529-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison A. Chapman

AbstractThe second half of the seventeenth century was the first great period of legal reform in England’s history. This article situates John Milton in relationship to this contemporary context, arguing that he comments frequently on the need to change England’s laws and displays a finely tuned awareness of some of the major legal debates of his time. This article surveys Milton’s writings about the law and legal education, and it concludes by examining his 1659–60 political pamphlets where he calls for reform of the judicial system and the establishment of local courts.


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