Aggadic Speculation

Author(s):  
David Novak

This chapter addresses how the rabbis used the creative resources of theological inference to discover how the tradition charted universal moral law. This charting is particularly common when it comes to revelation, as the relationship of Jews and non-Jews to the Noahide law changed appreciably in the rabbinic mind. According to a famous aggadah, all people originally experienced the Noahide laws as divine directives. However, after Sinai, non-Jews no longer accepted the divine origins of these laws. Although gentiles no longer perceive a transcendent intention behind the laws, they are still obligated to adhere to them because of their social and political value. This powerful aggadah can be read in two ways: first, because non-Jews no longer hold to the divine origin of the Noahide laws but still observe them, the laws themselves must be rational, that is, capable of being understood and followed in the absence of direct revelation; second, if the rational element of the commandments are minimized, as they are by the medieval kabbalists, then the moral distance between Jews and non-Jews becomes abysmal. The chapter argues for the first view, which is philosophically more coherent and more in line with the developed Jewish tradition from rabbinic times to now.

Author(s):  
Joshua Foa Dienstag

Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Truth and Method offers a distinctive account of the human relationship to language and history. The book had a transformative effect on many fields, including political theory. It offers a persuasive hermeneutic theory of what the obstacles to and possibilities for textual interpretation actually are and thus forms an account of the proper practice of political theory that is superior to the rival claims of historicism, Straussianism, or post-modernism. Simultaneously, it offers an account of the relationship of individuals to language-communities that recognizes their significance for cultures and persons without reifying their moral or political value. Gadamer’s account of language points toward openness and democracy rather than identity politics or nationalism.


Author(s):  
Tobias Nicklas

This chapter explores the relationship between Jesus and Judaism as described in gospel texts of the late first and second centuries. It addresses two questions: (1) To what extent is Jesus presented as a ‘Jewish’ character, or as related to characters depicted as representatives of ‘Judaism’? (2) To what extent is Jesus described as following, disobeying, or violating Jewish practices? Material is provided by the Gospel of John and the ‘unknown Gospel’ of Papyrus Egerton 2. The two evangelists describe Jesus’ relation to Judaism in different ways: while both remain in a frame shaped by Jewish tradition, John creates a boundary between his community and ‘the Jews’ with ‘their synagogue’, a boundary absent from the Egerton fragments in spite of their polemical tone. These divergent representations of Jesus’ relationship to Jewish characters/practices shed light on the relationship of the Christ-followers behind our texts to what we would call ‘Judaism.’


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus De Wit de Koning

In this article, it is indicated that the Protestant teaching of the so-called second and third use of the moral law is not confirmed by Romans 3:31’s statement: “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” After looking at developments concerning the study of the role of the Torah that indicated a descriptive view rather than a prescriptive view thereof in Israel’s history, until a change to a more prescriptive view during the Persian period and thereafter, the relationship of faith and Torah in the Canonical Pentateuch came under scrutiny. Following this, new developments regarding Paul and the law were considered. Paul’s statement in Romans 3:31 was then examined in the context of Romans 2–4. After establishing the fact that this verse cannot be used to confirm the ongoing relevance of the law for the New Testament Christian concerning the knowledge of sin and rule for Christian living, it was tested against Galatians 3:12, which seems to contradict the findings on Romans 3:31. It was concluded that Paul indeed indicates that the truth of justification through faith is confirmed by the Torah itself and therefore the so-called second and third use of the moral law cannot be confirmed by Romans 3:31. Some implications of this conclusion are finally highlighted.


Paleobiology ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 6 (02) ◽  
pp. 146-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Oliver

The Mesozoic-Cenozoic coral Order Scleractinia has been suggested to have originated or evolved (1) by direct descent from the Paleozoic Order Rugosa or (2) by the development of a skeleton in members of one of the anemone groups that probably have existed throughout Phanerozoic time. In spite of much work on the subject, advocates of the direct descent hypothesis have failed to find convincing evidence of this relationship. Critical points are:(1) Rugosan septal insertion is serial; Scleractinian insertion is cyclic; no intermediate stages have been demonstrated. Apparent intermediates are Scleractinia having bilateral cyclic insertion or teratological Rugosa.(2) There is convincing evidence that the skeletons of many Rugosa were calcitic and none are known to be or to have been aragonitic. In contrast, the skeletons of all living Scleractinia are aragonitic and there is evidence that fossil Scleractinia were aragonitic also. The mineralogic difference is almost certainly due to intrinsic biologic factors.(3) No early Triassic corals of either group are known. This fact is not compelling (by itself) but is important in connection with points 1 and 2, because, given direct descent, both changes took place during this only stage in the history of the two groups in which there are no known corals.


Author(s):  
D. F. Blake ◽  
L. F. Allard ◽  
D. R. Peacor

Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates which has been extant since Cambrian time (c.a. 500 m.y. before the present). Modern examples of echinoderms include sea urchins, sea stars, and sea lilies (crinoids). The endoskeletons of echinoderms are composed of plates or ossicles (Fig. 1) which are with few exceptions, porous, single crystals of high-magnesian calcite. Despite their single crystal nature, fracture surfaces do not exhibit the near-perfect {10.4} cleavage characteristic of inorganic calcite. This paradoxical mix of biogenic and inorganic features has prompted much recent work on echinoderm skeletal crystallography. Furthermore, fossil echinoderm hard parts comprise a volumetrically significant portion of some marine limestones sequences. The ultrastructural and microchemical characterization of modern skeletal material should lend insight into: 1). The nature of the biogenic processes involved, for example, the relationship of Mg heterogeneity to morphological and structural features in modern echinoderm material, and 2). The nature of the diagenetic changes undergone by their ancient, fossilized counterparts. In this study, high resolution TEM (HRTEM), high voltage TEM (HVTEM), and STEM microanalysis are used to characterize tha ultrastructural and microchemical composition of skeletal elements of the modern crinoid Neocrinus blakei.


Author(s):  
Leon Dmochowski

Electron microscopy has proved to be an invaluable discipline in studies on the relationship of viruses to the origin of leukemia, sarcoma, and other types of tumors in animals and man. The successful cell-free transmission of leukemia and sarcoma in mice, rats, hamsters, and cats, interpreted as due to a virus or viruses, was proved to be due to a virus on the basis of electron microscope studies. These studies demonstrated that all the types of neoplasia in animals of the species examined are produced by a virus of certain characteristic morphological properties similar, if not identical, in the mode of development in all types of neoplasia in animals, as shown in Fig. 1.


Author(s):  
J.R. Pfeiffer ◽  
J.C. Seagrave ◽  
C. Wofsy ◽  
J.M. Oliver

In RBL-2H3 rat leukemic mast cells, crosslinking IgE-receptor complexes with anti-IgE antibody leads to degranulation. Receptor crosslinking also stimulates the redistribution of receptors on the cell surface, a process that can be observed by labeling the anti-IgE with 15 nm protein A-gold particles as described in Stump et al. (1989), followed by back-scattered electron imaging (BEI) in the scanning electron microscope. We report that anti-IgE binding stimulates the redistribution of IgE-receptor complexes at 37“C from a dispersed topography (singlets and doublets; S/D) to distributions dominated sequentially by short chains, small clusters and large aggregates of crosslinked receptors. These patterns can be observed (Figure 1), quantified (Figure 2) and analyzed statistically. Cells incubated with 1 μg/ml anti-IgE, a concentration that stimulates maximum net secretion, redistribute receptors as far as chains and small clusters during a 15 min incubation period. At 3 and 10 μg/ml anti-IgE, net secretion is reduced and the majority of receptors redistribute rapidly into clusters and large aggregates.


1993 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 52-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Collins ◽  
Robert McDonald ◽  
Robert Stanley ◽  
Timothy Donovan ◽  
C. Frank Bonebrake

This report describes an unusual and persistent dysphonia in two young women who had taken a therapeutic regimen of isotretinoin for intractable acne. We report perceptual and instrumental data for their dysphonia, and pose a theoretical basis for the relationship of dysphonia to this drug. We also provide recommendations for reducing the risk of acquiring a dysphonia during the course of treatment with isotretinoin.


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