BAROQUE AROUND THE CLOCK: DANIELLO BARTOLI SJ (1608–1685) AND THE USES OF GLOBAL HISTORY

ABSTRACTRight from its foundation in 1540, the Society of Jesus recognised the value and role of visual description (ekphrasis) in the persuasive rhetoric of Jesuit missionary accounts. Over a century later, when Jesuit missions were to be found on all the inhabited continents of the world then known to Europeans, descriptions of the new-found lands were being read for the entertainment as well as the edification of their Old World audiences. The first official history of the Society's missions in the vernacular, the volumes authored by Daniello Bartoli (1608–1685), played an important role in communicating a sense of the distinctiveness of the order's global mission. Referred to by Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837) as the ‘Dante of baroque prose’, Bartoli developed a particularly variegated and intensely visual idiom to meet the challenge of describing parts of the world which the majority of his readers, including himself, would never visit.

The Priority of Preaching in the Church’s Global Mission

This article seeks to reemphasize the priority of preaching in the church’s global mission. Current crises and sophisticated cultural resistance to the proclamation of the gospel tempt pastors, missionaries, and church leaders to reevaluate the most effective methods for ministry. Key texts are examined and applied to support the position that the methodologi- cal priority of preaching transcends generational, cultural, and historical contexts and that the preaching of the word is missionally effective in our current globalized context. KEYWORDS: Preaching, eschatology, man of God, word of Christ, mission

Occurrence of BNT162b2 Vaccine Adverse Reactions Is Associated with Enhanced SARS-CoV-2 IgG Antibody Response

Promoting SARS-CoV-2 vaccination has been a global mission since the first vaccines were approved for emergency use. Alongside the excitement following the possibility of eradicating SARS-CoV-2 and ending the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been ample vaccine hesitancy, some due to the abundant reporting of adverse reactions. We report here that the occurrence of BNT162b2 vaccine adverse reactions is associated with enhanced antibody response. We found a statistically significant correlation between having an adverse reaction, whether local or systemic, and higher antibody levels. No sex difference was observed in antibody levels. However, as was recently reported, the antibody response was found to be lower among older vaccinees. The demonstration of a clear correlation between adverse reactions and antibody levels may help reduce vaccination hesitancy by reassuring that the presence of such reactions is an indication of a well-functioning immune system.

World Heritage and Urban Politics in Melaka, Malaysia

This book presents a tale of heritage politics in the Malaysian historical city par excellence. Already celebrated as the first Malay sultanate and an important colonial trading port, Melaka has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2008, on the strength of its multi-ethnic and multi-religious urban fabric. Yet, contrary to the expectations of heritage experts and aficionados, the global mission of safeguarding cultural heritage has become a tumultuous issue on the ground in Melaka. World Heritage and Urban Politics in Malaysia analyses how the World Heritage 'label' is being used by different actors- such as international organizations, nation states, and society at large- to generate new economic revenues and to attract investment for large-scale real estate development projects. In doing so, it reveals the complex and often contradictory stories behind heritage designations in urban milieus.

God's Marshall Plan

God’s Marshall Plan explores the origins of Christian nationalism and Christian globalism—two competing theologies of global engagement—in the American Protestant encounter with twentieth-century Europe. It recovers the story of the American Protestants who crossed the Atlantic in an era of world war, tracked the rise of totalitarian dictators, mobilized against the Axis powers, and began to identify Europe as a continent in need of saving. In response, they launched far-reaching missions to spread their faith and democracy across the Atlantic. As they joined army platoons in occupying Germany, they singled out the defeated nation as the prime European territory for a new American-led, Christian and democratic world order that could thwart any totalitarian threat. Throughout these efforts, however, American Protestants realized they had come to dramatically different conclusions about how to rebuild Europe out of the ruins of war. Their diverging visions ultimately sparked a spiritual struggle for the continent and leadership of the postwar world. All the while, European Protestants began to sharply protest America’s spiritual advance. Faced by this challenge, a growing number of ecumenical Protestants rethought their efforts to build God’s kingdom through America’s global strength. Forsaking their wartime nationalism, they championed a new theology of global peace, reconciliation, and justice. A fresh wave of Protestant cold warriors surged forward, however, to retake their nation and promote a theology of liberty and anti-communism across the Atlantic. The spiritual struggle for Europe thus left American Protestants deeply divided and at odds over their global mission. It ultimately forged competing visions of global engagement that transformed the United States, diplomacy, and politics in the Cold War and beyond.

Spiritual Conquest

This chapter examines the twentieth-century origins of Christian nationalism and Christian globalism in American Protestant missionary efforts and the First World War. It also asserts the prominence of American Protestant engagement with Germany in shaping both theological modes of engagement. Whether it was Germany’s autocratic ambitions or its liberal theology, a growing number of American Protestant ecumenists and evangelicals alike identified Germany as a major threat to their global mission. While ecumenists mobilized for war to build a new Wilsonian international order, evangelicals found inspiration in their premillennial apocalypticism to oppose Germany. The Great War and its aftermath then led both ecumenical and evangelical Protestants to see one another as rivals within their own nation. These events ultimately activated and refined competing forms of international engagement that would define America’s global mission in the decades to follow.

China in the World: The Emergence of a New Worldview

“A Community of Common Destiny” (CCD) has been an important concept introduced and promoted by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government for over the past decade. Through the conceptualization and comparison between two previous conceptual worldviews of Chinese civilization named here “China’s World” and “China and the World”, this article seeks to place the CCD concept in its proper historical context and proposes that its contemporary development and promotion among the Chinese leadership signifies a fundamental advancement in Chinese civilization’s worldview referred to here as “China in the World”. This implies a new global mission for the future of the world, inclusive of China’s growing contributions concerning international responsibility and reciprocity (Xi, 2017b).

O Mito do desenvolvimento sustentável: Meio ambiente e custos sociais no moderno sistema produtor de mercadorias

In this book we analyse the sustainability question in the Modern Production System, which today encompasses most of the world economy. We present concepts, theories, indicators, indices, formulas, methods and historical date to examine the evolution and trends of two sustainable development dimensions: socioeconomic and environmental. We focus on the nature-economy nexus and analyse its contradictory process: the more the economics needs nature, the more its cause natural resources depletion and environmental degradation. The huge increase on CO2 emissions in the last three decades – from oil, coal and another non-renewable resources– provides strong evidence to such contradiction. We then analyze the role of material recycle as a solution against both, resources depletion and environmental degradation. Our analysis suggests that the recycle of materials can only contribute to reduce the problem. Moreover, there cycle process of materials depends, on many cases, of public or social subsidies – as financial incentives from the government and domestic material selection. The environment problem transcends borders (as an enterprise, a village, a city, or a country): one can be sustainable, but in fact transfer to other its environmental problem. We adopt the notion of Environmental Space to deal with the sustainability question. We then present and apply the concept of Eco-inequal Exchange to analyse such a question. The environmental movement, which started about fifty years ago, did transform the sustainable development into a global mission. By exposing socio-environmental problems generated by the modern production system itself, this book aims to contribute to a better understanding the limits and possibilities of ours actions as environmentalists.

How Can India Achieve Sustainable Transportation Goals Through Electrification?

Air pollution has led to global temperature increases and health hazards. Emission reduction is a global mission, and countries worldwide are working towards this goal. Transportation network electrification is a possible solution. Electrifying only transit systems will not have much impact without energy policy evolution and renewable source share enhancement. Since transportation needs rise with increasing population, emission intensity reduction steps should be implemented soon to affect global emission reduction. This work proposes reducing the share of vehicles with high per-passenger emissions and replacing them with mass transit systems under a generation scenario. It primarily establishes emission trends under the current vehicle scenario with only fossil fuel-burning vehicles and electric vehicle (EV) scenarios. It also considers different fuel mixes and finally compares all vehicle and fuel mix combinations. Results reveal that the proposed transport and fuel mix options help to reach the target set by India under the Paris Agreement.