Burning Bush Research Articles

Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change on Oil Producing Communities in Ahoada West

This study examined the impact of climate change on oil-producing communities in Ahoada West, located in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. It explored the causes of climate change in Ahoada West and assessed the response of multinational oil and gas companies to the resulting issues. A total of 260 participants were randomly chosen for the study. The Impacts of Climate Change on Oil Producing Communities in Ahoada West Structured Questionnaire (ICCOPCAWSQ) was given to all participants and successfully collected without any invalid responses. The data was analyzed using simple percentages. The findings showed that burning fossil fuels, industrial activities by oil and gas companies (like exploration and extraction), agricultural practices (such as livestock farming and rice growing), and emissions from transportation (including cars and planes) all significantly contribute to climate change. Additionally, burning bushes, clothes, and papers, as well as methane emissions from natural sources like wetlands and termites, were also identified as contributing factors. The study concluded that human activities are the main cause of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Based on these results, it was recommended that oil and gas companies should stop gas flaring to reduce environmental damage. Instead, the flared gas should be converted into cooking gas for household use.

The Discourse of Repression. Narrativity and Semantics Inside the Securitate Files of the Burning Bush from Antim Monastery

The archives of the political police during the Communist regime are documents whose circumstances of production make them different to interpret from other types of documents. They were generated by an instance of enunciation that was a repressive institution, directly interested in the repression of those perceived as political enemies. The present study starts from the story of a group of clergy and intellectuals known as the Burning Bush, who were part of a religious association (a cultural circle) in the second half of the 1940s. A decade later, several people connected to the initial group, their acquaintances as well as other younger students who gravitated around the older monks for spiritual formation were arrested during the 1958 repressive wave. An extensive surveillance had been developing prior to their arrest and their reunions and meetings in which they discussed religious and literary topics were interpreted in the archives as “hostile” and threatening towards the state. The paper inquires into how the documents create a coherent narrative of a group enemy that conspires against the Communist state, and also how semantics plays into the construction of the surveillance and the criminal files of the Burning Bush group.

What COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Disparity Reveals About Solidarity

What COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Disparity Reveals About Solidarity

Long-term interactive impacts of the invasive shrubLonicera maackiiand white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on a deciduous forest understory

AbstractWhite-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) (hereafter, ‘deer’) and invasive plants affect forest understories, but few studies have investigated their interaction. We investigated long-term (11-yr) effects of excluding deer and removing the invasive shrub, Amur honeysuckle [Lonicera maackii(Rupr.) Herder], on plants in southwest Ohio. Deer exclusion enhanced tree seedling richness and density, but reduced annual and bare ground cover. Vine density was reduced byLonicera, especially where deer were excluded. Seedlings of several tree species, the invasive shrub, burning bush [Euonymus alatus(Thunb.) Siebold], and the invasive vine, winter creeper [Euonymous fortunei(Turcz.) Hand.-Maz.], were indicator species of the deer exclosure byLoniceraremoval treatment combination. The effect of deer on cover of native species depended onLoniceratreatment: where shrubs were removed, cover was higher where deer were excluded, but where shrubs were present, cover was higher where deer had access. We attribute these interactions to the reduced growth of, and shading by,Lonicerawhere deer had access and browsed this invasive shrub. Some of these effects were evident in the first 6 yr, but are now larger. Other effects were not evident in the earlier evaluation. These findings inform management of areas with high densities of deer and invasive shrubs palatable to deer. Control of only invasive shrubs will reduce native cover and not improve tree regeneration. Managing only deer will increase woody plants but reduce native cover. Management of both stressors is needed to promote tree regeneration and restoration of plant communities.

Религиозная традиция Выговского общежительства в собрании Российского этнографического музея

The article describes the collection of objects of traditional culture that existed among the inhabitants of the Vyg Old Believers community. The main attention is paid to subjects that embody the features of the religious tradition of the Old Believers. They are represented by the following products: cultic copper casting; wooden plastic with the plot “Golgotha Cross”, wall sheets with religious and edifying texts, and podruchniks. The most significant number of wooden plastic products, well-attributed, came from a well-known collector F.A. Kalikin in 1913. Objects of copper casting at the beginning of the XXI century were replenished by the private collection of geologist I. I. Krasnov transferred to the museum in 2016. The icon “Burning Bush” / “Our Lady of the Sign with the symbols of the Evangelists” can be attributed to the rare monuments of Vyg copper casting, where near the inscription pointing to the evangelist Mark, is depicted not a lion (so in the official Orthodox tradition), but an eagle.

Foliar application of K-IBA to the Abaxial or Adaxial Leaf Surface With or Without a Surfactant Does Not Impact Root Formation in Buttonbush and Burning Bush Euonymus Cuttings

Foliar application of K-IBA to the Abaxial or Adaxial Leaf Surface With or Without a Surfactant Does Not Impact Root Formation in Buttonbush and Burning Bush Euonymus Cuttings

Alchemical tafsīr: Qur’anic Hermeneutics in the Works of the Twelfth-Century Moroccan Alchemist Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs

ABSTRACT Beside the codenames and esoteric symbols inherited from Graeco-Egyptian antiquity, the later Arabic alchemical tradition also adopted motifs drawn from the Qur’an: from the blessed olive tree of the famous Light Verse (Q 24.35) to the burning bush and Moses’ staff. This interweaving of scripture and alchemical theory is especially noticeable in one of the major works of the post-Jābirian corpus, Shudhūr al-dhahab (Shards of Gold) by the Moroccan poet Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs (fl. sixth/twelfth century), as well as in Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs’s self-penned commentary, Ḥall mushkilāt al-Shudhūr (The Solution to the Obscurities in the ‘Shards’). But was the use of such motifs simply a literary device or did Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs claim to discern a hidden alchemical meaning embedded in the qur’anic text? Focusing on this unexplored strand of the Islamic exegetical tradition, this article examines the premises put forward by Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs in support of an alchemical reading of scripture.

In the wrecks of Kingdoms, in the self-immolations of evil ... (behind the pages of Maximilian Voloshin's book "Demons of the Deaf and Dumb")

The purpose of this study is to identify the historiosophical foundations of Maximilian Voloshin's book "Demons of the Deaf and Dumb". The article examines the historical concept of M. Voloshin, who tries to bring the reader to the dramatic events of the present and predict the future through an assessment of Russia's past. Voloshin, focusing on the revolutionary events of Russia and France, writes a tragedy book, which was published in January 1919. The main hypothesis is that "Demons of the deaf and dumb" occupies a special place in the creative biography of the poet, while it is necessary to keep in mind several important points. This is Voloshin's last collection, released during his lifetime in Russia, prepared by the author himself (with drawings by the author). The poems written in 1919 are organically adjacent to it: "The Burning Bush", "The Russian Revolution", "Kitezh", "The Civil War". Poems that dramatically translate history into modernity and reveal the future. The book "Demons of the Deaf and Dumb" includes works written at different times and related to different historical epochs. However, Voloshin had the ability to feel the flow of history "flowing into "today", to perceive history in its one-time form. The moment of history for him is the whole story, just as time is all time. Such a feeling was characteristic of the poet throughout his creative career. The troubles, the Uprising of Stenka Razin, the Petrine era, Thermidor in France, the revolution in Russia all coexist for him as if in a single time frame. One is perceived through the other. The paper offers an innovative approach to the study of M. Voloshin's last lifetime collection; a way of considering the reception of creativity in the unity of historical, cultural and biographical contexts is proposed, which is an organic combination of historical, cultural, biographical and comparative methods that form the basis of classical philological science.

The Pentateuch: Exodus–Deuteronomy

The PentateuchExodus–Deuteronomy Christopher T. Begg, Richard A. Taylor, Fred W. Guyette, and Brian J. Meldrum 486. [Moses's Embodied Encounter in Exod 3:1-4:17] Narelle Jane Coetzee, "Moses' Embodied Encounter: Bare Feet Grounded in the Wilderness (Exodus 3.1–4.17)," JPT 31 (1, 2022) 1-15. This article investigates the implications of Moses's unshod feet within the Burning Bush pericope (Exod 3:1–4:17). Scholars have traditionally maintained that the act of removing one's shoes is merely an ancient sign of honor, with Yhwh's command to Moses that he remove his sandals signifying that he is on holy ground. Here, C. argues that, via a narrative-geographical reading of the passage, one can discern additional insights into this feature of the story, specifically that Moses is being asked to participate in the encounter [End Page 164] as an embodied person, with all his senses. He is literally being "grounded" for this experience, through his unshod feet. C. further argues that a larger creational relationship is implied here, wherein Moses is the Deity's new (re-)creational partner (ʾādām), who through this bare-footed encounter is being connected back to the divine creational purposes, via the ʾādāmâ on which he is standing. Finally, in view of the fact that Pentecostal readers of the Bible seek an ongoing experience of the Spirit, C. suggests that the above narrative-geographical reading complements and re-energizes our whole-bodied spirituality and expectations of a divine encounter. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 487. [Exod 7:14-25] Hindy Nahman and Konrad Schmid, "Reading the Blood Plague (Exodus 7:14–25): The Hermeneutics of a Composite Text," JBL 141 (1, 2022) 23–42. This essay proposes a methodological commitment for rethinking the presuppositions about compositional practices with respect to the assembly and production of what we have come to call the Pentateuch. Throughout the article the authors highlight the commitment of the ancient biblical writers and readers to producing difference—rather than an overall seamless linear narrative. Their textual example focuses on the blood plague in Exod 7:14-25 but considers the composition of the Pentateuch and biblical composition more generally. [Adapted from published abstract—B.J.M.] 488. [The Ugaritic Baal Cycle and Exod 15:1-18] Nicolas Wyatt, "An Echo of the Ugaritic Baal Cycle in the Song of the Sea? An Exploration in Historical Theology," From Words to Meaning, 17-34 [see #911]. As reconstructed by W., the Ugaritic Baal Cycle (UBC) was composed ca. 1210 b.c.e. in commemoration of the dedication of the replacement edifice for Ugarit's earlier Baal temple which had been destroyed by a tidal wave ca. 1250 and would itself subsequently be wrecked by the Sea Peoples who assaulted Ugarit ca. 1185. W.'s essay highlights the affinities between this Ugaritic composition and the "Song of the Sea" (Exod 15:1-18), e.g., their shared and distinctive reference to a deity's (Baal/Yhwh) "inheritance," and posits that the former eventually found its way south to the territory of Israel, where it was drawn on, but also modified (e.g., in the "Song the Sea" the sea is not Yhwh's adversary the way Yam is Baal's opponent in the UBC, but rather his obedient agent).—C.T.B. 489. [Exod 19:1–31:18] Nico Riemersma, "De afbakening, delen en opbouw van Exodus 19:1–31:18 [The Delimitation, Component Parts and Structure of Exod 19:1-31:18]," JTSR 76 (1, 2022) 42-60. Many scholars consider Exodus 19–24 to be the first major narrative unit with the concluding segment of the Book of Exodus (19:1–40:38). Questions arise, however, concerning the delimitation, component parts, and structure of this proposed unit. First, while Exod 19:1 may be seen as the beginning of a narrative unit, it is also the concluding element for the preceding chap. 18; Secondly, whereas many commentators regard 24:18 as the end of the narrative unit that begins in 19:1, I argue that there is greater reason to...

Translator’s Introduction: The Wild Orchid and Christendom in the Novels of Sigrid Undset (1930) by Ida Coudenhove (Görres)

Translator’s IntroductionThe Wild Orchid and Christendom in the Novels of Sigrid Undset (1930) by Ida Coudenhove (Görres) Jennifer Sue Bryson (bio) Keywords Ida Frederika Görres, Ida Coudenhove, Sigrid Undset, The Wild Orchid, Gymnadenia, Die Schildgenossen, Kristin Lavransdatter, The Master of Hestviken What follows is a translation of Ida Coudenhove. “‘Gymnadenia und das Christentum in den Dichtungen der Sigrid Undset.” Die Schild genossen 10 (1930): 461–468. It is published with permission from the estate of Ida Friederike Görres. During her lifetime, Ida Coudenhove (1901–1971) was a prominent Catholic writer in German-speaking Europe. She is most well known by her married name, Görres.1 She usually went by Ida Friederike Coudenhove and then later Ida Friederike Görres. Die Schildgenossen was a German-language Catholic journal affiliated with the Catholic Youth Movement in Germany. The Catholic Youth Movement was closely associated with Fr. Romano Guardini, [End Page 140] who was a copublisher of Die Schildgenossen from 1924 to 1941.2 Heinz Kuehn, a scholar of Guardini translates the title Die Schildgenossen as “Comrades of the Shield,” and describes it as “a national Catholic periodical devoted to theological, liturgical and cultural subjects.”3 The Nazi government shut down Die Schildgenossen in 1941. Sigrid Undset (1882–1949) was a Norwegian novelist, Catholic convert, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928. The German edition of this article in Die Schildgenossen contained no citations (other than one parenthetical mention of a page number, apparently in an Undset novel, with no further information). For this English edition, I have added citations. To the extent possible, I have identified the sources of the quotations in this article, and I have quoted them from established English translations. Where there is no citation for a quotation, it is either Coudenhove giving voice to what she has heard from others or I was unable to find the source, and the quotation is thus my translation from the German text. In this article, Coudenhove discusses how the novel The Wild Orchid by Undset (first published in German as Gymnadenia in 1929) relates to the following works by Undset, listed here with the translators (tr.) of the English editions and the date of the first edition in English. (For the bibliographical details of these works, please see the citations.) 1911 Jenny, tr. W. Emmé, 1921 and tr. by Tiina Nunnally, 2001. 1917 Images in a Mirror, tr. Arthur G. Chater, 1938. 1920–1922 Kristin Lavansdatter: A Trilogy, tr. Charles Archer and J.S. Scott, 1922–1925 and Tiina Nunnally, 1997–2000. 1925–1927 The Master of Hestviken: A Tetralogy, tr. Arthur G. Chater, 1928–1930. 1931 The Wild Orchid, tr. Arthur G. Chater, 1931. 1932 The Burning Bush, tr. Arthur G. Chater, 1932. [End Page 141] Jennifer Sue Bryson Jennifer Sue Bryson has a PhD in Near Eastern languages and civilizations and an MA in history from Yale University, and a BA in political science from Stanford University. She has worked for the Department of Defense and several think tanks. She learned German while she was in high school in Austria and while studying Marxism-Leninism at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig in the former German Democratic Republic during college. She developed an interest in translation theory during graduate school at Yale. Bryson is a visiting researcher at Hochschule Heiligenkreuz in Austria. She is currently preparing her translations of several books by Ida Friederike Görres for publication. Copyright © 2022 The University of St. Thomas

Back to the Future

Back to the Future

A Theology of Justice in Exodus. By Nathan Bills

This work is a revised dissertation that approaches the text of Exodus through the theological lens of creation and justice. Offering a synchronic reading, Bills highlights the creational motifs of Genesis as a critical backdrop to the narrative of Exodus. He argues against scholars who hold a particularistic view of God’s justice for Israel and contends that Exodus’s use of creational themes embraces a universal perspective on justice. He also links the theological theme of justice with Israel’s new life as a liberated people who, as servants to YHWH, are formed by the ethical mandate to live as a just people. The first chapter offers a detailed survey of how justice was perceived in the ancient Near East and in Israel. Bills notes that the biblical word pairing ‘justice and righteousness’ applies not only to Israel but to all humanity. This is made most explicit in the commands regarding the widow, the orphan, and the sojourner as a summary for those with the least power in society who are most in need of justice. The following two chapters turn to the Exodus narrative from Egypt to the wilderness. Bills explores the inner-biblical echoes with Genesis and contends that Exodus 1–4 looks back to God’s justice established in creation and looks forward to Israel’s role as God’s emissary of justice on earth. Exodus 5–15 continues with similar themes, but the question of sovereignty comes to the fore in the clash between Pharaoh and YHWH. The mixed multitude that leaves Egypt is a sign of God’s global desire for justice, and the drama reveals the demise of Pharaoh’s systematic injustice by the mythic victory of YHWH at the sea. In the fourth chapter, Bills turns to pedagogy and sees the wilderness wanderings as YHWH’s movement towards training Israel to be a holy and just people. This leads to the giving of the Law at Sinai, which ‘institutionalizes’ Israel’s vocation to express YHWH’s creational justice both to those within, and outside of, the covenant community. The fifth chapter examines the construction of the tabernacle. Bills contends that the portable shrine ‘institutionalizes’ the Sinai experience. Though he rightly connects the theme of justice to the worshipping community, it is here that his argument seems most stretched. Having minimized the descent of the divine presence foreshadowed in the burning bush, actualized at Sinai, and concluding with God’s glory filling the tabernacle, we find that the priestly motif of holiness becomes obscured. Bills has crafted an excellent argument for creational justice and pedagogy in Exodus, but it comes at the expense of the cult, atonement, purity, and holiness, which are all represented by the tabernacle and the divine presence. Even with a synchronic reading of Exodus, the tabernacle points directly to the work/worship of the cult as expressed in Leviticus. Despite this omission, Bills offers a compelling reading of Exodus that builds on a creational theology of justice found in Genesis. Throughout the book he makes use of canonical and intertextual links as well as a breadth of research to help build his argument. This volume will be an excellent resource for clergy and students of the Bible who are interested in the Exodus narrative and its relationship to God’s justice in the past and its importance in the world today.

Moses’ Embodied Encounter

Abstract This article investigates the implications of Moses’ unshod feet within the Burning Bush pericope (Exodus 3.1–4.17). Traditionally, scholars observe that the act of removing one’s shoes is merely a sign of ancient honour, conveying to Moses that he is on holy ground. Here, the author suggests, however, that through a narrative-geographical reading, additional insights can be gleaned – specifically, that Moses is being asked to participate as an embodied person, with all his senses. He is literally being ‘grounded’ in this experience, through his unshod feet. The author also argues that a larger creational relationship is implied – expressly, that Moses is the new (re)creational partner (adam), and through this bare-footed encounter is being connected back to creational purposes, via the adamah. Finally, inasmuch as Pentecostal readers of the Bible seek an ongoing experience of the Spirit, the author suggests that this narrative-geographical reading complements and re-energizes our whole-bodied spirituality and expectations of divine encounter.

The Mount Sinai Monastery: A Successful Example of Shared Holy Space

ABSTRACT Mount Sinai had already been a site of the veneration of Moses for two centuries when Emperor Justinian founded a monastery on the site of the Burning Bush in the sixth century. Subsequently the site attracted worship from Muslims as well as Christians after the Arab conquest of Sinai, but although a mosque was built there the monastery remained protected under successive Muslim regimes. From the late twelfth century onward the monastery was also visited by western pilgrims, who identified Mount Sinai as the burial place of St Catherine, venerated her shrine and collected miraculous oil from her bones. Devotion to St Catherine eclipsed the biblical significance of the site in the medieval West, but by the end of the Middle Ages the Latin authorities were frustrated by the reluctance of the monks of Mount Sinai to recognize papal authority, and worship by Latins at the monastery became subject to restrictions.

Licht und Schatten: Kinotagebuch, 1929–1945

When Klemperer's diaries became public in the 1990s, editors mostly excluded the material about film to keep the publication a manageable size. This new edition restores entries from between June 1929 and April 1945 with a focus on what Klemperer describes as one of his “addictions”—watching movies. Film scholars will be happy to have Klemperer's glosses on films both famous and forgotten. Almost everyone knows The Blue Angel, but not The Three from the Filling Station (1930), which outgrossed it at the box office. Klemperer despises the first talkies in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Awful (scheusslich) is his word for them—as jarring, he says, as a voice coming from a burning bush. He finds them disturbingly artificial and argues that film must become an expressive art, like ballet, and be carried by music, or else it will become an obnoxious dead mechanism (and disgusting as well).This edition includes more than Klemperer's reports on his avid film-going. Some of them are quite personal. An entry for 1931 concerns how “helpless” his partner Eva's severe depression has left him feeling. That same year, he reports the torment “that I have grown old and no longer have any career prospects” as a scholar. It may be that the social and political context of Klemperer's life will attract the most readers. By the first part of 1933, Klemperer was already writing: “I will never trust Germany again.” It was in 1933 that he realized Hindenburg was a puppet and that Hitler was being recast by newspapers as a “statesman” and “genial diplomat.” By the end of 1938, all “non-Aryans” were banned from cinemas, and despite his self-identification as a Protestant, Klemperer was classified as a Jew. Matters grew, as the Germans say, immer schlimmer, worse and worse. During the horrific bombing of Dresden in mid-February 1945, Eva and Victor were able to escape from the city. They tore the Jewish star from their clothes and disappeared into the crowd. A few days later, at a soldier's invitation, they were in Klotzsche, north of central Dresden, in a movie theater, watching Das war mein Leben (That Was My Life).

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology Fred W. Guyette, Christopher T. Begg, Thomas Hieke, and Carol J. Dempsey OP Fred W. Guyette Erskine College and Seminary Christopher T. Begg Catholic University of America Thomas Hieke Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz Carol J. Dempsey OP University of Portland 674. [Christian Ethics and the Hebrew Bible] Julián Andrés and González Holguín, "Christian Ethics and the Hebrew Bible," The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics, 306-19 [see #777]. There are good reasons to be suspicious of people who claim to know "exactly what the Bible says" on a certain subject—as if they owned it themselves. Something that would be much more exciting, although potentially much more troubling, too, is an encounter with Scripture itself and the mysterious questions raised by Bible stories. Genesis 22 is a good example of a story that resists any definitive interpretation. Abraham brings his cherished son Isaac to Mt. Moriah for the sole purpose of sacrificing him, according to God's command. To obey God is normally a good thing, yes? But what if we should "hear" God commanding us to do something immoral? Would we not question the wisdom of our doing so, at least? Abraham does not understand why God wants this to happen. At the last possible moment, an angel appears to Abraham and tells him to stop what he is doing. "Do not harm the boy!" But again, we do not know why. Judging by the subsequent chapters in Genesis, Isaac was traumatized by Abraham's apparent willingness to go through with the sacrifice. Sarah was traumatized, too. Their experience on Mt. Moriah was just that terrifying. As for Abraham, he does not have much to say to anyone after what happened on Mt. Moriah. Isaac becomes deeply contemplative, almost completely silent. Rather than taking the initiative to seek a bride for himself, a young woman must be found for Isaac. His marriage to Rebecca has to be arranged by others, lest Abraham and Sarah end up without descendants. And yet, the message Moses hears at the burning bush does confirm Isaac's role in salvation history as Christians understand it: "I am the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." What does this all prove? That questions might be more important than answers when it comes to reflection in Christian theology and ethics.—F.W.G. Google Scholar 675. [Protection of Strangers in the Pentateuchal Law Codes] José Antonio Bande García, "La protección hacia el extranjero en los principales códigos legales del Pentateucho," StOv 47 (2019) 247-60. The centerpiece of B.'s essay is his survey of the three major pentateuchal legal codes, i.e., the Covenant Code of Exodus 21–23; the Deuteronomic Code of Deuteronomy 12–26; and the Holiness Code of Leviticus 17–26 and their respective laws concerning Israel's dealings with foreigners with whom it comes in contact against the background of the given code's historical context. This central portion of his study is preceded by remarks on Israel's own experience of living in a land not its own and of Yhwh's accompaniment of its ancestors on their way toward the land allotted them by Yhwh as a motivation for all the pentateuchal laws enjoining respect for strangers, as well as a consideration of the Hebrew terms (zār, nokrî, and gēr) which the laws use in reference to various categories of non-Israelites. The essay concludes with a synthesis of the pentateuchal laws' message concerning the required treatment of the stranger and its ongoing relevance for contemporary Christians living in a highly mobile and globalizing world.—C.T.B. [End Page 225] Google Scholar 676. [Jewish Ethics and the Hebrew Bible] Deborah Barer, "Jewish Ethics and the Hebrew Bible," The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible and Ethics, 291-305 [see #777]. Jewish ethics are often misunderstood, especially when their scope is reduced to questions such as: "What does the Law say about that?" What halakhah teaches is less like a formulaic "answer," and more like a mode of reasoning or working through a...

“The Bush Burned with Fire and the Bush Was Not Consumed”

Abstract This paper explores the post-metaphysical theology of Richard Kearney (1954–) from a Jewish theological perspective. It seeks to provide an original analysis of his project “anatheism,” considering the prominence of Jewish texts in the development of the concept of anatheism. Rooted in deconstructionist and Continental philosophical discourses, Jewish hermeneutics also plays a central role in anatheism. This discursive intersection has received scarce scholarly attention to date. Biblical and other texts which he interprets, include the rabbinic exegesis of Rashi and of modern Jewish hermeneutical philosophy notably of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, and Emmanuel Levinas. I analyse elements of Kearney’s interpretation primarily of the “Burning Bush” biblical narrative as a test case for anatheistic reading of Jewish texts as they appear in one particular text “I Am Who May Be” in The God Who May Be: A Hermeneutics of Religion (2001). Kearney’s textual reading of the Burning Bush offers an unusual example of a Christian engagement with Jewish interpretations of the biblical parable as well as of Levinas, Derrida, and others. Kearney’s effort highlights an approach of a mutual search for ways of interpreting texts not “of” the other, but “with” the other, in a mutual engagement of post-metaphysical theology. More broadly, this examination offers an important contribution to the developing field of post-metaphysical theology in the Jewish and Christian traditions, ultimately posing questions as to how and whether elements of Jewish scriptural interpretative techniques might or can imbue contemporary Christian post-metaphysical theologies. Conversely, the question can be asked as to what a Jewish version of anatheism might look like. This examination presents a test case for possibilities of reading and learning from discourses across different religions.

Толстовский миф в творческом сознании М.А. Волошина

The article, based on the material of M.A. Voloshin’s work, examines the elements of Tolstoy’s myth. The biographical myth of L.N. Tolstoy, which has been actively developing for a century and a half until today, but at the beginning of the 20th century, when Tolstoy’s departure from his own home became popular, it became especially relevant. The structure of the Tolstoy’s myth is analyzed, the mythologies associated with it (mythologized constant representations) created and reproduced by M.A. Voloshin in accordance with his own poetic worldview, personal attitude to the work and personality of L.N. Tolstoy. In the light of the problem posed, the author examines the poet's books “The Burning Bush” and “The Ways of Cain”. Attention is focused on the originality of Tolstoy’s text in the creative heritage of Voloshin, based on the proximity of worldviews, the sacralization of the image of the great writer. The poet interprets Tolstoy's mythologem about non-resistance to evil by violence in a completely new way. In the attempts of the great artist to protect himself and others from evil, Voloshin sees the reason for his tragic departure from Yasnaya Polyana. The question is raised about the features of the perception of this myth in the culture and literature of the first third of the XX century.

To be Young and Spiritual during Times of Communism

The “Burning Bush” was the name of a cultural circle in Bucharest in the 1940s, comprised of clergy and intellectuals who met periodically to discuss theology, philosophy, literature and to learn about prayer. Some of the most significant members of this group were arrested during the second repressive wave by the Romanian communist regime (1958); along with twelve elderly monks and intellectuals, four students who kept in touch with them were also arrested. Their names were George Văsâi, Șerban Mironescu, Nicolae Rădulescu, and Emanoil Mihăilescu. Using memoirs, oral history interviews and documents from the Securitate archives, the paper will address the interactions between the young students and the elder members of the Burning Bush group of clergy and intellectuals. The narratives of the informative and criminal files of the Securitate regarding the content of their meetings will also be depicted, all inside a larger context of the regime’s repressive measures and relations with the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology Fred W. Guyette, Christopher T. Begg, Thomas Hieke, Brent A. Strawn, and Atilla Bodor 875. [God Acting in History; Sinai] Craig G. Bartholomew, The God Who Acts in History: The Significance of Sinai (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2020). Pp. xxii + 265. $45. ISBN 978-0-8028-7467-2. In the Bible and in our liturgies we encounter claims that God is Creator and Ruler of the universe, and that God has acted in certain historical events in a decisive way. God's purpose in doing these things is to invite us into a relationship with him. On the basis of these actions, God wants us to join in the missio Dei. George E. Wright's book God Who Acts (1952) is one important landmark in the discussion. James Barr has probed and questioned these claims, however, and raised serious doubts about whether the miracles recounted in Exodus, particularly on Mt. Sinai, really happened. A similar argument is made by John Van Seters, "The Plagues of Egypt: Ancient Tradition or Literary Invention?" ZAW 98 (1986) 31-39. Benjamin Sommer examines both minimalist and maximalist approaches to the question of whether God speaks and acts in history in his Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition (2015). Maimonides (1138–1204) had his own pious and mystical reasons for believing that God did not "speak" at Sinai. B. Spinoza (1632–1677) read the Bible closely, and found that many of its rational ideas about law that had to be communicated by means of "events" that were imagined rather than historical. Kant, too, valued the Ten Commandments because they make us better human beings, but he doubted the historicity of the signs and wonders in Exodus. According to Michael Wyschogrod's book The Body of Faith: God in the People Israel, however, Scripture shows us a God who is a real character in a historically grounded narrative, with real emotions (anger, sorrow, great love), who engages in historical actions. B. gives special attention to the implications of Exodus 19–24, in which God enters into a covenant with Moses and Israel. Here, B. finds good reasons for concluding that God has spoken to us and that God does act in human history.—F.W.G. [End Page 315] 876. [God; Revelation] Richard Bauckham, Who Is God? Key Moments of Biblical Revelation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020). Pp. 120. $21.99. ISBN 97-1-5409-6190-7. This small volume originated as a lecture series delivered by B., a senior British NT scholar, in 2015 in Addis Ababa and in 2018 in Nova Scotia. In the introduction to the volume, B. gives (pp. 2-3) this account of the approach, content, and aim of his work: "The key moments of divine disclosure we shall reflect on in the book … are Jacob's dream at Bethel (Gen 28:10-22); the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3); the revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exod 33:17–34:8); and the three key moments of revelation in the Gospel of Mark (1:9-11; 9:2-8; 15:37-39). In all these cases, our exploration of biblical theology will range more widely than these moments of disclosure themselves, but they will be our guiding stars by which to travel the related territory. "My approach in this book is to treat the Bible as a canonical whole. Here I do not engage in historical reconstruction behind and around the texts, though that is a task that greatly interests me and one I pursue elsewhere. Here I am interested in the texts as we have them and as belonging to the canon of Scripture—a collection of sacred writings that witness to God through the divine disclosures they contain. "I hope to show readers that the Bible's account of the identity of God is consistent both within and across the two testaments. I have no wish to discount the diversity of the various parts of Scripture, but I think that a theological interpretation of Scripture should seek the unity in the diversity. The approach is necessarily broad brush, but detailed exegesis is at its heart...