Deep Reading Research Articles

Визуальная репрезентация морской тематики в художественной культуре России ХVIII–XIX вв.

Тhe meaning of visual representation includes perception of information through the visual image. This form of information delivery to the general public was known in pagan cultures and asserted itself in Christianity. Since the late 20th century the concept of visualization united in itself not only religious and artistic images, but also the vision of mass culture. The performed research places emphasis on the establishment and the development of visual representation in Russia’s art culture of the ХVIII-XIX centuries. During the reign of Peter the Great, in a succession of state reforms and due to the influence of samples of European art, a transformation of national art culture occured. In this context, maritime art is viewed as one of the visual representation forms. The seascape, as a separate genre of painting, originates in the Dutch landscape. The first marinas were brought by Peter the 1st to decorate palaces and country residences. The victory in the Battle of Chesme (1770) and the joining of Crimea to the Russian Empire prompted Catherine the 2nd to invite J. P. Hackert to perpetuate the glory of Russian weapons. The artist became the first marine painter on Russian soil and performed a series of twelve paintings. The flourishing of the national seascape in Russia took place in the 19th century. The first who took the post of artist at the Ministry of the Sea was I.K. Aivazovsky. Since then the seascape acquired special significance and perpetuates the sea victories of Russia. A subtle metaphysical meaning is present in some romantic landscapes by I.K. Aivazovsky. Sea battle paintings acquired clear realistic features in the painting of A.P. Bogolyubov. The artists are concerned not only with the image of the sea, but also with the architecture of the ship, which forms a separate painting genre: the ship portrait genre. The image of the ship in the paintings of the XIX-XX centuries combines the lines of scripture and poetry, focusing the attention of the viewer on a deep semantic reading of the landscape.

The Appendices of Empire: Why Writings from the Colonial Era Need to be Read in their Entirety

Among the many outcomes of the critique of Orientalism and the writings that emerged from the colonial era is the view that most, if not all, works that were published during the era of Empire are tainted by racial prejudice and Orientalist tropes and stereotypes of the non-Western Other. While this may be the case, this paper argues that there are still many reasons for postcolonial scholars to read such works today, from an informed and critical postcolonial perspective. This paper will look at three works by three colonial-era writers – Thomas Stamford Raffles’ The History of Java (1817); John Crawfurd’s Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava (1829); and Henry Keppel’s The Expedition to Borneo of the HMS Dido for the Suppression of Piracy (1846) – and show how, through a deep and critical reading of the texts, we can see the contradictions, ironies and uncertainties of the imperial project; and by so doing debunk the notion that Western colonialism in Southeast Asia was a linear, organised and systematic process entirely determined by the colonial powers themselves.

“Global in Spirit”: Deep Reading Transgenre

Abstract In this article, I theorize the notion of “transgenre” in which “trans” indexes multiple possibilities: i.e., an analysis of transgender cultural production through the more explicitly mediated logics of transnational racial capitalism. To ground these investments, I read the Netflix show Sense8 as a cultural text that mines these multiple meanings of “trans.” My analysis suggests that the show's investment in corporeal transgression shimmers over geographical surfaces, offering an understanding of trans aesthetics that elides over geopolitical and racial difference. Thus, the article proposes a deep reading of Sense8 (and transgenres) to understand “trans*” beyond the visual aesthetics of polyphony and boundary transgression. It considers the material conditions that subtend “trans*” in order to render it a more capacious category—one that does not simply gloss over difference, but functions as a way to track the overlaps among racial, transnational, and queer formations.

Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital

Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital

The deep structure and superficial structure of the transformation elements of the transformed distinction in the Holy Qur’an

The summary of our work "The Deep Structure and Superficial Structure of the Transformation Elements of the Transformed Distinction in the Holy Qur’an" is to prove the authenticity of this theory in Arabic, and how Chomsky was influenced by the science of Arabic. Then, the researcher chose the transformed distinction because it constitutes evidence of the Arabs’ awareness of the concept of transformation. So, after a deep reading of the theory and noticing applying it in several types of research, the idea of the transformed distinction from the positivist origin in the Holy Qur’an has emerged. An inventory of the issues books of the Holy Qur’an has been done, and it has been found in 159 places. While there is a study that has taken discrimination in all its forms in the Qur’an and it is far from what the current study deals with. The present study is the application of the transformative generative theory to transformative discrimination only. So, the research includes two sections. The first section is a summary of the theory and what the places of transformed discrimination are in the Holy Qur'an. The second section involves the application. Last, references are mentione

공감과 이해의 확장을 위한 ‘깊이 읽기’ 방법 연구

This study is the reading method of ‘Deep Reading’ to expand the empathy and Thinking learners experience in reading activities. To this end, some of the content systems and achievement standards of ‘Reading’ and ‘Literature’ in the revised curriculum in 2015 were examined. As a result of examining the core concepts and reading activities according to general knowledge and functions in the teaching and learning of the revised curriculum, it was confirmed that learners’ understanding and empathy were composed of basic elements. Accordingly, the theory of reading methods according to Adler and Van Doren’s reading level was analyzed, and the analytical reading methods for expanding understanding and Harvey and Goudvis’s ‘STR’ reading strategy, which actually applied their theories, were reviewed. Based on this, a plan to apply it to classes as a reading method for expanding understanding in the school was suggested. These research results will help learners grow as active readers who experience deep thinking, interpreting and constructing meaning further at the level of reading only texts.

The new edition of the international classification of retinopathy of premature. Part 1

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is still one of the main causes of blindness and low vision from early childhood in developed countries and therefore remains the focus of attention of researchers and clinicians. The International Classification of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ICROP) was initially adopted in 1984, expanded in 1987, amended in 2005, and revised in 2021. Part 1 of this article discusses the new edition of the ICROP3. The reasons for updating the ICROP3 and the composition of the International Committee, which was specially organized for this purpose, are indicated. The new and third edition retains the current definitions (zone, stage, and extent of the disease). The main updates in ICROP3 include the improved classification of indicators, two of which, in the authors opinion, are most significant for the acute stages of the disease. The definition of posterior zone II region and the recognition that retinal vascular changes in ROP represent a continuous spectrum from normal to preplus- and plus disease, with images demonstrating this range. In conclusion, the new edition of the ICROP3 requires a deep reading and discussion between domestic experts and must be introduced to clinical practices and the educational process. The next article will continue the discussion on the remaining additions/updates to ICROP3.

Spatial characterization of total salt in non-saline soil solutions through electromagnetic induction

Apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) surveys can indirectly spatially characterise total salt in saline soil solutions, i.e., electrical conductivity of a saturated paste extract (ECe). Due to complexity of ECa-readings a 10-step protocol, including an analytical procedure (Dual Pathway Parallel Conductance, DPPC) and software (Electrical conductivity Sampling Assessment and Prediction), have been developed to facilitate with the process. Studies where ECa readings have been used to spatially characterise ECe in soil solutions below 2 dS m−1 (non-saline) are limited to non-existing. The aim was to collectively use above-mentioned tools to determine the success with which ECe can be spatially characterised in non-saline soil solutions with variable and uniform texture across the field. Dataset 1 consisted of ECe, gravimetric moisture and clay measurements from 277 grid sampling sites across 320 ha (seven fields). Dataset 2 contained a mean 443 ECa readings ha−1 together with measurements of ECe, clay, gravimetric moisture, and bulk density from 12 ECa-directed sampling sites per field. Dataset 1; the r between calculated ECa (ECac) and ECe at all fields were >0.9. Dataset 2; deep ECa readings (i.e., 1 m coil separation for both dipole orientations) remained stable during surveys (not true for shallow readings). At 3 fields, uniform in depth and spatially in terms of clay content (±10% clay), relatively low ECa readings (±50 mS m−1) significantly correlated with low ECe values (<1.5 dS m−1). Hence, proactive management of excessive irrigation-induced drainage and salt leaching by spatial monitoring of ECe in non-saline soil, spatially uniform in texture, through electromagnetic induction is conceivable.

Koala retrovirus load and non-A subtypes are associated with secondary disease among wild northern koalas.

Koala Retrovirus (KoRV) has been associated with neoplasia in the vulnerable koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). However, there are conflicting findings regarding its association with secondary disease. We undertook a large-scale assessment of how the different KoRV subtypes and viral load are associated with Chlamydia pecorum infection and a range of disease pathologies in 151 wild koalas admitted for care to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, Australia. Viral load (KoRV pol copies per ml of plasma) was the best predictor of more disease pathologies than any other KoRV variable. The predicted probability of a koala having disease symptoms increased from 25% to over 85% across the observed range of KoRV load, while the predicted probability of C. pecorum infection increased from 40% to over 80%. We found a negative correlation between the proportion of env deep sequencing reads that were endogenous KoRV-A and total KoRV load. This is consistent with suppression of endogenous KoRV-A, while the exogenous KoRV subtypes obtain high infection levels. Additionally, we reveal evidence that the exogenous subtypes are directly associated with secondary disease, with the proportion of reads that were the endogenous KoRV-A sequence a negative predictor of overall disease probability after the effect of KoRV load was accounted for. Further, koalas that were positive for KoRV-D or KoRV-D/F were more likely to have urogenital C. pecorum infection or low body condition score, respectively, irrespective of KoRV load. By contrast, our findings do not support previous findings that KoRV-B in particular is associated with Chlamydial disease. Based on these findings we suggest that koala research and conservation programs should target understanding what drives individual differences in KoRV load and limiting exogenous subtype diversity within populations, rather than seeking to eliminate any particular subtype.

The Optics of MAGIC: FDR’s 1941 SIGINT Stumbles and Japan’s Hidden Plans for America (1940–1941)

Abstract Since the 1941 Japanese attack against Pearl Harbor, numerous politicians, government analysts, and scholars have questioned how the Roosevelt administration could have been caught so unawares and incurred such heavy casualties at the onset of the Second World War. The postwar disclosure that President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his senior advisers had access to Japan’s diplomatic message system through a small joint Army–Navy cryptologic program, called MAGIC, further complicated the search for answers. Although many historians have cited the value of MAGIC linked to Pearl Harbor, few have looked at the overall intelligence value of Japan’s American targets for data collection beyond the first strike situation. Marshall’s ordered comprehensive review of the MAGIC cables in the days following the December 7 attack failed to explain the reason for a Japanese data dump of several hundred messages in length. What did military intelligence miss? What does Signals Intelligence show us about Japan’s post-Pearl Harbor plans for the United States? A deep read of the material contextualized by other intelligence reports reveals administrative optics likely blinded the American nation to Japan’s intended wartime game plan, setting up the potential for a disaster as great as the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

Deep Reading Teaching of Junior High School Chinese under the Guidance of Core Literacy

Deep Reading Teaching of Junior High School Chinese under the Guidance of Core Literacy

Intermediate Space of Andriy Lyubka’s Novel “Your Look, Chio-Chio-san”

Relevance of the study. In the modern Ukrainian scientific space, intermediality is widely developed in literary studies in various directions. The study of this phenomenon seems to be one of the most relevant and promising areas for musicology, which has a specific analytical toolkit that can reveal the deep meaning of the musical component of the text.&#x0D; Scientific novelty of research. The novel by the сontemporary Ukrainian author Andrei Lyubka “Your Look, Chio-Chio-san” for the first time becomes the object of musicological research and is considered in the context of intermediality.&#x0D; Main objective of the study – to consider the intermedial space of Andriy Lyubka’s novel “Your Look, Chio-Chio-san”, revealing in it different levels of connections of the verbal text with the opera by G. Puccini.&#x0D; Methodology. In the process of identifying literary and musical ties, an intermedia approach that is relevant in modern literary criticism and musicology was used; comparison of various parameters of the opera and the novel led to the use of the comparative method; to consider the musical component and its meaning in the verbal text, the method of intonation analysis was used.&#x0D; Results and conclusions. In A. Lyubka’s novel “Your Look, Chio-Chio-san” there are various channels of intersection of musical and verbal texts, presented through: figurative plot associationsparallels; musical markers: Chio-Chio-san’s aria “Un bel dì, vedremo” – like a sound trace of the main character; the voice of Maria Callas, woven into the canvas of the text as another means of intermediacy; a detailed description of the performance of the opera, covering the key moments of its drama (characterized by a deep reading of the musical series, in particular – its genre and intonation genesis). Opera by G. Puccini is presented as an extremely important semantic and compositional core of the novel.

Not (Sufficiently) Developed Educational Potential of Bulgarian Art Museums

The study focuses on the educational potential of Bulgarian art museums. The system of these museums is briefly described, indicating the specifics of their cultural activities. The great opportunities for education in-and-through these museums are outlined – with examples and concepts. The thesis about the positives of their wider involvement in the educational process is developed on the basis of data from the work of some art museums. The need to develop emotional intelligence and empathy in students through a deeper reading of art is outlined. In this regard, the role of the treasury of Bulgarian art museums is invaluable.

Hypercapnia: An Added Culprit in Gray Matter Injury in Preterm Neonates.

Over the last decade, there has been increased recognition of diverse forms of primary gray matter injury (GMI) in postpreterm neonates. In this study, we aimed to assess whether early neonatal hypercapnia in the preterm infant was associated with GMI on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at term equivalent age (TEA). All blood gases taken during the first 2 weeks of life were analyzed for hypercapnia. MRI was performed at TEA postpreterm infants using a unique neonatal MRI 1T scanner. The neonatal MRI scans were assessed using a standardized scoring system, the Kidokoro scoring system, a method used to assess abnormal brain metrics and the presence and severity of brain abnormalities. Subscores are assigned for different regions of the brain. Twenty-nine infants were studied, about half of whom had evidence of some gray matter abnormality. Fifteen of the infants were hypercapnic. The hypercapnic infants had significantly higher deep gray matter abnormality readings as compared with the nonhypercapnic infants (12 [11; 12] vs. 10 [8; 11], respectively; p = 0.0106). Correlations were observed between peak pCO2 over the first 2 weeks of life and the overall gray matter abnormality score (GMAS) at TEA, and between the percentage of hypercapnic blood gases during the first 2 weeks of life and the GMAS. All of the infants in our population who had severe GMI at TEA were hypercapnic in the first 2 weeks of life. In conclusion, our data show a correlation between early hypercapnia in preterm neonates and GMI at TEA.

Cervantes: Displacements, Inflections, and Transcendence by E. Michael Gerli

Reviewed by: Cervantes: Displacements, Inflections, and Transcendence by E. Michael Gerli Bradley J. Nelson (bio) E. Michael Gerli. Cervantes: Displacements, Inflections, and Transcendence. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta, 2019. 266 pp. ISBN-13: ISBN-13: 978-1588713377. E. Michael Gerli begins his latest book with a prologue entitled “Cervantes and I,” in which he describes his personal and professional relationship with Cervantes as a journey that has led him to the realization that the best teacher and most reliable authority for the Cervantine oeuvre are the works and author, themselves. Rejecting “the existence of a science of literature and philology,” Gerli follows Américo Castro’s discovery that “Don Quijote’s radical contribution to narrative consisted in representing the on-going processes of human experience in the characters that inhabit the novel and in readers of it who seek to know their own world” (9). The rest of the book develops the textual bases for his claim, beginning with a theoretically-informed deep reading of the eruption of competing narrative voices in part one of Don Quixote, when the narrator interrupts the battle between Don Quixote and the Vizcaino with the subtly uproarious history of the lost Arabic manuscript, its translation, and the myriad problems and perspectives of interpretation that it drops into unsuspecting readers’ hands. Gerli links Castro’s recognition of the “problematical nature of the representation of truth” in Cervantes with Foucault’s concept of linguistic heterotopias (19–20), offering a productive and agile analytical framework for the complex linguistic games that Cervantes plays with his readers. The latter’s self-conscious presentation of the missing manuscript provides Gerli with prima facie evidence of the intentional and systematic production of textual and narrative lacunae and mis-direction that generations of philologists have peddled as signs of Cervantes’s supposed carelessness or lack of formal aesthetic training: justification, in other words, for their continued attempts to correct the text in ways that suit their own vision of an ex post facto editio printemps. Gerli’s ironically serious discussion of philology is reminiscent of Julio Baena’s sustained critique of what he calls the science’s “rigor mortis,” on the [End Page 223] one hand, and Tom Lathrop’s spirited defense of Cervantes’s artistic control over his intentionally error-filled texts, on the other. More importantly, it allows the critic to dive into the rhetorical gamesmanship of Cervantes while, at the same time, enriching his analyses with important contributions to our understanding of the literary and historical contexts with which Cervantes dialogues. Gerli’s readings demonstrate how Cervantes’s works not only communicate and model a productively ironic approach to history and truth, they also show how the metaphysical positing of a stable truth and reality beyond language, what David Castillo and William Egginton call the “major Baroque strategy,” both perpetuates and disguises systemic violence along caste, gender, ethnic, and cultural frontiers. In chapter 2 Gerli juxtaposes his analysis of “El curioso impertinente” with Francis Bacon’s “rehabilitation of curiosity” and the rise of scientific empiricism, showing, in effect, how the metaphysics of honor attempt to appropriate the early modern drive toward scientific certainty. In this perspectival analysis of the tragedies that ensue from Anselmo’s drive towards absolute knowledge, “Cervantes signals the need for an ethical basis to all belief [...] and [...] that the search for truth [...] requires moral agency,” situating judgment in relation to values as opposed to knowledge. Chapter 3 continues in this vein through an insightful analysis of Cañizares’s analogously impertinent desire to preserve his young wife’s chastity—albeit through enclosure as opposed to temptation—in the entremés El viejo celoso. Gerli reminds us that the interludes should not be detached from their performative placement as entr’actes in the comedia nueva, which foregrounds their critical relationship with the socio-economic apparatuses surrounding early modern theatrical institutions. The author reads Cervantes’s purpose in these pieces as the production of “critical insight regarding the representation of the long-established conflict between honor, morality, and individual desire that lies at the heart of the Spanish drama at the start of the seventeenth century,” specifically the ways in which the comedia nueva obfuscates...

E. Michael Gerli. Cervantes: Displacements, Inflections, and Transcendence. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta, 2019. 266 pp. ISBN-13: ISBN-13: 978-1588713377.

E. Michael Gerli begins his latest book with a prologue entitled “Cervantes and I,” in which he describes his personal and professional relationship with Cervantes as a journey that has led him to the realization that the best teacher and most reliable authority for the Cervantine oeuvre are the works and author, themselves. Rejecting “the existence of a science of literature and philology,” Gerli follows Américo Castro’s discovery that “Don Quijote’s radical contribution to narrative consisted in representing the on-going processes of human experience in the characters that inhabit the novel and in readers of it who seek to know their own world” (9). The rest of the book develops the textual bases for his claim, beginning with a theoretically-informed deep reading of the eruption of competing narrative voices in part one of Don Quixote, when the narrator interrupts the battle between Don Quixote and the Vizcaino with the subtly uproarious history of the lost Arabic manuscript, its translation, and the myriad problems and perspectives of interpretation that it drops into unsuspecting readers’ hands. Gerli links Castro’s recognition of the “problematical nature of the representation of truth” in Cervantes with Foucault’s concept of linguistic heterotopias (19—20), offering a productive and agile analytical framework for the complex linguistic games that Cervantes plays with his readers. The latter’s self-conscious presentation of the missing manuscript provides Gerli with prima facie evidence of the intentional and systematic production of textual and narrative lacunae and misdirection that generations of philologists have peddled as signs of Cervantes’s supposed carelessness or lack of formal aesthetic training: justification, in other words, for their continued attempts to correct the text in ways that suit their own vision of an ex post facto editio printemps.

Social Feminism and Critique of Thatcherism in Caryl Churchill's Top Girls

In modern society, despite all the wins, women have often been known to try to bring other women down. One can realize this in children's conversations, in adult stereotypes, in our movies. This in generational loop of conditioning where women who play by the patriarchal and capitalist rules of the society are rewarded more often than those who continuously challenge these social institutions. It is a bargain that a few women have been making with patriarchy to retain power. Looking away from the binaries of good or bad, right-wing feminism harps more on individualistic wins and gains of women. They celebrate women who have broken away from the visible shackles of patriarchy. Although there are far-reaching roots that are not easily visible, that holds them strongly in the foundation of their institutions. A certain whitewash has been done for the eyes to believe that society is progressing. However, the hollowness of this progress keeps making its existence felt. Written and produced during the time Conservative Party Leader, Margaret Thatcher had recently become the first Prime Minister of Britain, this play analyses the role and effects of conditional feminism in the lives of urban women- women holding a certain socio/ economic power. Through certain scenes, conversations, and debates in the play, the idea of individualistic feminism versus the idea of socialist feminism is explored. However, the constant hints of tropes of patriarchy, existing nevertheless has been the emerging highlight of the play. The tone has been set from the first scene where Marlene, a successful and ambitious woman, talks with her 'friends' over food and drinks. They hardly let each other complete their sentences but what comes out through these broken conversations is that despite the rewards, the moral punches of patriarchy have still made them suffer. So, is the bargain really worth it as patriarchy would like us to believe? This paper attempts to explore this area through a deep reading into Caryl Churchill's Top Girls.

Toward a Model of Statistical Learning and Reading: Evidence From a Meta-Analysis

A compelling demonstration of implicit learning is the human ability to unconsciously detect and internalize statistical patterns of complex environmental input. This ability, called statistical learning, has been investigated in people with dyslexia using various tasks in different orthographies. However, conclusions regarding impaired or intact statistical learning in dyslexia remain mixed. This study conducted a systematic literature search of published and unpublished studies that compared statistical learning between people with and without dyslexia using different learning paradigms in different orthographies. We identified 49 papers consisting of 59 empirical studies, representing the data from 1,259 participants with dyslexia and 1,459 typically developing controls. The results showed that, on average, individuals with dyslexia performed worse in statistical learning than age-matched controls, regardless of the learning paradigm or orthography (average weighted effect size d = 0.47, 95% confidence interval [0.36, 0.59], p &lt; .001). Meta-regression analyses further revealed that the heterogeneity of effect sizes between studies was significantly explained by one reader characteristic (i.e., verbal IQ) but no task characteristics (i.e., task paradigm, task modality, and stimulus type). These findings suggest domain-general statistical learning weakness in dyslexia across languages, and support the need for a new theoretical model of statistical learning and reading, that is, the SLR model, which elucidates how reader and task characteristics are regulated by a multicomponent memory system when establishing statistically optimal representations for deep learning and reading.

The Irish Receipt Roll of 1301–2: Data Science and Medieval Exchequer Practice

The English conquest and colonisation of Ireland, which began in the years around 1170 was accompanied by the introduction of an administrative system based on English models. From the point of view of the crown, perhaps the most important of the new offices of government that it established was the exchequer, which coordinated the financial exploitation of its Irish lordship. The exchequer generated a vast quantity of written documents recording its operations. This paper subjects one such document, detailing the sums received at the exchequer for the year 1301–2, to data science techniques in order to gain added insight into the routine functioning of the financial arm of English government in its oldest colony. It thereby also reveals previously unrecognised patterns in the nature of English power in Ireland. The purpose of the paper is not to assess the state of Irish finances in the early fourteenth century, but rather to argue that a deep reading of a single document produced by an elaborate bureaucratic system, combined with data science visualizations, can help to generate new research questions in relation to a substantial body of financial records which are soon to become more widely available to both scholars and the general public.

Living Law

Living Law Eugene Avrutin and Bruce Rosenstock (bio) Jewish Political Theology from Hermann Cohen to Hannah Arendt By Miguel Vatter. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. 348 pp. IN MEMORIAM Professor Bruce Rosenstock (1951–2023), passed away on the morning of January 5, 2023 after a long battle with cancer. A passionate activist for justice, equality, and pluralism, Professor Rosenstock taught at the University of California, Davis and at Stanford University before joining the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty in 2002. Professor Rosenstock was the author of numerous well-received books on political theology and modern Jewish philosophy, including New Men: Conversos, Christian Theology, and Society in Fifteenth-Century Castile (2002), Philosophy and the Jewish Question: Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, and Beyond (2010), and Transfinite Life: Oskar Goldberg and the Vitalist Imagination (2017). Most recently, Rosenstock was at work on a book titled "Hegel and the Holocaust," an exploration of four thinkers who have attempted to respond to the Holocaust in the terms of Hegel's philosophy. An inspiring teacher, Rosenstock was a longtime member of the Executive Committee in the Program in Jewish Culture and Society and served as the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Religion. [End Page 213] _______ Over the last couple of decades, miguel vatter has established him-self as one of the most original and penetrating scholars of Continental political thought working today. Since 2014, he has published three monographs that cover the most significant themes in the field, from biopolitics, the constitutional basis of state sovereignty and international law, to human rights and political theology (Republic of the Living: Biopolitics and the Critique of Civil Society, Fordham University Press, 2014; Divine Democracy: Political Theology after Carl Schmitt, Oxford University Pres, 2020; and the volume under review). In his always illuminating and thought-provoking close readings of the major figures of modern political philosophy, Vatter returns again and again to a set of fundamental claims around which his argument is structured: the ontological grounding of human rights in the unique emergent property (my phrasing) of humanness; state sovereignty as the usurpation of the power residing in humanness; republican democracy as the political expression of humanness; and Jewish and Christian political theology as competing discourses about the divinity of humanness versus the divinity of sovereignty. I read Vatter's work as being squarely located within the tradition of Ludwig Feuerbach and the early Marx of the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, and their concern to liberate humanness (they call it the human "species being") from its political-theological alienation. For Vatter, the deification the human sovereign is the quintessential alienation of humanness, whereas the "living law" that vests humanity with inalienable dignity restores humanness to its rightful place in the scheme of creation. What makes Vatter's work so richly rewarding is that his engagement with his chosen themes is always mediated through deep and erudite readings of the primary sources of modern political thought. The book under review here is a tour de force exposition of the major Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century, from Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig to Leo Strauss, Gershom Scholem, and Hannah Arendt (with [End Page 214] a brief discussion of Martin Buber and his influence on Arendt). Vatter's stress on the centrality of the category of Creation as the ground of human dignity makes his book a fitting complement to Benjamin Lazier's treatment of the anti-Gnostic tendency of these thinkers in God Interrupted: Heresy and the European Imagination between the World Wars (Princeton University Press, 2008). Each of Vatter's chapters builds toward a synthetic understanding of modern Jewish political theology as founded on the principle that divine sovereignty is revealed in the power of the human to freely form republican communal life under an egalitarian legal order grounded in dignity as a natal property of every human. In the book's epilogue, Vatter argues that, with the creation of the human, the "Throne of God" is emptied of its glory and transferred to the human being. Each new human birth inaugurates a new rights-bearing creature who is the only sovereign power on earth. In a synoptic statement near the conclusion of...