Divine Anger Research Articles

From City to Lake: Flood Legends, Place-Making and Changing Landscapes

As displayed by several myths and legends, water is a powerful means of destruction and reconfiguration of natural and human landscapes. This is especially evident when a flood is sent by god(s) or supernatural beings to punish sinful people and corrupt cities. Generally, this kind of catastrophe brings about the disappearance of a whole human community and the resulting transformation of a certain place. However, it may also happen that one or few persons, because of their piety or righteousness, are spared by the divine anger, sometimes along with their houses or something else. The present work starts from a discovery on the field of a local legend concerning Lake Varano, a coastal body of water in the Gargano peninsula (Apulia, Italy). According to this legend, Lake Varano would be the outcome of an ancient flood, sent by God to punish a prosperous and corrupt city, Uria, once flourishing in the place of the lake. Just like other more famous floods, this local flood is meant to mark a transition between an evil past, embodied by the sunken Uria, and a good present, embodied by a little church, formerly the house of the only survivor, Nunzia, a pious woman. As part of the broader corpus of flood narratives, this legend and the other ones here considered distinguish themselves as featuring a lake, which physically and symbolically shapes and connotes the religious, historical and geographical identity of a local community. Starting from Lake Varano’s origin legend, a structural and thematic analysis is conducted on a number of similar legends, in order to identify, classify and understand a particular category of narrative folklore, characterized by a significant interplay between water (flood- and lake-lore), history (ancient cities vanished), religious beliefs (retributive gods) and moral principles (evil and good). Eventually, such a comparative work will lead back to Lake Varano’s legend, because of the peculiarity of its heroine; unlike all the other survivors, who are passively rescued from a flood, Nunzia plays indeed an active part in the drama, thus resulting a co-author, with the flood, of a local place-making, that is the main concern of these legends.

The Wanderer and the Legacy of Pathetic Fallacy

The Old English poem known as The Wanderer has long been said to rely on the device of ‘pathetic fallacy’ in its descriptions of stormy and frozen land- and seascapes. This piece of literary-critical terminology has strong ties to both Romantic and realist aesthetic ideals of the nineteenth century, and this paper outlines the assumptions which underpin the term and questions our continued use of it when discussing The Wanderer. By pointing us towards the external world as a projection of the interior psychological world of the ‘wanderer’ figure, the term obscures two key features of the text. Firstly, the label sweeps to the side the literal significance of the material world to which the poem’s central speaker responds, despite the fact that this landscape bears marks of divine anger and potency and seems to participate in the Augustinian tradition of the degraded Sixth Age of the World. Secondly, the term points us towards a dramatic characterisation of a single heroic-age nobleman in a manner that the text is itself relatively uninterested in pursuing, instead emphasising conditions of exile, isolation, and despair as universalised spiritual problems. Seeing this poem as governed by pathetic fallacy distracts us from such facets, when other interpretive frameworks have more to offer.

Pictures of you: God images, gun ownership, and empowerment in the United States

AbstractObjectiveIn the current study, we seek to shed new light on the role of religion in American gun culture by considering whether images people hold of God affect the probability of gun ownership and the experience of empowerment through guns for religious Americans (i.e., the extent to which owners derive security, identity, and status from their guns).MethodsWe analyze nationally representative data from the 2021 Baylor Religion Survey in the United States. Binary logistic and ordinary least squares regression models were used.ResultsWe failed to observe any associations between God images and gun ownership. However, among gun owners (n = 430), belief in an engaged God was associated with lower levels of gun empowerment, while belief in a judgmental God was associated with higher levels.ConclusionGod images may contribute to the experience of empowerment through guns by representing spiritual connection and intimacy or divine anger and retribution. We suggest that future research delve deeper into the intersection of God images and gun‐related beliefs and behaviors.

Anger: A Secularized Theological Concept

ABSTRACT Media accounts often suggest that anger motivates the rise of populist political movements. Indeed, populism and anger are so closely associated in popular discourse as to become almost one: populism just is angry people doing politics. And today, many people are angry. I class accounts of anger into two groups. Some cultural critics and philosophers take anger as a fitting response to a wrong. Others take anger, or at least a certain type of anger, as opaque, directed at the injustices baked into a normative order. By turning to accounts of anger from the Hebrew Bible, where human and divine anger is closely tied with authority, I argue that the opaque concept of anger is often forgotten, or repressed. When it is recovered, we are attuned to questions of domination, and to possibilities for flourishing in a radically different world.

„wie man sich mit Gottes hülffe vor der vergifftung bewaren”. (Nie)użyteczne zalecenia w zakresie ochrony przed zarazą w drukach gdańskich fizyków miejskich z XVI w.

“Wie man sich mit Gottes hülffe vor der vergifftung bewaren”. (No)useful recommendations for protection against plague in the prints of Gdańsk (Danzig) city physicians in the XVIth century The plagues that appeared cyclically and with a relatively high frequency were for the urban communities of the Middle Ages and the early modern era an experience almost permanently inscribed in everyday life. As part of the struggle against epidemics, in addition to administrative measures taken by the authorities, there began to appear from the end of the XVth century anti-epidemic compendia edited by city physicians (thus medical persons with university education) and intended for a wider audience; they became especially popular in the German cultural area during the XVIth century. It was no different in Gdańsk (Danzig), wherea high level of medicine, and the practice of employing as city physicians well-educated medical persons (from German and Protestant universities) by the city authorities, resulted in the publication of numerous prints of this type. In total, in the years 1508−1588 in Gdańsk (Danzig) seven compendiums of this type were published. They contained general recommendations for protection against plague based on Galen’s medical system relating to the so-called six unnatural things (res non naturales); they were part of a trend of popular medical literature containing “rules of health” (regimen sanitatis). The recommendations contained in the prints by Gdańsk (Danzig) city physicians of the XVIth century concerned, therefore, the preservation of unpolluted air in the city, taking sanitary measures, proper diet and physical condition, as well as “surgical” treatments (taking baths in a bathhouse, using laxatives, phlebotomy), and pharmacological care (they were also supervisors of the city pharmacy at that time). These recommendations, however, were not practical advice (contrary to their titles) that could be fully applied in a time of plague; rather, they represented the state of academic medical knowledge of that time and were only a manifestation of its popularization resulting from the medical personnel’s duties. A separate place was found for considerations on a kind of “medical theology”, related to the commonly shared view that the cause of the epidemic was divine anger interpreted as a punishment for sins. This was of particular importance in the confessional order (with a Lutheran dominant) that was taking shape in Gdańsk (Danzig) during the XVIth century.

Forbidden Fruit and Fig Leaves: Reading the Bible with the Shamed by Judith Rossall

Reviewed by: Forbidden Fruit and Fig Leaves: Reading the Bible with the Shamed by Judith Rossall Reed Lessing judith rossall, Forbidden Fruit and Fig Leaves: Reading the Bible with the Shamed (London: SCM, 2020). Pp. v + 216. Paper $35. Rossall, a tutor in church history and preaching at the Queen’s Foundation in Birmingham, UK, presents a biblical and pastoral approach for people who exist in deep-seated shame. The problem, R. argues, is that the church has plenty to say about guilt but is frequently silent about shame. God cares, however, about both the damage done by us and the damage done to us. “Read the Bible carefully and it says as much about shame as it does about guilt” (p. vii). Throughout this book the author maintains that Christian theology says too much about the sinner and not enough about those wounded by sin, which frequently leads to shame. What is shame? Shame distorts how we see ourselves and how we think God sees us. “Shame involves a form of knowledge that sees accurately but judges harshly, and knowledge that consists in unforgiving scrutiny” (p. 10). People whose lives are darkened by shame often use most of their emotional energy to fight their shameful thoughts. At the heart of shame is the feeling of worthlessness that brings with it depression, blame, and/or aggression against others. Shame, in and of itself, is shaming—it is a vicious circle. To unpack these ideas biblically as well as offer solutions, R. combines a close reading of texts (both biblical and ancient Roman) with social and psychological sensitivity. She reaches back into the world of the Bible and forward into twenty-first century application. R. consistently pays attention to the Bible’s historical, literary, and rhetorical nuances, while also combining pastoral sensitivity. Rossall’s exegesis of Job 42:6 is outstanding. She notes how most English versions (e.g., RSV, NASB, ESV) have Job despising himself and repenting in dust and ashes. The problem with this translation, though, is that it attributes to Job the very response his friends urge upon him throughout the book and that he has been resisting with all his might. Further, in Job 42:7 God announces divine anger against the “friends” while commending Job for speaking rightly. [End Page 325] What is going on? R. points out that contextually the Hebrew verb mā’as—normally rendered “despise/reject/retract”—is better understood as “dissolving/melting.” Job is expressing his complete awe and wonder after seeing God. R. then translates the second line of Job 42:6 as, “I turn away concerning the dust and ashes.” According to this reading, Job is overwhelmed by God’s revelation and changes his mind about dust and ashes. He is moving beyond misery and shame. Rossall doesn’t argue that all shame is bad. She points to Jer 6:15 and 8:12, where the problem with Judah’s leaders is that they were shameless—they didn’t know how to blush. There was nothing to keep their behavior in check. There is a shame, therefore, that keeps people practicing proper hygiene and not acting on every impulse. “Good shame reminds us that there is an appropriate way to be concerned about what others think of us, without being dominated by their opinions.” (p. 72) In what R. identifies as the heart of her book, she carefully unpacks the suffering, crucifixion, and death of Jesus who stood in the place of both the injured (the shamed) and the offender (the guilty). Shame is difficult for us, yet it was catastrophic in the days of Jesus. “Society had a much stronger sense that a person could be ‘put to shame’ by people” (p. 170). R. surveys ancient Roman literature and arrives at this conclusion—the heart of crucifixion was its utter and unspeakable shame. What is more, the group of men in a position to honor Christ (the disciples and Jewish leaders) betrayed, denied, judged, condemned, and treated him with contempt—thus piling up the shame. R. then clarifies the Pauline hymn in Phil 2:5–11, stating, “Humble service, putting others first, accepting even the humiliation of the cross...

House of Weeping: The Motif of Tears in Akkadian and Hebrew Prayers

House of Weeping: The Motif of Tears in Akkadian and Hebrew Prayers

The Violence of the Biblical God: Canonical Narrative and Christian Faith by L. Daniel Hawk

Reviewed by: The Violence of the Biblical God: Canonical Narrative and Christian Faith by L. Daniel Hawk Eric A. Seibert l. daniel hawk, The Violence of the Biblical God: Canonical Narrative and Christian Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019). Pp. xviii + 222. Paper $35. In his newest book, Dan Hawk addresses one of the most challenging theological issues in the Hebrew Bible: divine violence. H. is well positioned to write on this subject given his extensive scholarship on the Book of Joshua throughout his career. The Violence of the Biblical God consists of nine chapters, a bibliography, and indexes (author, subject, and Scripture). In chap. 1, H. acknowledges the difficulties many readers have with the violence of God in the OT. He then reviews a number of approaches (e.g., allegorical, historical-critical) that have been taken to remove, or resolve, the problems these texts ostensibly create. H. finds these approaches unsatisfactory and proposes an alternate way forward. He believes we should read the Bible “with a focus on how it narrates [End Page 482] God’s experience of and work in a violent world” (p. 17; emphasis mine). Therefore, H. focuses exclusively on the world of the text. With this approach, the majority of the book, chaps. 2–7, is devoted to a close reading of selected OT narratives. H. attempts to explain Yhwh’s relationship to the violence narrated in the text, and he offers various explanations for why God gets entangled in warfare and killing. H. sees God learning, growing, changing, and adapting to events and people along the way. In chap. 2, H. explores Genesis 1–11, emphasizing that human violence was not God’s original intention for the world but rather results from “humanity’s determination to make the world in its own image and likeness” (p. 23). H. challenges the notion that God responds angrily to Adam and Eve’s disobedience, Cain’s murder, the violent antediluvian population, or the tower builders. Rather than seeing God’s actions as primarily punitive, H. believes God reacts to the world and engages it for the purpose of restoration. In chap. 3, H. describes the way Yhwh binds himself to Abraham in a move that will necessarily embroil Yhwh in further acts of violence. Yhwh will be faithful to Abraham even if that means behaving violently toward those, like Pharaoh, who inadvertently “wrong” Abraham (see Gen 12:10–20). H. also regards the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, like the flood, as “an acceleration of a process of ruination” rather than an act of divine judgment (p. 60). In chap. 4, H. discusses how Yhwh must deliver the Hebrew people from Egyptian oppression in order to honor the divine promise made to the patriarchs. Yet sending plagues, hardening Pharaoh’s heart, and decimating Egypt’s army do more than liberate Hebrew slaves; they demonstrate Yhwh’s absolute supremacy. The destruction of chaotic human powers and structures makes way for Yhwh to reorder the world and to make space for a new creation in and through the people of Israel. Chapter 5 deals with the second part of Exodus, briefly noting the covenant made between Yhwh and Israel and mostly concentrating on the golden calf debacle, which represents the covenant being broken. H. emphasizes how this represents the first time divine anger is connected to divine violence (p. 104). In chap. 6, H. explores Yhwh’s deepening involvement in violence through Yhwh’s allowance of a king in Israel. Because of this decision, H. believes “Yahweh is drawn into the contests of power and violence that define the ends and means of monarchies” (p. 117). In chap. 7, H. turns his attention to the conquest narrative in the Book of Joshua. He disputes the commonly held assumption that the slaughter of the Canaanites was an act of divine judgment. Instead, he argues it is a necessary step Yhwh must take to clear the land so that an alternative kind of community can be formed. Yet, for all this effort and the massive amount of violence it required, H. says, “Yahweh’s grand plan, to heal the world by identifying with a people, ends in disaster” (p. 169). In light...

ROLE OF CULTURE TOWARDS COMMUNITY PERCEPTION ABOUT MENTAL DISORDER

Mental disorders cause significant morbidity because they are accompanied by other pandemics namely stigma and discrimination. Culture forms the expression, perception and treatment preferences so that each culture has its way of explaining mental disorders based on a set of beliefs and practices in determining the cause, health assistance seeking behavior and treatment/care options based on the prevailing local belief system and norms culture that influences an individual’s decision to seek and follow up on treatment and care. The objective of this study is to review the literature on the role of culture on people’s perceptions of mental disorders. Literature used in this study were obtained from relevant databases including EBSCO, PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar / Scholar are searched using a combination of search terms “culture” and “perception” and “mental illness” or “mental disorder”. Criteria for articles used are those published in 2004-2018. The results of this review include the causes of mental disorders including Divine anger, the presence of evil spirits, stress, biogenetic, psychobiological, social, air pollution. Symptoms of mental disorders in the form of changes in behavior, eccentric behavior, wandering. Treatment and care options through clinical, social intervention, and spiritual and religious healing. Community perceptions about mental disorders vary and the behavior of seeking health assistance in the community is influenced by the value system adopted. Culture influences perceptions about the causes of mental disorders, health assistance seeking behavior and treatment/care choices.

Lactantius on the Death of Galerius: A Re-Reading of De Mortibus Persecutorum 33

Abstract Lactantius on the Death of Galerius. This paper argues that De mortibus reflects in a practical fashion two central themes in Lactantian thought: firstly, that the existence of divine anger is proof of the action of divine providence in the world, and secondly that the Roman Empire could be made Christian. To illustrate these points, it looks closely at the death of the emperor Galerius, who dies in De mortibus 33 from a disease that causes his body to produce worms, which culminates in the issuing of an edict of toleration. Using a combination of close reading and contextualization, this article argues that Lactantius moves beyond a narrative of divine punishment to suggest that the death of Galerius is necessary for the reshaping of the imperial office, and by extension the entire Roman Empire, in the person of Constantine.

Saint Thomas Aquinas on Salvation, Making Satisfaction, and the Restoration of Friendship with God

Saint Thomas Aquinas on Salvation, Making Satisfaction, and the Restoration of Friendship with God1 Rik Van Nieuwenhove THE THEMES OF “making satisfaction” and (to a lesser extent) “merit” in the thought of Thomas Aquinas are worth revisiting.2 A number of scholars have claimed that the seeds of a penal understanding of salvation lie in Aquinas’s notion of satisfaction. In contrast to St. Anselm, who operated with a strict distinction between punishment and making satisfaction, Aquinas, so they allege, would have blurred this distinction by introducing the notion of poena satisfactoria. In this manner Aquinas would have “paved the way” for a penal understanding of salvation. Gerald O’Collins, for instance, has argued that Aquinas’s soteriology contributed to the development of “a monstrous version of redemption: Christ as [End Page 521] the penal substitute propitiating the divine anger.”3 O’Collins further attempts to substantiate this claim by arguing that the language of divine appeasement is present throughout Aquinas’s writings. Others see this alleged rupture with Anselm as a cause for quiet gratification: a reading in which Aquinas supposedly anticipates some of the views of the Reformers strengthens their status as legitimate exponents of the tradition.4 There are undoubtedly important differences between Anselm and Aquinas. For example, Aquinas, perhaps following William of Auvergne’s own Cur Deus homo, allows for a plurality of models whereas Anselm offers only one. More importantly, in contrast to Anselm, Aquinas rightly emphasizes the need for our participation in Christ’s redemptive work: through the intimate union between Christ and his Body, the faithful can share in the merits of Christ.5 Thus, a genuine exchange can take place whereby Christ’s suffering can be satisfactory for us because of his union as Head with us, his Body; and our sufferings can become a participation in Christ’s, allowing us to become more [End Page 522] Christ-like.6 Moreover, as I will argue in this article, Aquinas will subtly but significantly recast Anselm’s doctrine in light of charity and friendship with God, where demands of a just retribution are not as stringent as they would be amongst those who are not friends. Before I delve into the main argument, a preliminary observation is in order. In my view, “making satisfaction” is neither the most innovative nor the most important theme in Aquinas’s soteriology. The young Aquinas follows Peter Lombard (and early thirteenth-century Scholastics) in book 3 of his commentary on the Sentences, distinction 18, focussing primarily on the merit that Christ attains through his charity.7 Distinction 19, however, offers a more diverse picture. Here Aquinas mentions other models, such as liberation from sin and the devil, redemption, and reconciliation. In distinction 20 we encounter the theme of making satisfaction (with one explicit reference to Anselm’s Cur Deus homo).8 References to making satisfaction and Anselm’s Cur Deus homo surface more frequently in book 4, especially in the treatise on penance, where we find an entire quaestio dedicated to it.9 This link between satisfaction and penitential practices is not without significance, as I hope to show in this article. Also, it is fair to say that Aquinas’s emphasis on distinct models evolves. In his commentary on the Sentences merit is the most important model of salvation. The theme of making satisfaction dominates the discussion in Summa contra Gentiles III, chapter 55. By the time he writes the Summa theologiae III, question 48, Aquinas presents a balanced account, offering a richly diverse picture of models of atonement, such as merit, making satisfaction, redemption, and especially sacrifice, which now receives an attention it had not enjoyed in his earlier [End Page 523] theological syntheses and which may very well be the most important one (as STh III, q. 48, a. 6, ad 3 appears to suggest).10 In what follows I want to consider whether a penal reading of Aquinas’s soteriology is plausible. I will first deal, albeit briefly, with the issue of the language of divine anger; second, and in more detail, I will discuss the notions of satisfaction and poena satisfactoria.11 After this I will treat of merit, charity...

God Our Father as a Script of Intimacy for those Suffering Shame

Feelings of shame are normal when suffering guilt from sin, but the church too often gives congregants a simplistic “shame script,” which paints God only as an angry or disappointed judge and so circumvents a lasting relational intimacy with him. For those who struggle to approach God because of the shame they suffer from past sins and current temptations, recent psychological research provides some insight. I demonstrate: those who agonize over feelings of shame need new “cultural scripts” and “life scripts” by which to flourish, new narratives wherein a healthier view of God, self and community might emerge. The starting point is a proper biblical script of God as our Father, a vision of God the Father that resists one-dimensional notions of divine anger and disappointment. A more robust, intimate and grace-filled concept of God the Father, in other words, provides relief to the sufferers of unhealthy shame.

PRODIGIES, THE PAX DEUM AND THE IRA DEUM

In this article, I examine the relationship between prodigies and the pax and ira deum. I follow Santangelo in arguing that prodigies did not represent ruptures in the pax deum. Instead, they were simply signs that the pax deum was needed to avoid some impending disaster. In addition, I argue against the traditional understanding of prodigies as expressions of the ira deum brought about by Roman error: although prodigies were sometimes the result of ritual mistakes, they could also simply happen, with no connection at all to human action or divine anger.

Review of Grant, Deena E., Divine Anger in the Hebrew Bible (CBQMS, 52; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2014).

Review of Grant, Deena E., Divine Anger in the Hebrew Bible (CBQMS, 52; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2014).

Divine Anger and Repentance

Sistine Chapel, Michel-Ange, detail, ARR The interdisciplinary seminar “Divine Anger and Repentance” was held within the framework of the Chair of the Hebrew Bible and its Contexts on 24 and 25 April 2013. Upon Professor Thomas Romer’s invitation, the idea was once again to bring together around a common theme Biblicists, Assyriologists, and specialists of Egypt, Greece, Ancient Rome, and of the Arab world. Divine anger is a theme shared by all ancient civilizations and which still lives on ...

Lashed by sharks, pelted by demons, drowned for apostasy: the value of myths that explain geohazards in the Asia-Pacific region

The critical analysis of myths (traditional oral tales) can lead to an improved understanding of geohazards. This paper examines three groups of myths (volcano, earthquake, and coastal change) from Asia-Pacific cultures and shows how their analysis might contribute to the identification of unrealized geohazards in particular places as well as the magnitudes and recurrence intervals of these hazards. Many volcano myths involve gods within the mountains who are periodically angered and punish the people living nearby; through gifts, volcano gods are appeased, a process that has been widespread in parts of the Asia-Pacific region. Other volcano myths allow people to recognize eruption precursors or identify eruption locations. Earthquake myths often involve an animal within the Earth failing to support it upright. More recently, earthquakes have been interpreted as an expression of divine anger at the state of (local) human affairs. Myths also refer to earthquake precursors and have proved effective in eliciting appropriate community responses following tsunamigenic earthquakes. Coastal-change myths are more likely to be memories of long-term (postglacial) coastal change on which extreme-wave events were superimposed. The latter are the most memorable details in myths but the consequences of these events can be explained only by long-term change. Abrupt changes to Asia-Pacific coasts have also been captured by myths, ranging from local collapses of cliffed coasts to the disappearance of entire islands in the Pacific Ocean. Myths can supply information around the nexus of geological and historical data sources, particularly between 102 and 104 years ago. As such, myths have the potential to contribute “missing” data to long-term geohazard chronologies and thereby improve hazard understanding and preparedness. Myths from Asia-Pacific cultures that refer to community responses to geohazards can also be useful in contemporary strategies for awareness-raising. Geographers are uniquely qualified to identify and interpret myths that refer to geohazards. There is potential for many more such myths to be gathered from the Asia-Pacific region.

Anger and Adjudication: The Political Relevance of De ira dei

Written perhaps in 316 CE, Lactantius' De ira dei touched upon issues of direct contemporary relevance. Foremost among these were questions relevant to imperial deportment and authority: as the emperor, Constantine held the position of the highest judge, but as a Christian, this position had to be ceded to the Christian God. One's model for the Christian God further influenced one's resolution of this tension, for it could dictate the appropriate actions and reactions as well as the proper procedures for the adjudication of religious offenses. The oft-studied Donatist controversy demonstrates how these more abstract ideas had an impact upon contemporary political and religious decisions. In Constantine's handling of that controversy, we see the effects of Lactantius' arguments in De ira dei . Further, the model that Lactantius proposes for the resolution of divine anger has a clear ancestor in Roman religious thought. As an advocate of a classical Roman idea of kingship and the relationship between god and mortals, the Christian apologist shows himself to run counter to established trends.

Gender and Prophecy in Late Medieval Valencia

Gender and Prophecy in Late Medieval Valencia Ronald E. Surtz This essay contrasts and compares the careers of two visionaries, one male (Agostí Ferrandis), the other female (Tecla Servent). Both had prophetic careers in the same geographic area, the Kingdom of Valencia, at the end of the fifteenth century, and the authenticity of the messages of both was questioned by the ecclesiastical establishment. I will argue that, while the issue of gender is always relevant to the visionary experience and to the discernment of spirits, Ferrandis’s status as a male cleric did not guarantee the automatic acceptance of his divine messages, nor was Servent’s status as a laywomen automatically detrimental to her prophetic career. Agostí Ferrandis, vicar of the Dominican monastery of Corpus Christi in Lutxent, announced in a sermon delivered in that town around Christmas of 1475 that the Virgin Mary had appeared to him and warned that people should mend their ways, for her son was greatly angered at humankind.1 In [End Page 299] the sermon the friar preached on New Year’s Day in the cathedral of Xàtiva, he predicted that a frightful sign of divine anger would be visible everywhere in the world, but only God knew whether that portent would consist of floods, fire, or earthquakes. The Virgin Mary urged people, he alleged, to repent, go to confession, receive the Eucharist, and pardon wrongs done to them so as to be in a state of grace when the terrible moment came. Those who repented would be saved, while sinners would perish. Ferrandis also predicted that as a sign that his predictions would come true, he would disappear from the world before the month of March (Dietari 374). The aldermen of Valencia sent the nobleman Joan de Pròxita to invite Ferrandis to preach in that city. The friar arrived there on 25 January 1476, lodging in the home of the lawyer Miquel Albert.2 On Sunday, 27 January, he delivered a sermon in the cathedral of Valencia in which he reiterated that he had seen the Virgin Mary, and he exhorted all to repent, claiming that only those in a state of grace would be saved from the approaching calamity. The following Monday he preached once again in the cathedral and claimed that the Virgin had appeared to him twice the preceding night; his sermon moved the members of the congregation to forgive one another, confess their sins, and receive communion. Ferrandis then went on to disseminate his message of repentance in nearby cities and towns, where numerous people from Valencia followed him and his words inspired many to convert to a holier life. On Friday, 9 February, the friar returned to Valencia, but Guillem de Vich (the vicar general of cardinal Rodrigo de Borja, the city’s archbishop) and the royal governor Joan Roiz de Corella forbade him to continue to preach in Valencia, and so on 13 February he returned to his monastery in Lutxent (374–75).3 [End Page 300] Miquel Albert reported by letter to the town council of Valencia that he had followed Ferrandis to Lutxent and that on 22 February it was discovered that the friar had disappeared from his cell.4 A few days later he was located in the hermitage of Santa Ana, to which, no longer wishing to preach, he had retired to engage in penitential acts (376).5 Was this what Ferrandis had meant when he had announced at Christmas in Xàtiva that he would disappear from the world? On 4 July the canons of the cathedral chapter met and voted that Ferrandis’s supernatural experiences were due to diabolic temptation, not divine inspiration (“que hera temptacio e no cosa divina” [376]).6 Only master Bernat Peres considered the friar’s lifestyle holy (“era de santa vida”) and believed that all he had said was the truth. On 10 August Joan de Pròxita, who had been a great admirer of Ferrandis, died, and his widow bid Ferrandis come to Valencia and requested that he and the other friars pray for her husband’s soul (376).7 Taking advantage of the friar’s presence in Valencia, the diocese’s vicar...

Natural hazard mapping across the world. A comparative study between a social approach and an economic approach to vulnerability

Over the last twenty years, natural disasters have occupied an important place in our minds and in the media. These disasters have been considered in the past as the manifestation of divine anger or fate, but scientific progress has brought a rationalization in ways of thinking, making us less tolerant towards them. While many studies have focused on the characterisation of the physical processes that lead to these phenomena, few studies have sought to produce a global estimation of the exposure of the different countries across the world to natural hazards, exploring different approaches to vulnerability. The aim of our paper is to present a comparative study of risk exposure for each country, combining two approaches to their vulnerability (social and economic), and a probabilistic approach to hazards. This work highlights the fact that, using a social approach to vulnerability, great inequalities are observed between “rich” countries and “poor” countries where the latter present higher levels of exposure to risk, while using an economic approach to vulnerability, “rich” countries present the highest levels of exposure to risk.

Biblical Prophecy—A Scribal Enterprise. The Old Testament Prophecy of Unconditional Judgement considered as a Literary Phenomenon

AbstractAt the heart of the biblical prophetic books is scribal reinterpretation of earlier prophetic legacies. These legacies testify to prophetic activity in Israel and Judah—kinds of prophecy which in essence resembled prophetic and other divinatory activity found elsewhere in the ancient Near East. It was however the scribal reception, revision, and elaboration of these earlier legacies that gave rise to “biblical prophecy” and prompted the development of the prophetic books. In this process of reinterpretation the ‘prophets’ were removed from the realm of divination. They became to be portrayed as isolated figures, contra society, commissioned by Yahweh to declare his message of unconditional and total destruction. Through their ‘message’ the disastrous events that had befallen the states of Israel and Judah were explained (ex eventu) as being due to divine anger. This was in fact the common explanation for calamities, used throughout the ancient Near Eastern world.