244 research outputs found
To avoid another Cyprus style crisis, the EU must understand how it helps to create tax havens.
The recent Cyprus crisis has thrown the problems posed by tax havens into sharp relief. But what determines which countries become tax havens? Achim Kemmerling argues that tax havens tend to occur when small countries stand to benefit from aligning their legal framework with that of a larger country. For countries such as Cyprus, EU accession and the adoption of the EU’s legal framework has greatly aided the transition to tax haven status
Lacerated Lips and Lush Landscapes: Constructing This-Worldly Theological Identities in the Otherworld
When Irenaeus juxtaposed tradition and heresy, he moved away from the Pauline usage, which centered primarily upon incorrect behavior (See 1 Cor 11: 19, Gal 5 :20). lrenaeus\u27 definition of heresy, however, does not indicate that all early Christians prioritized belief over behavior, or even maintained orthodoxy and orthopraxis as separate categories. In the otherworldly spaces of the apocryphal apocalypses doxa and praxis seem to be intertwined, and little or no distinction is made between belief and behavior. Instead, in the Otherworld the categories of primary importance are righteous/unrighteous, good/evil, Christian/Other. The Otherworld is a place in which sins can be sorted and the identity markers which might have been overlooked or are difficult to see in this world can be seen more clearly. And yet, we are left to wonder how that otherworldly clarity maps onto the lived experience of the ancient audiences of these apocalypses. Thus, we will begin by reflecting upon the ability of these apocalyptic texts to create (and recreate) Christian identity by either describing real categories of people, or by creating the categories themselves, and so prescribing reality. In each of the apocalypses that we will discuss the reader learns that his or her identity is determined for all of eternity by the choices that are made in this world. In this regard, each depiction of the otherworld establishes its own identity markers, isolating certain beliefs and behaviors as distinctively Christian.
What is startling about the definitions of Christian belief and practice that emerge from each text is that they are rather expansive, covering far more territory than any creed or council. Our discussion will demonstrate that while creedal definitions of orthodoxy ( as well as the apocalyptic definitions of correct belief that mirror them) were often aimed at labeling specific groups as other, the apocalyptic depictions of the otherworld were attempting to be either exhaustive or open-ended, imagining a host of practices that could be used to frame Christian identity.
In these imaginary spaces, the theological identities that were crafted could not simply be summarized by simple binaries like orthodoxy/heterodoxy, oppressed/oppressor, or even sinner/sinless. Instead, the apocalyptic visions, which on the surface seem to deal in dichotomies, paradoxically proliferate a range of Christian practices
The ambivalence of ritual in violence : Orthodox Christian perspectives
This article demonstrates that ritual plays an ambivalent role in the interaction between
religion and violence. Ritual triggers and gives meaning to violence, or it enforces peace and
coexistence. The first part of the article defines the ambivalence of ritual in the context of
violence. The second part surveys standard rituals of peace and violence from Hinduism,
Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The third part focuses on the ambivalent nature
of Orthodox Christian rituals.Dr Simion is participating in
the research project, ‘Political
Theology’, directed by Dr
Tanya van Wyk, Department
of Dogmatics and Christian
Ethics, Faculty of Theology,
University of Pretoria.http://www.hts.org.zaam2017Dogmatics and Christian Ethic
Extending William Baumol’s theory on entrepreneurship and institutions: lessons from post-Second World War Greece
This article examines William Baumol’s theory about the interaction between taxation and entrepreneurship and proposes an extension to it. The analysis shows that the traditional form of Baumol’s model, focusing mainly on the level of taxes, cannot be used in order to explain what happened in the Greek case. Utilising historical evidence from the mid 1950s to the late 1980s, this article confirms that problematic tax rules create difficulties for entrepreneurship and can lead to unproductive forms of it, as Baumol suggests. However, the focus here is on aspects of the system of taxation that Baumol’s model, examining solely tax rates and levels of taxation, neglected. It is shown that, as far as Greek entrepreneurship is concerned, the adverse effects of the system of taxation came not from the level of taxes, but mostly from a series of issues that increased its perceived unfairness and illegitimacy. Some of such issues were the complexity and frequent change of legislation, the insufficient organisation of the tax bureaus as well as the lack of adequate training and arbitrariness of the members of tax services. The evidence presented here suggests that Baumol’s model can be enriched by taking into consideration these aspects of taxation too
Greek Names in Iran. Some Thoughts
Disucssion des attestations des noms de personne grecs dans des textes en iranian ancie
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