The Heavenly Sanctuary/Temple Motif in the Hebrew Bible : Function and Relationship to the Earthly Counterparts

The present dissertation investigates the function of the heavenly sanctuary/temple and its relationship to the earthly counterparts, as reflected in forty-three passages of Hebrew Bible. Following an introductory chapter, the second chapter of this dissertation is devoted to a survey of the heavenly sanctuary/temple motif in the ANE literature, as represented by Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Egyptian texts. The investigation of these texts reveals that the heavenly sanctuary/temple motif was part of the worldview of the ANE, where the heavenly sanctuary was not only assumed as existing in heaven, but also as functioning in close relationship to the earthly counterparts. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are devoted to the exegesis of heavenly sanctuary/temple passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, according to the canonical divisions of the Hebrew Bible (namely Torah, Prophets, and Writings). This investigation reveals the pervasive presence of the heavenly sanctuary/temple motif in the Hebrew Bible and provides a broad delineation of its function and relationship to the earthly counterparts. It has been found that the heavenly sanctuary temple functions as a place of divine activities where YHWH supervises the cosmos, performs acts of judgment (sometimes conceived as a two-stage activity in which the execution of the sentence was preceded by an investigative phase), hears the prayers of the needy, and bestows atonement and forgiveness upon the sinners. The perception also emerged of the heavenly sanctuary/temple as a place of worship, a meeting place for the heavenly council, and an object of attack by anti-YHWH forces, thus playing a pivotal role in the cosmic battle between good and evil. In terms of its relationship to the earthly counterparts, it becomes apparent that the heavenly sanctuary/temple was understood to operate in structural and functional correspondence to the earthly counterparts. Moreover, some texts reveal a dynamic interaction between heavenly and earthly sanctuaries/temples, inasmuch as the activities of one could affect the other. Chapter 6 presents a theological synthesis of the heavenly sanctuary/temple motif based on the previous chapters. Some consideration is given to the similarities and differences between the heavenly sanctuary/temple motif as found in the Hebrew Bible and in its ANE background. Next, attention is devoted to some theological implications of the heavenly sanctuary/temple motif for the notions of judgment, cosmic battle, and covenant. To conclude, the Hebrew Bible conceives of the heavenly sanctuary/temple in functional and structural correspondence with its earthly counterpart with both sanctuaries/temples operating in dynamic interaction

Genomic and expression analysis of microdissected inflammatory breast cancer

PURPOSE: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a unique clinical entity characterized by rapid onset of erythema and swelling of the breast often without an obvious breast mass. Many studies have examined and compared gene expression between IBC and non-IBC (nIBC), repeatedly finding clusters associated with receptor subtype, but no consistent gene signature associated with IBC has been validated. Here we compared microdissected IBC tumor cells to microdissected nIBC tumor cells matched based on estrogen and HER-2/neu receptor status. METHODS: Gene expression analysis and comparative genomic hybridization were performed. An IBC gene set and genomic set were identified using a training set and validated on the remaining data. The IBC gene set was further tested using data from IBC consortium samples and publically available data. RESULTS: Receptor driven clusters were identified in IBC; however no IBC-specific gene signature was identified. Fifteen genes were correlated between increased genomic copy number and gene overexpression data. An expression-guided gene set upregulated in the IBC training set clustered the validation set into two clusters independent of receptor subtype but segregated only 75% of samples in each group into IBC or nIBC. In a larger consortium cohort and in published data the gene set failed to optimally enrich for IBC samples. However, this gene set had a high negative predictive value for excluding the diagnosis of IBC in publically available data (100%). An IBC enriched genomic data set accurately identified 10/16 cases in the validation data set. CONCLUSIONS: Even with microdissection, no IBC-specific gene signature distinguishes IBC from nIBC. Using microdissected data, a validated gene set was identified that is associated with IBC tumor cells. IBC comparative genomic hybridization data are presented, but a validated genomic data set that identifies IBC is not demonstrated