Conceiving Mary's Agency: Towards a Barthian Mariology

This essay argues for the possibility of a ‘Barthian’ Mariology particularly through an analysis of human agency. I first show that Karl Barth's articulation of Mary in I/2 of the Church Dogmatics marginalizes Mary's agency in part due to his anti-Roman Catholic polemic and his gender binary. I then correct Barth with Barth by showing how his mature Christology advances an account of human agency commensurate with Mariology. With this Christological account of human agency established, I construct a genuinely ‘Barthian’ Mariology that shows her as the eschatological and prototypical human agent

Quantum versus classical phase-locking transition in a driven-chirped oscillator

Classical and quantum-mechanical phase locking transition in a nonlinear oscillator driven by a chirped frequency perturbation is discussed. Different limits are analyzed in terms of the dimensionless parameters $/\sqrt{2m\hbar \omega_{0}\alpha}$ and $P_{2}=(3\hbar \beta)/(4m\sqrt{\alpha})$ ($\epsilon,$ $\alpha,$ $\beta$ and $\omega_{0}$ being the driving amplitude, the frequency chirp rate, the nonlinearity parameter and the linear frequency of the oscillator). It is shown that for $P_{2}\ll P_{1}+1$, the passage through the linear resonance for $P_{1}$ above a threshold yields classical autoresonance (AR) in the system, even when starting in a quantum ground state. In contrast, for $$, the transition involves quantum-mechanical energy ladder climbing (LC). The threshold for the phase-locking transition and its width in $P_{1}$ in both AR and LC limits are calculated. The theoretical results are tested by solving the Schrodinger equation in the energy basis and illustrated via the Wigner function in phase space

Anonymous Prophets and Archetypal Kings: Reading 1 Kings 13

This thesis ultimately seeks to present a coherent reading of 1 Kings 13 that is attentive to literary, historical and theological concerns. I begin by summarising and evaluating the overtly theological exposition of the chapter by Karl Barth, as set out in his Church Dogmatics, and then considering how this was received and critiqued by his academic peers (Martin Klopfenstein in particular), whose questions, priorities and methods were very different to those of Barth. In this way, as well as exposing substantive material in the text for further investigation, a range of hermeneutical issues that sometimes undergird exegetical work unseen are brought into the foreground. I then bring a wider scope of opinion into the conversation by reviewing the work of other scholars as well, whose methods and priorities also diverge from those of Barth or Klopfenstein. At the same time, I categorise these studies so as to simultaneously assess different views on what 1 Kings 13 is about, and divergent views on how it is deemed best to approach this subject matter. After considering four additional readings of 1 Kings 13 in some depth, I present a more theoretical discussion about some perceived dichotomies in biblical studies that tend to surface regularly in methodological debates. I then return to Barth’s exposition via the work of David Bosworth, who aims to advocate and develop elements of Barth’s proposal for wider acceptance. After evaluating his work, I conclude with my own reading of 1 Kings 13, drawing on many of the exegetical and methodological insights presented by scholars whose lines of inquiry are not always those I would myself have chosen. Ultimately, my proffered reading, which sees Josiah as a central figure in the narrative, leans on insights from Barth and one of his harshest critics, Martin Noth

Quantum Fluctuations in the Chirped Pendulum

An anharmonic oscillator when driven with a fast, frequency chirped voltage pulse can oscillate with either small or large amplitude depending on whether the drive voltage is below or above a critical value-a well studied classical phenomenon known as autoresonance. Using a 6 GHz superconducting resonator embedded with a Josephson tunnel junction, we have studied for the first time the role of noise in this non-equilibrium system and find that the width of the threshold for capture into autoresonance decreases as the square root of T, and saturates below 150 mK due to zero point motion of the oscillator. This unique scaling results from the non-equilibrium excitation where fluctuations, both quantum and classical, only determine the initial oscillator motion and not its subsequent dynamics. We have investigated this paradigm in an electrical circuit but our findings are applicable to all out of equilibrium nonlinear oscillators.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Garciá Márquez, magic realism and language as material practice

In this essay I examine the political implications of the shifts in definition of the term, "magic realism". Magic realism as it was originally employed in the Latin-American context signified a concept different to what it is currently held to suggest in metropolitan literary discourse. Magic realism in the first world has come to be regarded as a third world reflection of its own cultural dominant, postmodernism, without an acknowledgement of the alternative material realities which inform it. I investigate these ideas through an analysis of the work of two novelists, namely, the Colombian, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the American, John Barth. In a well-known essay titled "The Literature of Replenishment", Barth names Garcia Marquez as the foremost postmodern writer. This is deceptive, I argue, since although in the essay Barth presents postmodernist fiction as a political advance on the earlier styles of realism and modernism, his own fictional practice contradicts his claim. While in the essay Barth presents postmodernism as politically significant by virtue of its "democratic impulse", his novel, Chimera, seeks to avoid the political through a flawed understanding of textuality. Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude stands in stark contrast with Chimera since it underscores the political consideration central to discourse through stressing the text's material, historical context. This distinction between the two novels is brought to light particularly through the incremental differences in their use of the techniques of "narrative circularity" and repetition. I argue, furthermore, that Garcia Marquez's emphasis on language as a material practice is, at least in part, owing to the specifics of the style of magic realism. While postmodernist fiction, one of the cultural effects of an advanced capitalism, may slide ineluctably into notions of pure textuality, magic realism, constituted as it is at the interface of pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of production, compels an acknowledgement of the material world

Bonhoeffer: Pacifism and Resistance Revisited with help from Karl Barth

This essay will look at some details of Bonhoeffer’s reflections on pacifism and resistance, with special attention to the influence of Karl Barth on his path. I will also look at the implications for our own troubled times as the Church again responds to war in Europe

The Mystical End of Finitude: Analogia Entis as Catholic Denkform

This thesis aims to show that the doctrine of analogia entis, the analogy of being, is a proper form of thought for Catholic theology, because it is based on a theological metaphysics. The thesis includes a very brief historical account of the concept of analogy in philosophical and theological metaphysics, but has for its real starting point the exclamation of Karl Barth that the analogia entis is "the invention of the Antichrist." After exploring Barth's reasons for reacting so strongly to the doctrine, I discuss some of Barth's Catholic interlocutors' attempts to resolve the dispute. Then I attend to the question of form of thought, or Denkform, a term coined by Hans Urs von Balthasar in his study The Theology of Karl Barth: Exposition and Interpretation to express "styles of truth" in Catholic theology. Finally, I consider the original proposal for the analogia entis by Erich Przywara. My conclusion is that the analogia entis exceeds the requirements for openness set by Balthasar for a Catholic form of thought, and that it, as an essentially open metaphysics, testifies to the mystical end of finitude

Mann der Tat, Enterprise Culture und Ethno-preneurs: Eine Diskussion kritischer, affirmativer und pragmatischer Entrepreneurship- Ansätze am Beispiel Spaniens

This contribution suggests a classification of different anthropological contributions to entrepreneurship research. Critical approaches to entrepreneurship focus on the ideological bias of the term. As the work of Mary Douglas, they critique the methodological individualism and the utilitarian self-concept underlying the entrepreneur. Affirmative approaches, in the tradition of Joseph Schumpeter or Frederik Barth, are concerned with the definition, understanding and transformative outcomes of entrepreneurship. Pragmatic approaches use tactically the social eminence of the term by expanding it to a wide range of apparently distant topics, such as the ‘ethno-preneur’ coined by John and Jean Comaroff. To illustrate the analytical scope of each of these approaches, I discuss some of my empirical material from Spain, such as the discourse on entrepreneurship in the 2015 parliamentary elections, the case of a media entrepreneur in rural Andalusia and the politics of heritage entrepreneurship and the Mediterranean diet in Catalonia

Hopeful realism: a theological ethic of contemporary conflict, reflecting critically on the writings of Karl Barth and H. Richard Niebuhr concerning the Second World War

Karl Barth and H. Richard Niebuhr both attempted to understand the Second World War in theologically realistic fashions. Barth has been termed a "critically realistic thinker" in recent scholarship, as he uses both realism and idealism to argue against anthropocentric theology and ethics, including traditional just-war theories. He maintains that God must always be primary, the one who determines good and evil; therefore theology and ethics must always be theocentric not anthropocentric. Good is, according to Barth, that which God commands. This leads him to argue for a divine-command ethic in which God speaks to concrete persons in concrete situations.H. Richard Niebuhr, who belonged to the Christian Realists in the United States, argues from a very similar theological basis as Barth, but ends up with an ethics ofresponsibility rather than a divine-command morality. According to Niebuhr, human beings are responders, who respond in answer to prior action upon them. The primary question for ethics is therefore what is happening, to what must I respond in this situation and how ought I respond to it. In attempting to determine the fitting response, one must also attempt to understand what the response to my responding action will be. This model assists in understanding the events that lead up to and occur during war and can help to build a more stable peace.Both Barth and Niebuhr attempted to understand the particular events of the Second World War in a theological and Christian way. Their insights provide assistance in our response to situations that may require the governmental use of force, i.e. military action, peacekeeping missions and humanitarian missions. The world situation, however, has changed since World War II; there are now more armed conflicts between non-State groups, such as civil and ethnic wars. Therefore, both Barth and Niebuhr's ethics of war from that time require some modification to deal with current events. Barth's theological rejection of anthropocentrism remains the framework for any Christian ethic dealing with contemporary uses of military force, but his divine-command morality leaves little room for moral debate and discussion, especially in a multi-cultural setting. H. Richard Niebuhr's ethics of response provides a model for ethical decision-making which allows for moral discourse amongst various persons of different cultures and religions. It also helps us to understand the situations to which governments may have to respond with force. Yet Niebuhr's ethics, with its emphasis on the question of what is happening in a given situation, has difficulty in providing assistance for contemporary decision making concerning the use of force. By bringing Barth and Niebuhr into dialogue with each other concerning the Second World War, we can see how a theology of hopeful realism aids us in forming a model for Christian ethical decision-making concerning the use of force in the current situation. This hopefully realistic model, based on interpreting God's activity in history, takes the situation seriously yet is able to respond to that situation with Christian hope. It does this by understanding human beings not as rational beings who seek logic and rationality in all their experiences but as symbol users who strive to understand themselves and their world by means of symbols, or patterns, from their past. For Christians, Jesus Christ is central to the symbols they use. This then provides for the use of Trinitarian symbols to understand the ethical problem presented by war