Jesus: a revolutionary biography

Reviewed Book: Crossan, John Dominic. Jesus: a revolutionary biography. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994

Studying the judgement sayings in Q

Eschatology, the Sayings Gospel Q and the historical Jesus have made for a confusing mixture. Most of the recent specialist studies of the composition and thought of the Sayings Gospel, regardless of what they conclude about Q’s eschatology, have quite self-consciously been about Q and not the historical Jesus. Yet for reasons that remain obscure, many of those who use Q studies or wish to detract from Q studies conclude that they really are about Jesus, thus concluding, rather bizarrely, that the stratigraphic studies of Q that stress the sapiential genre of its formative elements are in fact covert claims that the historical Jesus is ‘merely’ a sage. I say ‘bizarre’, as they would not, presumably, confuse Mark’s portrait of Jesus with the historical Jesus.Book review : The historical Jesus and the final judgment sayings in Q / Brian H. Gregg. Publisher : Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2006, pp. xiv, 346.http://www.hts.org.zahb201

Disaffiliation in associations and the ἀποσυναγωγός of John

This article tries to understand what might have been at stake for the synagogue from which the Johannine Jesus partisans had been expelled and what was at stake in the coinage of the term ἀποσυναγωγός. It we refuse to accept naively John’s overlexicalised and retrospective account of the grounds for expulsions and pay attention to the practices of other groups in articulating a disciplinary code, I suggest that what was at stake was deviant behaviour on the part of the Johannine Jesus-partisans: either failure to comply with the larger group’s practices concerning Sabbath observance, or more likely, clique formation.http://www.hts.org.z

An unexpected patron : a social-scientific and realistic reading of the parable of the Vineyard Labourers (Mt 20:1–15)

Many readings of the Parable of the Labourers in the vineyard want to treat the owner as representing God. Knowledge of actual agricultural practices relating to the management of vineyards suggest, on the contrary, that the details of the parable obstruct an easy identification of the owner with God, and that he displays unusual behaviour not only by paying all the labourers the same wage, but by his very intervention in the hiring process. The conclusion reached is that the parable constructs the vineyard owner, typically one of the nouveau riche who lived in cities, not only as a ‘good employer’ but also, contrary to expectation, as a patron who intervened well beyond the strict norms of economic exchange.http://www.hts.org.zaam201

Interaction of APOE e4 and poor glycemic control predicts white matter hyperintensity growth from 73-76

We examined whether apolipoprotein E (APOE) status interacts with vascular risk factors (VRFs) to predict the progression of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on brain MRI scans over a specific period of life in older age when the risk of dementia increases. At age 73 years, baseline VRFs were assessed via self-reported history of diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and hypercholesterolemia, and via objective measures of blood HbA1c, body mass index, diastolic and systolic blood pressure, and blood high-density lipoprotein to total cholesterol (HDL) ratio. APOE e4 allele was coded as either present or absent. WMH progression was measured on MRI over 3 years in 434 older adults, in a same-year-of-birth cohort. APOE e4 carriers with either a self-reported diagnosis of diabetes (β = 0.160, p = 0.002) or higher glycated hemoglobin levels (β = 0.114, p = 0.014) exhibited greater WMH progression, and the former survived correction for multiple testing. All other APOE-VRF interactions were nonsignificant (βinteraction < 0.056, p > 0.228). The results suggest that carrying the APOE “risk” e4 allele increases the risk of greater age-related WMH progression over the early part of the eighth decade of life, when combined with poorer glycemic control. The interaction effect was robust to co-occurring VRFs, suggesting a possible target for mitigating brain and cognitive aging at this age

Risk and protective factors for structural brain ageing in the eighth decade of life

Individuals differ markedly in brain structure, and in how this structure degenerates during ageing. In a large sample of human participants (baseline n = 731 at age 73 years; follow-up n = 488 at age 76 years), we estimated the magnitude of mean change and variability in changes in MRI measures of brain macrostructure (grey matter, white matter, and white matter hyperintensity volumes) and microstructure (fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity from diffusion tensor MRI). All indices showed significant average change with age, with considerable heterogeneity in those changes. We then tested eleven socioeconomic, physical, health, cognitive, allostatic (inflammatory and metabolic), and genetic variables for their value in predicting these differences in changes. Many of these variables were significantly correlated with baseline brain structure, but few could account for significant portions of the heterogeneity in subsequent brain change. Physical fitness was an exception, being correlated both with brain level and changes. The results suggest that only a subset of correlates of brain structure are also predictive of differences in brain ageing

Q Thomas Reader

Californiax, 166 hlm.; 21x14 c