Legality and liberty: a study of Pauline teaching and practice

The apostle Paul has never ceased to excite the interest of "both laymen and scholars. From a purely "biographical perspective, he is a favourite subject since "there were probably exceedingly few people of the Imperial age of Rome whom we can study so exactly as we can Paul through his letters,"1 For the historian interested in the origin of the Christian religion, the teaching and work of the apostle is secondary only to that of the Lord, In a very real sense the maxim is true: "Explain the origin of the religion of Paul, and 2 you have solved the problem of the origin of Christianity," In the field of comparative religions, he stands at the cross-road of Hebrai¬ cism and Hellenism — yet lifts his eyes above and beyond. Theologi¬ cally, his influence upon Western Christendom is unparalleled by any other apostle or teacher. Heretics and reformers — Marcion, Augus¬ tine, Luther and Barth, to name only the most prominent representative and diversified figures — have claimed to have received their theo¬ logical impetus from him. And still today there is a divinely inspired timelessness about his message which has not ceased to grip men and lead them on to their Lord,As a result of this interest, a great body of literature has arisen about the name of Paul, So diligently and thoroughly has he been investigated that many have considered "the literary and personal profile of the Apostle" to "be unmistakably set in "bold relief."*" And yet there have always been claims that scholarship has grossly misinterpreted even the main outlines of his teaching and life.The present study stems from a conviction that while the efforts of many scholars in the past have resulted in a generally faithful reproduction of the Pauline profile, there still remains an ambiguity regarding certain features which needs to be cleared away. Therefore it is the purpose of this work to investigate two closely related matters which can truly be said to be distinctively Pauline; i.e. his treatment of the subjects 'Legality' and 'Liberty'. And in three areas of this legality-liberty dialectic it has appeared needful to sharpen our understanding of the apostle: (1) in his pre-Christian days under the legal system of Judaism; (2) in his Christian teaching regarding legality and liberty; and (3) in his personal practice of liberty as an apostle of Christ.Chapter I prefaces the main discussion in reconsidering the much discussed problem of the relation of the pre-Christian Saul to the Judaism of his day. While this chapter does not bring us immediately into the main theme of the work, it is extremely pertinent in clarifying the nature of Saul's Judaism and thus giving us an important interpretive key to the understanding of the man and his thought. The answer to the question whether Paul's mental and spiritual background was primarily Hebraic or Hellenistic is of great significance, for it both determines the sources which are to be more heavily relied upon and influences the approach of the investigator to the whole of the apostle's thought.In Chapter II we consider the topic 'Saul and Legality'. It has been common practice among Christian theologians to paint Saul's pre-conversion spiritual life in the most drab and dismal of colours; while the Jewish writers and advocates can only see the warm glow of true piety in the normative Judaism from which he claimed to have come. It is the argument of this chapter that the tension of Saul's life was not that of externalism versus inwardness, but of anticipation that could find its release only in Messianic realisation. In fact, he could even be viewed in his Judaistic days as possessing at least a remnant of the old prophetic spirit.Paul's teaching regarding legality and liberty are taken up in Chapters III and IV. He argue in the first place that his opposition to legality stemmed originally from a Judaistic propheticism, but that that opposition was intensified and only received its Christian stamp as it sprang from his Christology. In the following chapter we note that Christian liberty is Christo-centric in its origin, direction, conditioning and goal; but also insist that an injustice is done to the apostle if we accept only the inward Mind of Christ as the factor in the guidance of Christian liberty and ignore his thought regarding the Law of Christ and the function of an apostle and/or the Church in this matter.The last chapter has to do with the phenomenon that while many scholars have insisted that in his practice "he is venturing a leap over the abyss, he has all the air of putting one foot calmly before the other on a level road," The problem here concerns the oft-cited apparently contradictory practices of the apostle as presented in both the Acts and his own letters; dealing with the credibility of such practices and the rationale which lay behind them.Throughout this study we must remember that while the evidence must be evaluated objectively and somewhat disinterestedly, the matter cannot remain in the realm of pure theory. Paul's teaching regarding legality and liberty and his practice of true Christian liberty have a tremendous relevancy for us, steeped as we are in the "do it yourself" and "live to yourself" attitudes of the world

Association between Use of HMG CoA Reductase Inhibitors and Mortality in HIV-Infected Patients

HIV infection is a disease associated with chronic inflammation and immune activation. Antiretroviral therapy reduces inflammation, but not to levels in comparable HIV-negative individuals. The HMG-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) inhibit several pro-inflammatory processes and suppress immune activation, and are a logical therapy to assess for a possible salutary effect on HIV disease progression and outcomes.Eligible patients were patients enrolled in the Johns Hopkins HIV Clinical Cohort who achieved virologic suppression within 180 days of starting a new highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen after January 1, 1998. Assessment was continued until death in patients who maintained a virologic suppression, with right-censoring of their follow-up time if they had an HIV RNA > 500 copies/ml. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess statin use as a time-varying covariate, as well as other demographic and clinical factors.A total of 1538 HIV-infected patients fulfilled eligibility criteria, of whom 238 (15.5%) received a statin while taking HAART. There were 85 deaths (7 in statin users, 78 in non-users). By multivariate Cox regression, statin use was associated with a relative hazard of 0.33 (95% CI: 0.14, 0.76; P =  0.009) after adjusting for CD4, HIV-1 RNA, hemoglobin and cholesterol levels at the start of HAART, age, race, HIV risk group, prior use of ART, year of HAART start, NNRTI vs. PI-based ART, prior AIDS-defining illness, and viral hepatitis coinfection. Malignancy, non-AIDS-defining infection and liver failure were particularly prominent causes of death.Statin use was associated with significantly lower hazard of dying in these HIV-infected patients who were being effectively treated with HAART as determined by virologic suppression. Our results suggest the need for confirmation in other observational cohorts, and if confirmed, the need for a clinical trial of statin use in HIV infection

Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period

America246 p.; 21 c

Universal automated classification of the acoustic startle reflex using machine learning

The startle reflex (SR), a robust, motor response elicited by an intense auditory, visual, or somatosensory stimulus has been widely used as a tool to assess psychophysiology in humans and animals for almost a century in diverse fields such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, hearing loss, and tinnitus. Previously, SR waveforms have been ignored, or assessed with basic statistical techniques and/or simple template matching paradigms. This has led to considerable variability in SR studies from different laboratories, and species. In an effort to standardize SR assessment methods, we developed a machine learning algorithm and workflow to automatically classify SR waveforms in virtually any animal model including mice, rats, guinea pigs, and gerbils obtained with various paradigms and modalities from several laboratories. The universal features common to SR waveforms of various species and paradigms are examined and discussed in the context of each animal model. The procedure describes common results using the SR across species and how to fully implement the open-source R implementation. Since SR is widely used to investigate toxicological or pharmaceutical efficacy, a detailed and universal SR waveform classification protocol should be developed to aid in standardizing SR assessment procedures across different laboratories and species. This machine learning-based method will improve data reliability and translatability between labs that use the startle reflex paradigm. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A comprehensive investigation of mesophotic coral ecosystems in the Hawaiian Archipelago

Although the existence of coral-reef habitats at depths to 165 m in tropical regions has been known for decades, the richness, diversity, and ecological importance of mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) has only recently become widely acknowledged. During an interdisciplinary effort spanning more than two decades, we characterized the most expansive MCEs ever recorded, with vast macroalgal communities and areas of 100% coral cover between depths of 50–90 m extending for tens of km2 in the Hawaiian Archipelago. We used a variety of sensors and techniques to establish geophysical characteristics. Biodiversity patterns were established from visual and video observations and collected specimens obtained from submersible, remotely operated vehicles and mixed-gas SCUBA and rebreather dives. Population dynamics based on age, growth and fecundity estimates of selected fish species were obtained from laser-videogrammetry, specimens, and otolith preparations. Trophic dynamics were determined using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic analyses on more than 750 reef fishes. MCEs are associated with clear water and suitable substrate. In comparison to shallow reefs in the Hawaiian Archipelago, inhabitants of MCEs have lower total diversity, harbor new and unique species, and have higher rates of endemism in fishes. Fish species present in shallow and mesophotic depths have similar population and trophic (except benthic invertivores) structures and high genetic connectivity with lower fecundity at mesophotic depths. MCEs in Hawai‘i are widespread but associated with specific geophysical characteristics. High genetic, ecological and trophic connectivity establish the potential for MCEs to serve as refugia for some species, but our results question the premise that MCEs are more resilient than shallow reefs. We found that endemism within MCEs increases with depth, and our results do not support suggestions of a global faunal break at 60 m. Our findings enhance the scientific foundations for conservation and management of MCEs, and provide a template for future interdisciplinary research on MCEs worldwide