Opiate of Christ; or, John's Gospel and the Spectre of Class

This article applies a Libertarian Marxist lens to the Gospel of John. In doing so, it highlights the agrarian-aristocratic class struggle that is refracted in the text and also seeks to problematize hierarchi- cal and authoritarian ideologies. Its point of departure is the recent political interpretations of John championed by Tom Thatcher (2009) and Warren Carter (2008), but it diverges significantly from these readings by observing how the gospel’s so-called “subversive” qual- ity has often been overstated and/or simply taken for granted. By focusing on the problematic re-inscription of hierarchies of power, the reading advanced below argues that John’s heightening of impe- rial ideology in Jesus is at best unsubversive and at worst normal- izing of a fascist-like impulse for racial and authoritarian purity

Winston Peters “Puts His Hand to the Plow”: The Bible in New Zealand Political Discourse

This article examines the charismatic New Zealand politician Winston Peters’ sparse use of the Bible as a case study in the propagation of the “Cultural” and “Liberal” Bibles across the relatively irreligious landscape of New Zealand’s political landscape. It considers why politicians continue to employ biblical rhetoric despite increasing indifference towards Christianity and the Bible, by situating such moves within the context of global capitalism. It also identifies some peculiarities of the political use of the Bible unique to the New Zealand situation and explores how these have aided the construction of distinctive political identities

The Quest for Purchasing Power Parity with a Series-specific Unit Root Test Using Panel Data

A unit root testing procedure is presented that exploits the well-established power advantages of panel estimation while rectifying a deficiency in other panel unit root tests. This procedure, which takes into account contemporaneous cross-correlation and heterogeneous serial correlation of the regression residuals, allows determination of which members of the panel reject the null hypothesis of a unit root and which do not. Applying the procedure to real exchange rates yields results that are in broad agreement with those obtained from single-equation unit root tests. There is little evidence that a unit root can be rejected in dollar-based real exchange rates for the floating rate period.Marketing,

Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) NDE of cracks in pressure vessels with FEA modelling

Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation describes the results of an attempt to simulate the Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometric fringe patterns observed around a crack or combination of cracks in a pressure vessel by finite element methods. Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) is a coherent optical measurement technique that produces a contour map of the surface displacement of an object when it is stressed. The sensitivity of the techniques is of the order of half the Wavelength of light. The objective of the study was to determine a procedure for the modelling of interferometric fringes by finite elements. The finite element model may then be used to study the effects of crack geometry on fringe patterns and produce a library of reference fringe patterns for comparison with experimental fringe patterns found for unknown flaws. The approach to the problem was to simulate the fringe patterns for a crack free cylinder and compare these with these observed experimentally. The FE model modulus of elasticity was than to be calibrated to minimise uncertainty in the exact value of the elastic modulus. Once the model was calibrated, various cracks and combinations of cracks were introduced into both the physical cylinders and the FE model and fringe patterns obtained were compared. The experimental results for the cracks and combinations of cracks were compared with the finite element predictions at a range of loads

Z-Selective Homodimerization of Terminal Olefins with a Ruthenium Metathesis Catalyst

The cross-metathesis of terminal olefins using a novel ruthenium catalyst results in excellent selectivity for the Z-olefin homodimer. The reaction was found to tolerate a large number of functional groups, solvents, and temperatures while maintaining excellent Z-selectivity, even at high reaction conversions

Homelessness, Neoliberalism, and Jesus'

Book chapter exploring the beginnings of Jesus' ministry from the perspective of homelessness and disciplacement

Fishing for Entrepreneurs in the Sea of Galilee: Unmasking Neoliberal Ideology in Biblical Interpretation

Book chapter exploring the call of the first disciples in the Gospel tradition with attention to class and socioeconomic factors

Echoes of Displacement in Matthew's Genealogy of Jesus

The Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy of its protagonist, Jesus. The genealogy functions primarily as a history of origins, tracing the line of God’s promise first through the founding of Israel, then in the emergence of the royal line, and finally in the hopes carried beyond the collapse of the Babylonian exile. But lurking within this history of origins are ruptures in the text that disrupt the flow of expected conventions. While attention has predominantly focused on the unusual inclusion of the four female names in Matthew’s genealogy, this article detects a sub-theme of displace- ment within the text’s intertexture that has previously gone unnoticed