Weisheit am Kreuzweg. Zum theologischen Programm von 1Kor 1 und 2

The Pauline word of the cross (1Cor 1–2) unfolds an epistemological meta-theory referring to the conditions that make theology possible. The entire argumentation can be read as a dialogue with the dominant Greek-Hellenistic world-view. Within his own horizon of apocalyptic-sapiential theology Paul focuses on how the cross issues a critique of every form of thinking which does not reflect its own limitations in time and space. The word of the cross is correlated, therefore, to the expectation of a judgement about the teachers and preachers of the gospel

Diesseits von Golgatha. Zum Verständnis des Kreuzestodes Jesu als Sühnopfer

The understanding of Jesus’ death on the cross as a sacrifice of atonement is based on the multiple interpretations of Jesus’ death in the New Testament. The early Christian approaches to the interpretation of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice lead to far-reaching cultural and anthropological implications

Hymnus, Enkomion oder Psalm? Schattengefechte in der neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft

For much of the twentieth century scholars tried to reconstruct various cultic hymns beneath the surface of NT texts. With the rise of rhetorical criticism the focus of research has shifted to the properties of epideictic rhetoric. Exegetes, therefore, often tend to contrast ‘encomia' with ‘hymns' or ‘psalms'. To avoid any shadow boxing one has to consider which descriptive language would fit best the texts. A brief examination of ancient hymnic traditions and their treatment in rhetoric demonstrates that while encomia interact strongly with hymns each genre has its own characteristics; hymns, whether in poetry or prose, consist especially of praise of divinities and are addressed to divinities. Future formgeschichtliche analysis has to distinguish carefully between ‘hymn' (in a narrow sense), ‘hymnic praise' and ‘encomion' (which does not refer particularly to divine beings). In early Christian literature, as far as it relates to the textual surface, we find beside hymns to God only a few hymns directed to Christ. Nevertheless Christ's divine status is praised with rich hymnic rhetorical devices. This amazing tension corresponds exactly with what we call ‘Christological monotheism

Are christians a new „people“? Detecting ethnicity and cultural friction in Paul’s letters and early christianity

Der Aufsatz fragt nach der Reichweite der Kategorie “Ethnicity”, zunächst in der Schrift “an Diognet”, wo die Christen als „drittes Volk“ (tertium genus) gezeichnet werden. Der 1. Korintherbrief (bes. 1,18–25) und der Römerbrief zeigen, dass Paulus auf ethnische Kate-gorien zurückgreift, um christliche Identität zu beschreiben.; wichtiger als die Unterschei-dung der Christen von Juden und Heiden bzw. Griechen ist aber ihre „theo-ethnische“ Zeichnung als Gottes Volk („Israel“)

Kreuzfeuer. Paulus und seine Konflikte mit Rivalen, Feinden und Gegnern

The article deals with Paul’s opponents. As Philippians shows, there is a broad spectrum of phenomena: rivals and opponents whom the apostle does not consider threatening, external gentile opponents, and, finally, opponents who in Paul’s view are destroying the congregation. With regard to the latter, the historical question of a united front, that is, of an orches-trated anti-Pauline mission, is discussed. In regard to the adversaries in Second Corinthians, there is much to suggest that Paul’s use of the stereotype of blaming the sophists re-stricts the ability of scholars to reconstruct those opponents historically. Der Artikel behandelt die Gegner von Paulus. Wie der Philipperbrief zeigt, gibt es ein breites Spektrum an Phänomenen: Rivalen und Konkurrenten, die der Apostel nicht für bedrohlich hält, äussere pagane Gegner, schliesslich Gegner, die für ihn die Gemeinde zerstören. Im Blick auf die letztgenannten wird die Frage einer einheitlichen Front, also einer orchestrierten Gegen-Mission, diskutiert. Bei den Gegnern im 2. Korintherbrief muss man damit rechnen, dass bestimmte Stereotype der antiken Sophistenschelte das historische Bild verdunkeln

Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease

Birth weight (BW) is influenced by both foetal and maternal factors and in observational studies is reproducibly associated with future risk of adult metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease1. These lifecourse associations have often been attributed to the impact of an adverse early life environment. We performed a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of BW in 153,781 individuals, identifying 60 loci where foetal genotype was associated with BW (P <5x10-8). Overall, ˜15% of variance in BW could be captured by assays of foetal genetic variation. Using genetic association alone, we found strong inverse genetic correlations between BW and systolic blood pressure (rg-0.22, P =5.5x10-13), T2D (rg-0.27, P =1.1x10-6) and coronary artery disease (rg-0.30, P =6.5x10-9) and, in large cohort data sets, demonstrated that genetic factors were the major contributor to the negative covariance between BW and future cardiometabolic risk. Pathway analyses indicated that the protein products of genes within BW-associated regions were enriched for diverse processes including insulin signalling, glucose homeostasis, glycogen biosynthesis and chromatin remodelling. There was also enrichment of associations with BW in known imprinted regions (P =1.9x10-4). We have demonstrated that lifecourse associations between early growth phenotypes and adult cardiometabolic disease are in part the result of shared genetic effects and have highlighted some of the pathways through which these causal genetic effects are mediated

Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease

Birth weight (BW) has been shown to be influenced by both fetal and maternal factors and in observational studies is reproducibly associated with future risk of adult metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease. These life-course associations have often been attributed to the impact of an adverse early life environment. Here, we performed a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of BW in 153,781 individuals, identifying 60 loci where fetal genotype was associated with BW ($\textit{P}$  < 5 × 10$^{-8}$). Overall, approximately 15% of variance in BW was captured by assays of fetal genetic variation. Using genetic association alone, we found strong inverse genetic correlations between BW and systolic blood pressure ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.22, $\textit{P}$  = 5.5 × 10$^{-13}$), T2D ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.27, $\textit{P}$  = 1.1 × 10$^{-6}$) and coronary artery disease ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.30, $\textit{P}$  = 6.5 × 10$^{-9}$). In addition, using large -cohort datasets, we demonstrated that genetic factors were the major contributor to the negative covariance between BW and future cardiometabolic risk. Pathway analyses indicated that the protein products of genes within BW-associated regions were enriched for diverse processes including insulin signalling, glucose homeostasis, glycogen biosynthesis and chromatin remodelling. There was also enrichment of associations with BW in known imprinted regions ($\textit{P}$ = 1.9 × 10$^{-4}$). We demonstrate that life-course associations between early growth phenotypes and adult cardiometabolic disease are in part the result of shared genetic effects and identify some of the pathways through which these causal genetic effects are mediated.For a full list of the funders pelase visit the publisher's website and look at the supplemetary material provided. Some of the funders are: British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Medical Research Council, National Institutes of Health, Royal Society and Wellcome Trust

Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic risk factors.

Birth weight variation is influenced by fetal and maternal genetic and non-genetic factors, and has been reproducibly associated with future cardio-metabolic health outcomes. In expanded genome-wide association analyses of own birth weight (n = 321,223) and offspring birth weight (n = 230,069 mothers), we identified 190 independent association signals (129 of which are novel). We used structural equation modeling to decompose the contributions of direct fetal and indirect maternal genetic effects, then applied Mendelian randomization to illuminate causal pathways. For example, both indirect maternal and direct fetal genetic effects drive the observational relationship between lower birth weight and higher later blood pressure: maternal blood pressure-raising alleles reduce offspring birth weight, but only direct fetal effects of these alleles, once inherited, increase later offspring blood pressure. Using maternal birth weight-lowering genotypes to proxy for an adverse intrauterine environment provided no evidence that it causally raises offspring blood pressure, indicating that the inverse birth weight-blood pressure association is attributable to genetic effects, and not to intrauterine programming.The Fenland Study is funded by the Medical Research Council (MC_U106179471) and Wellcome Trust

Children’s and adolescents’ rising animal-source food intakes in 1990–2018 were impacted by age, region, parental education and urbanicity

Animal-source foods (ASF) provide nutrition for children and adolescents’ physical and cognitive development. Here, we use data from the Global Dietary Database and Bayesian hierarchical models to quantify global, regional and national ASF intakes between 1990 and 2018 by age group across 185 countries, representing 93% of the world’s child population. Mean ASF intake was 1.9 servings per day, representing 16% of children consuming at least three daily servings. Intake was similar between boys and girls, but higher among urban children with educated parents. Consumption varied by age from 0.6 at <1 year to 2.5 servings per day at 15–19 years. Between 1990 and 2018, mean ASF intake increased by 0.5 servings per week, with increases in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, total ASF consumption was highest in Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey, and lowest in Uganda, India, Kenya and Bangladesh. These findings can inform policy to address malnutrition through targeted ASF consumption programmes.publishedVersio