Considerate constructors scheme : Glenfarg water treatment works

The project to modify Glenfarg Water Treatment Works by Scottish Water, working in conjunction with its partners Black and Veatch Ltd. and Scottish Water Solutions, received a gold award and ‘the ultimate accolade’ of ‘The Most Considerate Site 2009’ at the considerate constructors scheme (CCS) awards. Although previous projects undertaken by Scottish Water have achieved high considerate constructor scores, Glenfarg exceeded previous projects’ standards. This level of performance was delivered across the eight categories of the scheme: considerate, environment, cleanliness, good neighbour, respectful, safe responsible and accountable. The steps the project team took under each of these categories to deliver the project are reviewed in this article. The article also outlines some of the challenges the project team faced while delivering such a high level of performance. Furthermore, the article makes particular reference to ‘soft’ management skills and the development of a project organisational culture that emphasised pride and passion through engagement of the workforce. Overall, the article presents valuable insights into how performing beyond the CCS requirements remains a dynamic and ongoing activity for all parties involved with the scheme

Prophecy in Roman Judaea:Did Josephus Report the Failure of an 'Exact Succession of the Prophets' (Against Apion 1.41)?

In Ag. Ap. 1.41, after stressing that the Jewish holy books are rightly trusted because only prophets wrote them, Josephus remarks that Judaeans do not trust later writings in the same way. The reason he gives is usually translated as "the failure of the exact succession of the prophets." Whereas older scholarship played down this reason to insist on the absence of prophecy in post-biblical Judaism, the prevailing view today holds that Josephus meant only to qualify later prophecy, not to exclude it. This essay broaches the more basic question of what an alpha chi rho iota beta eta zeta delta iota alpha delta omicron chi eta means. Arguing that an exact diachronic succession of prophets makes little sense, it offers two proposals that better suit Josephus' argument. It further contends that Josephus is talking about the ancient Judaean past, the subject of this work, not about the work of later historians including himself. He distinguishes sharply between prophecy and historical inquiry

Josephus’ Autobiography (Life of Josephus)

Flavius Josephus's little work, Life of Josephus has much to teach us about Josephus's values, assumptions, style, literary interests, and historiography. One of the hardest things to find in it is the life of Josephus. This chapter shows why that is so. It assists new readers of the work by contextualizing it historically and considering its purposes, contents, structures, and themes. At the end, the chapter discusses the work's historical utility, comparing it for that purpose with parallel material in Book 2 of the Judean War. Josephus's Life, dates to 93/94 C.E., and the chapter examines the text within the larger context of Romans writing about the lives of great men in several (overlapping) genres. It can be concluded that the Life appeared as a companion to the Judean Antiquities, at some time before Domitian's assassination on September 18, 96 C.E.<br/

Relations of Religion in the Graeco-Roman World:Formative Judaism and Christianity

Contrary to presupposing a divine essence and cause, as scholars such as Van den Belt do in the theological approach, historian Steve Mason (Chapter 5) exemplifies a constructivist historical approach to religion. Mason analyses how people in the Graeco-Roman world (c.300 BCE to 300 CE) framed Jews and Christians. In line with Asad’s critique that much research in religious studies builds on conceptions that are specifically Christian rather than universal, Mason argues that the label “religion” obfuscates more than it illuminates when describing the ancient past of these two major traditions. To substantiate this claim, he begins by surveying what “shell categories” residents in the Graeco-Roman world used to communicate with each other and order their knowledge of the world. Informed by both ancient textual and material sources, Mason argues that a diverse and vibrant Judaean culture, with its own famed mother-city, law-giver and customs, temple, priesthood, sacrificial system, and a larger expatriate community was “freeze-dried” by later Christians and reduced to “Juda-ism” as a belief system. “Christianity” looked altogether different: Christians were small bands of men and women meeting secretly in members” houses to worship Christ. They refrained from animal sacrifices, and some expected imminent evacuation from the world. Mason concludes by considering how a historical understanding of these very different phenomena of a Judaean “ethnos” and what began as a kind of Christian “club” can help to explain such puzzles as the Christian polemic against and simultaneous attraction to “Judaism”, the “persecution” of Christians but not Jews, and “conversion” to Judaism or Christianity