Virginity, the Temple Veil, and their Demise: A Hypothetical Reader's Perspective on Mary's Work in the Protevangelium of James

In the second-century Protevangelium of James (henceforth PJ), Mary spins thread for a new temple veil. The episode has fascinated and perplexed both ancient and modern readers: Of all the jobs the author could have chosen for the protagonist, why this one? Scholars of PJ frame the significance of Mary’s work in a variety of ways. Some argue that it is an indicator of her purity—clearly the central concern of the broader narrative—while others maintain that the thread she spins corresponds somehow with the body of Jesus. Still others interpret it as pointing towards the rending of the veil at Jesus’ death, and a few see it is little more than evidence of the author’s penchant for hyperbole. In this paper I approach Mary’s work from the perspective of what the literary critic Wolfgang Iser calls the “hypothetical reader,” namely, a reader “upon whom all possible actualizations of the text may be projected.” This reader is by definition a construct that adapts to the interpretive goals of the exegete, and whose interpretation of a given text may differ drastically from that of its author. Employing the hypothetical reader as a literary-critical heuristic tool, I suggest that from a reader’s perspective the veil that Mary helps create is emblematic of her virginity, and that it is possible to understand the tearing of this veil at the crucifixion as a symbolic loss of her innocence. My aim in applying the category of the hypothetical reader to this episode in PJ is twofold: 1) to see what insights (if any) a reader’s perspective might bring to our understanding of this particular episode; and 2) to explore what benefits (if any) a “reader-centric” approach like this might bring to our understanding of early Christian narratives more broadly construed

Hercules finances research infrastructure

In 2007 the Flemish government created a structural funding channel to support investment in research infrastructure: Hercules. On 15 October 2008 the Hercules Foundation approved a first list of investment proposals. In this article specific features of this first call are examined

Scripture in the Pastoral Letters of the Provincial Councils of Baltimore

In the pastoral letters of the provincial councils of Baltimore (1829-1849), a dramatic shift occurs in the way Scripture is employed as a source of authority; in the earlier letters, the role of Scripture is commanding and evident, while in the later, it is almost invisible. This article addresses each letter in turn, outlining the ways in which Scripture is employed to illustrate and reinforce the decrees of the provincial councils. The analysis suggests that Scripture\u27s role in the 1829-1840 letters corresponds to the turbulent environment of the Catholic Church in America, especially in relation to Protestant nativist groups, and that its absence in the 1843-1849 letters reflects a shift away from Scripture as a locus of authority. The article concludes by outlining three possibilities for understanding the shift away from Scripture. The pastoral letters of the provincial councils exist as much-neglected aspects of American Catholic history, and this analysis aims to bring at least part of their influence to light

Origins of the ALMA Project in the scientific visions of the North American, European, and Japanese astronomical communities

ALMA is a worldwide project, the synthesis of early visions of astronomers in its three partner communities, Europe, North America, and Japan. The evolution of these concepts and their eventual merger into ALMA are discussed, setting the background for the papers which follow on the scientific requirements and expected performance of ALMA for extra-galactic, galactic, and solar system research.Comment: 4 pages, including 1 figure; to appear in ESA SP-577, Proceedings of the conference "Dusty and Molecular Universe - A prelude to HERSCHEL AND ALMA", October 25-27, 2004, Pari

The Nonlinear Asymptotic Stage of the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability with Wide Bubbles and Narrowing Spikes

The potential flow of an incompressible inviscid heavy fluid over a light one is considered. The integral version of the method of matched asymptotic expansion is applied to the construction of the solution over long intervals of time. The asymptotic solution describes the flow in which a bubble rises with constant speed and the "tongue" is in free fall. The outer expansion is stationary, but the inner one depends on time. It is shown that the solution exists within the same range of Froude number obtained previously by Vanden-Broeck (1984a,b). The Froude number and the solution depend on the initial energy of the disturbance. At the top of the bubble, the derivative of the free-surface curvature has a discontinuity when the Froude number is not equal to 0.23. This makes it possible to identify the choice of the solution obtained in a number of studies with the presence of an artificial numerical surface tension. The first correction term in the neighborhood of the tongue is obtained when large surface tension is included