The Symbolics of Death and the Construction of Christian Asceticism: Greek Patristic Voices from the Fourth through Seventh Centuries

This thesis examines the role which death plays in the development of a uniquely Christian identity in John Climacus’ seventh-century work, the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the Greek ascetic literature of the previous centuries. I argue that John Climacus deploys language of death, inherited from a range of Greek Christian literature, as the symbolic framework within which he describes the ascetic lifestyle as developing a Christian identity. This framework is expressed by thee ascetic practice of ‘memory of death’ and by practices of renunciation described as ‘death’ to oneself and others. In order to understand Climacus’ unique achievement in regard to engagement with death it is necessary first to situate the Ladder and its author within the literature of the Greek ascetic tradition, within which Climacus consciously wrote. In the Introduction I develp ways Climacus draws on and develops traditional material, while arguing that it must be treated and interpreted in its own right and not simply as his ‘sources.’ I then examine the vocabulary of death and the lines of thought opened up in the New Testament. Chapter One argues that the memory of death plays an important role in Athanasius’ Vita Antonii. Chapter Two surveys material from the fifth- and sixth-century Egyptian and Palestinian deserts in which memory and practice of death are deployed in a wider variety of ways and are increasingly connected to ascetics’ fundamental understanding of self and salvation. Chapter Three examines the sixth-century Quaestiones et Responsiones of Barsanuphius and John of Gaza in which further elaboration of the same thematic is discernible. Chapter Four concludes this thesis with a sustained reading of John Climacus’ Scala Paradisi in which the various thematics centring on memory and practice of death are synthesized into the existential framework and practical response, respectively

An Analysis of the Relationships of the Perceptions of College Environment by Existing Groups and Subgroups on the Campus of a Small Church-affiliated College

The CUES II was used to investigate and analyze the campus environment of a small church-affiliated college in California

SICANE: a Detector Array for the Measurement of Nuclear Recoil Quenching Factors using Monoenergetic Neutron Beam

SICANE is a neutron scattering multidetector facility for the determination of the quenching factor (ratio of the response to nuclear recoils and to electrons) of cryogenic detectors used in direct WIMP searches. Well collimated monoenergetic neutron beams are obtained with inverse (p,n) reactions. The facility is described, and results obtained for the quenching factors of scintillation in NaI(Tl) and of heat and ionization in Ge are presented.Comment: 30 pages, Latex, 11 figures. Submitted to NIM

Vector boson pair production at the LHC

We present phenomenological results for vector boson pair production at the LHC, obtained using the parton-level next-to-leading order program MCFM. We include the implementation of a new process in the code, pp -> \gamma\gamma, and important updates to existing processes. We incorporate fragmentation contributions in order to allow for the experimental isolation of photons in \gamma\gamma, W\gamma, and Z\gamma production and also account for gluon-gluon initial state contributions for all relevant processes. We present results for a variety of phenomenological scenarios, at the current operating energy of \sqrt{s} = 7 TeV and for the ultimate machine goal, \sqrt{s} = 14 TeV. We investigate the impact of our predictions on several important distributions that enter into searches for new physics at the LHC.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figure

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 23, Folk Festival Supplement

• Twenty-Five Years of the Folk Festival • Our Farmer\u27s Market • Simple Basics of Egg Decorating • The Folk Festival\u27s Bookstore • Setting Up the Festival • Festival Highlights • Folk Festival Program • Behind the Scenes of We Remain Unchanged • Granges at the Kutztown Folk Festival • How to Design Pressed Flower Pictures • There is This Place - And These People • Metalcrafting at the Festival • Hex Signs and Magical Protection of House and Barn: Folk-Cultural Questionnaire No. 35https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1059/thumbnail.jp

Low-Energy Direct Capture in the 8Li(n,gamma)9Li and 8B(p,gamma)9C Reactions

The cross sections of the 8Li(n,gamma)9Li and 8B(p,gamma)9C capture reactions have been analyzed using the direct capture model. At low energies which is the astrophysically relevant region the capture process is dominated by E1 transitions from incoming s-waves to bound p-states. The cross sections of both mirror reactions can be described simultaneously with consistent potential parameters, whereas previous calculations have overestimated the capture cross sections significantly. However, the parameters of the potential have to be chosen very carefully because the calculated cross section of the 8Li(n,gamma)9Li reaction depends sensitively on the potential strength.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Phys. Rev. C, accepte

Spiritual direction as a medical art in early Christian monasticism

This book asks how early Christian monastic writers conceived of, represented, and experienced spiritual direction, and its central argument is that they did so medically. Late antique monastic formation took place through asymmetrical relationships of governance and submission worked out in confession, discipline, and advice. This study situates those practices against the cultural and intellectual world of the late antique Mediterranean. In conversation with a biopsychosocial model of health and Urie Bronfenbrenner’s “bioecological” model of development, the first chapter explores the logic of Galenic medicine (2nd c.): the goal of good health, a widely ranging theory of human nature, diagnostic strategies, and therapeutic techniques. The next four chapters show how this logic operates in Evagrius Ponticus’ (4th c.) interpretation of dream imagery and demonic attack, in John Cassian’s (5th c.) analysis of wet dreams, in Cassian’s nosology of vices, and in John Climacus’ (7th c.) demonic pathologies of passions. The second half of the book engages Paul Ricoeur’s theory of metaphor to show that spiritual directors claim trust and obedience by cultivating expertise along medical lines. This begins with a study of self-representation and popular perceptions of physicians as experts over human bodies and souls, which is then applied to Basil of Caesarea’s (4th c.) advice on when and whether ascetic Christians should seek medical assistance, to Cassian’s tales of spiritual direction in Egyptian monasticism and the Apostle Paul’s therapeutic hierarchy, and to John Climacus’ multiple metaphors of spiritual direction in a monastery reconceived as clinic

The meaning of κλύστας and the value of a μαχαίριον: Vita Dosithei (BHG 2117) and healthcare in Gazan monasteries

La Vie de Dosithée (Vita Dosithei, chap. 9; BHG 2117) comporte un mot grec inhabituel: τὰς κλύστας. Jusqu’à présent, ce mot avait été mal compris, et l’on estimait qu’il désignait du pain trempé dans du vin. L’A. établit que cette interprétation, ainsi que la tradition lexicographique byzantine qui la soustend, ne sont pas tenables. Il démontre que le couteau (μαχαίριον) dont le texte parle est un scalpel, utilisé pour l’ablation de κλυστήρας ou κύστας. Dans un premier cas, le scalpel était destiné à préparer des lavements; dans le second, il servait à enlever des calculs. Dans les deux cas, l’organe susceptible d’etre entaille est une vessie. Cette mise au point lexicale permet de considérer la Vie de Dosithée comme un témoignage précieux, et jusqu’ici sous-estimé, sur le niveau et la gamme de soins de santé pratiqués dans les monastères byzantins de l’Antiquité tardive, ainsi que sur les réseaux de patronage à Gaza