Serbian Orthodoxy Between Two Worlds

Orthodoxy has, by the Providence of God, been placed between Western Christianity, and Sunni Islam. Church nationalism (phyletism) has always been present in political and linguistic nationalism in the former Yugoslavia. The relationship between Serbian Orthodoxy, with Islam and Western Christianity is not satisfactory. In order to become satisfactory, it would be important for the Orthodox Church to create a new theology which would, primarily, be a theological (Orthodox) response to the signs of the times. However, this has not become the reality as of yet

\u27Converted Co-ethnics\u27: Romanian Migrants in the Northern Serbian Province of Vojvodina

In this paper, my case study highlights Romanian neo-Protestant migrants from Serbia who either returned to their “home country,” or work on different missionary activities among their co-ethnics after the fall of communism. To a large degree, members of the Romanian minority in Serbia belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is the dominant confession, then a smaller number to the Romanian Greek-Catholic church and various neo-Protestant communities, such as the Nazarene, the Adventist, the Baptist, and the Pentecostal community. Starting from the hypothesis that the conversion of the Romanians in Serbia to neo-Protestantism is closely related to issues of migration, whether the conversion occurred while living abroad or they were, for religious reasons, forced to leave the country, the focus of this paper is transformation of social relations among converted Romanians and their co-ethnics. Based on the results from ethnographic research conducted in Serbia in 2014–2015, I will focus on how migrants perceive themselves and their co-ethnic attitudes towards them. Becoming a part of transnational religious community and emphasizing supra-nationality, the Romanian neo-Protestants perceive themselves as a part of “worldwide brotherhood,” adopting some new forms of collective identity while distancing themselves from the Romanian Orthodox tradition. Thus, religious otherness raises questions of the attitude of the Romanian local community towards the Romanian neo-Protestant migrants and their new religious, cultural, and social practices

Book Review: Gorana Ognjenović and Jasna Jozelić\u27s Education in Post-conflict Transition: The Politicization of Religion in School Textbooks

An edited volume entitled, Education in Post-conflict Transition: The Politicization of Religion in School Textbooks, was published by Palgrave Macmillan series in Religion, Politics and Policy and edited by two scholars, Gorana Ognjenović (University of Oslo) and Jasna Jozelić (Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo). This volume focuses on the politicization of religion and the development of religious education in public schools, and the degree of religious liberty and human rights in several, mainly former Yugoslav countries. Apart from an introduction, the volume has thirteen chapters and a conclusion. Chapter authors include scholars from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia . The book also covers case studies of religious education in these countries

Twin deficits and the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle: a comparison of the EU member states and candidate countries

The paper’s main objective is to investigate the empirical link between the fiscal balance and the current account (i.e. the twin deficits phenomenon). The paper focuses on the EU member states and candidate countries which are according to their different (e.g. historical, political, economical and geographical) characteristics divided into two major groups, i.e. old EU member states (EU15) and new EU member states and candidate countries (EU12+3) in the 1995-2008 period. Additionally, the importance of the so-called Feldstein-Horioka puzzle in the considered countries is examined in order to draw some conclusions about the regions’ integration with international capital markets. The empirical results suggest that budget deficits in the EU member states and candidate countries have generally signaled relatively high level of substitutability between private and public savings, implying a relatively low correlation between fiscal and external imbalances. Thus, the empirical results in general reject the validity of the twin deficit hypothesis. Finally, the paper provides evidence of a relatively higher level of capital mobility, especially in the EU12+3 region in the second sub-period (2004-2008).twin deficits, Feldstein-Horioka puzzle, capital mobility, EU member states, candidate countries, panel data analysis

Adapting the Number of Particles in Sequential Monte Carlo Methods through an Online Scheme for Convergence Assessment

Particle filters are broadly used to approximate posterior distributions of hidden states in state-space models by means of sets of weighted particles. While the convergence of the filter is guaranteed when the number of particles tends to infinity, the quality of the approximation is usually unknown but strongly dependent on the number of particles. In this paper, we propose a novel method for assessing the convergence of particle filters online manner, as well as a simple scheme for the online adaptation of the number of particles based on the convergence assessment. The method is based on a sequential comparison between the actual observations and their predictive probability distributions approximated by the filter. We provide a rigorous theoretical analysis of the proposed methodology and, as an example of its practical use, we present simulations of a simple algorithm for the dynamic and online adaption of the number of particles during the operation of a particle filter on a stochastic version of the Lorenz system

Vector meson production at low x from gauge/gravity duality

We use gauge/gravity duality to study vector meson (J/?, ? 0 , ?, ?) production in electron-proton scattering, in the limit of high center of mass energy at fixed momentum transfer, corresponding to the limit of low Bjorken x, where the process is dominated by pomeron exchange. Our approach considers the pomeron at strong coupling, described by the graviton Regge trajectory in AdS space with a hard-wall to mimic confinement effects. Both the proton and vector mesons are described by simple holographic wave functions in AdS. This model agrees with HERA H1 data with a ? 2 per degree of freedom below one on total cross-sections, and below two on differential cross-sections, confirming the success of previous studies that model low x DIS and DVCS using gauge/gravity duality

Christian and Muslim Mutual Relatedness and Directedness as our Common Destiny in the Balkans

The author gives his own religious perspective about mutual relatedness and directedness between Christians and Muslims in the Balkans. According to him, the relatedness and directedness between Orthodox Christians and Sunni Muslims in the Balkans were never at the level of which one could be proud. The contemporary historical moment it is important to improve contacts not only between Christians and Muslims, but also between their religious institutions. This relation would not harm their identity, but would only enrich and help building religious peace among believers on the Balkans. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to know the truth about the other religion from theological and other perspectives