The System of the Inquisition in Medieval Europe

This book reexamines the origins and growth of the medieval inquisition which provided a framework for the large-scale operations against religious dissidents. In the last quarter of the twelfth century, the papacy launched concerted efforts to hunt out heretics, mostly Cathars and Waldensians, and directed operations against them all across Latin Christendom. The bull of Pope Lucius III Ad abolendam of 1184 became a turning point in the formation of the inquisitorial system which made both the clergy and the laity responsible for suppressing any religious dissent. From a comparative perspective, the study analyzes political, social and religious developments which in the High Middle Ages gave birth to the mechanism of repression and religious violence supervised by the papacy and operated by bishops and, starting from the 1230s, papal inquisitors, extraordinary judges delegate staffed mostly by Dominican and Franciscan friars

The Influence of Nature Relatedness on Decision Making Regarding Mate Selection in College Educated Young Adults

Research to date has mainly focused on the influence of nature relatedness on a person’s subjective well-being (Nisbet, 2011) and as a predictor of happiness (Zelenski & Nisbet, 2014). There are few, if any, studies that look at the influence of nature relatedness on mate selection. The research question is Does nature relatedness influence mate selection in college-educated adults between the ages of 25 and 40? A secondary goal of this study is to begin to describe the role of the natural environment in the lives of college-educated young adults. Through a modified snowball sampling technique using electronic mail and social media, participants (n=266) completed an electronic questionnaire. Participants’ levels of nature relatedness were measured using the Nature Relatedness Scale (NRS; Nisbet, Zelenski, & Murphy, 2009). They filled out researcher-created questions that inquired into the influence of nature relatedness on mate selection, frequency of outdoor activities with a romantic partner, important characteristics and attributes when looking for a mate, and demographic information. Results show nature relatedness is a factor that almost half (49%) of the participants look for in a romantic partner and more than half (63%) value in a romantic partner. More than a quarter (29%) of the participants selected “enjoys spending time outdoors” as one of the top five attributes they look for in a potential mate. The results demonstrate a positive correlation between an individual’s level of nature relatedness, the degree to which nature relatedness plays a role in mate selection, and the frequency of engaging in outdoor activities with a romantic partner. Selected demographic variables such as gender, age group, geographical location, and geographical region show statistically significant differences on some of the NRS subscales. This study is important because it is one of the few, if any, studies examining the influence of nature relatedness on mate selection in college-educated young adults and provides insight into the influence of the natural environment on this demographic group

The Religious Policy of Sigismund I and Sigismund II Augustus in the Reformation Period: status quaestionis

The article examines the role of the last Jagiellonian monarchs, Sigismund I (1506-1548) andhis son Sigismund II Augustus (1548-1572), in promoting and securing religious peace in themulti-confessional society of the 16th-century Rzeczpospolita. The author argues that the Jagielloniandynasty, which ascended to the Polish throne in 1386 and ruled until 1572, contributedsignificantly to the rise of religious pluralism in Poland and Lithuania, and paved the way for amechanism of tolerance which made it possible for religious groups to live together and to respecttheir religious diversity. The author analyses the anti-heretical laws passed by Sigismund Iin the 1520s, and Sigismund II in the 1550s, which were intended to suppress the disseminationof Reformation ideas. In these documents, both monarchs declared their loyalty to the RomanChurch, and threatened followers of the Reformation with severe penalties. All these documentsgive an insight into the religious policy of the Polish kings. Anti-heretical legislation was just onepart of a more complex and sophisticated policy of the Jagiellonian kings, which aimed at preservingthe religious status quo in the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional Rzeczpospolita.Key words: Reformation, Poland, religious policy, confessional relations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ ahuk.v29i0.106

An Inquisitive Historian and a Papal Inquisitor:

oai:revues.org:oliviana/1588Challenging the Dominant Narrative In his magisterial 1972 study on The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages, Robert E. Lerner devoted eight pages to the beguines from Świdnica (Schweidnitz) who called themselves the “Hooded Nuns” (moniales Capuciate) and “the Daughters of Odelindis” (filie Vdyllindis). His short section offered an original analysis of this small group of beguines, their organization, their views, and their religious life. Lerner’s treatment challenged the inter..

The Role of Intra-Articular Nerve Growth Factor in Facet-Mediated Pain: Relationships to Spinal BDNF and Neuronal Hyperexcitability

Traumatic neck injuries commonly result from rear-end motor vehicle collisions and are associated with a high incidence of neck pain and considerable annual costs. The facet joint is the most common source of neck pain. That joint is innervated by nociceptors that are activated by tensile stretching of the joint\u27s capsular ligament. Although activation of those joint afferents and joint inflammation contribute to facet-mediated pain, the cellular response(s) within the joint that initiate pain via the joint afferents are unknown. Similarly, the mechanisms that induce central sensitization and maintain facet pain are not fully defined. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a potent mediator of inflammatory cascades and is hypothesized to contribute to joint pain. Further, NGF regulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which, when released in the spinal cord, sensitizes spinal neurons. Despite their roles in inflammatory pain, no studies have identified whether the neurotrophins NGF and/or BDNF contribute to facet joint-mediated pain. These studies utilize a rat model of mechanical facet joint injury to investigate the roles of NGF and BDNF in facet pain. Because joint afferents are crucial for the initiation and maintenance of facet pain, the innervation pattern of the C6/C7 facet joint in the rat is quantitatively defined. NGF expression is measured in the facet joint and the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) following a painful facet joint distraction. Further, the role of intra-articular NGF in the initiation and maintenance of facet-mediated pain and spinal neuronal hyperexcitability is evaluated by selectively blocking intra-articular NGF signaling. BDNF expression is quantified in the DRG and spinal cord after joint injury. Selective inhibition of spinal BDNF is utilized to determine its contribution to facet-mediated pain. This thesis demonstrates that throughout the peripheral and central nervous systems neurotrophins are key mediators of behavioral hypersensitivity and contribute to the hyperexcitability of spinal neurons after a painful facet joint injury. This work further establishes the need for future studies to integrate investigations throughout all aspects of the pain pathway to fully understand the mechanisms underlying facet-mediated pain

John Wyclif\u27s Writings in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia and Poland

Wyclif\u27s position in the history of religious dissent in the late Middle Ages has already been well assessed. Although there is no direct evidence that Wyclif personally disseminated his ideas outside Oxford, his anticlerical concepts widely circulated throughout England and gave birth to the popular movement of Lollardy. Towards the end of the fourteenth century the ideas of Doctor Evangelicus attracted a number of Bohemian masters and students at Prague University. They were widely discussed and stimulated the emergence of the Hussite doctrine. Wyclif\u27s first works, mainly logical, appeared in Prague in the last decade of the fourteenth century. The number of copies brought to Bohemia from England was enormous. The transmission and circulation of Wyclif\u27s writings in Hussite Bohemia remains a fascinating phenomenon. Special missions were dispatched from Bohemia to England to collect and copy Wyclif\u27s works. Close relations with English Wycliffites, both at Oxford and in the land estates of Lollard knights, enabled Bohemian emissaries to lay hands on nearly all Wyclif\u27s works they were searching for. The important role in the transmission of Wyclif\u27s writings from England to Bohemia was played by Peter Payne, who until 1413 had worked at Oxford, and after his escape to Bohemia became a leading Hussite theologian. Thanks to his assistance the Bohemian emissaries copied a number of Wyclif\u27s theological treatises, among them De veritate sacre scripture, De ecclesia, De dominio divino. The catalogue of Wyclif\u27s writings available at Prague around 1415 lists everything he ever wrote, except for about thirty minor works. Wyclif\u27s works have survived to this day in about three hundred Bohemian manuscripts. In contrast to the Hussite Bohemia, the spreading of Wyclif\u27s ideas in the fifteenth century Poland was primarily limited to professors of Cracow University. His first works were brought to Poland by the Bohemian scholars. Despite a hostile attitude towards Wyclif, his writings, mostly logical, were copied and discussed at Cracow. After the condemnation of Wyclif and Hus in 1415 the ideas of the former became closely associated with the Hussite doctrine. Recent research has demonstrated that apart from Andrzej Gałka of Dobczyn, Cracow professor in 1429-1449, Wyclif\u27s concepts found no followers in Poland. For at least ten years Gałka studied Wyclif\u27s writings in secret, but after his clandestine activity became known in 1449, he was condemned by his university colleagues and prosecuted by Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnick of Cracow

THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF STATE ACTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: HOW VICTIMS AND NON-VICTIMS FORM OPINIONS ABOUT GOVERNMENT

This dissertation examines the impact of public policies designed to prevent, address, and punish violence against women (VAW) on citizens’ political attitudes as well as news coverage in Brazil. Despite being politically important, these topics are understudied, particularly in the context of Latin America. In the dissertation, I investigate the following research questions: 1) How does government attention to gender-based violence shape news media coverage of violence against women? 2) How do policies on violence against women shape intimate partner violence survivors’ political attitudes? 3) How do encounters with the police shape survivors’ political opinions and bystander intervention attitudes? By investigating these questions, my dissertation makes important empirical and theoretical contributions to literatures on violence against women, Latin American politics, public policy, and public opinion. My theoretical argument assumes that political elites are instrumental in shaping public opinion on issues related to gender-based violence, just as they are on most of political issues. Political attention and policies on VAW also send important signals to the news media about the issue of violence against women, prompting journalists to report on relevant stories. Relying on literature on agenda-setting in the news media, I argue that political elites dictate much of the topics covered by news reporting. I theorize that the continuous process of improving state action on VAW— due to persistent feminist activism and civil society’s pressures—increases news media attention to these stories. Further, as the news media increasingly report on political elites’ attention to VAW, both the amount and the content of reporting would reflect these trends. I argue that when the state adopts legislation to address gender-based violence, it also signals to citizens that responding to violence against women is the government’s responsibility, thereby helping to connect their attitudes on this issue to their political evaluations. Salient state actions on violence against women, then, raise the expectations of survivors of gender-based violence, who rely on public institutions for justice and for their recovery from trauma. Once these policies become known, survivors expect to have access to the public support services associated with the laws. The problem, however, is that implementation hardly goes hand in hand with the adoption of legislation, and as consequence, many survivors of intimate partner violence would lack access to these life-saving resources. Thus, the lack of access to services established by salient legislation, should engender negative evaluations of relevant political institutions among survivors. Access to public support services is not the end of the story. Once intimate partner violence survivors have access to support services for victims, they rely on the messages they received from service providers to form opinions about the effectiveness of state action on VAW. I argue that because of the emotional damage caused by VAW victimization, survivors need emotional support from service providers, and especially from the police—as the police tend to be survivors’ first contact with support services. If they are not treated fairly by service providers—procedural fairness—they might conclude that the laws are not effective in protecting women. Consequently, they might be less likely to report intentions to intervene by calling the police if they witness domestic violence. To explore these topics, my research takes a mixed-method approach, integrating both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative component of my research involves the analysis of an extensive dataset that I have collected on news media coverage of VAW in Brazil and public opinion surveys. To analyze the effect of political attention to VAW on news reporting, I use several methods. Using my original dataset, I examine the effect of congressional bill introduction addressing VAW as well as VAW legislation on news coverage using time series analysis. I then take a text-as-data approach using machine learning topic modeling to conduct content analysis of news articles on VAW over time. To analyze the effect of policies on VAW on survivors’ political attitudes, I rely on public opinion surveys. I use multilevel analysis to examine how macro-level factors influence individual-level survey responses. Finally, I have conducted dozens of in-depth interviews with domestic violence survivors and service providers in Brazil. This qualitative component of my dissertation provides rich insight, meaning and explanation of the quantitative analysis. My dissertation findings shed light on the political consequences of public policy on VAW. In my chapter on the news media, I find that when governments engage in a process of improving state action on violence against women through the enactment of bills, the news media respond by covering more stories on the topic. I also find that a pioneer legislation can shape news media reporting on VAW over time. My analysis demonstrates that the anniversary of a pioneer legislation on VAW opens a window of opportunity for the news media to cover stories on VAW. As such, political attention as well as salient, concrete state action on VAW can raise awareness about the persistent problem of gender-based violence among the public through the news media. Ultimately, sustained media attention can promote support for policies designed to ameliorate women’s standing in society. In my chapters on the political attitudes of domestic violence survivors, I find that survivors of intimate partner violence who did not have access to public services for victims, downgrade their evaluations of the central government. These victims are also less likely to think that the state aids victims against their aggressors. I also find that procedural fairness in police service delivery matters for the political attitudes of intimate partner violence survivors. Survivors whose subjective evaluations of police customer service are less than excellent, are more skeptical of the effectiveness of VAW laws in protecting women from violence compared to non-victims. I argue that these results carry important policy implications with them. State action on violence against women raises expectations of greater policy implementation among survivors that, if left unmet, can produce a backlash of negative political judgments. Legislation on violence against women must go hand in hand with budget allocations to ensure even implementation of resources of prevention and response to gender-based violence across the national territory. However, access to public support services for victims is not enough. Once survivors reach these services, they are in great need of emotional support, making fair treatment utterly important. If survivors do not receive fair treatment from the police—the main implementers of VAW policies—they are more likely to hold negative evaluations of relevant political institutions

Redemption or Condemnation? A Long-Term Follow-up of the Desistance Patterns of Sex Offenders

Desistance is one of most important topics in criminology. Why some offenders stop offending and why others continue has been long been a question with far-reaching theoretical and empirical implications. Despite the extensive literature on desistance, most of the research examines offenders as a single group, an approach which might overlook differences between individuals by offense type. One offender group that has not been investigated in depth is sex offenders. Sex offenders are an important group to study because they present concerns to public safety and are the subject of much legislation and criminal justice policy. A substantial amount of research has been devoted to understanding why sex offenders commit the crimes they do and recidivism. However, fewer studies have examined about how and why they might desist from offending. There are reasons to expect that the desistance process may operate differently for sex offenders as compared to other types of offenders. The public considers sex offenders to be among the most dangerous offenders, who reoffend at very high rates, which has resulted in legislation that increases surveillance and restrictions intended to prevent future offending. Despite a widespread belief that sex offenders are not amenable to rehabilitation, most states require sex offenders to participate in treatment that addresses sexual deviance using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The differences between sex offenders and other types of offenders suggests that the path to desistance for sex offenders might also occur differently than for other types of offenders who are not subject to the same public scrutiny, legal restrictions, and therapeutic interventions. To examine the nature of the desistance process for sex offenders, this dissertation uses a longitudinal qualitative analysis of current and former sex offenders at two points in time: release from prison (Phase 1) and a three-year follow-up (Phase 2). Findings show that patterns of desistance are more complex than the desister-persister dichotomy suggests. This study explores the relationship of cognitive scripts to these categories, discusses the influence of treatment on desistance, and presents additional cognitive scripts specific to the reentry experience of sex offenders. Implications of this research are also discussed

The status of five state-listed tidal plant species in New Hampshire with emphasis on potential impacts of sea level rise

Tidal habitat in New Hampshire is restricted to 162 miles along coasts and estuaries. Limited area combined with anthropogenic impacts has caused 27 tidal plant species to be listed as threatened or endangered. In 2009 and 2010, the status of four threatened species: Eleocharis parvula, Samolus valerandi, Lilaeopsis chinensis , and Agalinis maritima and one endangered species Salicornia bigelovii was examined. To guide management and conservation, the historic and current distributions were compared and habitat features were determined. All five species were stable; however, S. valerandi and L. chinensis appear threatened by sea level rise and coastal squeeze as they occurred in upper elevation marsh communities. Elevation of both species and marsh zones were measured and area available at different sea level rise increments was calculated. A rise of 0.56 m for S. valerandi, and 0.96 m for L. chinensis would cause complete loss if no restoration efforts are made

Głębokie źródła zrównoważoności

The Western world, since the Scientific/Industrial Revolution has valued highly the capacity of our logical and analytical minds as well as the economic success which has been credited to this thinking. This has resulted in what appears to be a discrediting of the deeper consciousness of the human mind, that is, our intuition or inner Wisdom or spirituality (in its broadest sense), as this wisdom cannot be measured in scientific terms. Many scholars now believe that this situation (accepting only the measurable knowledge which comes from the logical mind), has created much of our human disconnect with our natural world and our human linkage with the Earth, resulting in the ecological breakdown we are now experiencing. The following paper focuses on the deep roots of our dilemma. This involves in many cases the discovery or “rediscovery” of some deeply rooted values located in our deeply seated unconscious mind (inner self or consciousness), and our rethinking about the nature of humanity and how we are interconnected with Nature. This process is opening up new ways of thinking about the deep capacities humans possess, and the importance of drawing from both the conscious logical mind as well as the deeply rooted unconscious areas of the mind (our inner self).  As a result we are gradually rediscovering some of these deeply held “universal” values, where both areas of the mind (logical and consciousness) are needed to fully comprehend them and transform them into practice. These emerging values appear to be gradually providing a new basis for policies and actions to deal with our present environmental, social and economic crisis. Are we on the threshold of finding some commonly held deep universal values that could result in new positive approaches to our common challenges in Sustainability for our planet?Od czasów rewolucji naukowo-przemysłowej, świat zachodni bardzo ceni możliwości logiczne i analityczne ludzkiego umysłu oraz sukcesy gospodarcze, które są im przypisywane. W rezultacie mniejszą wagę przywiązuje się do głębszych pokładów ludzkiego umysłu, czyli naszej intuicji, wewnętrznej mądrości, lub duchowości (w najszerszym znaczeniu tego słowa), ponieważ ta mądrość nie jest wymierna w kategoriach naukowych. Zdaniem wielu naukowców, sytuacja ta (czyli przyjęcie tylko wymiernej wiedzy wynikającej z logicznej części naszego umysłu) spowodowała oderwanie człowieka od natury oraz zerwanie naszych więzi z Ziemią, co stało się przyczyną problemów ekologicznych, które dziś obserwujemy. Niniejsze opracowanie omawia podstawowe źródła tego dylematu. W wielu wypadkach niezbędne jest odkrycie (lub ponowne odkrycie) głęboko zakorzenionych wartości w najgłębszych pokładach naszej podświadomości (naszym wewnętrznym „ja” lub wyższej świadomości) oraz przemyślenia dotyczące ludzkiej natury i naszych relacji ze środowiskiem. Proces ten otwiera nowe tory myślenia na temat najgłębiej ukrytych możliwości człowieka, jak również znaczenia zarówno świadomego i logicznego umysłu, jak i głębokich obszarów podświadomości (naszego wewnętrznego „ja”). W rezultacie stopniowo odkrywamy niektóre z tych głęboko zakorzenionych wartości „uniwersalnych”, gdzie obie sfery naszego umysłu (logika i wyższa świadomość) są niezbędne do zrozumienia całości tych wartości oraz do wykorzystania ich w praktyce. Wartości te stopniowo tworzą nowe podstawy dla polityki i działań w celu przeciwdziałania obecnemu kryzysowi ekologicznemu, społecznemu i gospodarczemu. Czy jesteśmy już tyko o krok od sformułowania powszechnych, najgłębszych, uniwersalnych wartości, które mogłyby stanowić podstawę dla nowego, pozytywnego podejścia do naszych wspólnych problemów dotyczących zrównoważoności na naszej planecie