Ministries Examined: Laity, Clergy, Women, and Bishops in a Time of Change

Reviewed Book: Reumann, John Henry Paul. Ministries Examined: Laity, Clergy, Women, and Bishops in a Time of Change. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987

Using small-angle X-ray scattering to investigate the compaction behaviour of a granulated clay

The compaction behaviour of a commercial granulated clay (magnesium aluminium smectite, gMgSm) was investigated using macroscopic pressure-density measurements, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray microtomography (XμT) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). This material was studied as a potential compaction excipient for pharmaceutical tabletting, but also as a model system demonstrating the capabilities of SAXS for investigating compaction in other situations. Bulk compaction measurements showed that the gMgSm was more difficult to compact than polymeric pharmaceutical excipients such as spheronised microcrystalline cellulose (sMCC), corresponding to harder granules. Moreover, in spite of using lubrication (magnesium stearate) on the tooling surfaces, rather high ejection forces were observed, which may cause problems during commercial tabletting, requiring further amelioration. Although the compacted gMgSm specimens were more porous, however, they still exhibited acceptable cohesive strengths, comparable to sMCC. Hence, there may be scope for using granular clay as one component of a tabletting formulation. Following principles established in previous work, SAXS revealed information concerning the intragranular structure of the gMgSm and its response to compaction. The results showed that little compression of the intragranular morphology occurred below a relative density of 0 · 6, suggesting that granule rearrangements or fragmentation were the dominant mechanisms during this stage. By contrast, granule deformation became considerably more important at higher relative density, which also coincided with a significant increase in the cohesive strength of compacted specimens. Spatially-resolved SAXS data was also used to investigate local variations in compaction behaviour within specimens of different shape. The results revealed the expected patterns of density variations within flat-faced cylindrical specimens. Significant variations in density, the magnitude of compressive strain and principal strain direction were also revealed in the vicinity of a debossed feature (a diametral notch) and within bi-convex specimens. The variations in compaction around the debossed notch, with a small region of high density below and low density along the flanks, appeared to be responsible for extensive cracking, which could also cause problems in commercial tabletting

Tensions in the practice of Marian Devotion between Clergy, Laity, and the Vatican: The maintenance of Catholic Social Structure in Gozo, Malta

In Gozo, Malta, tensions exist within the ritual system of Catholic Marian Devotion, observed through a disconnect between how laity practice Marian Devotion rituals and how the Vatican defines the practice of Marian Devotion. The local clergy, as intermediaries between the laity and the Vatican, negotiate between these groups to ensure the system's stability. In Gozo, this negotiation plays out through festa celebrations, devotional art, the dedication of ex-votos, and gendered distinctions. The clergy in Gozo mediate between the laity and the Vatican by tacitly accepting the laity's unsanctioned devotion practices while not actively participating, maintaining the balance of the social system of Catholic Marian Devotion in which they all operate.No embargoAcademic Major: Anthropological Science

Finding Significant Fourier Coefficients: Clarifications, Simplifications, Applications and Limitations

Ideas from Fourier analysis have been used in cryptography for the last three decades. Akavia, Goldwasser and Safra unified some of these ideas to give a complete algorithm that finds significant Fourier coefficients of functions on any finite abelian group. Their algorithm stimulated a lot of interest in the cryptography community, especially in the context of `bit security'. This manuscript attempts to be a friendly and comprehensive guide to the tools and results in this field. The intended readership is cryptographers who have heard about these tools and seek an understanding of their mechanics and their usefulness and limitations. A compact overview of the algorithm is presented with emphasis on the ideas behind it. We show how these ideas can be extended to a `modulus-switching' variant of the algorithm. We survey some applications of this algorithm, and explain that several results should be taken in the right context. In particular, we point out that some of the most important bit security problems are still open. Our original contributions include: a discussion of the limitations on the usefulness of these tools; an answer to an open question about the modular inversion hidden number problem

The competition for souls: Sava of Serbia and consumer choice in religion in the thirteenth century Balkans

SUMMARY The word αίρεσις , heresy means choice and in a world where religious belief was taken for granted the history of Catharism in Europe can be explained through believers exercising many of the criteria they were later to adapt to choosing secular consumer goods. Believers in the west in the C12 and early C13 had a choice of religions. Catharism became popular in France and Italy on the basis of the virtuous lifestyle of its protagonists, its relative cheapness compared with Catholicism and the simplicity of its theology of individual salvation. Its decline was as much to do with Catholicism being ‘re-packaged’ by groups such as the Franciscans, lay guilds and the Beguines as by any persecution. A similar analysis of heresy in eastern Europe would be valuable, despite the relative scarcity of sources. There is some evidence that opposition to the Bogomils focused on the capacity of the Orthodox Church to bring material well being to believers and to provide contact with a world of affluence the lay individual could mostly only dream of. Hugh Eteriano’s Contra Patarenos gives numerous examples of earthly prosperity springing from making the right spiritual choices and both he and later writers against the Bogomils such as Patriarch Germanus II emphasised the physical value and beauty of objects used in Orthodox worship, as opposed to the austerity of Bogomil sermons delivered in private houses. Outside Constantinople the Orthodox Church of the thirteenth century faced the threat of heresy from both Catholic and Bogomil missionaries without the resources available within the capital, and unable to deploy coercion as in the West. Archbishop Sava of Serbia therefore used a variety of methods to maintain the allegiance of the population to Orthodoxy. At the assembly at Žiča in 1221 he outlined gentle courses of repentance for both groups and used his links with his brother, king Stephen Prvovenčani to promise gifts to returning noble heretics. Sava also emphasised the Orthodox Church’s capacity to enrich the life of the laity, sending out ‘exarchs’ or trained priests to preach in Slavonic and encourage the sacrament of marriage, thus targeting families and future mothers. On an inevitably limited scale Sava was also able to stress the sensuous experience of Orthodox worship. His programme of church building included vivid programmes of wall painting to impress the laity. These occasionally conveyed a materialist message, such as the picture of Christ distributing bread from a basket labelled ‘Provider’. In short, Sava combined the responses to heresy of east and west. He deployed the appeal to sensuous experience and material well being of Orthodoxy he had seen in Constantinople and Nicaea, but also emphasised lifestyle, vernacular preaching and facilitating lay access to the sacraments which had been articulated in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council. Insofar as neither Bogomilism or Catholicism regained their potency as threats in the region the strategy seems to have been successful

When the Trumpet Call is Unclear: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Speech That Launched the Jesus Seminar

Since the Jesus Seminar has become almost iconic in religious media coverage, it merits academic scrutiny. This article focuses on the Seminar\u27s inaugural address given by founder Robert Funk on March 21, 1985, at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. In that address, Funk set forth the Seminar\u27s mission and method that has guided the association ever since. The main thesis of this article is that clues to the Seminar\u27s successes and failures may be found in Funk\u27s inaugural address, which may be uncovered through a text-in-context analysis of the speech