Showing papers by "Augustana College (Illinois) published in 1995"
TL;DR: For over two millennia, the Buddhists and Hindus of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) lived together in relative peace as mentioned in this paper. But in the twentieth century, this small island republic off the coast of India has been wracked by recurrent violence and ethnic tension.
Abstract: For over two millennia, the Buddhists and Hindus of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) lived together in relative peace. But in the twentieth century, this small island republic off the coast of India has been wracked by recurrent violence and ethnic tension.Especially since independence in 1948, the majority Sinhalese population, predominantly Buddhist, and the Tamil minority, mainly Hindu and some Muslims, have competed fiercely over questions of rate, language, religion, and political control. Several revisions of the constitution have failed to resolve these issues, and the post-independence period has witnessed horrific riots, guerrilla movements on both sides, and pro-government death squads, as well as a peace-keeping effort by Indian forces to try to protect the Tamil minority and to resolve the dispute.What role does religion in fact play in the conflict, and what can be done to reduce the level of tension and violence in Sri Lanka? This volume addresses those questions by examining the sources of this intense conflict; the political, legal, and nongovernmental efforts at reconciliation; and the prospects for a settlement."
50 citations
TL;DR: It seems unlikely that parvovirus B19 plays a role in CFS, even though it has been associated with fibromyalgia, a clinically similar syndrome.
Abstract: Objective. To evaluate the presence of infection with parvovirus B19 in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) who also had rheumatologic symptoms and mild hematologic abnormalities.
Methods. Seven patients meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working case definition for CFS who also had mild leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, or anemia were studied. Bone marrow was aspirated from each patient, and examined for morphologic abnormalities, including features seen in marrow infections with parvovirus B19, as well as for parvoviral DNA, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Serum obtained at the time of marrow aspiration was also evaluated for parvoviral DNA, using the PCR method, and was examined for the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies to the virus.
Results. No evidence of marrow involvement with parvovirus B19 was found in any patient. One patient had antibody evidence of a transient parvoviral infection, during which time an underlying thrombocytopenia worsened.
Conclusion. Despite examining a selected group of patients thought most likely to have parvoviral infection, based on clinical and hematologic measures, no evidence of clinically important parvoviral infection was noted. Thus, it seems unlikely that parvovirus B19 plays a role in CFS, even though it has been associated with fibromyalgia, a clinically similar syndrome.
20 citations
6 citations
4 citations
TL;DR: Eilberg-Schwartz as mentioned in this paper argues that even the most sophisticated theists will continue to use male imagery to talk about God, even when they are fully aware their theology does not logically allow an embodied deity.
Abstract: For most theists, one of the surest marks of a childish theological imagination is the notion that God is an old man with a white beard seated on a throne somewherc beyond the clouds. Wc may have thought in this crude fashion as children, we tell ourselves, but surely no mature person seriously entertains such belief. We take it as virtually self-evident that if God exists, embodiment is not one of thc divine qualities. “God is spirit,” avers one New ‘Ikstment writer, “and those who worship God must worship in the spirit.” Despite our purported theological maturity, traces of God’s body continue to crop up in individual and collective imaginations. Sonic of the most sophisticated theists will continue to use male imagery to talk about God, even when they are fully aware their theology does not logically allow an embodied deity. In graduate school, I remember a colleague trying to persuade a young woman to stop referring to God as He. “You don’t really believe,” asked the colleaguc, “that God is sitting up there with a penis?” If God has no body, it makes little sense to allude to God’s maleness. Yet male imagery for God persists, although most persons fail to think through the logical implications of this idea. No one, apparently, wants to contemplate the divine penis. This reticence has engendered an image of God who is a lot like the Wizard of Oz: a hazy tatking head with no body and therefore no troubling tallywacker. This aversion to the idea of God’s phallus also characterizes the religious discourse of ancient Judaism, argues Howard Eilberg-Schwartz in this original and provocative monograph. Eilberg-Schwartz finds great significance in a matter that many modem theologians and biblical scholars deem unremarkable: that many myths of ancient Israel portray God as an embodied male but carefully avoid what that image logically cntails. Analysis of the maleness of the Hebrew God, of course, is not new. Feminist