Search Results (13)

An empirical study on the use of law in Christian sermons has so far been a blank space in research, especially when large corpora of sermons are examined. In this article, we present the first findings of the ongoing RUNIP project, in which computer-assisted methods are used and validated in sermon analysis. The process integrates manual coding via MaxQDA with machine learning techniques, notably contextual embeddings derived from Transformer architectures such as SBERT, enabling us to detect patterns across large corpora. We argue that embeddings in text analysis can help to complement a manual, human-based text analysis. Clustering based on sentence embeddings helps identify semantically related sermon passages, although the complexity and length of the original texts, as well as the nuanced theological language, pose challenges to computer-aided analysis. By bridging historical and contemporary sermon analysis with data science methodologies, we demonstrate how an interdisciplinary approach can expand our understanding of how preachers address law, norms, and moral questions in Christian sermons. This is demonstrated by qualitative results from the analysis of the large historical sermon corpus of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher. Full article

With 1600 titles Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. is the most academically published pope in Church history. His stature as a theologian is only comparable to that of Leo the Great or Gregory the Great. In an age that has lost an appreciation for the human being as a person, the peritus Ratzinger introduced at the Second Vatican Council the notion that divine revelation is ultimately identical with the Godman Jesus Christ. In his view, Jesus Christ, as a divine person with both divine and human natures, redeems the postmodern human being from solipsistic self-preoccupation and existentialist despair. Such is the result of a positivistic and rationalistic approach to the figure of Jesus Christ. At the beginning of the 21st century, Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated an epochal, personalist, and Christocentric shift by penning the Jesus of Nazareth trilogy, taking serious Kant’s critiques and writing thus the first “post-critical” Christology presented to postmodernity. Nowhere else does Ratzinger write so extensively on “the man from Nazareth”. Full article

Large datasets in paediatric oncology are inherently rare. Therefore, it is paramount to fully exploit all available data, which are distributed over several resources, including biomaterials, images, clinical trials, and registries. With privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL), personalised or pseudonymised datasets can be merged, without disclosing the patients’ identities. Although PPRL is implemented in various settings, use case descriptions are currently fragmented and incomplete. The present paper provides a comprehensive overview of current and future use cases for PPRL in paediatric oncology. We analysed the literature, projects, and trial protocols, identified use cases along a hypothetical patient journey, and discussed use cases with paediatric oncology experts. To structure PPRL use cases, we defined six key dimensions: distributed personalised records, pseudonymisation, distributed pseudonymised records, record linkage, linked data, and data analysis. Selected use cases were described (a) per dimension and (b) on a multi-dimensional level. While focusing on paediatric oncology, most aspects are also applicable to other (particularly rare) diseases. We conclude that PPRL is a key concept in paediatric oncology. Therefore, PPRL strategies should already be considered when starting research projects, to avoid distributed data silos, to maximise the knowledge derived from collected data, and, ultimately, to improve outcomes for children with cancer. Full article

Friedrich Schleiermacher emerged as a prominent advocate for German nationalism in the Wars of Liberation from Napoleonic domination in the early nineteenth century. Alongside his work as a pastor and theologian in Berlin, and also as the co-founder of the University of Berlin, Schleiermacher developed German nationalism from a distinctly Protestant perspective, one that sought the preservation of Protestantism in the German lands under Napoleonic domination. While it would be an overstatement to suggest that Schleiermacher’s nationalism was anti-Catholic, he certainly sought to preserve and maintain Protestantism in the German lands. His vision of the German nation-state emphasized Germany’s role as a divine instrument of God’s will in the world. He assumed the cultural unity of the peoples in German lands, that is, an area of land in which the peoples are bound together by the common use of the German language. In his distinct role as a pastor, theologian, and academic, he was devoted to the cultivation of German national consciousness and the establishment of a German nation-state. Schleiermacher’s work would help to provide a cultural foundation for the emergence of the German nation-state more than half a century before the establishment of the German empire. Full article

Friedrich Schleiermacher is often credited with playing a foundational role in the development of the modern concept of religion. His epoch-making Speeches on religion, published in 1799 amidst the widespread social and intellectual upheaval of the Sattelzeit, present a novel description of religious feeling and religious communication, which mark a turning away from the rationalistic treatments of religion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and which served as both inspiration and foil for scholars of religion throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This essay suggests a reading of Schleiermacher’s Speeches that is organized around two interrelated claims. First, the text does not proceed as speculative philosophical treatise aiming to establish an overarching theory of religion but as a critical dialogue that inquires into the distinctive particularity of religion and religious expression. Second, religious piety, as depicted in the Speeches, is not found in the isolated inwardness of individual experience but in coordinated tension with sociality, in communications of religious feeling that are bound together with a living apprehension of the world. On this account, religion for Schleiermacher, though rooted in feeling and self-consciousness, is nonetheless no private affair; it is realized within the developing complex of social and historical living. Full article

In this article, I consider F.C. Baur’s conception of religion. This has rarely been done because Baur is generally regarded as a historical theologian rather than a theorist of religion. Yet I argue that, if we observe Baur’s own historical work, we discover there a remarkably original conceptual work on the notion of religion. For Baur, I argue, religion was a key concept, in that it aided him in his attempt to bring together theological, historical, and philosophical work. Yet the concept of religion had to be of a particular kind in order to suit his agenda. Therefore, the identification of Baur’s concept of religion will also help ascertain the coherence of his intellectual activity. In the article, I focus on two of Baur’s works, his first monograph, Symbolik und Mythologie (1824/5) and his magisterial Die christliche Gnosis (1835). I show that fundamental ideas across these two books should be seen as Baur’s own (rather than merely borrowed from Schleiermacher and Hegel), and that there is more continuity between them than readers have often found. In a final section, I discuss briefly an essay Baur devoted to the Begriff der Religionsphilosophie (1837). Full article

As a classic of Zen Buddhism, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, starting from the core concept of “self-nature and self-determination”, fully demonstrates the “Self” dimension and the “self-mastery” and “self-bearing” spiritual temperament of Master Huineng, who put forward the idea that “Buddhahood is realized within the essential-nature; do not seek for it outside yourself.” 佛向性中作，莫向身外求, and the spiritual temperament of “self-mastery” and “self-responsibility”. In contrast, Schleiermacher, as “the father of modern Protestant theology”, in his philosophical reflection on religion, grasped the notion of piety centered on “the feeling of absolute dependence” and enriched it with the substance of religious self-consciousness to establish and reveal the essence of religious faith and Christianity. This sharp contrast fully demonstrates the important difference of Buddhism and Christianity in dealing with the relationship between the “Self” and the “Other”. This essential difference reflects the fact that the Zen Buddhist classics represented by The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch are both rooted in the Buddhist tradition and based on the traditional Chinese philosophical theory of mind and nature, based on which is the faith model of seeking liberation from the nature of the “Self”. In contrast, The Christian faith, as typified by Schleiermacher’s Christian philosophy, attempts to establish a model of faith that seeks salvation through devout faith in the Absolute Supreme, and to take this point as the essence and basis of religious faith and Christian faith. Full article

The birth of modern aesthetics cannot be separated from the emergence of a new, non-dogmatic conception of religion and theology. Friedrich Schlegel advocated ‘art as new religion’ while Friedrich Schleiermacher developed a vision on religion as a deeply aesthetic experience. In this rich intellectual context, one author stands out as deeply steeped in this field of innovative dialogues between philosophy, religion and art (against the backdrop of profound historical transformations) and as a singular figure beckoning towards a future (and a future language) that was still to come: Friedrich Hölderlin. In his later work, Hölderlin’s poetic voice retreats into a process of meticulous reading and writing, a complex score of traces and signs that articulate difference, not-yet-presence and potentiality, which is nothing other than the experience of finite time. In doing so, Hölderlin retraces the divine in history and in human existence: its retreat and expected arrival. In this article, we present readings and interpretations of Hölderlin’s later poetry, with a specific focus on the Winke or hints of the gods, and the vocabulary of nods and signs (Zeichen) signifying the experience of time’s passing as the announcement of an unthinkable future. By involving Jean-Luc Nancy’s rethinking of the Winke as intersections of the divinity of humanity and the humanity of divinity, we will arrive at a new understanding of Hölderlin’s emblematic figures of modernity: the stranger and the passer-by as receivers and transmitters of these Winke. Full article

Background: Liquid biopsies are revolutionary tools used to detect tumor-specific genetic alterations in body fluids, including the use of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) for molecular diagnosis in cancer patients. In brain tumors, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cfDNA might be more informative than plasma cfDNA. Here, we assess the use of CSF cfDNA in pediatric embryonal brain tumors (EBT) for molecular diagnosis. Methods: The CSF cfDNA of pediatric patients with medulloblastoma (n = 18), ATRT (n = 3), ETMR (n = 1), CNS NB FOXR2 (n = 2) and pediatric EBT NOS (n = 1) (mean cfDNA concentration 48 ng/mL; range 4–442 ng/mL) and matched tumor genomic DNA were sequenced by WES and/or a targeted sequencing approach to determine single-nucleotide variations (SNVs) and copy number alterations (CNA). A specific capture covering transcription start sites (TSS) of genes of interest was also used for nucleosome footprinting in CSF cfDNA. Results: 15/25 CSF cfDNA samples yielded informative results, with informative CNA and SNVs in 11 and 15 cases, respectively. For cases with paired tumor and CSF cfDNA WES (n = 15), a mean of 83 (range 1–160) shared SNVs were observed, including SNVs in classical medulloblastoma genes such as SMO and KMT2D. Interestingly, tumor-specific SNVs (mean 18; range 1–62) or CSF-specific SNVs (mean 5; range 0–25) were also observed, suggesting clonal heterogeneity. The TSS panel resulted in differential coverage profiles across all 112 studied genes in 7 cases, indicating distinct promoter accessibility. Conclusion: CSF cfDNA sequencing yielded informative results in 60% (15/25) of all cases, with informative results in 83% (15/18) of all cases analyzed by WES. These results pave the way for the implementation of these novel approaches for molecular diagnosis and minimal residual disease monitoring. Full article

Background: To assess whether expectant observation of infants ≤ 90 days old with small suprarenal masses (sSRMs) could avoid unnecessary surgery without impacting outcome. Methods: Infants ≤ 90 days with a ≤ 5 cm mass, without midline extension or lymph node or distant spread were registered (ClinicalTrials.org:NCT01728155). Once staging was completed, they were followed with ultrasound, MRI and urinary catecholamines. Surgical resection was only planned if there was a ≥40% mass volume increase or for a mass persisting after 48 weeks of the planned observation. Results: Over a 5-year period, 128 infants were registered. No infant had detectable MYCN amplification in the peripheral blood. Surgery was performed in 39 (30.5%) patients, in 18 during and in 21 after the planned 48-week observation, and 74% were confirmed to be neuroblastomas. Non-life-threatening surgical complications occurred in two cases. The 3-year overall survival and event-free survival were 100% and 87.1%, respectively. The 16 events observed were volume increase (N = 11) and progression to neuroblastoma stage MS (N = 5). Patients with solid masses or MIBG-positive masses had lower EFS. Conclusions: Expectant observation for infants with sSRMs with clinical follow-up and timely imaging (including MRI scan) is safe and effective, allowing surgery to be avoided in the majority of them. Full article

Rosenzweig’s principal interlocutors are commonly taken to be idealist and existentialist philosophers. Rosenzweig’s disparaging remarks at the beginning of Part Two of The Star of Redemption regarding modern theology and its progenitor, Friedrich Schleiermacher, strengthen the view that the Star is best understood in a philosophical context. However, a close reading of the Star alongside Schleiermacher’s main doctrinal work, The Christian Faith, reveals surprising points of similarity on a wide range of topics. Furthermore, the points of contradiction between the two works can illuminate Rosenzweig’s contributions to modern theology. Full article

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC1), a critical regulatory enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis, is a direct transcriptional target of MYCN, amplification of which is a powerful marker of aggressive neuroblastoma. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), G316A, within the first intron of ODC1, results in genotypes wildtype GG, and variants AG/AA. CRISPR-cas9 technology was used to investigate the effects of AG clones from wildtype MYCN-amplified SK-N-BE(2)-C cells and the effect of the SNP on MYCN binding, and promoter activity was investigated using EMSA and luciferase assays. AG clones exhibited decreased ODC1 expression, growth rates, and histone acetylation and increased sensitivity to ODC1 inhibition. MYCN was a stronger transcriptional regulator of the ODC1 promoter containing the G allele, and preferentially bound the G allele over the A. Two neuroblastoma cohorts were used to investigate the clinical impact of the SNP. In the study cohort, the minor AA genotype was associated with improved survival, while poor prognosis was associated with the GG genotype and AG/GG genotypes in MYCN-amplified and non-amplified patients, respectively. These effects were lost in the GWAS cohort. We have demonstrated that the ODC1 G316A polymorphism has functional significance in neuroblastoma and is subject to allele-specific regulation by the MYCN oncoprotein. Full article

Despite intensive treatment, 50% of children with high-risk neuroblastoma (HR-NB) succumb to their disease. Progression through current trials evaluating the efficacy of new treatments for children with HR disease usually depends on an inadequate response to induction chemotherapy, assessed using imaging modalities. In this study, we sought to identify circulating biomarkers that might be detected in a simple blood sample to predict patient response to induction chemotherapy. Since exosomes released by tumor cells can drive tumor growth and chemoresistance, we tested the hypothesis that exosomal microRNA (exo-miRNAs) in blood might predict response to induction chemotherapy. The exo-miRNAs expression profile in plasma samples collected from children treated in HR-NBL-1/SIOPEN before and after induction chemotherapy was compared to identify a three exo-miRs signature that could discriminate between poor and good responders. Exo-miRNAs expression also provided a chemoresistance index predicting the good or poor prognosis of HR-NB patients. Full article