Search Results (73)

The thrust of this article is to examine three key manifestations of the criteria for identifying and evaluating the status of a prophet in Jewish polemic. The first is a survey and analysis of the use by medieval Jewish and Christian polemicists of the Deuteronomic verses, setting forth these criteria with the objective of demonstrating or disproving the messianic status of Jesus. The second is the Jewish affirmation of the primacy of Mosaic prophecy, with its implications for the doctrine that the Torah will never be superseded. Here there are consequences for polemic with both Christians and Muslims. This discussion will lead us to examine the Jewish affirmation that Moses is unique as the sole prophet of Torah with primary attention to a problem that has elicited much discussion among scholars of medieval Jewish philosophy. How is it that Gersonides (1288–1344), who denied that God knows particulars, including specific human beings, was able to affirm without qualification that no prophet other than Moses would be able to achieve the status of Torah prophet? In this context, we shall be impelled to raise questions about the parameters of Gersonides’ basic position regarding divine responsiveness or non-responsiveness to human stimuli and the degree to which exegetical and theological pressures might have led him to deviate from it. In light of his uncompromising position affirming the uniqueness of Moses as a Torah prophet, we shall also have to address his atypical and apparently problematic understanding of what is arguably the most important Biblical passage in the medieval Jewish-Christian debate. Christians maintained that the so-called suffering servant in Isaiah 52:13–53:12 is the Messiah and that the description there accords perfectly with his redemptive mission. Most medieval Jews, especially in Christian Europe, responded to the Christian reading by identifying the serv-ant as the prophet, another prophet, or, most commonly, the Jewish collective. Maimonides, who lived in a Muslim environment, does use the terminology of Isaiah 52:13 in describing the Messiah; Gersonides who lived among Christians, not only does the same but, unlike Maimonides, asserts that he will be a prophet superior to Moses. Nonetheless, despite this apparently disconcerting acceptance of a position congenial to a Christian understanding, he manages to define the nature of that superiority in a manner fully consistent with the affirmation that Moses is the only possible Torah prophet and even to present it as a reason for the non-Jewish nations to abandon their faiths. Finally, we move to a contemporary development where the criteria for prophecy are invoked in a polemical context, this time that of an intrafaith polemic. Here the purported prophetic status of a messianic figure becomes a central element of the primary evidence that he is the Messiah. The belief of many, almost certainly most, Lubavitch hasidim affirms the messianic identity of the deceased Rebbe. This belief has generated an internal Jewish polemic with echoes of a key element in the historic Jewish–Christian debate. All Jewish believers in a Messianic figure, especially after Maimonides declared that the Messiah will be second only to Moses as a prophet, ascribed prophetic status to their Messiah. However, that status was not a key factor in the evidence that they cited to prove that he was in fact the Messiah. Shabbetai Zevi’s Messiahship was validated by prophecy, but the prophecy was not that of the Messiah himself. Rather, it was an explicit revelation to Nathan of Gaza, whose prophetic credentials were verified through other means, that named Shabbetai Zevi as the redeemer. Lubavitch messianists, on the other hand, have made the Rebbe’s prophetic standing the fundamental component of the proof that he is the Messiah and of the argument that Jewish law requires one to believe this. In their view, he identified himself as a prophet, issued prophecies during the Gulf War that were fulfilled, and affirmed in his capacity as a prophet that he is the Messiah. Since it is a religious obligation (a mitzvah) to accept the words of a prophet, the conclusion that he must be recognized as the Messiah follows inexorably. Full article

Background/Objectives: Early childhood is an important period when growth and adiposity patterns emerge and may persist into later childhood. Children enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) face elevated obesity risk. We characterized BMI-for-age z-score (BMIz) trajectories from 24 to 60 months and their child-, caregiver-, and household-level correlates. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2 (ITFPS-2) public-use dataset. We analyzed 5,583 BMIz observations from 2,247 dyads; adjusted models used 4,314 observations from 1,738 children. Linear mixed-effects models tested individual, interpersonal, and household predictors. Restriction and pressure-to-eat were lagged, time-varying exposures. Results: Mean BMIz was elevated at all waves (0.46 to 0.56). Obesity prevalence rose from 15.4% to 18.5%. Unconditionally, BMIz was stable from 24 to 48 months and rose by 60 months. Adjusted models linked higher BMIz to higher birth weight, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, birth complications, maternal overweight or obesity, paternal overweight, prenatal smoking, adolescent maternal age, and lower maternal education. Male sex was associated with lower BMIz. Prior-wave restriction was associated with higher, and pressure to eat with modestly lower, subsequent BMIz. Household indicators showed no independent association. Conclusions: Caregiver and perinatal characteristics and feeding practices were the most consistent modifiable correlates of late-preschool BMIz. These observational, complete-case findings warrant caution. The 48–60-month window may be a promising period to target for WIC-based obesity prevention. Full article

Prophetic or messianic states of consciousness are charged with moral urgency and are active, historical, political, and sometimes infused with ego. In this paper, I inquire into psychedelic micro-messianic phenomenology and revolutionary dynamics through the historical case studies of Allen Ginsberg, Master Irineu, and John Wilson (Moonhead)—figures associated with the diffusion of LSD, Daime (ayahuasca), and peyote, respectively. I propose that, in moments of tension and uncertainty, psychedelics can catalyse micro-messianic movements through which these substances diffuse into new situations. A revelatory event motivates the subject, in fidelity to the event, to spread the substance and practice. Through the innovation, a movement emerges until it is routinised or inverted. A new status quo then stabilises, from which another revelatory event may arise. Through these historical cases, I offer a detailed analysis of such revolutionary dynamics, drawing on various theoretical perspectives (Weber, Wallace, Kuhn, Taves, Whitehouse, Rogers, Badiou, and others). In doing so, I demonstrate how psychedelic insights and actions are intertwined, and how psychedelic revelations seek to ripple outward into movements. Full article

Background/Objectives: Caregiver perception of child weight may be a cognitive antecedent of feeding practices, yet evidence linking misperception to feeding practices remains inconsistent. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory, this study examined whether caregiver weight perception (underestimation, overestimation, or accurate) is independently associated with feeding practices among caregivers of U.S. preschool-aged children. Methods: Primary caregivers of children aged 3–5 years (analytic n = 139) were recruited across the Midwestern United States from April 2022 to March 2023. Weight perception was classified as accurate, underestimation, or overestimation by comparing perceived with CDC BMI-for-age category. Four Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ) subscales were assessed: pressure to eat, restriction for health, restriction for weight control, and monitoring. Multivariable linear regression estimated associations, adjusting for child and caregiver characteristics and child BMI-for-age z-score. Results: Overall, 45.3% of caregivers accurately perceived their child’s weight, 44.6% underestimated it, and 10.1% overestimated it. In adjusted models, underestimation was independently associated with lower restriction for health (B = −0.62, 95% CI: −1.10, −0.13, p = 0.013) and lower restriction for weight control (B = −0.30, 95% CI: −0.58, −0.02, p = 0.033) relative to accurate perception. Overestimation was marginally associated with higher restriction for weight control (B = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.00, 1.07, p = 0.050). No associations were observed with pressure to eat or monitoring. Conclusions: Weight misperception was selectively associated with restrictive feeding. This identifies it as a candidate cognitive target in early obesity prevention research. Longitudinal research is needed to establish causality. Full article

Millenarianism originated from apocalyptic literature in Judaism, emphasizing that the “Messiah” would establish a “millennial kingdom” on earth ruled by the Jews. This ideology became a theoretical weapon for Jews to resist imperial tyranny during classical antiquity and was later embraced by early Christian theology. By the early modern period, with the intense unfolding of the Reformation and social upheavals, the theory of the “millennial kingdom” re-emerged as a mainstream topic in Christian theology. Regarding the nature of the “millennial kingdom” and how it would be realized, early modern Christian factions split into two interpretive camps. One emphasized the spiritual attributes of the “millennial kingdom”, while the other stressed its material aspects, advocating the violent establishment of a political entity on earth ruled by Christians. These two distinct interpretive models ultimately converged on the issue of colonial expansion, transforming millenarianism into a theoretical tool to justify overseas expansion. Full article

Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965) establishes a universe defined by the “Butlerian Jihad”, a historical crusade that banned artificial intelligence and created a vacuum filled by religious engineering. This paper argues that in this post-cybernetic setting, religion functions as a sociological operating system designed for political control rather than a metaphysical connection to the divine. The study analyzes the Missionaria Protectiva to demonstrate how the Bene Gesserit order creates belief systems by co-opting and re-engineering Islamic theology. It suggests that the order’s manual of superstitions serves as a library of cultural scripts that primes the indigenous population to accept a manufactured Messiah, specifically the Mahdi. Consequently, the protagonist Paul Atreides is reinterpreted not as a traditional “White Savior” or authentic religious prophet but as a “hacker” who utilizes these pre-planted Islamic codes to access and manipulate the social infrastructure of Arrakis. His prescience functions as a form of biological predictive analytics that traps him in a deterministic loop of his own calculation. Ultimately, this reading suggests that Dune offers a critique of “techno-theology” by showing how the instrumentalization of the Mahdi figure transforms the concept of Jihad from a spiritual struggle into an unstoppable, automated algorithm of violence. Full article

Background/Objectives: Metformin is one of the most frequently used concomitant medications among prostate cancer (PCa) patients. However, the effects of metformin on all-cause and PCa-specific mortality among men diagnosed with advanced/metastatic PCa treated with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) remain poorly understood, but they may be specifically explained by emulating a target trial. Methods: We emulated a target trial of metformin therapy and survival using observational data on 7361 patients diagnosed with advanced PCa, who were treated with ADT, from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database (2008–2019), with completed follow-up until 2020. We included patients with diabetes, and participants were assigned as either “initiator of metformin within 6 months after advanced PCa diagnosis” or “non-initiator of metformin.” We estimated mortality risks using Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for risk factors via inverse probability weighting using both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses. Results: Over 13 years of follow-up, with a maximum 3 years of follow-up after PCa diagnosis, all-cause mortality occurred in 52 metformin initiators (47.7%) versus 3052 non-initiators (42.1%), while PCa-specific mortality occurred in 36 initiators (33.0%) versus 1919 non-initiators (26.5%). In the intention-to-treat analysis, metformin initiation was not associated with all-cause mortality (Hazard Ratio [HR] = 1.38, 95% CI: 0.98–1.95) or PCa-specific mortality (HR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.63–1.55). Similarly, in per-protocol analysis, there was no evidence of risk reduction with all-cause (HR = 1.20, 95% CI = 0.80–1.81) or PCa-specific mortality (HR = 1.45, 95% CI = 0.88–2.38) after adjusting for time-varying covariates and allowing a 30-day gap for metformin discontinuation, adjusted for via inverse probability weighting. Conclusions: Our findings align with prior randomized trials showing no survival benefit of metformin in advanced PCa patients receiving ADT. Timing of metformin discontinuation also showed no significant effect. However, the small size of the metformin initiator group precluded subgroup analyses for hormone-sensitive (HSPC) and castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), limiting our ability to explore potential differential effects. Full article

High-quality early care and education (ECE) programs, characterized by safe environments, emotionally supportive communication, proactive behavior supports, and teacher self-care practices, play a pivotal role in healthy child development. Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) is an evidence-based approach designed to strengthen these environments and support young children’s social–emotional outcomes. However, the long-term impacts of ECMHC models remain understudied. Grounded in ECMHC, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Jump Start Plus COVID Support (JS+CS) in supporting child psychosocial outcomes (prosocial behaviors and reduced externalizing/internalizing behaviors) over two school years. In a cluster-randomized trial, 12 ECE centers received the 14-week JS+CS intervention, and 12 attention control centers received a 14-week obesity prevention program. Children were followed over two school years to determine long-term impacts on behavior, measured by the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Over two school years, significant time-by-group interactions emerged for primary child outcomes. The JS+CS group showed greater improvements in DECA Initiative and Self-Regulation (p = 0.01 and p = 0.02, respectively) compared to controls. JS+CS significantly enhanced child psychosocial functioning, supporting its potential as an effective model for a scalable mental health consultation in ECE settings. Full article

Migration issues remain one of the most contentious topics in contemporary social discourse. This paper reinterprets key Old Testament figures who can be identified as asylum seekers or political migrants. The central question is the following: who represent asylum seekers in the Old Testament? Employing a narrative methodology, the study focuses on biblical stories and their thematic development rather than linguistic or historical analysis. The paper unfolds in three key sections. First, it defines asylum seekers and reviews prior research related to migration in the Old Testament. Second, it analyzes three significant biblical figures—Moses, Elijah, and David—who represent the law, the prophets, and the Messiah, respectively. Their migration experiences (genocide, resistance, political violence, dictatorship, and rebellion) provide a theological bridge for churches to engage with contemporary political migrants. Lastly, the paper offers practical approaches for churches to support asylum seekers. Full article

This study analyzes the term ioudaismos in Second Temple literature and proposes differentiation in how this term was used in Palestine and the Diaspora, with the latter being characterized by the following: (1) seize the land; (2) persecute barbarians; (3) retain the temple; (4) liberate Jerusalem; (5) reestablish Torah. In the Diaspora, ioudaismos was modified to refer to: (1) persecuting pagans; (2) concern for the Temple; and (3) observing ancestral customs devoutly. It then analyzes how Paul’s use of the term fits within these usages of other literature of the time and how the term was later used by early Christian authors of the second century in a different manner. Paul understood his role as a messianic emissary as fitting with ioudaismos by modifying the formula slightly to attract the nations to worship Israel’s god and by refocusing the ancestral customs of the Jews upon Jesus, who Paul believed to be the messiah. Full article

This study examines how South Korea’s 1970s Protestant democratization movement embodied Hans Joas’s concept of the “sacralization of the person” during the authoritarian Yushin regime. Challenging binary narratives of human rights origins as exclusively secular or religious, the research analyzes how Korean Protestant activists created institutions, rituals, and theological frameworks that infused human dignity with sacred character. The study demonstrates how religious actors effectively bridged religious and secular boundaries in human rights advocacy through historical analysis of the National Council of Churches in Korea’s Human Rights Committee, Thursday Prayer Meetings, and the development of Minjung theology. The findings reveal a distinctive process of sacralization that evolved from individual to collective understandings of human dignity, culminating in the radical Minjung Messiah theory. This case study illustrates how Joas’s affirmative genealogy operates in non-Western contexts, showing that sacralization emerges through dynamic interactions between religious conviction, historical events, and cultural transformation rather than through abstract reasoning alone. The Korean experience demonstrates that universal human rights gain moral force when diverse traditions collaborate to uphold human dignity across ideological divides. Full article

Background/Objectives: The increasing prevalence of obesity has led to a growing interest in anti-obesity medications (AOMs). While these medications have shown promise in aiding weight loss, their potential impact on reducing obesity-related cancers (ORCs) incidence remains poorly understood, particularly among women over 65 years of age. This study examined the association between the use of AOMs and the risk of ORCs in this population. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using 2007–2015 SEER-Medicare data, including 10,830 women aged ≥65 years in a 1:2 propensity-score matching design. The primary exposure was AOM use, with additional analyses focused specifically on phentermine and liraglutide exposure. Conditional multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were conducted. Results: We found an inverse association between the use of AOMs and the risk of ORCs (aHR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.73–0.84; p < 0.001). Similar findings were observed in cancer-specific sites analysis, advanced-stage ORCs (aHR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.65–0.89; p < 0.001), breast (aHR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.77–0.91; p < 0.001), colorectal (aHR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.71–0.96; p = 0.010), and advanced-stage colorectal cancers (aHR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.54–0.91; p < 0.001). In secondary analyses, phentermine was inversely associated with the risk of ORCs, breast, and endometrial cancers, but no associations with liraglutide were observed. Conclusions: The use of AOMs, including phentermine, was inversely associated with ORCs and some cancer-specific sites in a cohort of older women. Further prospective studies are warranted to validate these findings among women of different age groups and to identify the underlying biological mechanisms. Full article

This paper offers a new explanation for the quotation of Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8. There are at least three puzzles in this text: (1) the significance of the quotation within the argument in the Ephesians passage (and why the apparent interruption between 4:7 and 4:11); (2) the divergent form of the quotation from the MT and LXX vis-a-vis the giving of gifts versus receiving; (3) why is only one set of gifts—proclaiming/verbal gifts, not gifts of service or discernment—mentioned in 4:11–12? This paper argues three points. First, diversity of spiritual gifts is not the focus of Eph 4:7–16, but rather, the same gift given to many: the word of truth about Jesus’s identity as Messiah and Son of God and his resurrection. Second, Ephesians 4:8–10 is comprehensible in context if viewed through another lens: Romans 10:6–8, the motif of “Messiah ascending victorious after having previously descended”. Third, the invocation of Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8–10 matches the Aramaic textual tradition, over-against the MT and the LXX. Paul’s use of the verse mirrors the proto-Targumic understanding of the “gifts given to the sons of mankind” as the Law of Moses. Paul is adopting this motif of “ascending with the Law-truth”, but with his own implied substitution of “the truth about Jesus”. Full article

This article studies the Histoire critique de Jésus Christ (1770), anonymously published by the German-French atheist Paul d’Holbach, who edited, expanded, and radicalized an anonymous clandestine manuscript concerning the life of Jesus and the beginnings of his religious movement. The article analyzes how d’Holbach’s book mocks the figure of Christ, portraying the new faith as a fraudulent enterprise full of false miracles and human weaknesses. In a work where irony, humor, and ridicule are constantly used as narrative strategies, the demonological world provides opportunities for displaying multiple corrosive arguments against Christianity. After reviewing d’Holbach’s philosophical position against the existence of demons, the article studies how the devils’ role in Christian theodicy, the notion of demonic possession, and Christ’s exorcisms are ridiculed in Histoire critique as examples of irrationality, fraud, and superstition. In addition, the article will point to a contemporary debate influencing d’Holbach’s views on what he saw as the connected territories of demonology, credulity, and religious fanaticism: the controversy surrounding the 18th century convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard. This heterodox religious movement, characterized by belief in a holy man and miraculous cures, proved invaluable to d’Holbach, who maliciously compared this episode to the beginnings of the Christian movement. Full article

Background/Objectives: Childhood eating behaviors result from a complex interplay of familial, social, and environmental factors, influenced by socioeconomic and cultural contexts. These behaviors impact dietary habits, nutritional status, and long-term health. Using the Social Ecological Model (SEM), this narrative review synthesizes evidence on key determinants of childhood eating behaviors and proposes a framework for multi-level interventions. Methods: A structured literature search was conducted across PubMed, PsycINFO, and CINAHL, focusing on studies published between January 2014 and September 2024. Keywords related to childhood eating behaviors, familial determinants, and social influences were used to identify relevant studies. Inclusion criteria centered on empirical research examining how social and familial factors impact childhood eating behaviors within the SEM framework. Results: The review highlights critical determinants, including parental feeding practices, home food environments, peer influences, screen time, school meal programs, and socioeconomic disparities. These factors interact across multiple levels, emphasizing the importance of holistic interventions that target both individual behaviors and broader systemic influences. Conclusions: Addressing childhood eating behaviors requires a multi-level approach that integrates caregiver education, peer-led interventions, improved food environments, and supportive policies. Healthcare providers and policymakers play a crucial role in implementing strategies that foster healthier dietary behaviors and mitigate childhood obesity risks. Full article