History Commons^™

Never Mind Grendel! Can Beowulf Conquer The 21st-Century Guilt Trip?, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

The writer casts doubt on whether the emasculated Beowulf put forward by J. R. R. Tolkien and in the recent movie version of the story transcends and nullifies the heroic original. He suggests that both Beowulfs may be necessary.

Looking Up From The Gutter: Pop-Culture And Philosophy, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

No abstract provided.

How To Survive The Apocalypse, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

The article presents a guide on how people with skepticism and critical thinking can survive the Rapture and Armageddon. According to the Book of Revelations, the Lord will return to the earth to separate the good and the bad. When the Great Tribulation comes, people have no more time for repentance. The impostor strategy is one way to avoid the Tribulation.

Dinosaurs On The Ark: Natural History And The New Evangelical Museum, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

This article examines the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Featured at the museum is a replica of Noah's Ark. The author notes that there is some fudging going on to fit all the supposedly transported animals in such a small vessel. According to the museum, the Grand Canyon was not millions of years in the making but appeared after the flood. The evangelical museum is an offshoot of the Answers in Genesis ministry. Ken A. Ham is the director of the museum as well as the head of the ministry. He says that the notion of evolution has done more harm …

Transgressive Sanctity: The Abrek In Chechen Culture, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

The ancient tradition of the abrek (bandit) was developed into a political institution during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century by Chechen and other Muslim peoples of the Caucasus as a strategy for dealing with the overwhelming military force of Russia's imperial army. During the Soviet period, the abrek became a locus for oppositional politics and arguably influenced the representations of violence and anti-colonial resistance during the recent Chechen Wars. This article is one of the first works of English-language scholarship to historicize this institution. It also marks the beginning of a book project entitled A …

Corégulation Et Responsabilité Sociale Des Entreprises, Gregory Lewkowicz, Ludovic Hennebel

Gregory Lewkowicz

This paper analyses the evolution of corporate social responsibility from an empirical and a theoretical point of view. After having described the framework of a theory of coregulation, the authors scrutinize the main regulatory instruments used in the context of corporate social responsibility. They demonstrate that the evolution of corporate social responsaibility delineates a new regulatory logic peculiar to a globalizing legal world. The paper concludes stating that this logic could be a paradigm for the study of an emerging global law.

On The Intellectual Sources Of Laïcité: Rousseau, Constant, And The Debates About A National Religion, Helena Rosenblatt

Publications and Research

That French Protestants gave strong support to laïcité is by now well established. In recent work, Patrick Cabanel has even made a compelling case for the Protestant sources of laïcité, placing particular emphasis on the Protestant entourage of Jules Ferry (1832-1893) and stressing the inspiration provided by the pro-Protestant intellectual, Edgar Quinet (1803-1875.)

This article suggests that we look even earlier in time for the intellectual sources of laïcité. Seminal ideas can be found in the writings of two liberal Protestants, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and Benjamin Constant (1767-1830.) Rousseau is usually counted among the opponents, and not the …

Holy Toyland, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

No abstract provided.

Solomon's House, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

The article discusses the author's experience of touring the Creation Museum in Kentucky, which was opened in May 2007. He met the museum's director Ken A. Ham, and asked him various questions about the art exhibits. He inquired about the capacity of Noah's ark to carry all pairs of animals in it, and notes that the museum is scaling back the universe. He also shared that the biggest challenge facing the museum is making people see the difference in using the present method and one's belief.

Language Dreamers: Race And The Politics Of Etymology In The Caucasus, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.