Several attempts have recently been made to point to ‘the proper place’ for hydrogen in the Periodic Table of the elements. There are altogether five different types of arguments that lead to the following conclusions: hydrogen should be placed in group 1, above lithium; hydrogen should be placed in group 17, above fluorine; hydrogen is to be placed in group 14, above carbon; hydrogen should be positioned above both lithium and fluorine and hydrogen should be treated as a stand-alone element, (...) in the center of the Periodic Table. Although all proposals are based on arguments, not all of them sound equally convincing. An attempt is made, after critical reexamination of the arguments offered, to hopefully point to the best possible choice for the position of hydrogen. A few words are also mentioned on the structure of the Periodic Table and the attempts to reorganize it. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to offer an overview of the long-lasting friendship between Georges Florovsky and St. Justin Popović, as well as their common project to build an Orthodox theological synthesis on the basis of the patristic tradition. The paper focuses on three periods from Florovsky’s and Popović’s lives, from late 1910 to early 1920, from the late 1920s to late 1930s, and finally into the 1940s. I argue that in the first period both authors developed their theological (...) visions relying on Solovyov and Florensky, on the one hand, and in opposition to the ecclesial nationalism of the Slavophiles and conservative Orthodox hierarchs, on the other hand. Further, I investigate how during the late 1920s and 1930s both authors searched for an Orthodox synthesis mostly in dialogue with their Orthodox predecessors, especially Solovyov, Florensky, and Bulgakov, as well as the modern western philosophical tradition. The focus will shift then to the 1940s, which was characterized by frequent meetings between Florovsky and Popović in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. I argue that in this period the Church Fathers became for both authors the golden standard for Orthodox theology, and the idea of the Neopatristic synthesis developed in full scale. (shrink)

U vremenu novog definisanja srpskog nacionalnog identiteta od odlucujuceg je znacaja uspostavljanje kopce izmedju kriticki vrednovane tradicije s jedne i zahteva vremena globalizacije, s druge strane. Produktivnu vezu izmedju starog i novog mogu ce je ostvariti ukoliko Srbija izgradi demokratske i nekompromitovane i nekorumpirane drzavne institucije preko kojih bi se obrazovala racionalna svest o vlastitoj posebnosti, kao i vrednostima spoljnog sveta. Glavna odgovornost u tom osetljivom procesu samo definisanja je na politickim elitama i ideoloskim projektima koje oni otvoreno ili prikriveno (...) proteziraju, a koji se na najprozirniji nacin ogledaju u medijima (javnom mnjenju) i institucijama obrazovanja. (shrink)

The paper aims to analyze the early ecumenical views of Amfilohije Radović with reference to the influence exerted on him by his spiritual father Justin Popović. This investigation is important because Radović’s ecumenical engagement is often a matter of controversy, which results in conflicting views. Sources for studying Radović’s early ecumenical views are: his correspondence with Justin Popović on ecumenism, his engagement in editing and publishing Popović’s book _Orthodox Church and Ecumenism_, and finally, his article written as a report from (...) an inter-Orthodox conference held in September 1972 in Thessalonica. In addition to Radović’s similarity with Popović's views, the paper also aims to show their differences, i.e. their different interpretations of the same phenomena. (shrink)

Focusing on three historical examples of a different understanding of Christian identity, the paper seeks to address the role of contemporary concepts of sex and gender in the creation of Christian identity. In the first case study, focused on the literary representations of the Christian martyrdom from the second and third centuries, special emphasis is placed on the demand for the?manly? or?masculine? way of witnessing faith. The second historical example relates to the creation of a wider ascetic movement in the (...) fourth-century Asia Minor, and its specific focus is on Macrina the Younger. In her Vita, Gregory of Nyssa distinguishes between Macrina?s gender identity based on her virginity on the one hand, and her social role as a widow, and?mother? and?father? of her monastic community on the other. Finally, the focus is shifted towards Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor, whose teachings about ecstasy, as a way to transcend oneself in the movement towards the loved one, provide the basis for establishing a theology of marriage and creating a Christian identity based not on sexual or gender roles, but on the uniqueness of human nature. (shrink)

Rad nastoji da predstavi filozofsku argumentaciju u prilog hriscanskoj ideji stvaranja sveta izlozenu u delu autora iz VII veka Maksima Ispovednika. Maksim Ispovednik je svoje ucenje o stvaranju razvio prativsi filozofske argumente svojih hriscanskih prethodnika, pre svih Grigorija Niskog, Nemesija Emeskog i Dionisija Areopagita. Srz Maksimove argumentcije slicna je ucenju o stvaranju sveta aleksandrijskog filozofa Jovana Filopona, ali njegovo ucenje obogaceno je i idejama pomenutih hriscanskih autora koje on dodatno razvija. Neke od ideja koje cine strukturu Maksimove filozofije stvaranja jesu: (...) petostruka podela bica, koja se vrhuni u podeli na stvorenu i nestvorenu prirodu, zatim pokret stvorenih bica prema Bogu koji je jedini istinski cilj njihovog kretanja, predvecno postojanje sveta u logosima kao izrazima Bozanske volje, Bozje promisljanje ne samo opstih nacela vec i individualnih bica i obozenje celokupne tvorevine kao prvenstvene svrhe stvaranja. Maksim svoje ideje vesto oblikuje koristeci se podjednako aristotelovskim, stoickim i neoplatonistickim filozofskim vokabularom. (shrink)

This paper demonstrates the ontological status of virtue as an instance of love within the cosmology of St. Maximus the Confessor. It shows that we may posit the real existence of a “virtue” in so far as we understand it to have its basis in, and to be an instance of love. Since God is love and the virtues are logoi, it becomes possible and beneficial to parallel the relationship between love and the virtues with Maximus’ exposition of the Logos (...) and the logoi. In particular, Vladimir Cvetković’s interpretation of the circle and radii analogy will be utilized. It will be shown that when one practices a virtue, one is practicing and participating in love, and, by extension, partaking in God. Within the context of Maximus’ cosmology, this means that practicing virtue and love is the ultimate purpose of humanity in its journey to gather all creation to communion with God. This paper is primarily an exposition of primary sources from St. Maximus, but discussion of the ontology of virtue is made with a view to bringing it into dialogue with modern theories of virtue ethics. This paper arises in part as a response to the August 2013 papers by Andrew Louth and Paul M. Blowers on the need for increased scholarship on Maximus and virtue ethics. (shrink)

Qu'est-ce que la musique? Selon Jankélévitch, il y a dans la musique une double complication, génératrice de problèmes métaphysiques et de problèmes moraux. Car la musique est à la fois expressive et inexpressive, sérieuse et frivole, profonde et superficielle ; elle a un sens et n'en a pas. Il y a une ironique disproportion entre la puissance incantatoire de la musique et l'inévidence foncière du beau musical.

Le tome 2 du Traité des vertus, intitulé Les Vertus et l'Amour, est consacré à la description des " vertus ", depuis celle du commencement jusqu'à celle de la terminaison, en passant par celles de la continuation et de la conservation. Il distingue en outre deux plans tout à fait hétérogènes : celui des vertus de l'intervalle, que l'homme peut " posséder " et " garder ", mais qui, à peine acquises, tournent en mécanique vertueuse, radotage, complaisance pharisienne et hypocrisie (...) ; et les vertus de pointe que l'homme ne possède jamais, qu'il effleure seulement, d'une tangence impondérable, le temps d'une étincelle et d'une " apparition disparaissante ". Vaut-il mieux être au premier sens, un rentier de la vertu et un vertueux gredin, ou, au sens métempirique, le saint ou le héros d'un instant? L'amour résout peut-être, dans une certaine mesure, cette alternative, qui est aussi celle du bonheur et de la joie. (shrink)

Religious art within postmodernism is discussed. Postmodern art, I argue, projects the myth of a miraculously generating chaos which cannot be maintained as absolute and therefore postmodern art cannot be genuinely religious. The myth is adopted for ideological, not philosophical reasons and calls for alternatives to make religious art possible.

In one of the first genetic screens aimed at identifying induced developmental mutants, Nadine Dobrovolskaïa-Zavadskaïa, working at the Pasteur Laboratory in the 1920s, isolated and characterized a mutation affecting Brachyury, a gene that regulates tail and axial development in the mouse. Dobrovolskaïa-Zavadskaïa's analysis of Brachyury and other mutations affecting tail development were among the earliest attempts to link gene action with a tissue-specific developmental process in a vertebrate. Her analyses of genes that interacted with Brachyury led to the discovery of (...) the t-haplotype chromosome of mouse. After 70 years, Brachyury and the multiple genes with which it interacts continue to occupy a prominent focus in developmental biology research. A goal of this review is to identify the contributions that Dobrovolskaïa-Zavadskaïa made to our current thinking about Brachyury and how she helped to shape the dawn of the field of developmental genetics. BioEssays 23:365–371, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)