Vol 9, No 2, Spring 2012

Download the Spring 2012 Edition: PDF | ebook (EPUB) for iPad, Nook, and other e-readers (coming soon!)

“Banking on Friendship: Horace’s Defense of Epicurean Friendship in Odes 1.24"
by Steven Margheim

Horace’s Odes 1.24 defends Epicurean friendship. Addressed specifically to Vergil, the ode pictures the practice of Epicurean frank therapy between two friends, which provides the reader with insight into the friendship that existed between these two poets. By depicting a true Epicurean relationship, the poem is able to subvert Cicero’s criticisms of Epicurean friendship. Horace does this both by using mercantile language redolent of the language that Cicero himself uses in his criticisms and by presenting an image of true Epicurean friendship that itself serves as a corrective to Cicero’s erroneous portrayals.

"Grain and Chaff: Contemptus Mundi and the Emblematic World in the Work of Francis Quarles"
by Grant Shellhouse

Living in England during the culmination of the conflict that would eventually lead to the English Civil War, the poet Francis Quarles was influenced by both Puritan and Anglican theology. This paper argues that Francis Quarles sought to harmonize the Puritan contempt of the tempting pleasures of the world with the Anglican belief that sought divine grace enacted through the things of the earth. Interpreting Quarles’s use of meal imagery, this paper illuminates the notions of both contempus mundi and sacramentalia as seen in the work of Francis Quarles.

"Bede’s Pneumatology: Establishing God’s House on Earth"
by Erika Smith

This paper attempts to expand the focus of current Bede scholarship from his interest in linguistic diversity and unity to encompass Bede’s broader theological purpose in his political and religious writings. Bede’s pneumatology, in particular, is central to his conception of the Church, which appears most frequently in the metaphor of building God’s house. This paper will explore the Pentecost, Creation, Noah’s Ark, and Babel narratives as they relate to the metaphor of building God’s house, especially as demonstrations of the importance of language and love as the tools of the Holy Spirit.

"Reexamining the Effects of State Religion on Religious Service Attendance"
By Matthew Swift

This paper reexamines and describes the effects of state religions on religious service attendance across countries through empirical analysis. Using econometric methods to analyze attendance data from the World Values Survey and Gallup World Poll, it pays special attention to the variables used for state religion, regulation of religion, and government favoritism toward religion while utilizing control variables from the World Christian Encyclopedia and CIA World Factbook (among other sources). Because this analysis uses a larger set of data than has been used in many previous studies, it provides a more representative sample of countries and sheds some light on how particular religions may affect the results. The results vary with the measures used for weekly attendance and for state religion, but they uniformly suggest that most previous scholarship is incorrect to establish a simple negative relationship between state religion and religious service attendance.