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In this article two major volumes with Chinese paper cut art by Fan Pu (Paula Fan) are reviewed. In her work it becomes clear how a traditional type of folk art can be transformed by using new techniques and material. By doing so, Fan Pu is able to make modern Christian art, which hopefully also appeals to present-day Chinese people. Herself being an evangelical Christian, she interestingly also uses sayings by pre-Christian Chinese sages like Confucius in her art; their wisdom can be seen as a kind of preparatio evangelica. The two works, analyzed here, together form a catalog of her work so far, from the nineteen seventies till now.

Abstract This article reflects on the role of religion as one of four, interconnected layers in the contextual novels of the candid and controversial Indonesian author Ayu Utami (b. 1968). Next to important gender issues, substantial critique of Indonesian politics, and attention to Javanese culture and mythology, her Christian background is present, in varying density, in all novels she has published so far. This can be proved by numerous quotations from the Bible and even by the fact, that the main protagonist of her largest novel so far is given an almost Messianic status. In her earlier novels, Ayu Utami seems to distance herself from patriarchic, institutional Catholicism. However, in her most recent, autobiographical, novel she makes clear, why and under which conditions she is able to return to her maternal faith.

Recently the Indonesian poet, novelist and essayist Sitor Situmorang reached the age of eighty. Situmorang has a Christian background; his origins are to be found in the Batak area in North Sumatra. His life and work have been summarized as 'to love, to wander'; in a way he has been a perennial wanderer and pilgrim, roaming around in many places of the world and being home, finally, in his poems. Part of his life he spent in prison as a political detainee. In this article we analyse the motif of 'the lost [prodigal] son' which occurs no less than four times in Situmorang's lyrical work, each time in a different context and with a different meaning. Connected with the role of the father and the mother and of a deep longing for his native village, this motif forms an important thread in his poetry, which often has religious allusions.

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Published by Elsevier Ltd., Background: Differences in the distribution of individual-level clinical risk factors across regions do not fully explain the observed global disparities in COVID-19 outcomes. We aimed to investigate the associations between environmental and societal factors and country-level variations in mortality attributed to COVID-19 among people with rheumatic disease globally. Methods: In this observational study, we derived individual-level data on adults (aged 18-99 years) with rheumatic disease and a confirmed status of their highest COVID-19 severity level from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance (GRA) registry, collected between March 12, 2020, and Aug 27, 2021. Environmental and societal factors were obtained from publicly available sources. The primary endpoint was mortality attributed to COVID-19. We used a multivariable logistic regression to evaluate independent associations between environmental and societal factors and death, after controlling for individual-level risk factors. We used a series of nested mixed-effects models to establish whether environmental and societal factors sufficiently explained country-level variations in death. Findings: 14 044 patients from 23 countries were included in the analyses. 10 178 (72·5%) individuals were female and 3866 (27·5%) were male, with a mean age of 54·4 years (SD 15·6). Air pollution (odds ratio 1·10 per 10 μg/m3 [95% CI 1·01-1·17]; p=0·0105), proportion of the population aged 65 years or older (1·19 per 1% increase [1·10-1·30]; p, MAG is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (grant numbers K01 AR070585 and K24 AR074534 [JY]). KDW is supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Rheumatology Research Foundation Scientist Development award. JAS is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (grant numbers K23 AR069688, R03 AR075886, L30 AR066953, P30 AR070253, and P30 AR072577), the Rheumatology Research Foundation (K Supplement Award and R Bridge Award), the Brigham Research Institute, and the R. Bruce and Joan M. Mickey Research Scholar Fund. NJP is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (T32-AR-007258). AD-G is supported by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Rheumatology Research Foundation. RH was supported by the Justus-Liebig University Giessen Clinician Scientist Program in Biomedical Research to work on this registry. JY is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (K24 AR074534 and P30 AR070155).