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Since the fall of humanity from grace (Genesis 3:1f), people have forever been struggling with mental illness. In fact, one can say that the Bible as a whole contains much evidence of deep pain both at communal and personal levels. One finds in it struggles for survival, the pain of exile, death, war, accounts of political oppression and various other ills that are weaved together in its narratives. While, in short, it is a story of trauma, it is also a theological and spiritual response to it. Singling out the story of Naomi, this paper takes a life course approach into the story of her life. The intention is to understand her traumatic experience following the death of her husband and two sons and juxtapose that with the lived experiences of women who lost dear ones to COVID-19. While Naomi thought that God had turned away from her, it was rather the opposite as her name came to be captured in the annals of Israelite history as David's great grandmother (Ruth 1:17). Though her life story is about the long way down, it was equally a long way up as the plan of God began to unfold. It is the same God who continues to open new pathways to women still struggling to grapple with the devastating trauma of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the fall of humanity from grace (Genesis 3:1f), people have forever been struggling with mental illness. In fact, one can say that the Bible as a whole contains much evidence of deep pain both at communal and personal levels. One finds in it struggles for survival, the pain of exile, death, war, accounts of political oppression and various other ills that are weaved together in its narratives. While, in short, it is a story of trauma, it is also a theological and spiritual response to it. Singling out the story of Naomi, this paper takes a life course approach into the story of her life. The intention is to understand her traumatic experience following the death of her husband and two sons and juxtapose that with the lived experiences of women who lost dear ones to COVID19. While Naomi thought that God had turned away from her, it was rather the opposite as her name came to be captured in the annals of Israelite history as David’s great grandmother (Ruth 1:17). Though her life story is about the long way down, it was equally a long way up as the plan of God began to unfold. It is the same God who continues to open new pathways to women still struggling to grapple with the devastating trauma of COVID -19.

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Abstract Naomi is one of the characters in the book of Ruth who experiences many challenges. The death of her husband and two sons left Naomi as a widow. Naomi has to survive with the status as a widow who has limitations in social circles. This paper aims to analyze and describe Naomi’s personality archetypes using Jung’s psychoanalytic studies. The method used is descriptive analytic which is traced through historical traces, characterizations and conversations in the story. The results of the study prove that Naomi is able to survive and has the support of the archetypes contained within her. The archetypes are: anima-animus, shadow, persona, self, and the great mother. With the support of archetypes, Naomi is able to survive and show her best qualities. Abstrak Naomi adalah salah satu tokoh dalam kitab Rut yang mengalami banyak tantangan. Kematian suami dan kedua putra membuat Naomi hidup menjanda. Naomi harus bertahan hidup dengan status janda yang memiliki keterbatasan dalam lingkungan sosial. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis dan mendeskripsikan arketipe kepribadian Naomi menggunakan kajian psikoanalitikal Jung. Metode yang dipakai adalah deskriptif analitik yang ditelusuri melalui jejak historis, penokohan dan percakapan dalam cerita. Hasil penelitian membuktikan bahwa Naomi mampu bertahan hidup dan mendapat dukungan dari arketipe yang terdapat dalam dirinya. Arketipe tersebut adalah: animus (pikiran), shadow (bayangan), persona (topeng), self (diri), dan the great mother (ibu agung). Adanya dukungan dari arketipe membuat Naomi mampu bertahan hidup dan menunjukkan kualitas terbaik dirinya.

This study used Ruth 1:1–5 as a lens in the study of the increasing challenges Nigerian migrants face. Famine was ravaging the land, and hence Elimelech moved his family away from Israel to the country of Moab so they would be fed (Rt 1:1–2). While this was a decision made out of a desire for survival, Moab was not the best place for Elimelech to take his family. He was leaving the Promised Land that God had given him, and the Moabites did not worship the Lord. After only 10 years in Moab, Elimelech’s sons died, and the household comprised of three widows. This is similar to what is evident in Nigeria. Most Nigerian migrants, due to famine and other economic hardships, migrate out of Nigeria to destination countries as regular or irregular migrants. There are cases of Nigerian migrants who ended up in destination countries as touts, prostitutes, and drug financiers and pedlars. Some were even executed in destination countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. The recommendations include public awareness and sensitisation of individuals by the government and concerned faith-based communities. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This study examined the Nigerian migrant crisis in the light of Ruth 1:1–5. The study implicated Old Testament Exegesis, contextual biblical studies sociology and migration studies.

This study used Ruth 1:1-5 as a lens in the study of the increasing challenges Nigerian migrants face. Famine was ravaging the land, and hence Elimelech moved his family away from Israel to the country of Moab so they would be fed (Rt 1:1-2). While this was a decision made out of a desire for survival, Moab was not the best place for Elimelech to take his family. He was leaving the Promised Land that God had given him, and the Moabites did not worship the Lord. After only 10 years in Moab, Elimelech's sons died, and the household comprised of three widows. This is similar to what is evident in Nigeria. Most Nigerian migrants, due to famine and other economic hardships, migrate out of Nigeria to destination countries as regular or irregular migrants. There are cases of Nigerian migrants who ended up in destination countries as touts, prostitutes, and drug financiers and pedlars. Some were even executed in destination countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. The recommendations include public awareness and sensitisation of individuals by the government and concerned faith-based communities. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This study examined the Nigerian migrant crisis in the light of Ruth 1:1-5. The study implicated Old Testament Exegesis, contextual biblical studies sociology and migration studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzed the grief of Naomi in the book of Ruth by using the six stages of grief by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler. Although Naomi could be an inadequate model in dealing with her grief, her attitude resonates with many people in dealing with their griefs. It makes this study is noteworthy. This article analyzed how Naomi dealt with her grief in the six stages of grief, namely: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, and finding the meaning and then take the implication for the ministry during the pandemic of Covid-19. The study showed that anger and depression are visible in the story of Naomi. Acceptance is not explicit. There is no denial, bargaining, and finding the meaning stages in Naomi’s grief. She was still struggling with her grief, although she could accept the new situation with the marriage of Ruth and Boaz and the birth of Obed. Today many people struggle with grief during this pandemic. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention to vaccines and medication and notice the need for psychological help and therapy for the bereaved families.

Dalam masyarakat Toraja perempuan cenderung dianggap tidak bertahan hidup tanpa seorang laki-laki. Penelitian ini ingin menggali kisah Rut dan Naomi berdasarkan kitab Rut yang kehilangan suami tetapi bertahan hidup dan memperjuangkan masa depan yang lebih baik di tengah masyarakat yang patriakis. Berdasarkan kisah ini penulis hendak mengkontekstualisasikannya dengan menggunakan model praksis ke dalam kehidupan perempuan Toraja. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah kualitatif dengan pendekatan studi pustaka. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa: 1) perempuan bisa mengambil keputusan terbaik bagi keluarganya dan menghadapi resikonya; 2) perempuan bisa bertanggung jawab atas keluarganya; 3) perempuan mampu menyusun rencana dan strategi yang efektif untuk masa depan keluarga yang lebih baik. Kehidupan Naomi dan Rut memberikan pesan teologis bahwa kaum perempuan Toraja yang masih hidup dalam budaya patriarki juga bisa hidup seperti mereka. Perempuan Toraja dapat hidup mandiri, memimpin keluarga, dan akhirnya berkontribusi bagi kehidupan yang lebih luas di masyarakat.

Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg's representation of his mother in his second major poem, 'Kaddish' (1961), contributes to cultural discourses of madness, badness and women. Naomi's bad behaviour (attacking her mother-in-law, kicking her sister Elanor, exposing herself to her son) is due to her mental illness that is constructed as evil in its relentlessness. Ginsberg's representation of Naomi as grotesquely embodying this evil is exceptional within his oeuvre in that it lampoons her descent from classically feminine ideals to grotesque realism. This disorients Ginsberg's location within the countercultural movement, for his grotesque of Naomi constitutes the culture in the counterculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tanizaki Jun'ichirō's A Fool's Love (1924) has been a rich text to explore the possibilities of social critique inherent in formalist novels because of the deep nexus it exhibits between its narrative discourse and the social discourses of print media in the 1920s. In bringing the critique of artistic fiction to bear more closely upon socio-historical events, however, the scholarship to date has tended to sanitize the novel, or sublimate its fetishistic elements into strategies for social liberation. Such arguments, while keeping engagements with art safely within the bounds of liberal ideals, simplify history and fail to grasp the full depths of the novels artistic critique. In this article, I integrate close readings of the novel's narrative with a close empirical survey of the language of 'daily life' in the print media of the early twentieth century to show how the novel did more than expose the contradictions, hypocrisies, and disciplining imperatives of social ideology. It revealed the motives of pleasure that undergirded it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mango is a tropical fruit that is highly susceptible to chilling injury (CI) when stored at low temperatures, resulting in reduced quality and shelf life. In this study, we investigated the potential of progesterone (PROG) treatment concentration and duration to reduce CI in mango during storage under low-temperature conditions and optimised the treatment using response surface methodology (RSM). The study was conducted over two consecutive seasons. The first trial was conducted using different submergence concentrations and periods (0, 1, 5, 10, 15, or 20 µM for 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 min), the experimental data were analyzed using RSM to optimize and determine the optimal concentration and timing of treatment based on several measurements, including CI index, firmness, malondialdehyde, and electrolyte leakage. Based on this, the optimal conditions for PROG treatment were used, which were at a concentration of 12 µM for 15 min, and their different effects on fruit quality were studied in comparison to the control in the following season. We evaluated the effects of progesterone treatment on fruit quality parameters during storage at 6 ± 1 °C for up to four weeks, depending on CI, fruit firmness, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde content, total phenolic content, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, PROG residue in mango mesocarp, proline, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase activity, lipoxygenase, assay of pectin-modifying enzymes activity (polygalacturonase, β-galactosidase, and pectin methylesterase), ATP, and ATPase activity. We also conducted a principal component analysis between these indicators. Our results indicate that progesterone treatment significantly reduced the incidence and severity of CI in mangoes, with the highest effect observed at a concentration of 12 µM. Under these conditions, mangoes exhibited lower CI, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde content, and lipoxygenase activity, in addition to higher firmness, and antioxidant activity, compared to the control samples. Overall, our findings demonstrate that progesterone treatment can effectively reduce CI and improve the quality and shelf life of mangoes during storage under low-temperature conditions. • Progesterone maintains mango quality, and prolongs shelf life. • Progesterone has an impact on metabolic activity and antioxidant activity. • Progesterone was effective in reducing malondialdehyde, and electrolyte leakage. • Utilization of Progesterone decrease metabolic activity and respiration rate. • Progesterone reduces chilling injury, maintain membrane stability, firmness, and color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]