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A polemical article reacts to the plenary part of the conference Francysk Skaryna and the Renaissance book culture. Skaryna’s Little Travel Book turns 500, held in Vilnius on 22–23 September 2022. After a review of the history of Little Traveler’s Book studies since 1971, five problems in the study of the first printed book of the GDL, touched on in S. Temchin’s plenary speech The Place of Printing of Francysk Skaryna’s “Little Traveller’s Book”: New Assumptions are discussed. In addition, two other aspects related to the study of place and time of printing: genre predetermination and application of modern methods to the study of Little Traveler’s Book are investigated.

This article investigates Leveller prehistory by analysing three polemical tracts of 1646–7. William Walwyn and Richard Overton arguably collaborated in the Remonstrance of Many Thousand Citizens and in the New Found Stratagem Framed in the Old Forge of Machivilisme , as well as in the Warning to All the Counties of England. Their denunciations of the dominant Presbyterian faction supported the independent alliance; but they employed distinctive language too extreme for many independents, pointing to their increasing political ambiguity. Their collaboration challenges scholarly characterizations of Walwyn's 'gentle' style. The essay concludes by examining the related emergence of London, army and county radicals, some of whom would soon become Levellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the styles and sources of Rosalía's music are diverse and eclectic, flamenco is certainly the genre of which she has made most consistent and extensive use, with her idiosyncratic and original interpretations provoking much controversy in flamenco circles. Without discussing such polemics, this article explores in some specificity the particular flamenco forms she has used, from her first album Los Ángeles through her 2022 Motomami. It further makes some general observations about her flamenco interpretations, though these resist facile categorization. Some of the specific flamenco forms (cantes and estilos) that she performs are familiar and iconic, such as the " yeli yeli " tango chorus in "Di mi nombre." Others, such as the tango of Porrina de Badajoz in "Juro que," are items that only flamenco connoisseurs would recognize. Similarly, some of her interpretations are straightforward and por derecho , while others are strikingly original, whether in terms of instrumental accompaniment, production effects, or her own vocal rendering. A close observation of these rearticulations reveals both her originality as well as her deliberate engagement with traditional flamenco forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The polemic of kalimah al-tawhid is a polemic that took place between three figures of kalam in Morocco around the 10th, 11th and 12th hijri centuries in the interpretation of the la ilaha illa Allah. They are Abu Muhammad 'Abdullah al-Habti, Abu 'Abdillah Muhammad al-Kharrubi alTarabulsi and also Abu 'Abdillah Muhammad al-Yasitani. The three figures have their own interpretations in understanding the expression of the kalimah al-tawhid based on the methods of arabic syntax, logic and also kalam. However, the disagreement between them and their followers has led to a serious conflict that Abu 'Ali al-Hasan bin Mas'ud al-Yusi said that this disagreement has caused each group to blame the other group to the point of accusing each other faith as a deviant teaching. Ahmad bin Hasan al-Jawhari through Khatimah al-Sa’adah tried to harmonize this dispute and explain the meaning of the kalimah al-tawhid based on the methods of arabic syntax, logic and also kalam knowledge. Since logic has a role and influence that affects the interpretation of each group of figures, there is a need to study how the influence of logic in understanding this polemic. Therefore, this study was written to analyze the influence of logic on the polemic of the kalimah al-tawhid through the method of library research and the process of text analysis based on the text of Khatimah al-Sa’adah as well as related scholarly documents. The results of the study found that logic indeed has a role in understanding the word al-tawhid with a correct understanding. This is very important to ensure a genuine understanding of the word al-tawhid from any mistakes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a case study on how Singaporean intellectuals articulate resistant language ideologies by enregistering the local vernacular, Singlish. The case in point is Gwee Li Sui's 2018 companion Spiaking Singlish , lauded as the first book to be written in Singlish about Singlish. It is argued that in tactically leveraging Singlish in a folk-lexicographical project, Gwee takes the vernacular to the third indexical order; and in so doing, he performs a ludic and extreme form of Singlish through which an everyday tongue turns into a fetish object. Contextualising Gwee's polemics within his tension with the language establishment in Singapore, the article highlights the ethical dilemma implicit in the celebration of languages speaking to an egalitarian ethos, suggesting that in enunciating a vernacular on the order of reflexive performance, intellectuals may inadvertently fashion it into a more elitist language than that which is spoken on the streets. (Singlish, Singapore, enregisterment, performativity, indexicality) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Johannes Cochlaeus's Commentaria or Historia de actis et scriptis Martini Lutheri has been described as a "polemical invective." This essay discusses the double title and the double characterization of the work and argues that its aim is to deconstruct Luther's memory. Its effectivity derives from the combination of a polemical commentary and an invective biography. According to the Commentaria Luther's works disgrace the author, and according to the Historia the author disqualifies his own works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers three manuscript witnesses to the Musæ Responsoriæ , George Herbert's answer to Andrew Melville's polemical poem Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria. None of these, two of them complete copies, was known to Herbert's first modern editor, F. E. Hutchinson, nor are they mentioned in any of the several subsequent editions of Herbert's Latin verse, all of which follow Hutchinson's sole source, the 1662 Ecclesiastes Solomonis of James Duport. In addition to providing descriptions of their contents and provenance, we survey the substantive variants and accidentals pertaining to the two complete copies and argue why one in particular will supplant Duport as copy-text for the new edition of Herbert's works currently in progress for Oxford University Press. Our essay also presents a hitherto unknown Latin epigram that appears in the other complete copy and considers evidence for attributing the poem to the author of The Temple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a polemical debate that took place in France during the Covid-19 crisis, around two formulas: "health dictatorship" (dictature sanitaire) and "civil disobedience." It first analyses the arguments that justify their use; it then explores the verbal confrontation where Proponents and Opponents attack each other's stance, thus shedding light on important issues that underlie the discussion on the anti-Corona health measures: the nature and limits of democracy, the question of authority and obedience in a democratic regime. In the third step, the paper examines the actors behind the roles of Proponent and Opponent, namely, political figures and movements. A difference is drawn between the extremists and the candidates for the 2022 Presidential elections who supported the protest but did not adopt the formulas for fear of compromising themselves. However, the fact that the extremist voices and the voices of ordinary citizens merged in the same protest threatens to whitewash trends that used to be outside the Republican consensus and to bring the French closer to them. This risk calls for a better training in rhetorical analysis allowing the citizens to protect themselves from the manipulation of the authoritarian politicians who pose as the champions of Liberty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay addresses a significant characteristic of Nahmanides' Torah commentary on the Joseph narrative—his striking emphasis on Joseph's integrity and loyalty to his Egyptian master. This emphasis throughout the Joseph narrative is exceptional and is lacking in the commentaries of Nahmanides' predecessors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates that Isa 45:1–19 is a pro-Persian oracle of well-being, promising the Achaemenid emperor that he will conquer Egypt, and subsequently impugning the theological ignorance of the Egyptians. The Egyptians misspeak in saying that Yhwh is a "Hidden God" like their own Amun (45:15). The unique title, the only reference to divine hiding that uses the reflexive hithpael , was chosen to echo the reflexive formulations in Egyptian texts (including during the early Persian Period) describing Amun's self-hiding. Two other aspects of Amun's mythology as creator are also alluded to: His close association with the primordial chaos (45:18–19) and his identification as the divine potter (45:9). Each would have been understandable to an audience in Egypt that lived among the cults of its deities in a very hybridized religious culture. They also would have been clear to elites in Jerusalem who were in regular contact with the Egyptian diaspora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islam has a complete and comprehensive teaching, considering it is the last teaching sent to this World. The scope of Islamic teachings covers all aspects of human life, from trivial matters to big ones, and not only about worship, but all aspects of human life, and not only for men but comprehensively regulates aspects involving women. In the aspect of sunnah worship, there is a deep and never-ending polemic, given the changing conditions and situations that continue to run, along with changing times. One aspect that deserves to be studied is Sunnah fasting for women. Several hadiths talk about fasting Sunnah for women, and there are differences in their instructions, so it requires a more in-depth analysis with various approaches to get comfort in practicing it. This article uses a textual and contextual approach to analyze the hadiths about Sunnah fasting for women. Does she have absolute authority to fast, or must she first get her husband's permission? From the search and analysis that the author has done, the conclusions are that: A woman is allowed to fast Sunnah without prior permission from her husband, but she can break her fast in the middle of the day or anytime before breaking the fast, if her husband needs his wife during the day, and her husband has no other time to have sex with his wife. The maturity of understanding of a man's religion will affect his attitude when considering the sunnah fasting worship performed by his wife. Especially regarding the magnitude of the reward obtained by women who fast Sunnah, especially sunnah fasting is a guardian of the obligatory fasts that a woman carries out with the condition of her woman's nature, which cannot be replaced, such as menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

René Girard's Mimetic Theory has put forward a very compelling toolbox whose hermeneutical valour we are willing to test by reading Heidegger's ontological wandering in the semantic constellation of Being. Finding a lead in Heidegger's reading of OEdipus' peripeties as presented in Sophocles' OEdipus Rex, we will try to translate the fundamental notions of Heidegger's critique of metaphysics into Girard's jargon to see if any clarity is gained. It is time to go after Heidegger, both as in following him in his own wandering but also as in chasing him, out of his Holzwege, and eventually go further. Hopefully, some of the obscurities of Heidegger's text will find in this perspective a new light, without losing any of its fascination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article first deploys a historical account of the French model of secularization, before and beyond mere laïcité. Drawing on an analysis of the imperial and colonial genealogies of secularization, it then moves on to examine some structural polemics in contemporary France: polemics about the veil since 1989 and the more recent debate on Wokism and Islamo-leftism among intellectuals. The last part of the essay is a theoretical intervention in some of the current debates about race, gender and secularism in recent scholarship on France and Algeria done by feminist Scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On both sides of the Atlantic, polemics have been raging on complex questions relating to identity and race: cancel culture, wokism, critical race theory, assaults on affirmative action policies, and labeling scholars "Islamo-Leftists." The focus of this article is provided by a closer examination of the ways in which a group of militant academics have instrumentalized the notion of "decolonialism" and how adherents have positioned themselves as the self-appointed imaginary defenders of academic freedom in research. Having identified the primary corrupting influence as originating in the United States, they have sought to discredit scholarship on decolonial, postcolonial, and intersectional studies, delineating in the process a common enemy. What transpires is an antagonism aimed at scholars who have elected to subject French Republican ideals to greater scrutiny, highlighted shortcomings in secularist policies while pointing to deep-seated historical fractures in the country's sense of exceptionalism, and also underscoring France's inability to address structural racism and disquieting forms of Islamophobia. We all know the considerable impact postcolonial studies have had internationally, reconfiguring and reshaping intellectual debates and institutional frameworks and stimulating broad interdisciplinary research. One cannot overstate the importance of fostering spaces in which rigorous research findings can be shared and discussed and of finding our way back to the kind of dialogue and exchanges that were foundational elements in a tradition that made France's reputation and were a source of pride. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the Catholic side of the German pamphlet war (c. 1520–1525) tend to focus on the most prolific opponents of Luther, such as Johann Eck and Johannes Cochlaeus. It can however be argued that this approach skews our picture of the Catholic effort, because most conservative pamphlet warriors wrote only one item apiece. This investigation of a singleton from 1524, by the otherwise unknown author Sebastian Felbaum, attempts to evaluate its literary and theological characteristics and to contextualise it within the Catholic controversial output of the years 1522–24. What emerges is an insight into the aims and methods of one of the controversy's 'also-rans', and arguably a more representative picture of the overall campaign. In the process, new light is shed on the identity of a hitherto obscure pamphleteer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Book 9.8 of his Ecclesiastical History , Eusebius of Caesarea describes a horrific famine and plague that ravaged the eastern Roman empire. Hitherto, scholars have generally treated this as an exaggerated but truthful account of these catastrophes. In this paper, we question the veracity of this account. We first demonstrate how Eusebius masterfully models his account on Thucydides's plague and Josephus's account of famine during the siege of Jerusalem in order to dismantle Maximinus Daia's regime and affirm the superiority of Christian philanthropy. While Eusebius's knowledge of Thucydides has often been disputed, this paper shows that he used not only Thucydides but also the Thucydidean commentary from the rhetorical tradition for his polemicizing against pagans. Having shown how Eusebius used his models, this paper then questions the veracity of Eusebius's famine and plague, suggesting that it was probably a fairly unimportant localized event, which Eusebius catastrophized to serve the Ecclesiastical History 's polemical aims against Christian persecutors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the onset of Peru's Internal Armed Conflict (~1980-2000), Peruvian writers have worked to narrate often unspeakable violences, contributing to a still-developing "Conflict Canon." Yet while the Conflict overwhelmingly impacted Indigenous individuals from the nation's rural Andean highlands and jungle lowlands, Peru's most critically acclaimed and bestselling narrations of Conflict predominantly belong to white men of means from Lima. These depictions of the civil war written for/from the capital frequently reproduce tired geo-racial imaginaries, taking their cue from Mario Vargas Llosa's polemic analysis of the 1983 murder of eight Peruvian journalists at the highland community of Uchuraccay (Ayacucho). Ayacucho, the Peruvian department most intensely victimized by Conflict violences, frequently appears in these narrations as a racialized wasteland. While scholars have produced significant analyses of the non-literary cultural production of Ayacuchan victims of the Conflict, the present essay considers the short fiction of Ayacuchans Erika Cuadros and Livio Huaripaucar, whose stories appear together in Siete cuentos sin fin, published by Editorial Amartí (Ayacucho). Considering the narratives themselves together with Editorial Amartí's promotional materials, Facebook posts, and media appearances, I suggest that the collection contests dominant geo-racial imaginaries, (re)presenting post-Conflict Ayacucho and its experience of civil war against the discourses of "bestseller" authors like Vargas Llosa. Crucially, I propose that Cuadros, Huaripaucar, and Editorial Amartí develop important "counterpublics" (Warner 2005) and, in doing so, achieve an antihegemonic symbiosis of content and form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adams and Neumann (2024) (hereafter A&N24) provided a polemic on the use of the Olson model for estimating litter accumulation and fire risk in Australian forest types. However, some of their commentary doesn't properly acknowledge modern mathematical modelling approaches and fails to consider different implementations and extensions to the Olson model that could be used to address their concerns. • We respond to the article "Perspective: Flawed assumptions behind analysis of litter decomposition, steady state and fire risks in Australia", Adams and Neumann (2024) who provide a critique of the use of the Olson model for fuel accumulation and fire risk assessment in Australia. • Adams and Neumann object to the application of the Olson model to data that doesn't exhibit a steady state, but this objection is shown to be without basis. • Other claims of Adams and Neumann relating the use of the Olson model are addressed through more robust implementation of the model and through various extensions of the modelling approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that while several Decalogue precepts are mentioned in the New Testament, the Decalogue as a distinct normative category is completely absent. This goes in line with the evidence from Second Temple Jewish sources, where very limited attention is given to the Decalogue, with Philo serving as an exception. I further propose that the formation of the Decalogue as a distinct normative category comes accompanied by a specific anti-Jewish discourse, beginning in the late second century and continuing into the fourth century. Authors such as Irenaeus of Lyon, Ptolemy, Aphrahat, and the anonymous author of the Syriac Book of Steps construct ‘the Decalogue’ as a category for commandments that Christians must still follow, as opposed to the rest of Law. The latter is characterized as ‘not good laws’, given to the Jews only on account of their sins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article covers the problem of K.N. Leontiev’s perception of the N.V. Gogol’s heritage. They were close in worldview but divided by a misunderstanding based on the interpretation of Gogol’s legacy in radical criticism. As the student Leontiev experienced the influence of Western ideology, which led to his negative attitude towards Gogol’s satire. Decisive for him was the opinion of A.I. Herzen about Gogol as an “unconscious revolutionary,” reported to Leontiev by I.S. Turgenev. After the ideological “breakthrough” that followed, when the critic began to adhere to conservative views, his understanding of Gogol’s work remained unchanged. As in his youth, when the authorities for Leontiev were V.G. Belinsky, I.S. Turgenev, A.I. Herzen and N.G. Chernyshevsky, he continued to evaluate Gogol’s heritage exclusively in the context of the accusatory literature of the “natural school.”

The creative history of N. V. Gogol’s article “What is Finally the Essence of Russian Poetry and Its Peculiarity,” the most voluminous chapter of his book “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends” (1847), and its relation to the poem “Dead Souls” are studied. Three long stages of Gogol’s work on the article, which ended with the burning of manuscripts, and the fourth, which ended with its publication, reveal a close connection with the content of the poem. Evidence of simultaneous maturation of the ideas of the article and the poem in the 1830s is summarized. It is proved that the article was prepared by Gogol for P. A. Pletnev’s journal “Sovremennik.” Unknown data on the second stage of work on the article in 1841–1842 are introduced into scientific circulation, the expansion of concept of the article at the third stage in 1843–1845, which led to its inclusion in the book of letters to friends in 1846, is traced. It is emphasized that, created over more than ten years, the article contains the final reflections of the writer on the importance of literature in the public and state life of Russia and is an irreplaceable auto-commentary to “Dead Souls.”

Although neither Herodotus nor Thucydides is known for ad hominem attacks, it should not be concluded that they avoid polemic or aim for uncontroversial expression or somehow precede an age of polemic. They certainly reflect polemical debates on a variety of issues and hold sharp views of their own on numerous matters, including the particular topic of how to write history (Thucydides often seems to tilt at Herodotus). Polemic, then, is a fundamental and complex feature of their work, with a range of literary, political, and historiographical factors underpinning its operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fifth-century CE Ecclesiastical History of Socrates of Constantinople has long been one of the foundational texts for reconstructing ecclesiastical affairs following the Council of Nicaea. Interwoven throughout its accounts of intra-Christian conflict are polemical episodes recounting Jewish violence. One vignette in particular, that of the crucifixion of a Christian boy, has been frequently cited in modern historiography on blood libel narratives. This article examines the role of this episode within Socrates' polemic and its modern reception, focusing specifically on how anti-Jewish propaganda extracts the episode from its source and leverages it to support blood libel accusations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When attacking their enemies late Roman and Byzantine intellectuals recognized that words could be effective and sometimes deadly weapons. These authors have left some memorable polemics. Of these, the most famous and widely read today is the sixth-century Anecdota or Secret History by Procopius. This article examines the role polemic plays in the Secret History and particularly Procopius' hostile portrait of his former superior, the general Belisarius. Capitalizing upon recent advancements made in our understanding of the possible literary and political context behind the Secret History, I suggest that Procopius' seeming turn against Belisarius in this work, which inverts the historian's heroic characterization of Belisarius from his De bellis or On the Wars, is best seen as a calculated piece of political manoeuvring rather than as evidence of the historian's 'true' animosity towards the general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have tended to emphasize distinctions within late antique historiography, breaking it up into categories of ecclesiastical/'pagan', orthodox/heretical, Greek/Latin, narrative/chronicle, and others. The division of ecclesiastical historians into orthodox/heretical has led to designating non-Nicene history writing as polemical. I hope to show that drawing a stark line between the ecclesiastical historians discounts the significant connections between them. Philostorgius, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret serve as a good starting point for the reintegration of these historians into the literary culture of which they were a part. I examine these histories to demonstrate their commonalities while simultaneously showing their distinctiveness. Specifically, I focus on how these historians presented the imperial role in the destruction of religious property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Malalas' account of the career of Alexander of Macedon is marked by numerous deviations from the standard historical record. One such error, Alexander crossing over to Asia at the Bosporus rather than the Hellespont, however, seems to point to Dio Cassius' story of a δαίμων in the guise of Alexander crossing from Byzantium to Chalcedon. The association of references to Alexander and the activity of demons, in turn, draws into the ambit of Malalas' allusions an array of Christian rhetorical assaults on the Emperor Julian. Julian is revealed as the real subject, or target, of Malalas' account of Alexander and its apparent errors are shown to be references to matters that recur in the Christian critique of Julian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the writings of the Emperor Julian show that he was engaged in sustained polemic with a number of opponents: Cynic philosophers, the people of Antioch, Christian teachers who criticized Hellenic religion, a Roman senator posing as an outspoken philosopher, and even, posthumously, with members of his own family (especially Constantine and Constantius). In this war of words, Julian employed his considerable erudition, which ranged from the Homeric epics and the interpretation of myth to Classical and Neoplatonic philosophy, in an attempt to refute his enemies and to halt what he perceived as an erosion of Hellenic literature, philosophy, and religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appian of Alexandria wrote in a time of peace long after the end of the Roman civil wars. How does he approach the polemical elements included in his sources in more fractious periods by many more partisan authors? By examining his treatment of M. Tullius Cicero (about whom everyone else had a strong opinion), this paper exposes Appian's unwillingness to engage in polemic even while he consistently displays his preference for monarchic government and his belief that the 'happy' outcome for Rome was the result of divine guidance and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast with his predecessors in ancient historiography such as Polybius or Livy, Tacitus avoids attacks on named predecessors. He does claim superiority for his own writings in his prefaces, but on the grounds that he was free from the influences that distorted earlier efforts, such as concern about political disfavour or apparent flattery in a contemporary context. The desire for vengeful self-justification after an emperor, now seen as a tyrant, had died also called into question authors' impartiality. While the critique of imperial activities has often been taken as the basis of Tacitus' writing, this paper argues that the most important feature of his histories is the emphasis on the behaviour of the ruling class, the historian's senatorial peers. The social etiquette of this group is a strong influence on the nature of Tacitus' criticism and reflects the continuing difficulties in writing about the past even under 'good' emperors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the practice of Greek and Roman poets, Martial employs polemic as a means of expressing his literary views, particularly with respect to his chosen genre and his place within that genre. In order to elevate the status of epigram within the generic hierarchy, he attacks the higher forms of poetry as stale and irrelevant to real life, dismissing their apologists in highly personal and aggressive terms. He often engages in an argumentative to-and-fro with a supposed critic of his poetry or of his opinions, summarily dismissing his opponent in a typically epigrammatic put-down that brands him as vacuous, deluded or merely inept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insight into the characteristics of Roman polemic can be revealed by contextualizing the two invectives transmitted among the works of Sallust alongside Cicero's De optimo genere oratorum. The mutual attempts at character assassination of 'Cicero' and 'Sallust', usually considered of limited value by modern historians and biographers, show up the fault lines between genres (historiography and oratory), between education and entertainment, and between demolishing an opponent's reputation and pairing oneself with him in perpetuity. These fictional defamatory attacks raise the participants to a level of fame analogous to, if not superior to, that of Aeschines and Demosthenes in the Greek rhetorical canon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livy is not generally described as a polemicist, and the annalistic tradition tends to be described in terms of continuity rather than innovation. This paper aims to show, however, that there is significant polemic in Livy, including ad hominem polemic. Even if the latter falls short of Hellenistic levels, it is worth making the point that Livy wrote a highly competitive narrative, so that the degree to which he deliberately took on and surpassed rival authorities has probably been underestimated. Despite his obvious respect for some basic traditions and interpretations, he was indeed trying to surge past his rivals in innovative ways that would leave him as the pre-eminent authority. Polemic was one of the competitive strategies employed for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polybius (c. 200-118 BC) is a notoriously combative historian, gleefully attacking his fellow historians for their moral failings and intellectual crimes, and their works for their misleading errors and grave distortions. But Polybius sometimes appears guilty himself of some of the same faults he finds in others. This paper aims to assess Polybius' quality and reliability as a writer of history on his own terms, that is, according to the strict standards he sets for other historians, with the ultimate aim of determining whether his Histories marks a return to the high historiographical standards set by Polybius' famous predecessor Thucydides, or perpetrates the same historiographical high crimes and misdemeanours he accuses his contemporary historical writers of committing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues for the existence of an artistic and architectural polemical discourse amongst the dedicatory monuments erected within the sanctuary of Delphi. With particular reference to monuments erected relating to the Persian wars of the fifth century BCE, this article argues that the polemical discourse created between them focused not only on offering divergent views on the respective roles each dedicator played in the different battles, but also, more broadly and importantly, on offering conflicting understandings of how this conflict should be remembered as an event in Greek history, culture and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polemic in ancient philosophy must be understood in terms of the evolution of critical rationality from the Presocratics until the Hellenistic schools. I argue that it takes three forms, of varying importance at different times, that both helped to define philosophy as a distinct social practice and methodologically drove its internal evolution. These forms are criticism of non-philosophical ignorance, attacks on alternative cultural practices, and technical criticisms of other philosophers and schools of thought. Technical criticisms only become more prominent than polemic against ignorance and alternative sources of expertise with the evolution of oral dialectic, while subsequently in the imperial era a textual approach to philosophy subordinated criticisms of other schools to the common rhetorical norms of literary and historiographical polemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study compares one text of Clement of Alexandria, appearing at the very end of the seventh book of the Stromateis (Str. VII 18,109,1-6; 110,1-4), and one of Irenaeus, (AH V 8,3), a section of his discussion on how to understand the terms 'fleshly' and 'spiritual' in the apostle Paul. These two texts are devoted to a figurative reading of the dietary prescriptions of the Pentateuch (Lv 11:1-4; Dt 14:6-8) and take into consideration four possible cases of purity or impurity of animals, explaining them as symbols of human behaviors. The passages under scrutiny, both penned in the wake of anti-gnostic polemics, share the same progression in common, corresponding to each other in their dispositio as well, so much so that it seems that Irenaeus here inspired Clement in his rewriting of a figurative motif deeply rooted in Jewish traditions (Letter of Aristeas, Philo), and Judeo-Christian literature (Letter of Ps. Barnabas). Such an impression is confirmed by the echoes of book one of the Against the Heresies, occurring in the three preceding chapters (15 to 17) of the seventh book of the Stromateis, devoted to tracing a clear divide between the 'catholic' church and deviant groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tibetan Buddhist debates about funerary practices feature no shortage of hairsplitting. In their writings on funerary rituals in the tradition of the Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra , the prolific Bo dong Paṇ chen Phyogs las rnam rgyal (1375/76–1451) and the Sa skya pa savant Go rams pa Bsod nams seng ge (1429–89) quarrel over what might appear to be very minor issues. This article looks at one such exchange, specifically, how these exegetes understand the details of "visual transmission" and how successive iterations of observation and imitation between master and disciple constitute an authoritative lineage. The article reveals that the specifics of each author's position on visual transmission was the product of polemical pressures for each one to articulate the specifics of their viewpoint. Understanding a disagreement like this requires contextualization. When Go rams pa was writing his response to Bo dong Paṇ chen, he was receiving support from a local ruler who had been a disciple of the late Bo dong Paṇ chen. Looking to secure further patronage for himself and the Sa skya tradition more broadly, Go rams pa certainly had reason to defend the Sa skya patriarch Rje btsun Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1147–1216) against Bo dong Paṇ chen's critiques. However, limiting this debate to issues of patronage would be reductive at best. Although this point of disagreement may seem minor, it reveals a sophisticated analysis on how textual and empirical evidence cohere in order to determine correct tantric practice. In this sense, elements of tantric Buddhist traditions are deeply indebted to empirical knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article engages in a critical reflection on the concept of polemics, questioning its dominance as an interpretative category in the fields of Buddhist, Tibetan, and religious studies more broadly. It argues that we ought to rehabilitate the concept of argument or debate as a central presupposition of the philosophical approach and that interpretations are impeded by reducing all critical engagement of others' ideas and texts to polemical intents. The article proceeds with a theoretical part intended to motivate a distinction between polemics and debate or an antagonistic and an agonistic practice of engagement with others, and a practical application of the distinction. The theoretical development proposes both a conceptual distinction between these two practices, illustrated historically by different texts from Western and South Asian literatures, and a genealogical interpretation of the polemical reductionism that relates a certain social science approach to the treatment of truth and power as found in the works of Michel Foucault. The next part takes the specific example of the debate between two Tibetan authors, Mi pham (1846–1912) and Brag dkar sprul sku (1866–1928), to show the interpretative gain made by maintaining this distinction. In conclusion, the article offers a further argument for maintaining this distinction from the disciplinary point of view according to which the overuse of the category of polemics has potentially reduced the philosophical appeal of Buddhist and Tibetan texts to a wider audience of philosophers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the ruins of the Qing Empire, monastic writers of the previously favored Géluk tradition produced all manner of literary genres and deployed all manner of interpretative operations to set the postimperial ruins into time and place. One particular and quite peculiar strategy among Géluk scholastics in Yeke-yin Küriy-e, presented and examined in this article, was to deploy an extensive polemical attack against the Nyingma tradition. The Nyingma tradition, however, was nowhere present in the contested field of revolutionary nationalism and socialism that increasingly threatened the social and political status of the Buddhist monastery. Nor was it obvious in any way how Nyingma and Bön philosophical views and ethical standards had any bearing on the future of Géluk institutionalism in Asia's first experiment in state socialism. Turning to resources from the social theory of knowledge and historical anthropology, this article asks what historical arguments were being made by polemicists without opponents, and by this, what was the intersection between "right view" and writing in late and postimperial scholastic cultures from the Tibeto-Mongolian frontier? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a reflective response to the articles in this special issue, "Tibetan Polemics as Genre." It argues that just as we might use polemics as way to think through Tibetan texts, we can use these texts as a way to think through the scholar's use of polemics. The response illustrates that by paying close attention to a debate between Go rams pa (1429–89) and Tsong kha pa (1357–1419), the scholar gains a greater sensitivity to perspective, both to the multiple perspectives Tibetan authors are seeking to address and that they themselves inhabit and to the scholar's own perspective and the decision to approach a work as polemical. This call for perspectivalism reveals that the question of whether a work is polemical is ill-formed and flat-footed. Rather, the genre of polemics is simply one hermeneutic tool that allows for a particular type of interpretation. It would be foolish to assume the utility of this lens affords some ultimate claim about the text itself or that no other interpretation is necessary. Polemics denotes a useful tool but never the be-all and end-all of the text as a whole. These concluding thoughts offer helpful advice for how to nuance the study of polemics successfully without having to jettison the category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers what it means to take Buddhist authors "seriously" by critically investigating the choices available to Buddhologists interpreting tantric polemics. This genre fuses conventions of philosophical debate and of tantric commentary, presenting a rich array of issues of interpretation and practice, along with broader philosophical questions. In Tibet, it is common for centuries to pass before a reply to a critique is issued, often raising one simple question for scholars: Why now? Scholars of tantric polemics therefore negotiate between choices to abstract or to contextualize these arguments, as well as between interpretive dispositions of good faith and the hermeneutics of suspicion. The Sakyapa monk Ngor chen Kun dga' bzang po composed a text and commentary on Overcoming Objections to the Three Tantras in 1406 in response to a charge that threatened the foundations of his tradition's approach to both sutra and tantra. The problematic claim is that the Hevajra Tantra embraces the philosophy of Cittamātra. The article evaluates the undesirable consequences that would result if his opponent's claims were valid, with particular attention to Ngor chen's use of contradiction, absurdity, and the tendency to "get personal." I explore the role of one opponent, Red mda ba' (Gzhon nu blo gros), and the challenges he poses: the cross-contamination of lineages and inconsistency in interpretive stance. Through this analysis of Ngor chen's approach in Overcoming Objections to the Three Tantras , I demonstrate how tantric polemical texts demand tempering "pure philosophical questions" with concerns with human and institutional relationships, ritual, and exegesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which author discusses articles on topics including focuses on arguing the notion of Tibetan polemics deserves further analysis and the articles all approach polemics self-consciously invested in examining not only the content of these polemics.

With the recent departure of Jews from Zion one can now expect Jesus will appear. I The punishment of thine iniquity is now complete (Israel gone from Jerusalem), B O daughter of Zion. b i I He (i.e., Jesus) will reveal himself never again. This note draws attention to anti-Christian polemical activity in Ya acov ben Reuven's Karaite commentary to Lam. 4:22, found in the I Eichah i section in his I Sefer ha Osher i . [Extracted from the article]