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Music is an essential part of human life, but it is also integral to the experience of faith. From its beginnings, music has been associated with religious expression and worship. One of the oldest Christian hymns is the hymn "Gloria in excelsis Deo"-"Glory to God in the highest", which was originally a component of morning and evening prayer. Later, it became part of the Holy Mass and is still sung during the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays and feast days. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive view of this precious hymn in terms of its historical use. The study pays special attention to the sources of the text of this ancient hymn. A theological analysis of the text is also an indispensable prerequisite for a deeper understanding. Finally, the study offers up-to-date guidelines for the hymn's use today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper proposes that Sallust offers a conceptualization of civil conflict more in line with the Greek paradigm of stasis than with its Roman counterpart bellum ciuile. In doing so, it argues for the actual coexistence of these two differentiated conceptual strands in the political thought of the Late Republic. To this end, Sallust's corpus is analysed to identify the main threads that articulate civil strife in its multifarious manifestations: how it arises and who its protagonists are or, conversely, how it is kept in check, how it is connected to the human passions that drive ideology, and the violence that stems from the clash between political and familial spheres of influence. The article shows how the pathos of familial drama is what characterizes civil conflict for Sallust, rather than the struggle for legitimacy found in Cicero's narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this article is on a curious episode at the end of the first book of Tacitus' Annals. It is argued that Tacitus here is at his most metaphoric and allusive, allowing a senatorial debate on the possibly prophetic meaning of an inundation of the Tiber to become a debate about the overwhelming power of the river's namesake Tiberius. Parallels from Dio (and perhaps also from Livy) indicate that inundations of the Tiber by the end of the Republic had become prophetic warnings of the rise of the dynasts undermining the stability of the Republic. In Tacitus, procedural anomalies and suggestive wordplay bring to the fore the religious and constitutional issues that in the Senate's handling of this Tiberine prodigium reflect its submission to the ever more oppressive power of Tiberius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species turnover is ubiquitous. However, it remains unknown whether certain types of species are consistently gained or lost across different habitats. Here, we analysed the trajectories of 1827 plant species over time intervals of up to 78 years at 141 sites across mountain summits, forests, and lowland grasslands in Europe. We found, albeit with relatively small effect sizes, displacements of smaller‐ by larger‐ranged species across habitats. Communities shifted in parallel towards more nutrient‐demanding species, with species from nutrient‐rich habitats having larger ranges. Because these species are typically strong competitors, declines of smaller‐ranged species could reflect not only abiotic drivers of global change, but also biotic pressure from increased competition. The ubiquitous component of turnover based on species range size we found here may partially reconcile findings of no net loss in local diversity with global species loss, and link community‐scale turnover to macroecological processes such as biotic homogenisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the author's experience with the Pentecostal movement in Ghana, the commentary dialogues with Carly Machado's article "Making politics in other Congresses". It highlights the expansive and ethically contingent properties of the Pentecostal notion of glory, considered as a theopolitical force and as a source of moral instability in the lives of men and women of God. It articulates the Pentecostal case with the genealogy of glory offered by Agamben and highlights three contributions of Machado's article for an immanent study of Pentecostal politics: the concept of scales, its non-reductionist approach to religious mediatization, and the project of an anthropology of the Pentecostal torment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premise: Examining community turnover across climate gradients at multiple scales is vital to understanding biogeographic response to climate change. This approach is especially important for alpine plants in which the relative roles of topographic complexity and nonclimatic or stochastic factors vary across spatial scales. Methods: We examined the structure of alpine plant communities across elevation gradients in the White Mountains, California. Using community climatic niche means (CCNMs) and measures of community dissimilarity, we explored the relation between community composition and elevation gradients at three scales: the mountain range, individual peaks, and within elevation contours. Results: At the mountain range scale, community turnover and CCNMs showed strongly significant relations with elevation, with an increase in the abundance of cooler and wetter‐adapted species at higher elevations. At the scale of single peaks, we found weak and inconsistent relations between CCNMs and elevation, but variation in community composition explained by elevation increased. Within the elevation contours, the range of CCNMs was weakly positively correlated with turnover in species identity, likely driven by microclimate and other site‐specific factors. Conclusions: Our results suggest that there is strong environmental sorting of alpine plant communities at broad scales, but microclimatic and site‐specific, nonclimatic factors together shape community turnover at finer scales. In the context of climate change, our results imply that community–climate relations are scale‐dependent, and predictions of local alpine plant range shifts are limited by a lack of topoclimatic and habitat information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by Foucault's argument that "knowledge is an 'invention' behind which lies something completely different from itself: the play of instincts, impulses, desires, fears, and the will to appropriate," this study considers the possibility that "nondirectivity" in Rogerian psychotherapy operates as a trope for power. This is partly based on Edwin Kahn's observation that nondirective therapists may be less mindful of their own fallibility than other therapists, less wary of their capacity to influence clients, and therefore, less prepared to interrogate the ways they might actually be influencing them. Nondirective, client-centered therapists, in short, may be less likely to have doubts about their comments and interventions, and thus more likely to exercise influence. What I show in this study is how Rogers did just this in his famous session with Gloria, how—without telling Gloria about his personal and theoretic biases, without first discussing them with her to see if and how they fit her goals—he continually pushed her to view herself through the lens of those biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Continuous delivery of levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) provides stable plasma levodopa concentrations and reduces motor fluctuations in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Objective: To compare the effectiveness and safety of LCIG monotherapy vs polytherapy in patients in the GLORIA registry. Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of a 24-month, multinational observational registry where advanced PD patients with persistent motor complications received LCIG (with adjunctive PD treatment, as necessary). Patients were categorized retrospectively into three stable treatment groups: LCIG monotherapy, LCIG in combination with oral levodopa only ("levodopa monotherapy" [including nighttime oral levodopa]), or LCIG in combination with any other antiparkinsonian medication ("LCIG polytherapy"). Results: Of 356 patients, 208 were on stable regimens (LCIG monotherapy n = 80; levodopa monotherapy n = 47; LCIG polytherapy n = 81). Baseline characteristics were similar across groups. LCIG monotherapy showed significant improvements until month 18 in activities of daily living and quality of life, and until month 24 for Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor examination (p < 0.05), "Off" time (p < 0.001), "On" time with dyskinesia (p < 0.01), and non-motor symptoms (p < 0.01). More patients in the levodopa monotherapy and LCIG polytherapy groups experienced treatment-related adverse drug reactions (ADRs) including dyskinesias and serious ADRs than did patients in the LCIG monotherapy group. There were few polyneuropathy-related ADRs, of which one case of polyneuropathy led to discontinuation from the Levodopa monotherapy group. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that LCIG monotherapy is an effective treatment option in appropriate advanced PD patients; however, definitive baseline clinical predictors identifying patients who can discontinue concomitant oral therapy have not yet been defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premise of the Study: With biodiversity and rates of climate change among the highest, the eastern Himalaya are critical for understanding the interaction of these two variables. However, there is a dearth of longitudinal data sets that address the effects of climate change on the exceptional alpine biodiversity of the Himalaya. Methods: We established permanent alpine vegetation monitoring plots in three mountain chains of the Hengduan Mountains, the easternmost Himalaya, which have warmed 0.03–0.05°C yr−1 since 1985. Recently, we resampled plots (176 1‐m2 quadrat plots and 88 sections of 11 summits in three Hengduan mountain chains) to measure changes in vegetation after 7 years. Key Results: Over 7 years, Tibetan alpine vegetation increased in number of species (+8 species/summit; +2.3 species/m2), in frequency (+47.8 plants/m2), and in diversity (+1.6 effective species/m2). Stepwise regressions indicated that warmer temperatures, southerly aspects, and higher elevations were associated with greater increases in these vegetation metrics. Unexpectedly, Himalayan endemic species increased (+1.4 species/m2; +8.5 plants/m2), especially on higher‐elevation summits. In contrast, the increase in relative abundance of non‐alpine species was greater at lower‐elevation summits. Plants used by local Tibetans also increased (+1.3 species/m2; +32 plants/m2). Conclusions: As in other alpine areas, biodiversity is increasing with climate change in the Himalaya. Unlike other areas, endemic species are proliferating at the highest summits and are indicators of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: High mountain ecosystems and their biota are governed by low‐temperature conditions and thus can be used as indicators for climate warming impacts on natural ecosystems, provided that long‐term data exist. We used data from the largest alpine to nival permanent plot site in the Alps, established in the frame of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) on Schrankogel in the Tyrolean Alps, Austria, in 1994, and resurveyed in 2004 and 2014. Vascular plant species richness per plot increased over the entire period, albeit to a lesser extent in the second decade, because disappearance events increased markedly in the latter period. Although presence/absence data could only marginally explain range shift dynamics, changes in species cover and plant community composition indicate an accelerating transformation towards a more warmth‐demanding and more drought‐adapted vegetation, which is strongest at the lowest, least rugged subsite. Divergent responses of vertical distribution groups of species suggest that direct warming effects, rather than competitive displacement, are the primary causes of the observed patterns. The continued decrease in cryophilic species could imply that trailing edge dynamics proceed more rapidly than successful colonisation, which would favour a period of accelerated species declines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares affective economies in the The Iliad and a corpus of drug runner ballads, focusing on the way they organize power through honor and glory, instead of money. I argue that affective economies go beyond the merely pecuniary, demonstrating how heroes in both Mexico and ancient Greece operate within economies built upon the notions of honor and glory. The essay proposes that there are common strategies to resolve similar needs from social constructs that are alike in nature: the organization of bandits ruled by Agamemnon depicted by Homer as an Achaean league and the organization that was allegedly ruled by Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as the Sinaloa Cartel. Both organizations face problems structural problems typical of a political environment where military might is stronger than institutional power or mediums of economic exchange. In such an environment, honor is seen as a defensive system, and glory acts as an offensive one, both of them oriented towards the preservation (real or symbolic) of life in the face of open military confrontation. For these purposes, sung ballads and epic poems show how other forms of power can be more useful than money to men whose lives are continuously at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choir play a very important role in the German Evangelic church service and in the liturgy. It can be present in the church service as an independent musical part or as the substitute of the liturgy. Choral music can be just an opening or an ending part of the church service but it also can be an essential part of the liturgy by helping the congregation accompanying it. The topics of the musical pieces sung by the choir are related to the weekly psalm or to the sermon (told by the minister). The dynamic of the actual church service and the role of the choir in it are based on an agreement between the minister and the choir's conductor. The essay that can be read below demonstrates the double role of the choir in the church service. In the "Kyrie" and the "Gloria" parts it is giving an answer to the recitation song. In the choral piece "Der Herr ist mein Hirt" it is presented as a personal credo for the sermon's message. At the ending of the church service Luther Martin's words are spoken in the elaboration of Bartholdy F. M. (the 500th anniversary of the Reformation/ 2017): "Give us peace with grace". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim In the alpine life zone, plant diversity is strongly determined by local topography and microclimate. We assessed the extent to which aspect and its relatedness to temperature affect plant species diversity, and the colonization and disappearance of species on alpine summits on a pan-European scale. Location Mountain summits in Europe's alpine life zone. Methods Vascular plant species and their percentage cover were recorded in permanent plots in each cardinal direction on 123 summits in 32 regions across Europe. For a subset from 17 regions, resurvey data and 6-year soil temperature series were available. Differences in temperature sum and Shannon index as well as species richness, colonization and disappearance of species among cardinal directions were analysed using linear mixed-effects and generalised mixed-effects models, respectively. Results Temperature sums were higher in east- and south-facing aspects than in the north-facing ones, while the west-facing ones were intermediate; differences were smallest in northern Europe. The patterns of temperature sums among aspects were consistent among years. In temperate regions, thermal differences were reflected by plant diversity, whereas this relationship was weaker or absent on Mediterranean and boreal mountains. Colonization of species was positively related to temperature on Mediterranean and temperate mountains, whereas disappearance of species was not related to temperature. Main conclusions Thermal differences caused by solar radiation determine plant species diversity on temperate mountains. Advantages for plants on eastern slopes may result from the combined effects of a longer diurnal period of radiation due to convection cloud effects in the afternoon and the sheltered position against the prevailing westerly winds. In northern Europe, long summer days and low sun angles can even out differences among aspects. On Mediterranean summits, summer drought may limit species numbers on the warmer slopes. Warmer aspects support a higher number of colonization events. Hence, aspect can be a principal determinant of the pace of climate-induced migration processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey of John 's 'sending' and 'coming' vocabulary and a review of the main ideas of its prologue (1:1-18) shed light on our understanding of Jesus' mission on earth. At the same time, this information elicits some reflections on the mission of the contemporary church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By exhaustively analyzing the book XX of The Iliad, this essay intends to show up the recurrence of the death understood as a grieving process that tries out the Hector’s heroism, whose unreadiness to die, which philosophy ultimately does not teach, explains his own inability to make a decision as well as the tragedy to the community affected by him by teaching the love for life as the fear of death in the only possible world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dignity is the foundation of human rights and therefore is basic for the legislation of democratic states. This essay, based on Scripture and the Magisterium (with special regard to conciliar texts and those of St. John Paul II), shows the central place of this topic in Christian faith. In fact, the entire Catholic creed is a powerful statement reinforcing human dignity. The starting point (protology) is the creatural and ethical dignity of the person, which is shared also by other religions as by the best ethical tradition (Kant). In Christian soteriology we can distinguish a threefold dignity: ontological, ethical and eschatological (Filiation - Holiness - Glory). The paradox revealed by redemption through the Cross is also stressed. The essay offers some synthetic theses, which among other things, define dignity as sacredness and holiness according to which the supreme manifestation of one's own (ethical) dignity consists in protecting and saving the (ontological) dignity of those who apparently cannot claim it. This happens through compassion, mercy and ecological care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to focus on the issue of the glorification of the "Son of Man," which Origen describes in his exegesis of Io 13:31-32. First of all, the paper considers the allegorical meaning of the context, i.e. the exit of Judas (Io 13:31) and the feet washing (Io 13:2-11). Then, the collation of some quotations, particularly Io 13:21 and Io 12:27, suggests to Origen the idea that the "Son of Man" is the Mediator of divinity and humanity - idea which reminds the reader of the Platonic concept of psyché. Moreover, the Origenian idea of the "soul of Christ" is in contradiction with the Gnostic doctrine of the two Christs, which Origen himself mentions in his Commentary on John with regard to Heracleon. After examining Origen's syntactical analysis of Io 13:31-32 and his comparison with Io 1:1-2, the paper insists on the concept of glorification. Because of some quotations from Ancient and New Testament Origen states that not only the glorification is usually associated with the image of the face, but also that the glorification of the face properly means the deification of the intellect. At the end, the paper focuses on the different types of glorification Io 13:31-32 is about, of the Son and of the Father. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article includes a series of considerations regarding the commentary on the verse «with strange beauties» from the Third Song of Flame of Living Fire. It focuses on the use of the word «primor» in the works of St. John of the Cross, as well as in contemporary treatises on beatitude to which the saint had access. This is the point of departure for the double commentary he makes on the verse in question, the first of which is in line with the full commentary to the Song, while the second is extrapolated from contemporary treatises on heaven. This double commentary allows us to compare St. John's eschatology, which is based on an experience of God as revealed in Christ, and the eschatology reflected in other theological treatises of his era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human body is a current and controversial topic which oscillates between cult, exploitation, humiliation of bodies, as well as its rejection, including in the Christian church. The purpose of this article is to analyze, considering Philippians 3.20-21, the importance of the human body, especially for the Christian eschatology. In order to accomplish this, expressions and central terms of the text were analyzed, using internationally renowned scholars. The search result is summarized as follows: the Christian eschatological hope is not an existence without a body, but a new one. This has consequences for the way people deal with their bodies in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, I examine Thomas Aquinas's doctrine of the light of glory (lumen gloriae). I begin by describing the function of the lumen gloriae in Aquinas's account of cognition and his broader teaching, thereby indicating what is at stake in the success of this doctrine (section two); then I attempt to solve two difficult problems that arise from Aquinas's teaching on the light of glory (sections three and four). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two lines of Euripides' Andromache that Philosophia quotes in book 3 of the Consolatio are intended to invoke the Platonic distinction between δóξα and ἐπιστήμη in the discussion of gloria. The theme of the first nine sections of book 3 is the relation of sensible images to intelligible realities, and gloria is associated with δóξα in order to suggest that glory is opinion in the Platonic sense that it is an unstable image of a stable reality, occupying an intermediate position between being and non-being. There are indications that Planudes recognised the allusion and that he attempted to reproduce it in his translation by assimilating these two senses of δóξα, 'glory' and 'opinion.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article - the first Bishop Kevin Dunn Memorial Lecture - I argue that one of the most important resources available for Catholics seeking to understand or teach Trinitarian doctrine is the liturgy of the Mass. I suggest that the text of the liturgy ( novus ordo) offers us three patterns of Trinitarian speech that we should emulate. The first ascribes equal glory to Father, Son and Spirit. The second pattern teaches us that the fundamental story of Christian faith is a Trinitarian one. The creation comes from the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit; salvation is a process of being incorporated into the Son by the Spirit so that we may be led to the Father. This narrative is seen particularly clearly in the new eucharistic prayers of the Roman rite. The third pattern is that of using such theological formulae'as one nature and three persons'. These formulae are used sparingly and in contexts which emphasize that the realities of which they speak remain mysterious - and must be the subject of our worship if our understanding is to grow. In our thought, teaching and prayer we should be attentive to the relative priority that these liturgical patterns suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the concept of the political proposed by Giorgio Agamben in a genealogical study of the concepts of government and glory. To this end, it criticizes Agamben's proposal on two counts: its relevance from the perspective of conceptual history; and its deficiencies in terms of philosophies, such as Hans Blumenberg's, that underline the importance of myths as a source of meaning and an indication of the human determination to survive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Three Approaches to Psychotherapy (TAP) video series introduces students, both undergraduate and graduate, to three major schools of psychotherapy: client-centered therapy, Gestalt therapy, and rationale-motive therapy. A sample of students were asked to watch the TAP video series and were then surveyed on their perceptions of the therapists' practice of psychotherapy and explanation of his theory, and the relationship between the client and therapist, including the therapists interest in and treatment of the client. This article focuses on findings based on Carl Rogers's session with the client, Gloria. Results were consistent in that students were pleased with Rogers's theory, practice, and interaction with Gloria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High mountain zones in the Mediterranean area are considered more vulnerable in comparison to lower altitudes zones. Lefka Ori massif, a global biodiversity hotspot on the island of Crete is part of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) monitoring network. The paper examines species and vegetation changes with respect to climate and altitude over a seven-year period (2001–2008) at a range of spatial scales (10 m Summit Area Section-SAS, 5 m SAS, 1 m2) using the GLORIA protocol in a re-survey of four mountain summits (1664 m–2339 m). The absolute species loss between 2001–2008 was 4, among which were 2 endemics. At the scale of individual summits, the highest changes were recorded at the lower summits with absolute species loss 4 in both cases. Paired t-tests for the total species richness at 1 m2 between 2001–2008, showed no significant differences. No significant differences were found at the individual summit level neither at the 5 m SAS or the 10 m SAS. Time series analysis reveals that soil mean annual temperature is increasing at all summits. Linear regressions with the climatic variables show a positive effect on species richness at the 5 m and 10 m SAS as well as species changes at the 5 m SAS. In particular, June mean temperature has the highest predictive power for species changes at the 5 m SAS. Recorded changes in species richness point more towards fluctuations within a plant community's normal range, although there seem to be more significant diversity changes in higher summits related to aspects. Our work provides additional evidence to assess the effects of climate change on plant diversity in Mediterranean mountains and particularly those of islands which remain understudied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]