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The question of time and history (as the order of events through time), took on tremendous urgency in Bonaventure's day. Bonaventure found himself enmeshed in debates about time and history both in the university and in the Franciscan order. Bonaventure believed that creation necessarily involves having a beginning in time, i.e., having being at some point after not having being. Time is thus necessarily lineal, not cyclical. So as Bonaventure considers the question in the light of philosophy he concludes that creation has a beginning in time, and in the light of scripture he concludes that it will have an end.

Chapter two scours the New Testament and other Christian literature, of roughly the same era, for passages in which there is a discussion of the possibility of salvation after death. Luke's parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31) appears to cut off the possibility, while several comments in Paul and 1 Peter seem to indicate that there might be hope for salvation beyond the grave. Statements in Paul's letters have been interpreted to justify vicarious baptism for the dead (practiced by later Marcionites), and universal salvation. The chapter ends with a discussion of two key texts that envision a scene of the final judgment in which the Christian saints are given the opportunity to rescue selected sinners from hell: the Apocalypse of Peter and the Sibylline Oracles.

In spite of how Wotan’s judgments have apparently developed over the long course of events in the drama, these are still surpassed by other developments. His final judgments are, in a way, not in line with his exploration of possibilities as he still considers the notion that an order is required in establishing the significance and meaning of life. Through examining Wotan’s character, this chapter draws two different kinds of authority: cognitive or epistemic knowledge-based authority which accounts for what a character knows and is allowed to know and directive or action-related and power-based authority wherein the character’s beliefs are embodied in his actions and ability to make things happen. This chapter explores Wotan’s source of directive authority and how he is able to impose changes and affect events with it.

The New Testament letters known as 1, 2, and 3 John rank among the shortest and most obscure of all the books in the Bible. Their conviction that the end of the world was near and that Christians must fend off the feared Antichrist soon earned them an authoritative place in Christian thought. The author was alert to the anxieties aroused by the expectation that Christ would return at any moment to pronounce this final judgment. It was imperative that someone define Christian faith clearly so that believers might be careful not to stray accidentally into heresy and thereby cost themselves eternal salvation. In particular, these letters condemn the beliefs and spirituality espoused by a relatively affluent group of Christians who were accused of being false prophets empowered by “the spirit of the antichrist.” This chapter traces how the symbol of Antichrist emerged as central to this apocalyptic tradition and how it was elaborated upon from the earliest days of Christianity through the Middle Ages.

This chapter begins with a discussion of the focus of the book, which is to assess the extent to which states participating in ICJ proceedings have respected their obligation to comply with the decisions of the Court and the lessons that can be drawn for the future. It then discusses final judgments, interim measures of protection, interlocutory decisions other than provisional measures, and advisory opinions.

The widely publicized predictions of William Miller increased the millennial expectation. It was, to take the title of a millennialist newspaper, one of the Signs of the Times. Miller's preaching fell on fertile soil and released energies that mushroomed out of control. For George Beecher, who veered between strenuous attempts at spiritual perfection and plunges into fits of depression, it was to prove too much to bear. The difficult path he trod was both example and warning to his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was drawn into the vortex of perfectionist striving. Miller's predictions were publicized widely in the Boston area while Harriet Beecher Stowe was in the East arranging for the publication of The Mayflower. Harriet had written letters of religious import before, but never one of such personal intensity. The pieces Harriet wrote for the New-York Evangelist during this period reveal her preoccupation with perfection and final judgment.

Does Spenser’s Mutabilitie Songcomplete his epic,or point to a more transcendent scope in its final half?It derogates the pagan gods; itreforms the titan Mutability (unlike the discarded demon-titans in books 1-6); and its grand pastoral pageantfalls short of the symbolic city toward which the poem moves. Spenser’s holistic design is more clearly implied in his ordering of deadly sins (FQ 1.4). Compared with Dante’s pattern of sins, of purgations, and of ascensions in the Commedia, it offers a vital clue to The Faerie Queene’s format–based on the Christian-Platonismthat informs all its figures and sequences. Much evidence suggests Elizabeth I would admire a mystic structuring of this epic that so honors her. As for Shakespeare’s attentiveness to last things, we explore the theme of ‘summoning’ in Hamlet and King Lear, both concerned–as in The Summoning of Everyman–with ‘readiness’ and ’ripeness’ in the face of death and judgment. In The Tempest’s deft collocation of all social levels and artistic genres, and its odd convergence with Spenserian allegory, we debate the insistence on Shakespeare’s secularism by examining the range of meaning in Prospero’s ‘Art’.

In privacy cases lawyers often need to advise at speed on a number of practical and procedural issues. Claimants and defendants will need advice on whether to pursue regulatory or legal routes; if the latter, who can and should sue or be sued; in which court or courts; what causes of action can be relied on; what interim orders to seek and how; and a host of other issues. This chapter identifies and offers practical guidance on some important procedural issues in these areas. It seeks to provide, or show where in this work to find, answers to these simple questions: who, where, what, and how? The chapter does not set out to cover the entire procedural process, but focuses instead on issues most likely to be of interest in relation to privacy claims.