On the Metaplot of Reading Aloud in the Novels by F. M. Dostoevsky

The article is devoted to the four episodes of reading the passages from Holy Scripture in the F. M. Dostoevsky’s novels. These include The Raising of Lazarus in “Crime and Punishment”, Messages to the Angel of the Laodocian Church in “Demons” and the Marriage at Cana in “The Brothers Karamazov”. There are several shared characteristics of the content and structure in noted episodes. First of all, there are always heroes-who-read and heroes-who-listen. Secondly, while heroes-who-read are usually having a strong faith, heroes-who-listen are facing the crisis of belief. Finally, each passage is meant to be an allegory, by which the readers are trying to point a new way in life for listeners, and motivate them to work on themselves instead of giving them ready answers. In conclusion, all of the above-mentioned episodes could be summarized into a metaplot of reading in the F. M. Dostoevsky’s novels.

Rembrandt, Lievens, Dou

Taking license from Just Kids, Patti Smith’s 2010 memoir of her youthful, intense working friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, this essay examines Rembrandt’s artistic friendships with his colleague Jan Lievens, and his first pupil, Gerrit Dou. The burst of competitive, extreme co-creativity of Rembrandt and Lievens during their Leiden years comes to a head in their rendering of the raising of Lazarus; its strains are evident in Rembrandt’s Oriental heads. The life-long, seemingly more sustained friendship of Rembrandt and Dou is encapsulated in Dog at rest, Dou’s homage to his master as exemplary teacher. These two working relationships point not only to the power of artists serving as each other’s muses, but also to the need for further investigation into the value, and exploitation, of friendships for Rembrandt.

Raising of Lazarus: Rediscovery and Redescription of Apostolepis niceforoi Amaral, 1935 (Serpentes: Dipsadidae: Elapomorphini)

Apostolepis is a speciose Neotropical snake genus, encompassing approximately 40 species, widely distributed at South America. Most species of the genus are known based on small series, which has contributed to a convoluted taxonomic history. In this study, we report the rediscovery of Apostolepis niceforoi, a taxon that remained known from a single specimen since 1935, providing a detailed redescription, with comments on its close congeners, as well as taxonomic misidentifications related to this species.

The Meaning of Resurrection Miracles in Pentecostal Theology

Early Pentecostal literature contains many narratives of miracles of individuals being raised from the dead. While attention has tended to their factual or evidential value, including to some extent in the narratives themselves, this article examines the interpretations given to such miraculous events in Pentecostal theology. Specifically, it finds four major trends in interpretation in the literature: first, the meaning of the resurrection miracle as evidential, as a ‘proof’; second, the miracle as a sign of God’s victorious power over death and/or his mercy for the deceased and his/her family; third, the resurrection as prefigured in earlier miracles, especially Jesus’ raising of Lazarus; and finally, the miraculous return to life as a return to the realm of death, in which it is clear this event is not the final victory.

“You Weakened Him”

This article will explore the manner in which the masculinity of Jesus, played by Joaquin Phoenix, is constructed in Mary Magdalene (2018), considering what sort of impression the viewer is left with of Jesus as a man. Framed around the accusation that Peter makes of Mary towards the end of the film when he says to her, ‘You weakened him [Jesus]’, this paper uses theory from Judith Butler and Raewyn Connell to analyse the way in which Jesus’s masculinity is performed. Focusing on the presentation of his body and voice and how these reflect a conflicted sense of identity—particularly with reference to the raising of Lazarus scene—it is argued that Jesus is presented in conventionally ‘unmanly’ ways, but that this contributes to a broadly positive construction of masculinity, as Jesus’s character is performatively aligned with Mary’s.

The Raising of Lazarus—‘That green silent place where life and death are one.’

‘The Raising of Lazarus’ is explored with the help of Rainer Marie Rilke’s poem of that title. In particular, Franz Wright’s translation enters imaginatively into Jesus’ passionate desire that people should have the faith that does not need the resuscitation of corpses in order to realise the power of God’s spirit uniting his people across the border between life and death.