The Judaean Poor and the Fourth Gospel: Timothy J. M. Ling: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 245 pp. $90.00

Abstract

this widespread approach to parable theory is that it maintains a tradition of anti-Jewish readings of parables. To be sure, Snodgrass struggles with this anti-Semitism and tries to avoid it. He makes absolutely clear that he does not want to continue this tradition of reading. To resolve this problem, he proposes to make careful distinctions between the kind of thinking characterized by two representative statements: "God rejected Israel because Israel did not accept Jesus and killed him" and "Even though the religious leaders rejected Israel and were condemned by God" other people in Israel still have the option to hear the message of Jesus and about Jesus and be saved. The consequence of Snodgrass's proposal is Christian mission to the Jews. I am convinced that Snodgrass does not want to draw this consequence for today, but he does not prevent it. For teachers and preachers it could be difficult to work with the proposal that Snodgrass offers without facing the problem that people hear the old pattern and take the religious leaders as typical and representative for Judaism and the Jewish people as a whole. My main critique of this book lies with this very problem: Snodgrass's theory of parables is tied to the anti-Jewish reading tradition.The strength of the book-within its given frame-is the theological intensity of its presentation of Jesus. Snodgrass understands Jesus strongly in relation to the coming kingdom of God. It is "present in Jesus' teaching and work. God's longed-for kingdom has begun." The parable of the two lost sons (Luke 15:11-32) is interpreted as an "invitation for the hearers to take the same attitude toward sinners as the father toward the prodigal."This respectable and helpful book can be used as a guide or a survey of the research of generations of scholars. At the same time, it presents an occasion to continue the way of critiquing and overcoming the Christian anti-Semitism that is so deeply engraved in Christian readings of Jesus' parables.

Coevolutionary Stability of Host-Symbiont Systems with Mixed-mode Transmission

“…We consider that the infected host’s life-history parameters (such as survival rate and fecundity) at a time are determined by the symbiont and the host. Our starting point is the well-known Leslie demography model (Bibian et al 2016; Caswell 2001; Charlesworth 1980); thus, the long-term growth rates of the different populations are given implicitly. We utilize our formerly published Kin Demographic Selection Model (Garay et al 2016) for a single species.…”

A unified framework for evolutionary genetic and physiological theories of aging

“…The pattern of this decline in selection’s strength depends on the populations’ mean vital rates, and the attenuation rate for selection is expected to shape the evolution of aging. Subsequent work has developed the theory by introducing specific population genetic models that elaborate on genetic aspects (e.g., mutation rates, pleiotropy across ages; [ 21 , 26 ]) or on how the number of mutations scale to the vital rates [ 27 ]. However, the central insight that selection should weaken with age remains unchallenged in age-structured populations, and the association between changes in survival and fecundity schedules and changes in individual Darwinian fitness is at the core of the evolutionary genetic theory of aging.…”

“…The emergence and establishment of an evolutionary theory of aging (ETA) long predates the emergence of modern biogerontology [ 18 – 21 ]. The ETA rests on the key tenet that the force of natural selection must decrease with increasing age.…”