The article focuses on Jamblichus’ concept of “nothingness” in comparison to Augustine’s humility as turning-point and conditions for the soul’s ascent to the divine and/or for salvation. It claims that both authors respond to specific teachings of Porphyry, who thus appears as something like a common enemy, and can help explain certain similarities between the Hellenic theurgist and the Catholic bishop, notwithstanding other profound differences between their philosophical views on the human person and its relation to the divine.

Many of the Swiss Cantons have regulated the relations between church and state by establishing, in their public law, corporations at the levels of the municipality and of the canton. The role and the rights of these corporations, especially obligatory membership in them, is the object of ongoing political and legal debate. Both on the side of the courts and of the church, the present system has come under scrutiny, while the corporation representatives and also a majority of the population (...) seem intent on maintaining it. This paper explains and examines the presently valid church-state relations, focusing on the Canton of Zurich, and looks at the suggestions for reform elaborated by an experts’ commission instituted by the Conference of Swiss Bishops. In conclusion, it presents some more general reflections on the challenges to individual and corporative religious freedom today, in Switzerland and beyond. (shrink)

Der Artikel untersucht den langen Exkurs über Weissagung/divinatio in Ammianus' Res Gestae, vor seinem historischen und philosophischen Hintergrund in Zusammenhang mit der Politik des Kaisers Julian (Apostata). Gilt divinatio als historische Kausalität oder dient sie der literarischen Gestaltung? Was sagt der Exkurs über Ammianus' Arbeit als Historiker und über seine Weltanschauung?