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The present article focuses on analyzing the methodology of one of the most prominent representatives of Islamic feminism, Amina Wadud. The author highlights the close link between the social status of an exegete, his/ her personal experience and the hermeneutic approach, formulated by him/ her. The essential components of the hermeneutic project by Anima Wadud are emphasized as a main theme of research. Combining intratextual and historical approaches is justified as being necessary for meaningful reconstruction of the "Qur'anic ethos". It is also shown that feminist exegesis is only possible if the interpretation of the Qur'an as a "closed" text is replaced by the assertion of it being a complete discourse, "opening" within the logic of readers' questions. The dependence of the exegeses by Amina Wadud on the conceptual body of the project by Fazlur Rahman — namely, on the idea of contextual ij tihad, the theory of "double shift" and the holistic method of interpretation, — was deeply studied during the research. The author accentuates the two primary presuppositions of the American feminist, namely: the image of God as "the One Who does not oppress" and of human being as God's "deputy". In conclusion, the author turns to the main theme of feminist critique of traditional tafsirs — the urge to deconstruct "patriarchy" as a covert system of idolatry and "masculinization" of God.

In this article I analyse the bidding process to host the olympics as a complex set of power relationships between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and candidate cities. My analysis looks at both macro-political conditions and relationships and the micro-motives and psychological predilections of IOC members and the principals of candidate cities. Unlike traditional political studies that largely infer the goals and ambitions of individual members from the IOC's collective interests, my approach considers the psychological basis of these interactions on its own terms. This interpretation loosely follows an interactive model of power and influence developed by Bertram Raven and grounded in political psychology. Importantly, the bidding process for olympic hosting rights provides insights into the omnipresent nature of power and its different forms that operate across macro- and micro-levels of society.

MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER ITS PUBLICATION, FARQUHARSON'S THEORY OF VOTING (1969) IS STILL OFTEN CITED AND SEEMS TO HAVE ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS A CLASSIC VOLUME, ALL, NO DOUBT, BECAUSE OF FARQUHARSON'S REMARKABLE INSIGHT THAT SOPHISTICATED' VOTERS WOULD ACT QUITE DIFFERENTLY FROM 'SINCERE' VOTERS. SINCE STUDENTS ARE STILL STRUGGLING THROUGH FARQUHARSON'S BOOK, IT SEEMS ADVISABLE TO COLLECT IN ONE PLACE ALL OF THE ERRORS, MISLEADING STATEMENTS, AND OTHER ASSORTED PROBLEMS FOUND IN THIS SLENDER TEXT. THIS LIST MAY NOT BE EXHAUSTIVE, BUT IT SHOULD MAKE USE OF THE VOLUME MUCH EASIER. (THE ERRORS NOTED ON THE ERRATA SHEET DISTRIBUTED BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS ARE INCLUDED HERE FOR CONVENIENCE.)

An exegesis of the seminal works of Henry M. Morris, Director of the Institute for Creation Research, clearly reveals that scientific creationism is a religious doctrine. It is a necessary dogma of the conservative evangelical's particular form of Christianity, is premised upon a literal interpretation of the Bible, and has as its purpose the defense of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. [scientific creationism, religion, evolution]

Abstract
In the study of rabbinic legend there is a widely accepted generic distinction between those legends that expand on biblical stories (exegetical narratives) and those that feature the sages of the Mishnah and the Talmud (sage stories). This article questions the absolute nature of this generic distinction by examining the circumstances that shaped the development of a sage story that appears in the midrashic collection Leviticus Rabbah and its parallels. I seek to demonstrate that occasionally stories about the sages emerge from the exegesis of biblical verses. My article demonstrates how a verse from Psalms takes on the shape of a story, which serves to solve a linguistic problem in the verse. This example sheds new light on the relationship between exegetical narratives and sage stories, and suggests that we view them as part of the same broader creative intellectual context.

A review essay on a book by P. Ghosh, A Historian Reads Max Weber. Essays on the Protestant Ethic (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2008).