Mekhrav Numag by the Israeli Ruth Kanner Theatre Group was created in response to the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October 2023. This documentary theatre piece compiles diverse verbal reactions to the horrendous event and the subsequent war in Gaza. The work’s postdramatic kaleidoscopic texture and dramaturgy of excess emphasize the complexity of experiences following the attack, resisting confinement to a single voice or a unified perspective.

We report on an experience with impostor research participants, people who misrepresent themselves, and identify characteristics that can be used by investigators to screen out such participants. We compare the responses of impostor and valid participants, showing that impostors meaningfully change qualitative study findings with implications for policy interventions or follow-on research informed by the study. It is important for investigators to be alert to the potential for impostor participants and plan their research accordingly.

Science and technology are not enough in addressing the climate emergency. In his critique of Western Christianity, Lynn White challenged to rethink our religion. Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ underlined the importance of ecological education in ecological conversion. I propose that a change in the way we read, interpret, and teach biblical, religious, and other authoritative texts will help us in meaning-making amid the planetary crisis. In this contribution, I will first examine the interrelation of climate change, psychospiritual health, and meaning-making through the Scriptures. Second, I will succinctly present some simple methodological advances in ecological biblical hermeneutics that can facilitate generating new ideas on the interrelationships between and among the divine, the humans, and the nonhuman/beyond-human creation in biblical and other texts. Finally, I will apply these methodologies on Romans 8:18-30 as a test case for alternative ecological insights and their practical implications as we navigate this post-COVID-19 world.

In a series of articles published between 1982 and 1993, Margareta Steinby put forward the hypothesis that brick stamps produced in Rome, especially those dating from Hadrian to Septimius Severus, constituted an abbreviated form of a locatio conductio, or contract for letting and hiring. According to Steinby, the hypothesis could also be used to explain the productive cycles represented by the stamps of other types of instrumenta domestica. This study builds on Steinby’s thesis to analyze Dressel 20 amphora stamps and the organization of Baetican figlinae. It explores oil amphora production in southern Spain through legal frameworks, focusing on lease and hire contracts. Case studies of public and private facilities demonstrate diverse production models. The analysis shows Steinby’s theory is broadly applicable, highlighting Roman law’s flexibility in shaping various industries beyond amphora manufacturing.