Adult Children and Elderly Parents: The Worlds of the New Testament

ABSTRACT

Mental health problems, especially depression and dementia, are common among the elderly. The faith community is well positioned to assist elders with these disorders, but to do so, clergy will need to recognize these disorders and know when to refer. Studies have shown that religious faith allows elders to cope more effectively with mental health problems     

Palestinian Archaeology and the New Testament

A review article on J. Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament, Princeton, 1969 (pp. 273, figs. 296; preface, indices, chronological guides)     

The Politics and Ethics of Introductions to the New Testament

Book reviewed in this essay: Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, (ed.) Teaching Asian America: Diversity and the Problem of Community Ellen T. Charry, By the Renewing of Your Minds: The Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine Lynne Celli Sarasin, Learning Style Perspectives: Impact in the Classroom     

The New Testament gospels as Biblical rewritings

In 1993, in a discussion of fictionality and loyalty to tradition in the Gospel of Matthew, Ulrich Luz pointed out that the writer of Matthew had made substantial changes in the Jesus traditions as taken over from the Gospel of Mark and that in some cases he had even created traditions of his own. The author of Matthew thus consciously engaged in the fabrication of fiction. Nevertheless, according to Luz, throughout his narrative, he clearly expects his readers to accept the referentiality of what is related. This lack of awareness of the differences between fact and fiction places him outside the boundaries of ancient history writing. For parallels to this phenomenon, Luz points to the story of Moses in Deuteronomy and that of the patriarchs in Jubilees. These books, however, are examples of the “rewritten Bible.” This raises the question of whether, with regard to the question of referentiality, the New Testament gospels should be understood on the same presuppositions as the books normally categorized as “rewritten Bible,” and as different steps in a reception history through which the various traditions about Jesus were continually being rewritten and supplemented in accordance with changing theologies and churchly demands.     

Salvation: Its Forms and Dynamics in the New Testament

Abstract : Salvation takes several forms in the New Testament, including earthly‐historical saving acts by the earthly Jesus and eschatological salvation by God's saving work in Christ. The dynamics of salvation can be considered from both anthropocentric and theocentric approaches. In the former salvation is by works, faith, or grace, but issues can be raised about each. In the latter salvation is spoken of as the act of God in Christ (a theopractic approach) or by the act of Christ on God's behalf (a Christopractic approach). Issues arise concerning canonical contexts, whether something happened at the cross effective for humanity and the cosmos, and the scope of redemption.     

Illness theodicies in the New Testament

The New Testament writers advocate or at least mention six different religious explanations for the origin of sickness. First, Satan may thus victimize the innocent. Second, God may send sickness as a punishment for the sufferer's sins. Third, God may send sickness to punish one's parents' sins. Fourth, God may so punish one's own sins committed in a previous life. Fifth, God may inflict illness in order to show his power by subsequent healing. Sixth, God may inflict illness in order to show his power by sustaining the sufferer through the illness instead of healing it.     

Sociological practice: Problems,theory, and methods

Recent developments in sociological practice are reviewed in terms of methodological, theoretical, and paradigmatic responses to the ill-structured or unstructured policy problems confronting private or public organizations. Methodologically, sociological practice is responding with the use of mixed methods or triangulation, in diagnosing policy problems as well as evaluating policy programs. Theoretically, the cognitive mapping of unstructured problems occurs increasingly in terms of multivariate conceptual models, usually in a graphic presentation. At a paradigmatic level, these two trends open the way to a clinical approach in sociological practice. In the clinical paradigm, improving the program is an inherent part of the method. Mark van de Vall is professor of sociology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam and adjunct professor at SUNY/Buffalo. He is president of Research Committee #26: Sociotechnics-Sociological Practice, of the International Sociological Association.