Suicide and Religion: New Evidence on the Differences Between Protestantism and Catholicism

Suicide has remained a persistent social phenomenon and now accounts for more deaths than motor vehicle accidents. There has been much debate, however, over which religious constructs might best explain the variation in suicide rates. Our empirical analysis reveals that even though theological and social differences between Catholicism and Protestantism have decreased, Catholics are still less likely than Protestants to commit or accept suicide. This difference holds even after we control for such confounding factors as social and religious networks. In addition, although religious networks do mitigate suicides among Protestants, the influence of church attendance is more dominant among Catholics. Our analysis also indicates that alternative concepts such as religious commitment and religiosity strongly reduce suicide acceptance.     

How public theologies can better address fascism,nationalism, and our impatience with God's reign

This article considers the problems of fascism and nationalism today, particularly in the United States, and summarizes definitions of public theology that would be adequate to the current situation. Then three non‐theologians are consulted as resources for public theology: diplomat Madeleine Albright, philosopher Martha Nussbaum, and journalist Chris Hedges. I close with synthetic conclusions, including comment on the necessity of prayer, about the desired character of public theologies today.     

The relationship between religion and thought-action fusion: Use of an in vivo paradigm

Research has demonstrated that higher levels of religiosity are positively correlated with thought-action fusion (TAF), a set of cognitive biases found to be associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms. However, previous studies have exclusively relied on a nomothetic approach to measuring TAF using a single self-report instrument, the thought-action fusion scale. The current study examined the relationship between religiosity and TAF using an in vivo behaviorally-based assessment in which participants thought about and wrote down thoughts of negative events involving loved ones. Forty-three highly religious Protestant Christians were compared to 30 Atheists/Agnostics on their in vivo ratings of anxiety, estimates of likelihood, and moral wrongness related to the negative thoughts. Results indicated that compared to the non-religious participants, those who were highly religious believed that writing and thinking about the negative events was more morally wrong and increased the likelihood of the event. Results are discussed in terms of the potential relationship between certain religious teachings and TAF-related beliefs about the importance, significance, and influence of thoughts.     

"For God and for the Crown": Contemporary Political and Social Attitudes among Orange Order Members in Northern Ireland

The Protestant Orange Order is the largest organization in civil society in Northern Ireland. From 1905 until 2005, the Order was linked to the Ulster Unionist Party, until recently the dominant local political force. However, widespread Unionist disenchantment with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement led to a shift in the votes of Orange Order members, in common with other Protestants, to the anti-Agreement Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which traditionally has had no links to the Order. This article examines the political, religious, and cultural attitudes of Orange Order members that prompted such a switch. It suggests that a combination of cultural and political insecurities over the fate of Protestant-British-Unionism has led to a realignment of Orangeism towards the stronger brand of Protestant and Unionist politics offered by the DUP.     

Parental decision-making: infant engagement with smartphones

Smartphones have become a ubiquitous part of life, and as a result, many children are engaging with smartphones beginning in infancy. Little is known regarding the thought processes used by parents in deciding when and how to allow their infants to engage with smartphones. Using a sample of twelve parents with infants younger than one year, this qualitative study examines parental smartphone use, their perspectives regarding use by their young children, and what sources informed their decision-making about allowing their infants to use a smartphone. Results found that the smartphone has become such a common part of everyday life that choices to use a smartphone around, and with, infants has become one that is nearly automatic. These research data showed that most parents are largely unaware of guidelines for childhood screen time provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization. Given our current knowledge that smartphone use can have a significant impact on the cognitive development of young children, this topic is an important area of future research.     

医学人文运动与知识考古--中国人文医学的战略与策略

后现代理论影响和刺激了医学人文学,医学人文学学科意义与价值更加显明,医学需要人文学,人文学需要医学,医务人员迫切需要人文医学教育。经济发展、高新生命科学技术入驻世俗生活、医学模式转变、医疗改革与价值论哲学影响,这五大因素构成中国医学人文运动的背景;中国医学人文运动正在兴起。研究医学人文学的知识背景对制订人文医学战略与策略有重要意义。     

Contesting Faith,Truth, and Religious Language at the Creation Museum: A Historical-Theological Reflection

Abstract

The Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, attempts to demonstrate the flaws in contemporary science and to offer an alternative explanation of human origins and biological complexity rooted in a specific reading of the biblical narrative. This effort, however, is paradoxically rooted in the worldview of modern science and the Enlightenment. This article will examine the Creation Museum's definitions of faith, truth, and religious language and will compare these definitions to those of mainline Protestant Christianity to uncover the historical and theological presuppositions of Creationist and mainline Protestant engagements with contemporary science.     

The protestant secular in the study of American religion: reappraisal and suggestions

This article provides a theoretical and historiographical overview of secularism in the study of American religion. It focuses on how scholars have used the concept of the ‘Protestant secular’ in works on law, politics, and culture. Although it has been useful, we argue that this concept has lost some of its analytical utility in the effort to explain secularism predominantly in terms of its Protestant nature. In turn, this article looks to literature on secularism globally in order to suggest ways forward. Refocusing on secularism as a strategy of state governance ought to bring precision to both ‘Protestantism’ and ‘the secular,’ as well as shift attention toward state power and the high stakes of classification. An analysis of this strategy requires investigation into how states produce and police the category ‘religion’ and its neighboring concepts – for example, the ‘secular’ and the ‘superstitious’ – in order to render, manage, and colonize various populations.     

Reducing elevator energy use: A comparison of posted feedback and reduced elevator convenience

The effects of two different procedures for reducing elevator energy use were assessed using a multiple-baseline design. In the first procedure, feedback about the amount of energy consumed by the elevators each week was posted on each elevator door. Later, signs advocating the use of stairs to save energy and improve health were posted next to the feedback signs. In the second procedure, the time required to travel between floors was increased by adding a delay to the elevator door closing mechanisms. Results indicated that neither feedback alone nor feedback plus educational signs reduced the amount of energy consumed by the elevators. However, use of the door delay reduced consumption by one-third in all elevators.A second experiment replicated the effect of the door delay on energy consumption and, in addition, demonstrated that the door delay also produced a reduction in the number of persons using the elevator. The second experiment also showed that, following an initial period during which a full delay was in effect, a gradual reduction of the delay interval resulted in continued energy conservation. Reduced convenience as a general strategy for energy conservation is discussed.     

WHITE PROTESTANTS AND BLACK CHRISTIANS: The Absence and Presence of Whiteness in the Face of the Black Manifesto

This essay brings Critical Whiteness Studies into liberationist Christian ethics in order to analyze white Protestant responses to the 1969 Black Manifesto, which demanded reparations from white churches. The essay's primary argument is that the absence of a sense of white moral agency among white Protestants manifested itself in behaviors and rhetoric that ensured whiteness went unacknowledged, which caused Protestant responses to the Manifesto to fail. A related argument is that white behavior and rhetoric were particularly dramatic because of the call for reparations. Reparations assume that race is a material relationship in which there has been a perpetrator and a victim, rendering the acknowledgment of white agency unavoidable. This essay thus analyzes several ways in which whites can be seen turning away from white selves, turning a scrutinizing gaze instead to Black selves and, in the process, absenting white agency from the work of racial justice.     

人文课程建设与医学生人文素质培养

人文课程在医学教育中担负着培养医学生思想品德的重要任务。优秀的医学人才不仅需要较高的专业技术水平,更需要有饱含人文情感的人文素质,否则,就很难适应医学的发展及社会对医学人才的要求。因此,加强人文课程的建设,培养医学生的人文素质,使他们成为高素质的医学人才,是医学教育发展的必然和需要。     

从科学与人文关系看当代医学人文的实践逻辑

讨论医学人文及其实践问题,有必要从科学与人文一般关系上进行思考和认识。古希腊的科学即是人文,近代以来医学科学和技术进步对人文的遮蔽,并不意味着二者的彻底分离,人文始终构成近现代医学的本质属性。医学科学和技术进步并不直接导致医学人文的缺失,缺失的直接因素源于医学的社会实体化进程。医学人文实践形态表现为人文要真正走进临床,其根本是走进并扎根在医者的灵魂深处。医学人文走进临床,是人文与临床两大系统间的相互融合。

     

制约我国医学人文学科发展原因的探究

医学人文学科（medical humanities)是医学中的重要作用已爱到越来越多的关注。但令人遗憾的是,我国医学人文学科的水平离它应当承担的责任还相距甚远,医学人文学科的发展依据是困难重重。今从学术共同体、学科建设和学术规范等方面对我国医学人文学科目前面临的困境进行剖析,并试图为如何走出困境提供几点思路。     

School connection through engagement associated with grade scores and emotions of adolescents: four factors to build engagement in schools

Social Psychology of Education - This study investigated school connectedness, student engagement, academic grades, and student affect. Factor analyses of 331 adolescent students (Years 7, 9, and...     

Take a break! Benefits of sleep and short breaks for daily work engagement

The current study investigates the benefits of a good night’s sleep and short work breaks for employees’ daily work engagement. It is hypothesized that sleep and self-initiated short breaks help restore energetic and self-regulatory resources which, in turn, enable employees to experience high work engagement. A daily diary study was conducted with 107 employees who provided data twice a day (before lunch and at the end of the working day) over 5 workdays (453 days in total). Multilevel regression analyses showed that sleep quality and short breaks were beneficial for employees’ daily work engagement. After nights employees slept better, they indicated higher work engagement during the day. Moreover, taking self-initiated short breaks from work in the afternoon boosted daily work engagement, whereas taking short breaks in the morning failed to predict daily work engagement. Taking short breaks did not compensate for impaired sleep with regard to daily work engagement. Overall, these findings suggest that recovery before and during work can foster employees’ daily work engagement.     

Luther Studies in Germany—The Presence and Absence of Theology

Abstract : German Luther studies are still affected by the constellation of the years after the Second World War. Gerhard Ebeling's interpretation of Luther continues to frame the discourse. At the same time, in both systematic theology and church history, genuine interest in Luther has waned. There are some approaches that promise change. Some contributions in systematic theology have revealed the complex character of Luther's theology. Luther is becoming more contextualized. Most significant is the study of Luther with a view to medieval piety, especially mysticism.     

Christian Engagement with Public Bioethics in Britain: The Case of Human Admixed Embryos

This paper offers an assessment of the prospects for Christianengagement with public bioethical debates in a contemporaryBritish context. One recent example, the debate provoked byproposed legislation for research involving human admixed embryos,is examined briefly. It is argued that this debate has someproblematic features that are characteristic of public ethicaldebates in this context. Next, a proposal is offered as to howsuch bioethical questions may be approached from within a Christiantheological tradition (specifically, a Reformed Protestant tradition).This proposed approach makes use of four "diagnostic questions"to assess whether technological proposals and practices suchas the creation of human admixed embryos can be consistent withthe distinctive Christian narrative of creation, sin, salvationthrough Christ, and promised future hope. The final sectionoffers some reflections on how Christians and churches mightengage, on the basis of this theological approach, with publicethical debates such as the one about admixed embryos.     

Energy psychology and psychotherapy: A study of the use of energy psychology in psychotherapy practice

Aim: The aim of the study was to increase understanding of how energy psychology informs and affects counselling/psychotherapy practice. By undertaking phenomenological interviews with experienced clinicians, the aim was to enrich and expand on the scientific approaches to energy psychology research. Method: This research is based on in‐depth semi‐structured interviews using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Five experienced psychotherapists who are also practitioners of energy psychology were interviewed. Findings: Four main themes emerged from the analysis: energy psychology as a potent intervention that facilitates shifts in emotions, cognitions, behaviours and physiology; the safety of energy psychology techniques; the role of the therapeutic relationship when using energy psychology techniques; and the challenges of integrating energy psychology into the work context, highlighting the need for more complex, systemic models to understand how people experience distress and how change is facilitated. Conclusion: Overall, participants in this study found energy psychology to be a valuable supplement to counselling and psychotherapy. The implications for current practice are discussed.