What and How of North American Lutheran Preaching

Abstract : This article suggests that an emphasis on how to preach, evidenced in the New Homiletic, can assist preachers in struggling with questions of what to preach. The narrative model of “problem”→“solution”→“what now?” has potential homiletical ties to Law (2^nd use)→ Gospel→ Law (3^rd use) theology. Since preaching 3^rd use of the Law can lead to a kind of works righteousness for hearers of such sermons, strategies are offered for dealing with preaching challenge. Preachers can put challenge before their hearers as a noun rather than as a verb; they can preach challenge as identification or questioning rather than as something hearers must do of their own accord.     

Mission in Pentecostal Theology

The purpose of this essay is to seek to discern as accurately as possible some key theological resources and impulses that stand behind global Pentecostal mission, whose tremendous growth has caught the attention of scholars and practitioners alike. After outlining a profile of key factors believed to be behind missionary enthusiasm and discerning the current state of the emerging Pentecostal missiological scholarship, the essay seeks to provide a fairly comprehensive theological analysis of leading motifs. The essay suggests that the following theological themes undergird Pentecostal missiology, namely a keen eschatological expectation, the pursuit of a distinctively Pentecostal “Full Gospel,” the vision of a holistic salvation, and the reliance on the power and energies of the Holy Spirit. Since Pentecostal theological analysis is still in the making, the current writing should be considered as an interim report.     

Lutherans in Need of Self‐Discipline: Japanese Shugyō and the Art of Sanctification

Abstract : Lutherans have a reputation for not attending well to the life of sanctification. Whether or not this is deserved, it is clear that all believers should make greater efforts to live in conformity with the will of God. Distinctly lacking in the Lutheran heritage, however, are disciplines of self‐cultivation. Such methods could play a larger role in the spiritual lives of believers, not for the sake of one's own salvation, but for the benefit of others. With that in mind, this article considers the practice of shugyō in Japanese Buddhism. This concept of self‐cultivation can form a model for how we in the West might seek to attend to our own maturing in the Christian life, attending to a greater stewardship of our bodies and minds.     

Western Theology in Africa: Christian Mission in the Light of the Undermining of Scientific Hegemony

Comprehension of the Old Testament in indigenous African Christianity can draw deeply on, confirm, and uphold tribal traditions designed to prevent death, calamity, and infertility. Deep spirituality demonstrated in such comprehension contrasts with “remnant spirituality” in the West. Western people's awareness of their own religious underpinnings has lapsed. As a result, how well are Western Christians able to engage with holistic African communities? Holistic or integral mission can fall short through being a holistic means of introducing dualism. This article questions the legitimacy of science's intrusion on the Christian faith, and draws practical implications for the Western mission enterprise, such as the fact that it generates dependency.     

Preaching the Word in the Context of Increasing Perplexity and Hopelessness

Abstract :  This article highlights the complexity of preaching the word in the caste-ridden context of India. Preaching in India has been largely individualistic and emphasizes a personal approach to the Christian faith resulting in a church that is passive and ineffective, especially in its approach and response to issues in the social realm. What is needed is a reading of the Word that enables individuals and communities to recognize God active in creative and transformative struggle and thereby enables the participation of the community in the struggle for life in all its fullness. Unfortunately, tensions between the varied roles of the pastor, doctrinal misunderstandings, and a caste-ridden church have hindered pastors from preaching the Word that empowers people to seek their liberation and that of the community.     

The Romanian Pentecostal Agency for Foreign Mission (APME): A Case Study in Cross‐Cultural Mission Originating from Eastern Europe

This paper offers a short analysis of the ecclesiological and missiological context that led to the establishment of the Romanian Pentecostal Agency for Foreign Mission (APME). It states the main steps in the process of the development of the organization in its first decade of existence (2006–2016), during which it became one of the youngest and most dynamic missionary structures in Europe. It describes the process of the birth of APME and the important role the founding team played in the existence of the agency and in articulating the mission, vision, values, and work philosophy. The main section will present the components of APME's work strategy which led to implementing the vision and reaching the objectives: mobilizing the churches, recruiting, training, sending, supporting missionaries, and promoting the ministry. A short section will show the crucial importance of internal and foreign partnerships in the activity of APME. In the final part we will list the main lessons learned in the ten years of APME's existence that can be shared with other mission organizations, as well as the challenges that the organization faces over the next few years.     

The (Old) New Realism: What Holt Has to Offer for Ecological Psychology

As Ecological Psychology pushes into new areas, success will be made easier by a rediscovery its theoretical history, in particular the “New Realism”, lead in part by E. B. Holt. Three New Realists tenants seem particularly relevant: (1) we experience reality, (2) relations are real, and (3) things are what you see when you see those things. Though the two groups differ in terms of their conception of perception, and what can be perceived, their conceptions are related in very insightful ways. Further, the comparison reemphasizes the extent of unique empirical claims ecological psychologists make, and grounds those claims within a larger framework for psychology as a whole. This makes obvious the need for further work on the mathematics of invariants, the physiological mechanisms of information extraction, and the behaviors of perception.

Disclosure of Divorce Plans to Children: What the Children Have to Say

Divorce has become a common experience for children. One part of the process that children of divorcing parents experience is the time when they are informed of their parents' approaching separation or divorce. In this study, 20 adults from eight families who had experienced the divorce of their parents when they were younger were interviewed using a guided interview format. At least two siblings from each family except one was interviewed. Qualitative analyses of data revealed interesting themes around the questions of how the participants were told about the impending separation or divorce, who told them, whether or not siblings were present, how they reacted to the news, and how they would have preferred being told.     

Visioning Family-Centered Care in Genetics: What Parents and Providers Have to Say

The purpose of this multisite exploratory research study involving focus groups of consumers and service providers was to generate stakeholder input for a statewide strategic plan for genetic services in the southwestern region of the United States. This article describes the qualitative methods by which the data were collected and summarizes major themes in participants’ perceptions about genetic services. It also describes processes related to obtaining genetic services and characteristics of an ideal service delivery system for children affected by genetic disorders and the families that care for them. Implications for practice and policy are also reviewed.     

Exploring What Is Encoded in Distributional Word Vectors: A Neurobiologically Motivated Analysis

The pervasive use of distributional semantic models or word embeddings for both cognitive modeling and practical application is because of their remarkable ability to represent the meanings of words. However, relatively little effort has been made to explore what types of information are encoded in distributional word vectors. Knowing the internal knowledge embedded in word vectors is important for cognitive modeling using distributional semantic models. Therefore, in this paper, we attempt to identify the knowledge encoded in word vectors by conducting a computational experiment using Binder et al.'s (2016) featural conceptual representations based on neurobiologically motivated attributes. In an experiment, these conceptual vectors are predicted from text-based word vectors using a neural network and linear transformation, and prediction performance is compared among various types of information. The analysis demonstrates that abstract information is generally predicted more accurately by word vectors than perceptual and spatiotemporal information, and specifically, the prediction accuracy of cognitive and social information is higher. Emotional information is also found to be successfully predicted for abstract words. These results indicate that language can be a major source of knowledge about abstract attributes, and they support the recent view that emphasizes the importance of language for abstract concepts. Furthermore, we show that word vectors can capture some types of perceptual and spatiotemporal information about concrete concepts and some relevant word categories. This suggests that language statistics can encode more perceptual knowledge than often expected.     

Using the Fictions of Ole Rølvaag and Arturo Islas to Reconsider Lutheran Identity in America

Lutheran Christianity needs a cultural medium just as the sacraments need physical elements. Yet, what happens when we become torn between cultural worlds, as immigrant bodies or migrant souls? Classroom wrestling with two novels, Ole Rølvaag's Giants in the Earth about Norwegian‐Americans and Arturo Islas's Migrant Souls about Mexican‐Americans discerns the dramatic tensions of living a hypenated existence.     

Considering Community Psychology Competencies: A Love Letter to Budding Scholar-Activists Who Wonder if They Have What It Takes

Recently, community psychologists have re‐vamped a set of 18 competencies considered important for how we practice community psychology. Three competencies are: (1) ethical, reflexive practice, (2) community inclusion and partnership, and (3) community education, information dissemination, and building public awareness. This paper will outline lessons I—a white working class woman academic—learned about my competency development through my research collaborations, using the lens of affective politics. I describe three lessons, from school‐based research sites (elementary schools serving working class students of color and one elite liberal arts school serving wealthy white students). The first lesson, from an elementary school, concerns ethical, reflective practice. I discuss understanding my affect as a barometer of my ability to conduct research from a place of solidarity. The second lesson, which centers community inclusion and partnership, illustrates how I learned about the importance of “before the beginning” conversations concerning social justice and conflict when working in elementary schools. The third lesson concerns community education, information dissemination, and building public awareness. This lesson, from a college, taught me that I could stand up and speak out against classism in the face of my career trajectory being threatened. With these lessons, I flesh out key aspects of community practice competencies.     

Challenges for Christianity and Barriers to Dialogue in World Religions

Abstract

Mutual respect and understanding between the world's religions has become increasingly necessary in a global society where peace can be tenuous. This article will concentrate on challenges for Christianity in relationship with other world religions. Can interreligious dialogue benefit from what we learn from the dialogue 1 ?1?Ian G. Barbour in his work, Religion in an Age of Science, Gifford lectures, vol. 1 (San Francisco: HarperSanFranscisco, 1990), ch. 1 proposed a fourfold “typology” for relating science and theology, each containing subtypes. One of those types, Barbour called “dialogue”—which is of interest here as the model for shaping the dialogue between world religions. In his revised edition in 1997, he made minor modifications; however, in his When Science Meets Religion, Enemies, Stranger or Partners, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000), Barbour uses the typology as the organizing structure for all his book's chapters, which is instructive for those wanting to do more reading and understand dialogue beyond what is given here. between science and theology? Yes. 2 ?2?Email from Ted Peters, Professor at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), Program Director of the Science and Religion Course Program of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS); Prof, Peters proposed using a relational statement of this type. The science–theology dialogue is part of the ongoing effort to bridge 3 ?3?Ted Peters and Gaymon Bennett, eds., Bridging Science and Religion (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), Foreword (Robert John Russell), ix–xii; Introduction (Gaymon Bennett), 14. the intellectual divide between the discoveries of natural science that have made our lives in the material world better, and interpretations and understandings in the various faith traditions that have given meaning and value to our living in the material world.     

Listening to God: Using Meta–Terminology to DescribeRevelation in a Comparative Theistic Context1

Abstract : Starting from the assertion that comparative theology is inherently dialogical in nature, this paper examines the use of non‐confessional meta‐terminology and its application in interfaith dialogue. In so doing, it examines potential meta‐terms for describing revelation as related in the Bhagavad‐Gita, the Qur’an, and the Gospel of John, and concludes that non‐confessional terms aid in the dismissal of normative viewpoints, leading to greater appreciation of commonality and meaning in the truth claims of other faiths and dialogue partners.     

Pondering “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today's World”: A Protestant Missiological Reflection

The article explores “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today's World” (MOCT), one of the six official documents issued by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church that took place on the island of Crete in 2016. It is the first official Orthodox statement on mission ever published. The aim of the present article is to offer a reflection of MOCT from a Protestant missiological perspective. The article argues that MOCT interprets mission as the service of the church to the world, motivated by love. It goes on to discuss six major thematic areas of the statement, namely, the dignity of the human person; freedom and responsibility; peace and justice; peace and the aversion of war; the attitude of the church toward discrimination; and the mission of the Orthodox Church as a witness of love through service. The article seeks to provide a constructive critique of MOCT, assessing both its weaknesses and its assets. It concludes by saying that despite certain theological question marks, the new Orthodox mission document represents an invaluable contribution to the ecumenical discussion on mission and evangelism.     

Two-year-olds can begin to acquire verb meanings in socially impoverished contexts

By two years of age, toddlers are adept at recruiting social, observational, and linguistic cues to discover the meanings of words. Here, we ask how they fare in impoverished contexts in which linguistic cues are provided, but no social or visual information is available. Novel verbs are presented in a stream of syntactically informative sentences, but the sentences are not embedded in a social context, and no visual access to the verb’s referent is provided until the test phase. The results provide insight into how toddlers may benefit from overhearing contexts in which they are not directly attending to the ambient speech, and in which no conversational context, visual referent, or child-directed conversation is available.     

A Principled Approach to Feature Selection in Models of Sentence Processing

Among theories of human language comprehension, cue-based memory retrieval has proven to be a useful framework for understanding when and how processing difficulty arises in the resolution of long-distance dependencies. Most previous work in this area has assumed that very general retrieval cues like [+subject] or [+singular] do the work of identifying (and sometimes misidentifying) a retrieval target in order to establish a dependency between words. However, recent work suggests that general, handpicked retrieval cues like these may not be enough to explain illusions of plausibility (Cunnings & Sturt, 2018), which can arise in sentences like The letter next to the porcelain plate shattered. Capturing such retrieval interference effects requires lexically specific features and retrieval cues, but handpicking the features is hard to do in a principled way and greatly increases modeler degrees of freedom. To remedy this, we use well-established word embedding methods for creating distributed lexical feature representations that encode information relevant for retrieval using distributed retrieval cue vectors. We show that the similarity between the feature and cue vectors (a measure of plausibility) predicts total reading times in Cunnings and Sturt’s eye-tracking data. The features can easily be plugged into existing parsing models (including cue-based retrieval and self-organized parsing), putting very different models on more equal footing and facilitating future quantitative comparisons.     

Fine-grained sensitivity to statistical information in adult word learning

A language learner trying to acquire a new word must often sift through many potential relations between particular words and their possible meanings. In principle, statistical information about the distribution of those mappings could serve as one important source of data, but little is known about whether learners can in fact track multiple word-referent mappings, and, if they do, the precision with which they can represent those statistics. To test this, two experiments contrasted a pair of possibilities: that learners encode the fine-grained statistics of mappings in the input - both high- and low-frequency mappings - or, alternatively, that only high frequency mappings are represented. Participants were briefly trained on novel word-novel object pairs combined with varying frequencies: some objects were paired with one word, other objects with multiple words with differing frequencies (ranging from 10% to 80%). Results showed that participants were exquisitely sensitive to very small statistical differences in mappings. The second experiment showed that word learners' representation of low frequency mappings is modulated as a function of the variability in the environment. Implications for Mutual Exclusivity and Bayesian accounts of word learning are discussed.