The diaconate as ecumenical opportunity: historical ecclesiological layers in understanding the diaconate

This article gives an account of the background to the Hanover Report, The Diaconate as Ecumenical Opportunity (1996), and in particular to the West Wickham consultation (1995). Recognising that the diaconate offers new ecumenical perspectives on ordained ministry, the author presents and critiques the Hanover Report for its harmonisation of contradictory positions, especially among Lutherans. The idea of diaconal ministries in the report makes the distinctive diaconate indistinct and gives rise to a mainly functional understanding of ministry. Ecclesiologically historical layers contradicting each other are mixed in such a way that the ecumenically productive eucharistic ecclesiology derived from the Early Church and central to the report's understanding of the diaconate remains at the end rather indistinguishable among the variety of other perspectives conveyed.     

The renewal of the diaconate and the holistic mission of the Church

Research on the diaconate in recent years has provided a stimulus for discussion on possible reform and renewal of the ordained ministry. Whilst some critics see this as arising merely from an attempt at a uniformity which might further the search for unity in the Church, this article argues that there are in fact certain natural reasons for reforming the diaconate. The author focuses on the relationship of mission and diakonia and the renewal of the diaconate with each other. Though the term ‘mission’ is not often used, the article follows the central points of ecumenical missiological discussion, addressing the crucial question, ‘What is the place of diakonia and the diaconate in the holistic mission of the Church?’ There is thence a certain logic in the argument, leading to the conclusions the author finally draws.     

Diakonia and diaconate in the World Council of Churches

Since the World Council of Churches (WCC) was founded in 1948 both diakonia and diaconate have been on the agenda of the organisation. As time has passed the understanding of these concepts has changed, and the theological importance given to them has varied due to external and internal factors. In this article I shall describe this development. My basic hypothesis is that the reflection on diakonia and diaconate has followed two separate tracks, the first considering diakonia as inter-church aid in contexts of human need, while the entry point of the second has been the ecumenical perception of the Church's ministry and within it a possible renewal of the diaconate. It is my hypothesis that these two tracks to a large degree have not been interrelated, but have mainly been isolated from each other. In my opinion this has limited the reflection on both concepts, and consequently both have lost momentum in ecumenical theology.     

Worship as a Revelation. The Past,Present and Future of Catholic Liturgy

Unitatis Redintegratio (UR), the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, was both the outcome and instrument of ecumenical engagement between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and continues to have a formative influence on their dialogue. In the lead-up to the Council, personal contacts between Church of England leaders and the nascent Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity played a significant part in a change of atmosphere towards other Christian traditions at the Vatican. UR notes the ‘special place’ which the Anglican Communion holds in the communion of churches: the 1966 meeting in Rome between Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI would lead to The Malta Report (1968) and the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). The ‘Principles of Dialogue’ set out in UR – avoiding polemical language; integrating spiritual and academic learning; expounding positions clearly, and committed openness – are affirmed in the light of the experience of ARCIC. The Agreed Statements of ARCIC I and II, focused around the motif of koinonia, are assessed in view of the topics for dialogue listed in UR: Christology; Ecclesiology (including the Blessed Virgin Mary); Sacred Scripture; Life in Christ in communion; Teaching on sacraments and ministry; and Christian personal, family, liturgical and social life. The significance of eschatology in relation to unity in Christ is highlighted, both with reference to Anglican difficulties about gender relations and authority, and to the three-fold use of ‘complete’ in UR. What might it mean for ecumenical dialogue, and ecclesial relationships, to work from the future backwards rather than just from the past forwards – i.e. in terms of faith rather than sight?     

The 2014 Agreed Statement on Christology of the Churches of the Anglican Communion and the Oriental Orthodox Churches: a Catholic review

This article discusses the sources of the 2014 Agreed Statement on Christology, which include not only the 433 Formula of Union and the teaching of St Cyril of Alexandria but also some language from the Council of Chalcedon (451), the Second Council of Constantinople (553), and the Third Council of Constantinople (680–681). It also examines the rejection of Eutychianism and Nestorianism, as well as the Anglican Christology represented by Richard Hooker and the firm connection drawn between the hypostatic union and Christ’s work of salvation. The article also presents the text in comparison and contrast with two Christological declarations shared by the Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Pope Shenouda III (1973) and the Assyrian Church of the East (1994).     

The heart of the matter: a proposal for placing the self of the therapist at the center of family therapy research and training

As it faces the transition marked by the death or retirement of most of its first-generation founders, the field of family therapy finds itself still unable to answer the critical question of what it is that makes family therapy work. The two dominant approaches to answering this question, the common-factors perspective and the model-specific factors perspective, remain divided at this juncture by a fundamental difference of emphasis between the two. This article proposes a way of integrating the two perspectives via the hypothesis that therapists achieve maximum effectiveness by committing themselves to a family therapy model of proven efficacy whose underlying worldview closely matches their own personal worldview. The implications of this hypothesis for the training of family therapists are examined.     

The effects of inventory on vowel perception in French and Spanish: an MEG study

Production studies have shown that speakers of languages with larger phoneme inventories expand their acoustic space relative to languages with smaller inventories [Bradlow, A. (1995). A comparative acoustic study of English and Spanish vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97(3), 1916-1924; Jongman, A., Fourakis, M., & Sereno, J. (1989). The acoustic vowel space of Modern Greek and German. Language Speech, 32, 221-248]. In this study, we investigated whether this acoustic expansion in production has a perceptual correlate, that is, whether the perceived distance between pairs of sounds separated by equal acoustic distances varies as a function of inventory size or organization. We used magnetoencephalography, specifically the mismatch field response (MMF), and compared two language groups, French and Spanish, whose vowel inventories differ in size and organization. Our results show that the MMF is sensitive to inventory size but not organization, suggesting that speakers of languages with larger inventories perceive the same sounds as less similar than speakers with smaller inventories.     

Fundamentalism and the masculine body: The case of Jewish Ultra-Orthodox men in Israel

The predominant model in the literature on fundamentalism focuses on the tense relationship between contemporary radical religious movements and their environment. The characteristic violence that has made fundamentalism notorious is conventionally explained in terms of defensive or offensive reactions to the challenge of the modern secular society. In light of recent developments in the fundamentalist world, we propose to employ a novel analytic framework to update and revise the current conceptualization. Our argumentation is based on extensive fieldwork in a particular case of Jewish fundamentalism. We introduce into the agenda of fundamentalism research a category conspicuously absent thus far: the body. Results of ethnographic study of Ultra-Orthodoxy in Israel throw light on the very existence of fundamentalist body, and emphasize its implications for better understanding the fundamentalist predicament. The body poses a major problem to fundamentalists and plays a key role in their typical behavior and particularly in their violence. Discussing fundamentalism in terms of the body allows us to see its militancy as a solution to intra-fundamentalist problems that emerge in advanced stages of the movements' life, on the one hand, and paradoxically as a means towards reconciliation with the movements' environment normally regarded as its enemy, on the other hand. In the case presented here the fundamentalist violence is manifested in various hitherto unexplored ways including an enthusiastic service in the military of the nation-state. Such peculiar violence indicates present-day fundamentalist experimentation in an attempt to establish new possibilities of coming to terms with ever changing social and political reality, while at the same time to pursue revolutionary options of radical religious experience.     

Modeling the Structure of the Attitudes and Belief Scale 2 using CFA and Bifactor Approaches: Toward the Development of an Abbreviated Version

The Attitudes and Belief Scale-2 (ABS-2: DiGiuseppe, Leaf, Exner, & Robin, 1988. The development of a measure of rational/irrational thinking. Paper presented at the World Congress of Behavior Therapy, Edinburg, Scotland.) is a 72-item self-report measure of evaluative rational and irrational beliefs widely used in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy research contexts. However, little psychometric evidence exists regarding the measure's underlying factor structure. Furthermore, given the length of the ABS-2 there is a need for an abbreviated version that can be administered when there are time demands on the researcher, such as in clinical settings. This study sought to examine a series of theoretical models hypothesized to represent the latent structure of the ABS-2 within an alternative models framework using traditional confirmatory factor analysis as well as utilizing a bifactor modeling approach. Furthermore, this study also sought to develop a psychometrically sound abbreviated version of the ABS-2. Three hundred and thirteen (N = 313) active emergency service personnel completed the ABS-2. Results indicated that for each model, the application of bifactor modeling procedures improved model fit statistics, and a novel eight-factor intercorrelated solution was identified as the best fitting model of the ABS-2. However, the observed fit indices failed to satisfy commonly accepted standards. A 24-item abbreviated version was thus constructed and an intercorrelated eight-factor solution yielded satisfactory model fit statistics. Current results support the use of a bifactor modeling approach to determining the factor structure of the ABS-2. Furthermore, results provide empirical support for the psychometric properties of the newly developed abbreviated version.     

Replication and extension of the military family stress model: The after deployment adaptive parenting tools ADAPT4U study

The military family stress (MFS) model conceptualizes that wartime deployments and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are associated with couple, parenting, and child adjustment difficulties. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend the military family stress model by examining the associations among deployment length, PTSD symptoms, marital functioning, parenting practices, and child adjustment in a replication sample of both National Guard and Reserve (NG/R) as well as active-duty service member families. The MFS model is extended to test whether these relationships vary between mothers and fathers. The sample included 208 families enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of a parenting program for military families (94.4% of fathers and 21.6% of mothers were deployed). Replicating the MFS model, we specified parenting, marital quality, and child adjustment as latent variables and conducted multi-group structural equation models. Parenting practices were positively associated with marital quality and child adjustment. PTSD symptoms were negatively associated with marital quality. The indirect effect from PTSD symptoms to parenting practices through marital quality was marginally significant. The indirect effect from marital quality to child adjustment through parenting practices was significant. There were no significant gender differences between the two structural models. This study provides empirical support for the MFS model. Results demonstrate that deployment-related stressors are significantly associated with parent and family functioning. Parenting programs for military families might effectively target similar risk processes among both mothers and fathers.     

正、负性情绪的跨文化心理测量:PANAS维度结构检验

对中国大学生(N=201)和美国大学生(N=321)进行PANAS测评,以检验该量表中、英文版的因素效度。探索性因素分析会聚性地验证了该量表的PA和NA两维度结构具有跨文化一致性,中、英文量表两因子的累积方差贡献率分别为51.31％和44．25％,接近Watson等的研究结果。然而研究结果也显示测项偏差问题,因此中文量表的PA分量表的测项组成不等同于原量表。中、英文量表的PA与NA分量表同样具有较高内在一致性信度,表明其符合心理测量学要求。     

Success in the first phase of the vocational career: The role of cognitive and scholastic abilities,personality factors,and vocational interests

The present study examines the relationship of cognitive and scholastic abilities, vocational interests, and personality traits with vocational success in the first phase of the vocational career. Drawing on large samples of technicians and industrial clerks, the effects of the covariates on satisfaction and dropout intention in the first months of vocational education and training (VET) were examined. Results show that the sets of predictor variables, especially personality traits and vocational interests, had a large proportion of variance in common, but exhibited different patterns of effects. Whereas in the case of personality traits the predictor-outcome relationships were largely invariant across different fields of VET, vocational interests exhibited a non-invariant pattern of effects that was in line with the congruence hypothesis (Holland, 1997). Vocational interests in the dominant domain characterizing the field of VET were the strongest predictors, whereas interests in the non-dominant VET domains were less important for predicting success. Abilities did not turn out to be important predictors of the markers of success under study. The results underscore the crucial role of personality traits and vocational interests in securing success in the first phase of vocational career.     

组织承诺和亲组织的非伦理行为关系:道德认同的调节作用

亲组织的非伦理行为(unethical pro-organizational behaviors,UPB)指员工为了其所属的组织利益而从事有违伦理的行为。研究探讨了组织承诺与UPB的关系,以及道德认同在其间的调节作用。研究发现,组织承诺与内化道德认同、象征化道德认同对UPB的影响存在三元交互的关系;组织承诺对UPB的影响主要体现在低内化道德认同/高象征化道德认同者中。     

The Question of God in an Age of Science: Constructions of Reality and Ultimate Reality in Theology and Science

Both science and theology have lately faced a crisis of authority. Their shared realization of the extent to which knowledge is underdetermined by the data and socially constructed provides a kind of common ground for reconsideration of their respective methods of inquiry as well as of the status of the claims they have warrant to make. Both fields are now consciously and critically employing a models approach. This article proposes criteria for assessing models and applies the criteria to one model from each field. The model of understanding evolution as a struggle for existence is considered from the field of science, and the traditional model for understanding the God-world relation as that of a king's relation to his kingdom is considered from the field of theology. Each of these models is evaluated with respect to its credibility, religious viability, and moral adequacy. In each case an alternative analogy is proposed and argued for.     

干预-应答模式鉴别学习障碍的有效性及其调节因素:20年研究的元分析

本研究采用元分析方法探讨在学习障碍的鉴别中兴起的干预-应答（Response to Intervention,RTI）模式鉴别学习障碍内部亚组的有效性及其调节因素。通过系统检索1996-2015年的文献,获得了34项研究,包括6127名学生的45个样本、261个效应值。元分析结果表明,RTI模式可有效区分学习障碍风险儿童的内部亚组,对干预无应答和有应答的学生在学业成就、认知技能、行为等多方面存在系统、显著和持久的差异,但仍存在个体应答状态的进一步分化。RTI模式对于学习障碍风险儿童内部变异的区分效果受到干预对象、干预层次、干预时间、应答指标选择、测量方法和切分点等因素的影响。本元分析结果不仅为认识RTI模式鉴别学习障碍的有效性提供了进一步证据,更重要的是通过系列调节效应分析,为合理实施RTI模式鉴别学习障碍提供了直接依据。     

“儿童认知发展水平诊断工具”动态测验的初步编制与应用

本研究旨在将“儿童认知发展水平诊断工具” (Inventory of Piaget’s Developmental Task, IPDT)中的守恒与关系领域分测验改编成动态测验, 并应用于不同程度学业成绩儿童当中以探查其认知发展的潜在水平。在实验研究基础上结合以往动态测验的编制技术, 把动态施测过程分为“前测—干预—迁移—后测”4个阶段, 分别确定各阶段的测题并构建了6等级提示系统。在中等学业成绩儿童(n = 33)和低学业成绩儿童(n = 35)中的应用发现, 动态测验测得的能力获得变量对儿童的学业成绩具有重要的预测作用, 证实了所改编测验的有效性; 动态测验情境下中、低学业成绩儿童的潜在认知水平基本相同, 所改编的动态测验有助于发掘儿童的潜在认知发展水平。     

人与自然关系:作为中西文学发展的重要线索

人与自然关系是文学表现的重要母题。透过文学的发展,可以窥视出人类社会在社会实践推动下所走过的历史道路。本文意在通过中西文学发展中人与自然关系的描写,揭示人与自然关系的变化过程,并在历史的视野中审视生态批判的当代意义。     

The secularisation of religious education: humanism,religion and worldview education in the Netherlands in the 1960s

Secularisation is often mentioned as an explanation for changes in worldview education in modern history. Worldview education has become less preoccupied with preaching religious truths and more with developing children’s personal worldviews. However, how secularisation exactly explains these changes is not clear. To get a clearer picture, we analyse developments in the Netherlands in the 1960s and compare these with Britain. Our source material primarily consists of educational, religious and humanist journals. We connect developments in worldview education to secularisation understood in three ways: reduced church attachment, the rise of alternatives to the dominant religion, and the decrease in references to religion in public space. Our findings show that changes in theology, decline in church attendance, professionalisation of academic pedagogy, and the growing popularity of dialogical methods strongly influenced the direction of both religious and humanist forms of worldview education in a similar way.     

耗散结构视野下神经质症发生机理与心理治疗——从森田疗法到新森田疗法的嬗变

神经质症发病机理至今尚无公认的解释。森田疗法是当前公认用于神经质症治疗的有效手段,该理论是一种集东方智慧生活哲学的体现。可以尝试从系统科学耗散结构论的角度出发来初步探讨森田疗法及其进展对于神经质发生机理与治疗存在的合理性与积极意义。