RALPH WENDELL BURHOE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract. Ralph Burhoe has sought to preserve “traditional religious wisdom,” but he emphasizes science as a new revelation. His relation to philosophical positivism and his insistence on including in a scientific theology only views that reflect the scientific worldview constitute major philosophical and theological problems. This essay considers the influence of several historical precursors—Francis Ellingwood Abbot, George Burman Foster, and Shailer Mathews of the “Chicago School” of theology, Douglas Clyde Macintosh, and, especially, Henry Nelson Wieman—which has contributed to a favorable reception of Burhoe's ideas. Social problems such as the youth revolution of the 1960s and indifference to the lack of intellectual credibility of religious beliefs have, however, hindered reception of his ideas. The conclusion notes some tasks that must yet be accomplished in order to continue Burhoe's work, particularly that of increasing the general level of education in the sciences.     

EVOLUTION IN THERMODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE: A HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ANGLE

Abstract. The recently suggested reformulation of Darwinian evolutionary theory, based on the thermodynamics of self-organizing processes, has strong philosophical implications. My claim is that the main philosophical merit of the thermodynamic approach, made especially clear in J.S. Wicken's work, is its insistence on the law-governed, continuous nature of evolution. I attempt to substantiate this claim following a historical analysis of beginning-of-the-century ideas on evolution and matter-life relationship, in particular, the fitness-of-the-environment-for-life theory of the Harvard physiologist L.J. Henderson. In addition, I point to an epistemological common ground underlying the studies of the “thermodynamics school” and other currently active research groups focusing on the emergence and evolution of biological organization.     

ROGER HAIGHT'S MEDIATING CHRISTOLOGY

Roger Haight's Christology is an instance of distinctively modern Vermittlungstheologie, to be distinguished from biblical or traditional versions of mediation because it employs an apologetic method to restore putatively lost Christological immediacies. In so far as such a theology seek to communicate (mediate) Christian doctrine “in a language of commonly shared principles”, it cannot do justice to Jesus Christ's singularity—although the best way to further criticize any mediating Christology would be by developing an alternative neither traditionalist, modernist, or mediating.     

PLACING PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME IN PERSPECTIVE

In a longitudinal prospective study, mood fluctuations were assessed for evidence of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) as well as other menstrual, day of week, and lunar cyclicity. Volunteer participants from the community (60 women and 10 men) provided daily data for 12 to 18 weeks. Significant mood fluctuation was determined by a new nonparametric method using each individual's own standard deviation as a measure of marked change. Cyclicity was the norm; two thirds of both the women and men had one or more menstrual or lunar phases or days of the week that were markedly positive and/or negative, relative to their own range, but few experienced stereotypical cyclicity (PMS, Monday blues, full moon). About half the women whose prospective data met conservative criteria for PMS, met liberal criteria, or met neither criteria said they had PMS, and half in each group said they did not.