Causality as a ‘Veil’: The Ashʿarites,Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240) and Said Nursī (1877–1960)

This article explores the development of the idea of causality as a ‘veil’ within the Islamic tradition. More specifically, it examines how the rejection of the necessary connection between cause and effect in the writings of the Ash?arites led to a highly sophisticated reconstruction of causality in Ibn ?Arabī (1165–1240) and Said Nursī (1877–1960). It also indicates some of the possible bearings of the idea of causality-as-a-veil for the contemporary discussion on the reconciliation of religious and scientific claims on the nature of causality.     

Prophetic models in Islamic and Christian spirituality in the thought of Ibn Arabī and Meister Eckhart

A comparative study of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad in Christianity and Islam reveals common background, basic similarities, and differences. Ibn Arabī (d. 1240) and Meister Eckhart (d. 1327) regard Moses and Jesus not only as prophetic models but also as mystical examples for the Mūsāwī type of saints and ‘Jesus‐like’ (‘īsāwī) saints in both traditions. However, the two experts understandably differ with regard to the divine nature of Jesus. Eckhart considers Christ as the image of God (imago Dei), ‘the Only‐Begotten Son of God’, while Ibn Arabī perceives Jesus as having both a human nature (nāsūt) and a divine nature (lāhūt). Eckhart sees Jesus as the best model, but Ibn Arabī sees the best model as Muhammad. Eckhart regards Jesus as the source of existence, whereas Ibn Arabī perceives Muhammad as the source of the chain of prophecy and sainthood, wihc derives from the Muhammadan reality (aqīqa Muammadiyya).     

‘A Compound Wholly Mortal’: Locke and Newton on the Metaphysics of (Personal) Immortality

In this paper I consider a cluster of positions which depart from the immortalist and dualist anthropologies of Rene Descartes and Henry More. In particular, I argue that John Locke and Isaac Newton are attracted to a monistic mind-body metaphysics, which while resisting neat characterization, occupies a conceptual space distinct from the dualism of the immortalists, on the one hand, and thoroughgoing materialism of Thomas Hobbes, on the other. They propound a sort of property monism: mind and body are distinct, with distinct characteristics and functions, but are, nevertheless, ontologically interdependent. Consciousness – the locus of personhood, and thus, a necessary condition for personal immortality – is an embodied phenomenon; its preservation requires the life and proper functioning of the body. Dying with the dissolution of his body, then, man is a compound wholly mortal. Nevertheless, both Locke and Newton accepted the possibility of personal immortality; with Hobbes, both looked to the Biblical promise of bodily resurrection. For with the re-vitalization of the body – and a subsequent restoration of consciousness and memory – personal identity is preserved, even beyond the grave.     

Two modes of unsaying in the early thirteenth century Islamic lands: theorizing apophasis through Maimonides and Ibn ‘Arabī

This comparative study juxtaposes two celebrated medieval examples of negative speech, apophasis, and theorizes the languages of unsaying in the great medieval thinkers, Maimonides (d.1204) and Ibn ‘Arabī (d.1240). The paper coins a distinction between ‘asymmetrical’ versus ‘symmetrical’ approaches to language as a heuristic to analyze the two philosophical apophatic accounts comparatively. While apophatic thinkers in Neoplatonic traditions generally oscillate between these two poles in their various apophatic moments, the paper argues that Maimonides and Ibn ‘Arabī represented the climax of these two non-linear poles in a visible tension and conversant with each other. I frame philosophical apophasis in the medieval Islamic lands in terms of the problem of God’s transcendence versus imminence. Maimonides celebrates apophasis and claims that negative speech, asymptotically approaching silence, is the only genuine praise to God. As an uncompromising exponent of absolute transcendence, and a severe critic of those who ascribe attributes to God, he privileges apophasis to kataphasis; he presents negative speech as a medium of purification and spiritual progress. Ibn ‘Arabī, on the other hand, is critical of this widespread asymmetry, and defends the gathering together of transcendence and imminence for human perfection. His intricate theory of transcendence and imminence appeals to a dialectical logic, explaining why kataphasis and apophasis are symmetrical in front of the Absolute. The productive tension between two apophatic minds challenges Hegelian habits of reading the history of thought, as well as various scholarly prejudices about medieval intellectual landscapes.     

The impact of implicitly and explicitly primed ingroup–outgroup categorization on the evaluation of others pain: The case of the Jewish–Arab conflict

Despite the automaticity of affective sharing, many studies have documented the role of top-down effects, such as social categorization, on people’s empathic responses. An important question, largely ignored in previous research, concerns empathy to ingroup and outgroup members’ pain in the contexts of ongoing intergroup conflict. In the present study we examined how implicit and explicit ethnic social categorization of others affects empathy to pain in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. To meet this aim, we assessed the evaluation of pain by Jewish and Arab participants who viewed a series of visual stimuli depicting painful and non-painful familiar situations. The stimuli were associated with explicitly or implicitly primed typical names depicting ingroup, neutral outgroup, and adversary outgroup members. Results demonstrate that pain ratings in the explicit priming condition provide support for the ingroup empathy hypothesis, positing that empathy is higher for ingroup than for outgroup members for both Jews and Palestinian Arabs. Conversely, when the targets’ categories are primed implicitly, results revealed difference in empathy by the two ethnic groups where an ingroup bias was detected only for Palestinian Arabs. This suggests that the activation of ingroup bias on the subliminal implicit level among Palestinian Arab participants might be mediated by the amount of conflict permeating in their daily lives and by deeply rooted cultural values and behavioural patterns.     

On the nature and message of the Lotus Sūtra in the light of early Buddhism and Buddhist scholarship (towards the beginnings of Mahāyāna)

The aim of this paper is to compare the contents of the Lotus Sūtra and the style of presentation of its message with the thrust of the Buddha's teachings as they are preserved in the early Buddhist sources, particularly the Sutta Piaka of the Pāli Canon, and also in the Pāli commentarial literature. In the process it attempts to identify in the early sources the precedents of some of the bold statements in the Lotus Sūtra which appear as complete innovations, but may be elaborations of elements contained in Pāli sources in germinal form. Despite the difference in style, language and mythological imagery, the conclusion is that both the Sutta Piaka and the Lotus Sūtra express in their respective manners the true spirit of the Buddhist message. Attention is drawn also to the striking parallels between the Buddhist picture of the multiple universe and modern cosmological theories.     

Relief and rehabilitation of Jewish DPs after the Shoah: the Hachsharot in Italy (1945–48)

In the aftermath of the Second World War, thousands of Jewish DPs reached Italy on their way to Palestine or other countries and received assistance by UNRRA and other organizations. Many joined the hachsharot that were established all over the country between 1945 and 1948. This article analyses the differences between UNRRA and the Joint in providing relief and rehabilitation to the DPs and the role of hachsharot, discussing to what extent they provided better opportunities for rehabilitation compared to DP camps.     

A Serbian Version of Modified and Revised Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (SM–ECR–R)

We present details about the validation of the Serbian version of the Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised questionnaire modified to measure attachment in close relationships in general (SM–ECR–R). Its psychometric features were examined with 2 samples of students (N = 719 and N = 91) and 1 group of employed adults (N = 259). The results obtained in the student sample were equivalent to those obtained in validation studies worldwide, whereas in the more heterogeneous sample of employed adults, internal consistency of both avoidance and anxiety was lower and their intercorrelation was higher. Test–retest reliability was satisfactory, and relations with measures of attachment, empathy, and personality structure were meaningful. The results support the SM–ECR–R as a reliable and valid research instrument, but its internal structure and consistency might vary in different samples, depending on age, education, gender, and culture.     

Jews and Judaism in the rhetoric of popular preachers: The Florentine sermons of Giovanni Dominici (1356–1419) and Bernardino da Siena (1380–1444)

The article deals with the perceptions of Judaism of Savonarola's most important predecessors, the Dominican preacher Giovanni Dominici andthe Franciscan preacher Bernardino da Siena, who were active in fifteenth century Florence. These preachers offer two distinct models of mendicant preaching regarding the Jews: Dominici based his views on theological arguments, while Bernardino focused on contemporary Jewish moneylenders and their destructive dangers. The preachers' opposition to the Jews was grounded in their political ideal of Florentine republic as a purified sacred body where there was no place for polluting outsiders as the Jews.Both preachers succeeded in influencing the fate of the Jews. Dominici might have had a hand in the banishment of Jews from Venice and there is circumstantial and linguistic evidence that he was responsible for the change in Florentine policy against the Jews in the legislation of 1406. Bernardino caused the banishment of Jews from many Italian towns and was responsible for measures taken against them, such as segregation. Both preachers were successful in keeping the Jews out of the city of Florence, although they failed in their attempt to havethe Jews expelled from the Florentine territories. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Luke's Portrayal of the Social Dimension in the Ministry of Jesus and the Apostles (Luke-Acts) According to Isaiah's Message of Social Justice in Chapters 61:1–2 and 58:6

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to explore the manner in which Luke depicts the social aspects of the ministry of Jesus and the apostles in Luke-Acts based on his citations from Isa. 61.1–2 and 58.6. In essence, it demonstrates that Luke's appropriation of Isaiah motifs was not just spiritual but also practical. In doing this, the author appraises the dominant interpretive rubrics with which scholars have discussed the influence of Isaiah on Luke's account, namely, jubilee and second exodus. While acknowledging that these are prominent Isaiah themes in Luke, the author argues for a third—the kingdom of God as the controlling theme in Luke, to which both jubilee and second exodus are subsets. Exodus is necessary for the formation of a new nation or kingdom but it is not in itself the kingdom. Jubilee is the governing principle of the kingdom of God, a theme that runs through Luke-Act.     

Warranted Neo-Confucian belief: Religious pluralism and the affections in the epistemologies of Wang Yangming (1472–1529) and Alvin Plantinga

In this article, I argue that Wang Yangming'sNeo-Confucian religious beliefs can bewarranted, and that the rationality of hisreligious beliefs constitutes a significantdefeater for the rationality of Christianbelief on Alvin Plantinga's theory of warrant. I also question whether the notion of warrantas proper function can adequately account fortheories of religious knowledge in which theaffections play an integral role. Idemonstrate how a consideration of Wang'sepistemology reveals a difficulty forPlantinga's defense of the rationality ofChristian belief and highlights a limitation ofPlantinga's current conception of warrant asproper function.     

Assessing the Quality of the Parent–Child Relationship: Validity and Reliability of the Child–Parent Relationship Test (ChiP-C)

The ChiP-C is a clinically oriented questionnaire for assessing the quality of the child-parent relationship according to the child’s subjective appraisal. The ChiP-C is based on family systems theory and a cumulative vulnerability model. The questionnaire consists of 36 items representing three resource scales, five risk scales, and one additional scale. This article presents the theoretical framework and main psychometric properties of the ChiP-C. A school-based sample of 1,377 youth (ages 10–20; M = 14.4) and a clinic-referred consecutive sample of 197 patients (ages 10–18, M = 14.0) were surveyed. Construct validity was determined by confirmatory factor analyses. The mean of the internal consistencies was 0.79. Systematic correlations between the ChiP-C scales and the German EMBU confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of the ChiP-C. Moreover, all ChiP-C scales were shown to be significantly correlated with psychopathological symptoms as measured by parent and youth questionnaires. The ChiP-C can be considered an economical screening instrument for a reliable and valid assessment of strengths and disturbances of the child-parent relationship according to the child’s subjective appraisal.     

Trends in the creativity literature: An analysis of research in the journal of creative behavior (1967–1989)

Abstract

Many have noted a renewed interest in creativity. However, even with a 40‐year history, little effort has been directed at the study of changes in the field, and no effort has been made to develop a historical perspective of the work being conducted. Which topics have consistently been examined? Which have gone out of favor, and which have shown surges of interest? The present investigation addressed these questions by examining 311 articles, representing a 23‐year span (1967–1989). This span began in 1967 with the founding of the Journal of Creative Behavior. Predictions were based on previous literature reviews and similar studies conducted in other areas of the social sciences. One prediction was that there would be increases in the number of authors per article (women authors in particular) and in the total number of references. Furthermore, empirical articles were expected to be on the rise, as were articles focusing on social and educational issues. The number of articles concerned with personality and related topics were expected to show a decrease. Results generally supported the hypotheses: The number of authors, number of female authors, number of references, and social and educational articles all showed upward trends. However, the number of empirical articles did not increase during the 23‐year period. Overall, the findings suggest that trend‐analytic research is viable and informative. It tells us not only where the field has gone, but also gives hints as to where it may be going.     

Between Literature and Psychology: Konishi Masutaro (1862–1940) in the History of Russo–Japanese Scientific Connections

The aim of this paper is to describe some episodes from the life of Konishi Masutaro (1862–1940), a Japanese scholar and psychologist who obtained his theological and psychological education in Russia and who played a role in the development of psychological science in Russia. Masutaro is mostly known as a translator of Lev (Leo) Tolstoy, and the psychological side of his biography is not well studied. Masutaro's life and work in Russia occurred in the context of great political and cultural changes. He was one of the first authors who translated fragments from Eastern philosophy (works by Laozi and Confucius) into the Russian language. Personal and scientific details of the life of this educated scholar are also given in the present paper.     

A systematic review of research on religion and spirituality in the Journal of Traumatic Stress: 1990–1999

Surveys reveal that religion and spirituality are highly valuable to many people in times of crisis, trauma, and grief. The relationship between coping with trauma and the use of various spiritual beliefs is well established. The importance of clergy in trauma recovery is also well documented. A review of the 469 research and non-research articles published between 1990 and 1999 in the Journal of Traumatic Stress revealed that 8.7% (6/69) of non-research articles, 4.1% (15/366) of quantitative research articles and 2.9% (1/34) of qualitative research articles considered religion or spirituality in their work. Analysis of variance found a significant overall increase in the percentage of articles that mentioned religion/spirituality between the first half (1990–1994) and the second half (1995–1999) of the study period. The results are discussed in the context of the trauma research and in comparison to related disciplines. Recommendations for future research and clinical application are suggested for both traumatologists and religious scholars.     

Development and Validation of the Affect in Play Scale–Brief Rating Version (APS–BR)

The concurrence of psychiatric and MMPI based diagnoses for 78 consecutively admitted patients was examined. The results suggest diagnostic coincidence for only 21 of the admitted patients, with the majority being in the differentiation of psychoneurosis from psychosis. Patient sex and chronological age did not appear to be factors in either form of diagnosis.     

Feudal Economy and Rural Settlement of Oultrejourdain and Their Impact on Muslim Farmers under the Rule of the Crusaders (1099–1189)

The dispersed and fragmented records on the history of Oultrejourdain have contributed to the vagueness of the understanding of the interrelationships between crusaders and settlers, especially those related to economic and settlement matters. Using historical, archaeological and ethnographic records, this study expands on the understanding of the intertwined variables that created the economic and social fabrics in Oultrejourdain for the period from 1099 to 1189. The results of the study show that the military structures in the major cities of Oultrejourdain caused the rural settlements to prosper, though at the same time land management followed a feudal system. In addition, areas with large numbers of crusader and local Eastern Christian settlers witnessed increased political stability and institutional development as well as greater urbanization. These areas also experienced prosperity in agriculture, trade and capital accumulation, even with the presence of underlying religious conflicts with Muslims. It is clear that villagers, farmers, Bedouins and castle garrisons were all closely dependent upon each other. Those who lived and worked inside the forts relied on neighbouring estates for food, supplies and revenues.