德国社会市场经济体制中的基督教伦理

德国社会市场经济使自由竞争的市场与国家适度干预相结合,以促进市场经济、自由竞争,提高效率,同时保证社会公平,矫正市场自由放任竞争带来的弊病,不致贫富差距过大.它是二战后德国各种政治力量、学派及思想相互妥协、达成平衡的产物,内涵着寻求多种价值平衡的经济秩序伦理.这种作为体制伦理的经济秩序伦理,深受基督教伦理的影响,以基督教对人的认识与人的尊严为基础,遵循保证人的自由、独特性及社会秩序的三原则,即人格原则、辅助性原则和团结原则,突出自由与责任、竞争与社会公平这两对价值,并在新的国内与国际情势下,又增加了可持续性原则和公众幸福原则.     

基督教伦理与社会道德建设

编者按:文化繁荣发展的一个重要方面体现在伦理道德的提升上。基督教信仰历来重视伦理实践,基督教要为文化繁荣发展做贡献,值得在伦理上深入挖掘。本刊特邀请学者与同工就此话题展开讨论,希望以此为砖,引出更多的玉来。     

欧洲近现代民主法治型社会治理模式与规范伦理

本文深入分析了欧洲近现代民主法治型社会治理模式与规范伦理的具体成因、基本特征和主要内容,并对二者的内在关联性进行了说明.笔者认为,麦金太尔在重建传统生活共同体基础上恢复古希腊美德伦理的主张只是一种道德乌托邦幻想,我们应当在努力完善民主法治型社会治理模式和规范伦理类型的前提下,继续推进启蒙运动所开创的现代性事业,而不是一味地吁求回归传统.     

心性伦理与宗教社会精神——恩斯特·特洛尔奇的宗教社会学要义

近年来,特洛尔奇研究在欧洲社会理论界复兴,为我们反思自身的文明历史和超越性价值提供了契机。本文旨在呈现特洛尔奇的宗教社会学思想整体图景,将他的思考置于世纪末的德意志帝国历史背景,在他看来,德国乃至欧洲的现代性危机源于基督教价值的瓦解;继而本文分别从现代个体的心性伦理和基督教社会的历史特质两个方面,探讨特洛尔奇对人性与社会的重新奠基以及他所创建的社会学的品格,以此展现其宗教社会学理论的精髓。     

基督教与职场伦理

有人认为：在这个物欲横流的职场里,到处都充满着阴谋与陷阱。如果有人对你好,就代表有人要害你;如果有人巴结你,就代表有人想利用你!并宣称：“人在职场,身不由己!”由此我们可以看到整个社会职场的伦理中,道德是非常脆弱的。     

文化、伦理与中国基督教——从基督教伦理的实践特征谈起

面对当代中国社会、经济发展与变迁中的各种问题,中国基督教必定会有所作为,然而,谈及当代中国伦理建设与中国基督教的内在关系的时候,我们不得不从马克斯·韦伯的"新教伦理"谈起。经常设想,中国基督教何时也能建构成为韦伯所言之"新教伦理",中国基督教的许多问题也许就能够迎刃而解了。     

如何推进儒教伦理与基督教伦理的融合

本文旨在阐明儒教伦理与基督教伦理在中国现代文化语境和社会场景中的确切含义,探讨克服儒教伦理与基督教伦理之间对立特征之有效途径,强调要从重叙传统和社会实践两个层面推动儒教伦理与基督教伦理的融合。     

基督教的教义性、伦理性与社会和谐

基督教既是教义性的信仰,也是伦理性的宗教。教义是其内涵,伦理是其外延,二者的有机结合才构成真正的基督教。基督教的教义性表现是,以信经宣告信仰,以圣经确立并检验教义,以教会活动践行教义。基督教的伦理性在于相信一位伦理的上帝,这位上帝必然要求基督徒重伦理、讲道德,尤其注重爱、圣洁和公义。教义性和伦理性相结合,一定能对构建和谐社会产生积极的作用。     

美德伦理与规则伦理：由对立互竞到协同互补

当代西方规范伦理学在理论形态上表现为美德伦理学与规则伦理学的对立互竞。这种对立局面导源于对立双方理论动机上的共同错误:单极化企图以及对伦理学限度的认知不足。现实道德生活是多样化的,这就决定了伦理学必须采取多元化的基本概念。因此,美德伦理与规则伦理的协同互补将是规范伦理学的未来发展趋势。     

基督教伦理与当代精神重建

本文认为,在发展经济、追求财富的同时,当代亟需精神重建。而作为一种天启的宗教伦理,基督教伦理在呼吁公平公义,唤起良心的过程中应当发挥不可或缺的作用。     

The functional nature of conspiracy beliefs: Examining the underpinnings of belief in the Da Vinci Code conspiracy

Focusing on a contemporary conspiracy theory popularized in the novel The Da Vinci Code (Brown, 2002), we examined the underlying psychological factors and individual differences that may predict belief in conspiracy theories, and assessed such beliefs’ resistance to counterevidence. Our results suggest that belief in the Da Vinci Code conspiracy may be associated with coping with existential threat and death-related anxiety. In addition, the extent to which participants believed in the conspiracy was associated with the endorsement of congruent (New Age spiritual) and competing (Christian religious) beliefs, in opposite directions. Finally, exposure to counterevidence resulted in belief reduction, specifically among more religious participants (i.e. among those endorsing a competing belief system). We suggest that belief in modern conspiracy theories may help individuals attain or maintain a sense of meaning, control, and security.     

The Refusal of Work in Christian Ethics and Theology

Reviewing major accounts in Christian ethics and theology concerning work reveals a set of assumptions that together form the field's current “common sense” regarding this central human activity: work is part of what it fundamentally means to be a human; there is an aspect of work that is intrinsically good, because it reflects God's work; and work that is degrading can be transformed into this intrinsic good. An emerging body of social thought, however, interrogates work from an anti‐work perspective, rejecting capitalism's demand that people be integrated as fully as possible into the profit‐generating modern‐day work structure. After exploring core tenets of the anti‐work perspective, this essay reconsiders the assumptions often made about work in Christian ethics and theology and delineates some contours of anti‐work Christian normative interpretations of work.     

The role of mechanism and covariation information in causal belief updating

The present study is aimed at identifying how prior causal beliefs and covariation information contribute to belief updating when evidence, either compatible or contradictory with those beliefs, is provided. Participants were presented with a cover story with which it was intended to activate or generate a causal belief. Variables related to the prior belief (the type of information, the strength of the cause-effect causal link, and how confident the participant was that the link existed) were assessed. Subsequently, participants were presented with covariational information and were asked to update their beliefs in light of the new evidence. Information reliability, prior belief's causal influence magnitude, and the cause-effect level of contingency portrayed by the new information--but not the type of the prior belief--are shown to directly determine belief updating.     

基督教传统对美国政治、社会的认知及影响

基督教传统从北美大陆殖民地时期开始就一直主导着这一地区的政治倾向和社会发展,在确立了政教分离的建国原则后,这一传统在影响美国政治与社会发展的进程中,也在不断适应着变化的时代。本文以美国历史为主线,分析了不同历史时期基督教传统对政治体制、社会变迁等问题作出的认知与判断,并简述其对美国政治领域和社会领域的影响。     

The logic sense: exploring the role of executive functioning in belief and logic-based judgments

Abstract

The Default Interventionist account suggests that by default, we often generate belief-based responses when reasoning and find it difficult to draw the logical inference. Recent research, however, shows that in some instances belief judgments take longer, are more prone to error and are more affected by cognitive load. One interpretation is that some logical inferences are available automatically and require intervention in order to respond according to beliefs. In two experiments, we investigate the effortful nature of belief judgments and the automaticity of logical inferences by increasing the inhibitory demands of the task. Participants were instructed to judge conclusion validity, believability and either font colour or font style, to increase the number of competing responses. Results showed that conflict more strongly affects judgments of believability than validity and when inhibitory demands are increased, the validity of an argument impacts more on belief judgments. These findings align with the new Parallel Processing model of belief bias.     

Predicting participation in premarital prevention programs: the health belief model and social norms

The development of effective programs to prevent marital dysfunction has been a recent focus for marital researchers, but the effective dissemination of these programs to engaged couples has received relatively little attention. The purpose of this study is to determine which factors predict couples' participation in premarital counseling. Predictive factors were derived from the health prevention literature, with a particular focus on the health belief model (HBM). Couples' beliefs and attitudes about premarital counseling were assessed at least six months before their wedding, and participation was assessed after their wedding. Results indicate that the strongest predictors of couples' participation were couples' perceptions of barriers to counseling and whether they had counseling recommended to them. These variables predicted participation even after controlling for important demographic variables. Recommendations for recruiting engaged couples for premarital counseling are made based on the findings.     

Victim’s innocence, social categorization, and the threat to the belief in a just world

This research studies people’s reactions to the suffering of victims, examining the hypothesis of the belief in a just world (BJW) (Lerner, 1980) according to which the awareness of innocent victims threatens people’s BJW, and extending the scope of BJW theory to intergroup contexts. An implicit measure of the threat to the BJW (Hafer, 2000a) is used in this research. After participants viewed a videotaped film containing the victimization story they performed an emotional modified Stroop task. Study 1 examined the threat to the BJW as function of the innocence of the victim at an interpersonal level of analysis. Results show that only the innocent victim threatens the observer’s BJW. Study 2 examined the threat to the BJW as function of the victim’s group and of the victim’s innocence. Results show that an ingroup victim threatens the participant’s BJW more than a victim belonging to an outgroup.     

The legitimation of wife abuse among women: The impact of belief in a just world and gender identification

Past research has found that when victims are ingroup members, observers’ social identification interacts with general belief in a just world (GBJW) to predict judgments about those victims. In this correlational study (N = 284 women, ages from 18 to 80) we aimed to test whether and how women’s explicit endorsement of BJW, both personal belief in a just world (PBJW) and GBJW, interacts with their identification as women to predict wife abuse legitimization.We predicted and found that the interaction between PBJW and social identification predicted legitimization of wife abuse. Specifically, for highly identified women, PBJW was positively associated with wife abuse legitimization, for less identified women, PBJW was not associated with wife abuse legitimization. This interaction was significant above and beyond other variables associated with this phenomenon: hostile and benevolent sexism, empathy (cognitive and emotional), and social desirability. On the contrary, the interaction between GBJW and social identification was a nonsignificant predictor of legitimization of wife abuse. These results contribute to reconceptualize the role of PBJW and GBJW on judgments about victims and to highlight the importance of considering the victimization situations in the social context and the social groups in which they actually occur.     

The Role of Paternal Age in the Prediction of Offspring Intelligence

Recent evidence suggests that paternal age at birth influences myriad developmental outcomes among children, but few studies have examined the possibility for father's age to influence children's intellectual development among a sample of high-risk families. The authors use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the association between paternal age at birth among 480 male and 449 female children's verbal IQ scores, as assessed with a version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test at 9 years old. The nonlinear association between paternal age and children's verbal intelligence was also examined. Paternal age at birth appears to have a marginally significant nonlinear relationship with male children's verbal IQ scores, despite controlling for a number of possible confounders associated with both young and advanced paternal age.     

A Tale of Two Churches: The Ecclesiologies of The Episcopal Church and the Church of England Compared

This article compares key aspects of the ecclesiologies of The Episcopal Church and the Church of England. First, it examines and contrasts the underlying logic of their structures and the relationships between their constituent parts (General Synod/General Convention, diocese, parish/congregation). Against this background, it then looks at the place of bishops in the ecclesiologies of the two churches (in relation to clergy and parishes, in relation to diocesan synods/conventions and standing committees, and nationally). The American Presiding Bishop's role is contrasted with the traditional roles of primate and metropolitan. Throughout, attention is given to origins and historical development. Reference is also made to the relevant constitutional, canonical and liturgical provisions. Rapprochement between the two ecclesiologies is noted, especially with respect to the role of the laity, but the article argues that this is far from complete. Each church's ecclesiology continues to be determined by its origins; important modifications have been made within that framework, rather than overturning it. It is hoped that the analysis will illuminate the current disputes within The Episcopal Church and the crisis within the Anglican Communion that they have prompted.