Confessions of a Non-Evangelical

Book reviewed:
The Lost Soul of American Protestantism , D.G. Hart, Rowman & Littlefield 2002 (0-7425-0768-8), pp. xxxiv + 197, Hb $37.50/Pb $22.95
That Old-Time Religion in Modern America: Evangelical Protestantism in the Twentieth Century , D.G. Hart, Ivan R. Dee 2002 (1-56663-460-1), pp. 246, Hb $24.95
Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the Age of Billy Graham , D.G. Hart, Baker Academic 2004 (0-8010-2728-4), pp. 224, Hb $21.99     

Reflections and Confessions of a Pedagogue

In light of increasing levels of polarization between liberals and conservatives both in the classroom and in the wider culture, this article uses an introductory seminary course as a springboard for reflection upon pedagogical practices and assumptions to help address this divide. Special attention is given to the work of moral psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, as presented in his book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (2012). Haidt’s work seeks to enhance mutual understanding between persons on both sides of political and religious debates by showing that there are multiple legitimate foundations for making moral judgments. Although he does not frame his argument explicitly in terms of the mind-body problem, he consistently challenges the way western philosophy and psychology have privileged individual reason over the passions, social intuition, and other automatic processes associated with the body. He further challenges this age-old dualism by drawing upon body-related metaphors to make his case against moral monism and a narrow understanding of cognition restricted to conscious reasoning, exclusive of intuition and emotion as additional forms of information processing. Thus, the research of Haidt and other psychologists can contribute some “new directions” to the way we conceive of and teach in relationship to the “old connections” of body/mind and self/other (the theme of the 2012 Conference of the Group for New Directions in Pastoral Theology).     

Confessions of a Whistle-Blower: Lessons Learned

In 1988 I began a report on the accuracy of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases utilizing Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield as a case study (Wakefield & Underwager, 1988). In response, Underwager and Wakefield began a campaign of harassment and intimidation, which included multiple lawsuits; an ethics charge; phony (and secretly taped) phone calls; and ad hominem attacks, including one that I was laundering federal grant monies. The harassment and intimidation failed as the author refused demands to retract. In addition, the lawsuits and ethics charges were dismissed. Lessons learned from the experience are discussed.     

I wish it were true: Confessions of a secret deductivist

The criticisms by S. V. Paunonen and D. N. Jackson (1985, Journal of Research in Personality, 19, 331–342) are examined in detail. Despite the best of intentions, the author remains unconvinced.     

Confessions of a bedside rationer: commentary on Hurst and Danis

Samia Hurst and Marion Danis provide a thoughtful framework for how to judge the morality of bedside rationing decisions. In this commentary, I applaud Hurst and Danis for advancing the level of debate about bedside rationing. But when I attempt to apply the framework to my own clinical practice, I conclude that the framework comes up short.     

The Lutheran Confessions in Korea

Abstract: Although Christianity has been active in Korea for two centuries, the church of the Lutheran confessions was planted only a half century ago, in 1958, by the Lutheran Church‐Missouri Synod. With an ecumenical face, Korean Lutherans provide a dynamic leaven in wider society and the church is growing. Even though other Korean church bodies have engaged in writing new confessional statements, Lutherans are finding the richness of the Lutheran Confessions in the Book of Concord sufficient for self‐understanding and expansion.     

Spinning My Silent Reverie: Confessions of a Compulsive Hair Twister

In this confessional essay of her compulsive hair knotting habit, the author considers the DSM-5's recent classification of body-focused repetitive behaviors as forms of obsessive–compulsive disorder and also Freud's analysis of this kind of tactile, repetitive motion as a symbolic substitute for masturbation. Yet although both Freud and the DSM-5 take seriously the etiology of habits that are otherwise generally overlooked and dismissed, Daum argues that neither explanation addresses the particularity of the specific compulsion. After all, hair twisting, nail biting, nose picking, skin picking, and beard stroking all involve different movements performed on different parts of the body, and as a result, conjure up different symbolic implications. Daum follows the historical thread of her own compulsion back to the archetypal tangles between women, hair, sexuality, spinning, weaving, and storytelling. As she explores these motifs in art, mythology, and folklore, Daum invites the reader to linger on the possibility that dismissing a “fussy habit” may be throwing away the key to one's intimate inner landscape.     

Veridiction and juridiction in Confessions of the Flesh

In an archived draft at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Foucault describes two questions haunting him since 1963: “Why are we obliged to tell the truth about ourselves? Which truth?” Foucault poses these two questions in 1980 in drafts for his lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, and I see in these two questions two argumentative threads that weave through Foucault's changing History of Sexuality series over his last decade. These two threads correspond to the dimorphism Foucault frames in Part III of Confessions of the Flesh between confessing monks and married men, that correlates with the distinction between “veridiction” and “juridiction” as two forms relating subjectivity and sexuality. To help tease out these threads, I make two recommendations for how to read Confessions of the Flesh in this following review essay: (1) situate Confessions of the Flesh in relation to Foucault's History of Sexuality series which spans his last decade from 1974 to 1984 and (2) untangle two major threads of Confessions of the Flesh in Foucault's treatment of Cassian and Augustine, as progenitors of veridiction and juridiction respectively, which together produce the conditions for modern disciplinary subjects.