ORTHODOXY AND THE CHALLENGE OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM

Traditional Jewish theology and practice are predicated on belief in the divinity of the Torah. Biblical criticism has posed increasingly formidable challenges to this belief in modern times. To the extent that Modern Orthodoxy has addressed the problem, it has generally attempted to refute the findings of scientific scholarship on its own terms. This article will suggest that such an approach represents a misplaced framing of the question, by viewing all religious truth claims cognitively as simple statements of fact. Instead of questioning whether the doctrine of Torah from Heaven is true empirically, its “truth” is established via its function within the context of the “form of life” (in the Wittgensteinian sense) that it engenders.     

SCHOLARSHIP AND THE CRITIQUE OF TRADITION

This review essay of Wolfson’s recent Heidegger and Kabbalah both praises Wolfson for departing from the historicism of his earliest writings on the kabbalistic tradition, and also critiques him for being unable to ground adequately his critique of the kabbalistic tradition’s ethnocentrism. Resolving the tension in this authorial position, stretched between commitment to a particular tradition and the liberalism of much of contemporary academia, entails acknowledging the limitations of scholarship in religious ethics.     

民主的圣经根源

在古希腊,尤其是在古雅典中寻找现代民主的根源已是习以为常。当然,雅典的直接民主与现代的代议制民主之间的差别是要考虑的。同样,对于雅典男性自由公民———且不论奴隶、外乡人和女人———民主参与国家事物的限制也是要关注的。然而,除了这些差别,雅典民主显然体现了公民普遍参与城邦(polis)治理,至少从厄菲阿尔特公元前462年实行改革后到马其顿取得统治地位的大部分时期内是如此。这样,在希腊古代与现代之间就确立了一个基本的关联。尽管承认古希腊民主与其虽然是改头换面的重生显现之间的历史和哲学关联,但我们的论点是,现代民主现象…     

ECOLOGY, BIBLICAL THEOLOGY, AND METHODOLOGY: BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract. Historian Lynn White, Jr.'s theory that the current ecological crisis derives from the biblical creation story still has its adherents. There is no single biblical viewpoint on ecology, nor were the biblical writers addressing twentieth–century problems. Yet the great weight of biblical tradition-including the Genesis creation narrative-represents God as caring actively for all living beings, and humanity as having not only dominion over, but also responsibility for the well–being of other creatures. The Bible gives no support to those who would exploit the earth's resources at the cost of destroying any species of life.     

THE EFFECTS OF NARRATIVE AND EXPOSITORY ORGANIZATIONAL INSTRUCTION ON SIXTH‐GRADE CHILDREN'S COMPREHENSION OF EXPOSITORY AND NARRATIVE PROSE

Fifty‐six sixth‐grade students were randomly assigned to four instructional groups. These groups were defined by crossing two levels of instruction, organizational and traditional, with two levels of text type, expository and narrative. After four days of instruction the members of each group were randomly assigned to the eight testing conditions which were defined by three factors, instruction (organizational, traditional), text type (narrative or expository), organization (intact, scrambled). Students read passages, answered multiple choice questions, and wrote summaries of the passage. Results indicated that the students who received the organizational instruction wrote better summaries than students who received traditional instruction.     

PAUL RICOEUR AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS: NARRATIVE IDENTITY AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY

This article attempts to reconcile the holistically understood and embodied philosophical anthropology indicated by Paul Ricoeur's concept of "narrative identity" with Christian personal eschatology, as realized in the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Narrative identity resonates with spiritual autobiography in the Christian tradition—evinced here by a brief comparison with the confessed self of St Augustine of Hippo—and offers to theology a means of explaining identity in a way which: 1) places care for the other firmly within the construction of one's sense of self; 2) accounts for radical change over time and 3) hints at the possibility of the in-breaking of the infinite into the finite. In this article I will contend that narrative identity provides theology with an exemplary means of framing selfhood which is ultimately congruent with the orthodox Christian belief in the resurrection of the body.     

VALIDITY GENERALIZATION: A REVIEW AND CRITIQUE OF THE CORRELATION MODEL

This paper presents a review and critique of the validity generalization research based on the correlation model. Emphasis was placed on integrating the applied validity generalization studies as well as the computer simulation studies which have tested the accuracy of the various validity generalization procedures in estimating the mean and variance of true validity coefficients. In general, this review indicated that the validity generalization procedures are fairly accurate in estimating the mean and variance of true validities, that the preponderance (e.g., 90%) of corrected validity coefficients for a single predictor-criterion relationship, based on a series of cumulative studies, when placed in distributional form are positive, and that a substantial proportion of observed validity coefficient variation can be attributed to statistical artifacts with sampling error accounting for the majority of the artifactual variance. Moreover, potential problems with validity generalization/meta analysis based on criterion-related validity coefficients were discussed. It was concluded that validity general-ization/meta-analysis is an important development in summarizing cumulative research, however, caution should be exercised in utilizing and interpreting the findings of such analyses. Directions for future research aimed at establishing trait-performance relationships were discussed.     

CHANGING THE PAST: RETROCAUSALITY AND NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION

Abstract: This article is a reply to Jeanne Peijnenburg's argument for retrocausality in “Shaping Your Own Life.” Although it is perfectly possible to make sense of the way Peijnenburg deals with the subject of changing the past, there is no need to think this implies retrocausality.