A Response to Patricia A. Williams' “The Fifth R: Jesus as Evolutionary Psychologist”

Panentheism has recently become a widely accepted and appreciated concept among scholars in the science-theology dialogue, and its theological repercussions have been discussed to great extent. Yet, there remains to be studied in more detail the notion of the philosophical foundations of the term. A prominent gap in our understanding of these foundations is the potential similarity between the metaphysics of Hegel and Whitehead, their understanding of the transcendence and immanence of God, and their respective versions of panentheism. In this article, I present a critical reflection on the possible resemblance between process thought and Hegelian metaphysics and philosophy of God. In the last section I refer to those who use panentheism within the science-theology dialogue. I try to specify which of the two versions of panentheism, that of Hegel or Whitehead, is more popular among those scholars.     

The Sayings of Jesus in Family Guy: A Pastoral Reading of “I Dream of Jesus”

This essay offers a pastoral reading of an episode of the cartoon Family Guy. The episode is titled ??I Dream of Jesus.?? In doing so, I explore six sayings of Jesus in this episode, and I identify nine theological themes that are raised by these sayings. On the basis of this pastoral reading of ??I Dream of Jesus,?? I argue that Family Guy can be used as a source for theological reflection, and I suggest, in closing, that the show might be a practical way for combating biblical and theological illiteracy among youth and young adults. This article also contains a table that can be useful for creating Sunday School or youth group lessons based on this episode. It is worth pointing out that this essay was written for the ??Group for New Directions in Pastoral Theology.?? The ??group?? was formed to celebrate the career of Donald Capps on the occasion of his retirement from Princeton Theological Seminary. The theme for the conference this year was the sayings of Jesus. While the choice of focusing on a contemporary cartoon for such an occasion may seem odd or quirky, the author does so to demonstrate the unique freedom that pastoral theologians enjoy with regard to what Robert Dykstra calls ??the acceptable latitude of inquiry?? in pastoral theology. Another way of putting this is to say that both the Apostle Peter and the animated Peter can serve as resources for theological reflection.     

“The First Man Speaking”: Merleau-Ponty on Expression as the Task of Phenomenology

This article aims to establish an understanding of Merleau-Ponty's view of creative expression, and of its phenomenological function, setting out from the intriguing statement in his essay “Cézanne's Doubt” that the painter (or writer or philosopher) finds himself in the situation of the first human being trying to express herself. Although the importance of primary or creative expression in Merleau-Ponty's philosophy is well known, there is no consensus among commentators with respect to how this notion is to be understood, and of its apparently paradoxical relation to experience in his philosophy. On the one hand, Merleau-Ponty seems to presuppose that there is an original meaning pre-given in experience; on the other hand, expression is described as a hazardous enterprise, because the meaning to be expressed does not exist before expression has succeeded. In order to resolve this tension, I explore the significance of the precariousness of creative expression, arguing that it must be related to its other side: the constituted, all too often petrified meaning that we must start out from.     

Chris: The “crazy” kid as a family hero

A case is discussed of an eleven-year-old schizophrenic male who had made a conscious decision several years earlier to act crazy to keep his parents from fighting and divorcing. A relabeling of his crazy behavior as that of a family hero was a first step in releasing him from marital difficulties and beginning to return him to a normal life.     

“Beyond Frontiers of Traditional Project Management”: The Concept of “Project Management Second Order (PM-2)” as an Approach of Evolutionary Management

Fundamental changes in sciences offer new perspectives for the management of complexity. Increased complexity in society, economics, and technology requires a new and suitable organization and management. What are the consequences and results for project management? That is the theme of this article. First of all it will given a short introduction to project management, which will be later called “traditional project management” or “project management 1st order (PM-1).” Then, the challenges by the fundamental changes in sciences and the increased complexity in society, economics, and technology will be discussed. It will state that traditional project management cannot solve these challenges. The widespread working-themes and results of the research program “Beyond Frontiers of Traditional Project Management” as an answer to these challenges will be presented at a glance. Subsequently, it will discuss some selected results of the research program:

• The principle-definition and foundation of “Evolution of 1st and 2nd Order.”

• The Evolution of 1st Order and the impact on Project Management methods and processes.

• Evolution of 2nd Order and the Grand Evolutionary Systems Theory (GEST) of E. Laszlo as also the impact on Project Management methods and processes.

• Management of crisis: turn a change to advantage or risk-assurance?

Thereafter, the concept of “Project Management Second Order (PM-2)” is presented as a highlighted result of the research program, as a new paradigm in project management, and as an answer to the challenges, described earlier will be explained in detail. Finally, a real example of transfer evolutionary and self-organizational management principles in a real project life will be demonstrated.     

“Plausible insofar as it is intelligible”: Quine on underdetermination

Quine’s thesis of underdetermination is significantly weaker than it has been taken to be in the recent literature, for the following reasons: (i) it does not hold for all theories, but only for some global theories, (ii) it does not require the existence of empirically equivalent yet logically incompatible theories, (iii) it does not rule out the possibility that all perceived rivalry between empirically equivalent theories might be merely apparent and eliminable through translation, (iv) it is not a fundamental thesis within Quine’s philosophy, and (v) it does not carry with it the anti-realistic consequences often associated with the thesis in recent debates. The paper analyzes Quine’s views on the matter and the changes they underwent over the years. A conjecture is put forth about why Quine’s thesis has been so widely misrepresented: Quine’s writings up to 1975 tackled primarily the formulation and justification of the thesis, but afterwards were concerned mostly with the question whether empirically equivalent rivals to the theory we hold are to be considered true also. When this latter discussion is read without bearing in mind Quine’s earlier formulation and justification of the thesis, his thesis seems to have stronger epistemic consequences than it actually does. A careful reading of his later writings shows, however, that the formulation of the thesis remained unchanged after 1975, and that his mature and considered views supported only a very mitigated version of the thesis.     

Is Jesus Still “ACTing Up”?

In this essay, I discuss the continuing relevance of Jesus ACTED UP in three dimensions: the pastoral, the academic, and the self-critical. Framing the essay with personal reflections, I first describe how the book continues to meet the pastoral needs of the LGBTIQ community, especially by channeling our rage in a constructive way. I then describe how the book continues to be relevant to the academic community by speaking truth to power. Finally, I describe how the book continues to speak to the LGBTIQ community by cautioning against a turning inwards of oneself (i.e. incurvatus in se). I conclude the essay with a personal note of gratitude to Bob Shore-Goss for the ways in which he personally embodies these three dimensions in his life and work.     

Commentary on “The Family Crucible”

InThe Family Crucible, a recent book that is highly popular and widely praised among mental health professionals, Napier and Whitaker (1978) describe their treatment of a family. The therapy is well done; their therapeutic approach is certainly one which many family therapists will approve; and the book is well-written and exciting to read. Nevertheless, it seems to us that the widespread approval which the book has received raises many questions about the field of family therapy itself, which it is the purpose of this article to examine.     

Comment on “The Angry Patient”

This article formulates the main problem of the angry patient treated by Dr. Curtis as one of poor ego functioning. This is possibly of neuropsychological origin. Treatment would be training to strengthen ego functions and the patient–therapist relationship would be task oriented. The anger is not dealt with directly except as it interferes with the training. It is predicted that as the ego becomes stronger, the anger will become more controllable. There is some question of whether this patient would be able to cooperate with such a program.     

Scriptural Reasoning as a “Classic”: The Aesthetics of Interreligious Politics

Seeking to find a new way of meeting between Abrahamic traditions, Scriptural Reasoning has established a unique dynamic. This unique dynamic centres on meetings that are based on friendship rather than consensus, wisdom rather than propositional knowledge or binary thinking. Such virtues are not without problems. This article considers one problem: how the results of Scriptural Reasoning, and the insights gleaned from the meetings, can be passed on to the Abrahamic communities and the wider public. Addressing this problematic, the article focuses on the aesthetics of Scriptural Reasoning and its performance. Whereas one method of extending its influence is to widen the practice into the civic sphere and draw more people into the meetings, this article proposes another approach that suggests that the meetings of scholars or “representatives” around their texts constitute a “classic”, which, through vicarious performance can affect the wider public. Further than this, the article outlines a kind of aesthetic politics of religions. Building upon the idea of aesthetic representation proposed in the political sphere by Frank Ankersmit, it is argued that interfaith movements such as Scriptural Reasoning might be presented as a form of political representation.     

The “r” that psychology forgot: Research on writing processes

Development of theory and methodology related to the psychology of reading and mathematical problem solving has far outpaced progress in the realm of the psychology of writing. However, recently published theories may serve to link written language production research with mainstream psychology, and new computer-based methodologies may help to make conducting research in writing more tractable. This paper describes several new initiatives for studying writing within a framework based on recent theories of working memory.     

Guards as Embezzlers: The Consequences of “Nonshareable Problems” in Prison Settings

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pandering activities of pimps and to formulate a critique of the concept of pandering. First, popular perceptions of the phenomenon are described in terms of a case story. Information on preferred recruitment sites (e.g., bus terminals) and standard modes of operation (talk, drugs, and violence) is provided. Next, the results of two exploratory studies are reported. Police perspectives are revealed through a survey of Port Authority police officers. An attempt to generate pandering is carried out by means of participant observation. These studies yield contradictory information, and an attempt to institute a compromise moves the analysis to the question of control, specifically whether prostitutes are victims or volunteers. Upon analysis, the relationships that previously constituted the process of pandering and the activities that usually characterized the pimp's role are reversed. Finally, perspectives on the social construction of the pandering reality are summarized.     

Prism adaptation: The “target-pointing effect” as a function of exposure trials

The amount by which target pointing enhances prism adaptation (the “target-pointing effect”) was examined as a function of exposure trials. Each S served in three conditions—target-pointing, no-target, and control—wearing 20-diopter prism goggles in the first two. The S was measured prior to the exposure period on target-pointing accuracy with normal vision but with no visual feedback regarding his performance. Similar measures were taken after the 5th, 10th, 15th, 25th, 35th, 55th, and 95th exposure trials and after each of two consecutive 5-min postexposure periods in the dark. The two experimental conditions led to sharply rising and negatively accelerated adaptation (“negative aftereffect”) curves, the asymptotes of which differed markedly, in favor of the target-pointing condition. This difference in asymptotes indicates that the target-pointing effect is not limited to the early portion of the exposure period but, instead, is a relatively permanent phenomenon. There was no decline in adaptation during the postexposure period.     

The relevance of being “on the same page” to succeed as a project team: A moderated mediation model

Taking a motivational approach, this study deepens the role of team members’ shared understanding of the work to be done in a project team setting. More specifically, the goal of this study is to test a second stage moderated mediation model in which the mediating role of team members’ proactive behavior in the relationship between perceived shared understanding and team performance is moderated by team adaptability. Based on a multisource and multimethod approach, data were collected from 111 teams of undergraduate and graduate students (521 participants) participating in a project management simulation. Results support the hypothesized moderated mediation model. Indeed, the results indicate that the relationship between perceived shared understanding and team performance is mediated by proactive behavior. The results also show that the relationship between proactive behavior and team performance is moderated by team adaptability. Overall, results reveal that the indirect effect of perceived shared understanding on team performance is moderated by team adaptability, such that this indirect effect is stronger when the level of team adaptability is high. In terms of practical implications, the study highlights the importance of fostering the perception of being “on the same page” in order to motivate members to be proactive and to enhance project team performance.     

The influence of cognitive load on self-presentation: can cognitive busyness help as well as harm social performance?

Extra cognitive loads can hinder challenging self-presentations by usurping needed cognitive resources but also may sometimes improve them by shifting attention away from negative self-preoccupation. In Study 1, extraverts and introverts participated in an interview in which they presented themselves as either extraverted or introverted. Congruent self-presentations, which should be cognitively nondemanding, were unaffected by a cognitive busyness manipulation (rehearsing an 8-digit number). However, incongruent self-presentations were affected by busyness. Busyness decreased the effectiveness of extraverts who tried to appear introverted but increased the effectiveness of introverts who tried to appear extraverted. Study 2 found that introverts, who also tend to be socially anxious, reported less public self-consciousness and fewer negative self-focused thoughts when they were busy than when they were not busy.