The Role of Justification in Contemporary Theology

Books reviewed:
Mark C. Mattes, The Role of Justification in Contemporary Theology. Reviewed by Richard Bell Nottingham University     

The Role of Decision-Making Models and Reflection in Navigating Ethical Dilemmas

The ACA Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014) mandates counselor competency in using ethical decision-making models (EDMs) and mandates that counselors use an EDM when confronted with making ethical decisions. Additionally, researchers have highlighted the importance of counselors continually evaluating and reflecting when faced with ethical dilemmas and working through a decision-making model. Using a phenomenological research design, the authors examined how counselors address ethical dilemmas, including how reflection and EDMs are incorporated into the decision-making process. Emergent themes from data analysis include (a) incomplete following of EDMs, (b) varied dilemmas, (c) power, and (d) ethics training.     

不同道德评价取向对企业道德决策的预测作用

本研究基于Hunt和Vitell（1986）所提出的市场营销领域的道德通用理论模型,随机选取129名MBA学生为被试,采用Reidenbach和Robin的多维道德量表和情景研究法,旨在考察个体在应对企业决策中的道德问题时,不同道德评价取向对道德决策（整体性道德判断和道德意图阶段）的预测作用。结果表明：1）与对道德判断的单项目测量相比,多维道德量表对道德意图具有高的预测效度;2）道德公平、功利主义和契约主义对整体道德判断具有显著的预测作用;3）道德公平和相对主义对自我和他人道德意图具有显著预测作用。     

The Jewish Social Contract: An Essay in Political Theology – David Novak

Book reviewed:
The Jewish Social Contract: An Essay in Political Theology , David Novak, Princeton University Press 2005 (0-691-12210-5), xxi + 257 pp., hb $39.50     

人工体内授精中亲子关系的认定

随着人工体内授精的技术发展与社会思维方式的变化,不仅颠覆了传统亲子关系的认定规则,同时也挑战了以亲子关系为基石的家庭法制。基于人工体内授精技术可能造成血统事实与法律事实的割裂矛盾,应当坚持保密认定、知情同意、风险自负、子女利益最大化等重要原则。同时,以类型化分析为基础,具体化阐释同质人工授精与异质人工授精在适用规则与利益衡量中的不同之处,以最大程度调适人工体内授精中所涉利害关系人的价值冲突。

     

Contemporary Black Theology: A Review Essay

Books reviewed in this article:
Dwight N. Hopkins, Introducing Black Theology of Liberation
Dwight N. Hopkins, Down, Up, and Over; Slave Religion and Black Theology
Dwight N. Hopkins, Heart and Head: Black Theology–Past, Present, and Future     

Constructing a Jewish Feminist Theology of the Holocaust

The Female Face of God in Auschwitz: A Jewish Feminist Theology of the Holocaust , Melissa Raphael, Routledge 2003 (0-415-23665-7) pp. xii + 228, Pb. £18.99     

Theology and Politics in Contemporary Greece

This article examines the interaction between theology and politics in the case of the “theology of the 1960s,” a theological renewal movement that emerged in Greece in the 1960s, accompanied by the call for a “return to the Fathers.” The first part of the paper seeks to describe the position of the theology of the 1960s toward politics, while the second considered the position of politics after 1974 toward the theology of the 1960s. It concludes that there was a partial instrumentalization of the theology of the 1960s for tactical political ends. This was a missed opportunity leading to politics becoming devoid of all spiritual content, while theology lost its feedback from social experience and its penetration into society. The article concludes by making several suggestions for the tasks that lie ahead, including the need to cultivate a critical history of the political intervention and the social role of Orthodox theology, and to expand the issues that concern Orthodox theology, such as anthropology or cosmology, to embrace questions of the role of the meaning of history and progressive change in human society.     

Beyond Dialogue: The Role of Science Within Theology

Abstract : The purpose of this article is to provide background overview and contemporary context for the theme of this issue of Dialog, the role of science within theology. Over the last fifty years, this role has primarily involved dialogue and the drive to mutual understanding. That discussion has now reached a new stage seeking to move beyond dialogue toward what some are referring to as hypothetical consonance. One of the most serious constructive proposals moving beyond dialogue is Creative Mutual Interaction (CMI), proposed by Robert John Russell. The first five ways he discusses in CMI specifically address the role of science in theological reflection. It is argued that these five ways will assist the reader in contextualing the discussion found in the articles in this issue. Elaboration of each way is given, concluding with a constructive theological example of the heuristic use of scientific concepts found in quantum field theory.     

“Doubly Mother”: Heterologous Artificial Insemination Between Biological and Social Parenthood: A Single Case Study

In heterologous artificial insemination, the donation of gametes (either sperm or eggs) from a third person allows infertile and same-sex couples to become parents. Therefore, the child is genetically related to one parent, while the other parent is referred to as the social mother or father. This current single case study aimed at investigating this double access to parenthood in a lesbian couple who had two children after heterologous artificial insemination. In this couple, both women delivered one of the two children, so that each partner is either biological or social mother. The Clinical Generational Interview was used to assess the quality of family relationships, with a specific focus on three dimensions: the origins of each partner, the constitution of the couple, and the generational passage. Paper and pencil textual analysis was conducted following the principles of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and led to the identification of six dominant themes (and subthemes): (a) relationship with the family of origin; (b) couple relationship; (c) generational passage; (d) heterologous artificial insemination and “double motherhood”; (e) donor/biological father; and (f) children identity and the disclosure of their origin. This study’s findings revealed the importance of using research techniques aimed at in-depth exploration of this phenomenon consistently with the specificities of the new filiation forms. The adoption of a transgenerational perspective allows articulating conception coordinates with the history of the couple and each partner’s origins.