Psychological experiences of Korean missionary “kids” (MKs): a qualitative inquiry

The present study is a qualitative investigation of the psychological experiences of children of Korean missionaries, through the eyes of Korean missionary kids (MKs) and missionary workers. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 MKs and MK workers, and data were analysed using the Consensual Qualitative Research method. Several domains emerged: challenges associated with the MK experience, resiliency of MKs, intrapersonal and interpersonal coping skills, mental health concerns, religion and spirituality, a complex cultural identity, preparation for college transition, and hopes for MKs and their missionary parents. Categories corresponding to the domains are highlighted. The present study addresses a need for more attention paid to the non-American MK experience, and it presents some implications for the church and higher educational institutions.     

The Tianzhu Shilu Revisited: China’s First Window into Western Scholasticism

On 29 September 1584, the first Catholic catechism was printed in China under the title The True Record of the Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu Shilu 天主實錄). Written primarily by the Jesuit missionary Michele Ruggieri (1543–1607) with the assistance of at least two other Jesuits and Chinese interpreters, the catechism inaugurated the rich cultural exchange between China and Europe for which the Jesuit China mission would be renown. Despite the pioneering role of this catechism, it has been viewed for the most part by posterity as a pale forerunner of the later catechism by Ruggieri’s confrère, Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu Shiyi 天主實義). This article attempts to skirt the anachronistic comparison with Ricci’s Tianzhu Shiyi by proposing the Tianzhu Shilu as an autonomous text expressive of a cogent strategy for tailoring Western scholasticism to the contingencies of the Chinese cultural context.     

State and Society in the Political Thought of the Moscow Slavophiles

Leading members of the Slavophile circle shared a commonWeltanschauung, fostered by a complex reaction to thesocial and political changes taking place in mid-nineteenth-centuryRussia. There was, however, considerable diversity in their views aboutthe character and value of the Russian state apparatus. While theyall criticised the bureaucratic ethos of the tsarist state,a number of them recognised that it played a critical role in stabilising deep-seated social tensions in Russian society. Inthe late 1850s, some members of the Slavophile circle also cameto recognise that the state apparatus could play a positiverole in eliminating serfdom. Nevertheless, in the wake ofthe Emancipation Edict of 1861, conflict over the roleof the Russian state became the most divisive issuefor surviving members of the Slavophile circle.     

Increasing Quality of Life as the Goal for Development of Latvia

Raising the quality of life for each individual has been approved by Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia as the basic goal for development of the country. Several valuable factors – welfare, security, sustainability – forms human's quality of life in the broader sense of this concept. As a multi-dimensional issue quality of life in Latvia's case depends on a series of closely linked both internal and external domains. Approved growth model for Latvia defines that the main resource to achieve increasing quality of life is the collective knowledge and wisdom of Latvia's inhabitants, and the ability of each individual to make use of this resource. General inclusion of all residents of the country becomes a principal precondition for improvement of the quality of life. In achieving our goal we must make use of coordinated and balanced development of each domain of quality of life, taking into account the unity of activities and following the boundary spanning principle. Practical activities have been started to implement the model.     

传教士对中国近代医学的贡献

传教士在中国近代的医疗活动促进了西医的传播和发展,培养了医学人才;借鉴了国外管理体制,提供了医学教育模式;发扬了医生职业道德,解除了人民疾苦;建立了乡村医疗网,揭开了中国近代公共卫生事业的序幕。     

Render Unto Caesar: Pastoral Care and the American Empire

This article addresses the relation between the American Empire and the intriguing contradictions and problems that arise for pastoral ministers who live in and are citizens of the empire. Sources and characteristics of the American Empire are described, which serves as a foundation for identifying four key features of an empire psyche. The attributes of the empire psyche, which are yoked to pastoral identity and practice, contradict central Christian claims. Given the reality of the American Empire and an empire psyche, I identify and describe some pastoral struggles and possible responses.

明清之际在华耶稣会士之《易》说

近代之前易学的某些内容就已传入西方世界,例如数学化的洛书图式即是其例。西方人真正对《易经》展开研究是在近代时期,开创者是明清之际来华的耶稣会士。随着《易经》的译介,易学作为西方汉学最初的课题确立起来,迄今已逾四百年历史。本文是对以利玛窦、白晋为代表的耶稣会士之《易》说而作的初步梳理。这种梳理带有哲学分析的性质,显示耶稣会士围绕太极之辨而突出的宗教性的哲学立场。耶稣会士一般推崇早期儒学及中国哲学原典,对理学和宋易则颇有批评,这就使他们卷入当时中西学界的复杂的学术纷争。对这场持续近二百年的学术论辩仍有待展开更为系统而深入的研究。     

Close Encounters With the Midwest: Forming Identity in a Bicultural Context

This study uses semi-structured interviews to examine how 16 people of Latvian heritage negotiated their cultural identities in high school (retrospectively) and at midlife (concurrently). Participants' high school and midlife cultural identity patterns were coded as marginalized, separated, assimilated, alternating integrated, or blended integrated. Although eleven participants were found to have had marginalized, separated, or alternating integrated patterns in high school, all 16 had either assimilated or blended integrated patterns at midlife. Further, there is evidence that the contexts in which identity negotiation occurred—specifically, the rigidity of the participants' Latvian and American contexts in high school and their relative openness at midlife—influenced these changes in pattern. The findings also underscore the importance of taking into account within-group differences when studying how people negotiate their cultural identities.     

Culture change: A training program for recent immigrant professionals from the former Soviet Union

The article describes a training program in structural/integrative family therapy for immigrant professionals from the former Soviet Union at the Training Center of the Shiluv Institute for Family and Couple Therapy in Jerusalem. The program was instituted to meet the pressing needs of a mass immigration of half a million people that came to Israel between 1990 and 1992. This is a retrospective look at the journey of the initial group of psychiatrists and psychologists who changed country, culture, language, and professional orientation in just two years. The authors state their conclusions as to the most expedient way to organize therapy for families from the former Soviet Union — a population in need of help but lacking an awareness of therapy and suspicious of the outsider.     

Russian Eurasianism – Historiosophy and Ideology

I attempt to answer thequestion about the place of Eurasianism in theRussian intellectual tradition. I reconstructits historiosophical assumptions as well thepolitical ideology following from them. I sharethe opinion of certain historians thatEurasianism is interesting for a variety ofreasons, but I disagree with those who see init nothing more than a synthesis of standardideas often found in the history of Russianthought. Eurasianism's originality includes itsacknowledgment of the positive contribution ofthe Mongols to the history of the Russianstate, the radicalism of its critique of theWest, the innovativeness of its theory ofrevolution, as well as the absence, unusual forRussian thinkers of the period, of aneschatological sensitivity.     

What Does the Development of Fresh Expressions of Church in the UK Tell Us about Mission Today?

This article explores the significance of the Fresh Expressions movement in the UK since the ground‐breaking Mission‐Shaped Church report was published by the Church of England in 2004. After reviewing the background to this report, the article explores some of the report's central themes and examines some of the more recent research on the movement's impact in the UK. It then highlights six ways in which fresh expressions continue to be significant as a missionary response in a post‐Christian context. These include the movement's theological underpinnings, its reassessment of key questions in ecclesiology, its commitment to local and contextual mission, and the emergence of a predominantly lay leadership. In recognizing that the movement is still in a state of evolution, the article concludes by suggesting some areas of continuing debate and challenge for the future.     

What Hope Is There: The Enthrallment of Empire Stories

In this article, I argue that many U.S. citizens are held captive by expansionist narratives and ideologies. Our enthrallment is explained, in part, by shared weak dissociation, rationalization, moralization, and denial. Theologically, I understand the ongoing presence of these narratives and ideologies in U.S. society as a manifestation of idolatry and a refusal to mourn. Furthermore, I argue that expansionist narratives signify the presence of fate and the distortion of hope, in particular, Christian hope.     

后苏联时期俄罗斯心理学的现状

苏联解体后, 进入后苏联时期的俄罗斯心理学出现了一些新的动向, 主要表现为重新评价和审视苏联心理学的原则立场, 纠正十月革命后心理科学发展出现的偏差, 活动概念和文化历史理论仍具有生命力, 理论研究未见重大进展但工作仍继续进行, 心理科学的研究越来越贴近社会生活与实践等。当前俄罗斯心理学已成为一门深受大众青睐的科学, 它对当代各种形式的社会实践均产生了重要影响。     

Contours for a Public Lutheran Theology in the Face of Empire

Abstract : Three themes structure Lutheranism's interpretation of the biblical narrative as it intersects with the present challenges of Empire: justification by faith as a declaration of inclusiveness; God's threefold‐multidimensional action creating and sustaining democratic practices (two kingdoms); and the cross as the critical ‘weapon’ against the ‘glory’ of Empire. This implies placing our theology within the present cultural and religious debate in a way consistent with the methodology of the cross: a theology done from the bowels of Empire, revealing its true face behind its alleged ‘benevolent’ mask.