Eschatological perspectives on aging

Focus is on the reality of aging as the concrete expression of our common human experience of ourselves as temporal beings. The analysis appeals to resources from a philosophical interpretation of temporality and a Christian theological interpretation of the central symbols of eschatology. Both resources provide positive approaches and clarifications of that aging process. Three eschatological symbol systems are noted: the traditional (past-orientation); the prophetic (present-orientation) and the apocalyptic (future-orientation). Each is analyzed as articulating a distinct authentic possibility for a person or a culture involved in the aging process. Symbols help orientate us in a positive way toward the process of aging.     

Brief report: Changing perspectives on aging and intelligence: An empirical update

This study updated the examination of a four-phase, chronological progression model of published research perspectives on aging and intelligence. Phase I research emphasized the inevitable decline of intelligence during adulthood. Phase II research described aging intelligence as a complex multidirectional process with different functions increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable across the life span. Phase III research entailed interventions to enhance aging intelligence. Phase IV research viewed intelligence as continuing to develop and improve throughout adulthood. It was hypothesized that Phase I and Phase II research would decrease during 1986–1995 compared to 1966–1975 and 1976–1985, while Phase III and Phase IV research production would increase in 1986–1995 compared to the previous two decades. A review of 277 articles and 50 dissertations supported the predicted evolution from the unidirectional inevitable decline model toward perspectives describing the plasticity of adult intelligence and the further development and improvement of intelligence across adulthood.     

A dialog of faith: reflections on Middle East conflict from Jewish,Muslim and Christian perspectives

In 2004, Santa Clara University's Bannan Center for Jesuit Education brought together online religious teachers and practitioners from the three world religions to discuss important issues associated with Middle East conflict: resistance, suicide bombing, America's role in the Middle East, and the future shape of peace. These conversations aimed at helping all parties better understand one another's concerns, values and commitment to peace. Our participants replied to a series of questions, and then questioned each other's replies, while students in Europe, North America and the Middle East observed the exchange. This article describes the project, summarizes the results and invites readers to consider carefully the participants' views.     

Sacred practices in highly religious families: Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim perspectives

Quantitative research examining linkages between family relationships and religious experience has increased substantially in recent years. However, related qualitative research, including research that examines the processes and meanings behind recurring religion-family correlations, remains scant. To address this paucity, a racially diverse sample (N = 24) of married, highly religious Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim parents of school-aged children were interviewed regarding the importance of religious family interactions, rituals, and practices in their families. Mothers and fathers discussed several religious practices that were meaningful to them and explained why these practices were meaningful. Parents also identified costs and challenges associated with these practices. Interview data are presented in connection with three themes: (1) "practicing [and parenting] what you preach," (2) religious practices, family connection, and family communion, and (3) costs of family religious practices. The importance of family clinicians and researchers attending to the influence of religious practice in the lives of highly religious individuals and families is discussed.     

Jewish Identity and the Secular Achievements of American Jewish Men and Women

Three questions are addressed concerning the relationship of Jewish identity to secular achievements. Are the secular achievements of American Jews related at all to the strength of their Jewish identity? Which has a stronger relationship to secular achievement, a religious or an ethnic Jewish identity? Do communal aspects or private, personal aspects of Jewish identity have the stronger relationship to secular achievements? Using the 2000–2001 National Jewish Population Survey, we find that educational attainment, labor force participation, and occupational achievements are related to several expressions of Jewish identity, even after controlling for the traditional sources of variation (age, gender, education, family status). Jewish identity, as expressed in terms of religion, ethnicity, communal commitment, and private attitudes and practices, is related to contemporary Jewish secular achievement, albeit differently for men and women.     

Differences in the demographic and sociopsychological profile of ROTC vs Non-ROTC students

The demographic and sociopsychological profile of 102 high school and 754 college Army ROTC cadets was compared and contrasted against that of their non-ROTC classmates. The ROTC students were found to differ from their classmates in military background, academic aptitude, personal values, attributes sought in a job, political position, bureaucratic tendencies, and other socio-psychological characteristics. These differences grew larger with time, as progressively older samples of cadets and noncadets were studied. Because of the cross-sectional nature of the present study, it was not possible to determine the extent to which these widening differences were due to: (a) selection differences present at the moment of entry into ROTC; (b) attrition from the ROTC group of cadets with a “deviant” profile; and/or (c) actual changes in cadets brought about by exposure to a military career. Nevertheless, these findings point to the possible existence of a “military personality” that is evident at early career development stages and even among ROTC civilians supposed to provide a “leavening” effect on the United States military.     

Invention and convention: Jewish and Christian critique of the Jewish fixed calendar

The institution of the Jewish fixed calendar has provoked muchcontroversial discussion not only among Jewish, but also Christian scholars. The significant contributions to the subject by two of the great sixteenth-century polymaths, the Jew Azariah de' Rossi and the Christian Sebastian Münster, pinpoint the delicate nature of calendrical investigation. Münster's frequent use of one particular piyyut (a religious poem) to undermine the basis of the Jewish fixed calendar is intended to defend the contradictory calendrical data in the Gospels. De' Rossi implicitly attacks Muenster for his recourse to this unhistorical text. Yet de' Rossi himself is intent on proving that the Jewish fixed calendar is a late post-talmudic convention, an iconoclastic approach which was not welcome in certain rabbinic circles. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Jewish discourse and the Shtetl

The Shtetl, the small town of Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Russia, where Jews were the majority in the population and set the tone of life, has not received proper historiographical treatment. The major problem is that the shtetl has been idealized, much like in the play Fiddler on the Roof, to represent people's nostalgia, not reality. Shtetl society was also taken by Zionists and others as representative of an objectionable Jewish role model, the contrary of what Zionist sought to achieve. It is commonly thought that by the time of the Shoah, when the Nazis indeed destroyed it, the shtetl was already moribund. In fact, through the early twentieth century, shtetl population remained steady; in some cases it even grew. This survey of existing literature, whose quantity is less than what might be expected, is a prelude to a comprehensive study on shtetl society, in particular during the twentieth century, which this author is now concluding. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Jewish bioethics and medical genetics

Man has been aware of the science of genetics, i.e, how living things transport heritable traits to their offspring, since biblical times. However, knowledge regarding genetic disorders has increased greatly in recent years. Advances have been made with respect to both the methodology of genetic diagnosis and the treatment of genetic diseases. Both Jewish and secular ethicists, in general, approve of new genetic diagnostic techniques and genetic therapy if the risk/benefit ratio is favorable for humankind. However, all medical ethicists are still struggling with the ethical question: “To what extent should we tamper with the process of natural selection?”     

Policies and perspectives on authorship

Authorship on publications has been described as a “meal ticket” for researchers in academic settings. Given the importance of authorship, inappropriate publication credit is a pertinent ethical issue. This paper presents an overview of authorship problems and policies intended to address them. Previous work has identified three types of inappropriate authorship practices: plagiarism, giving unwarranted credit and failure to give expected credit. Guidelines from universities, journals and professional organizations provide standards about requirements of authors and may describe inappropriate practices; to a lesser extent, they provide guidance for determining authorship order. While policies on authorship may be helpful in some circumstances, they are not panaceas. Formal guidelines may not address serious power imbalances in working relationships and may be difficult to enforce in the face of particular departmental or institutional cultures. In order to develop more effective and useful guidelines, we should gain more knowledge about how students and faculty members perceive policies as well as their understanding of how policies will best benefit collaborators.