Theological and Biblical Interpretations of Current Movements and Emerging Paradigms Within Bereavement Studies

Among the predominant themes in the last few years of bereavement studies have been those around disenfranchised grief, masculine grief, spirituality and grief, and the movement from medical/hierarchical models of grief work/counseling to a more non-hierarchical model that emerges internally, inherently, and intrinsically within the bereaved. In the latter model the grief counselor becomes a facilitator or, as Alan Wolfelt noted at the Chicago ADEC conference, a companioning presence. The intent of this article is to take this conversation into the realm of theology, and/or biblical theology. The following offers theological analysis of what is already good clinical theory. Integrating theories from anthropology and theology, this article will explore the concepts of voice, etic and emic theory, and incarnational theology as they relate to emerging patterns in bereavement studies. It will also relate a model of the Kingdom of God to disenfranchised grief, as well as offer support for the theory of masculine grief from biblical sources and complementary fields of study.     

“God as Friend”: Metaphoric Theology in Pastoral Care

Because of postmodernity's claim of deconstruction, the naming of God has become a crucial issue for a hermeneutics of pastoral care. Inadequate and inappropriate perceptions of God, because of specific experiences of faith, create unhelpful images of God which eventually lead to a pathology of faith. Taking into consideration the figurative means of symbolic language and its rootedness in culture, this article explores the possibility of the metaphor, God as Friend, in order to move beyond the paradigm of the suffering God (theopaschitic theology) to the paradigm of the faithful God—God as our Soul Friend.     

Notes on the theology of marriage

The theology of marriage has tended to focus on the establishment and the dissolution of marriages. This is a mistake, for it leaves us with little notion of the day-to-day married life appropriate to our Christian convictions. This situation is the result of two confusions, one about the concepts of love and marriage and one about the interpretative framework in which marriage is understood. In this light five types of marriage theologies are discussed. The claim is made that a theology which sees marriage as a member of the category of special relations, with its central interpretative metaphor, fidelity, not only brings out the proper moral significance of marriage but also offers the most theologically appropriate formulation.Mr. Bondi is a Dissertation Fellow writing on Fidelity and Agape: Special Relations in Christian Ethics in the Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556.     

Some modifications of Scott's theorem on injective spaces

D. Scott in his paper [5] on the mathematical models for the Church-Curry -calculus proved the following theorem.A topological space X. is an absolute extensor for the category of all topological spaces iff a contraction of X. is a topological space of Scott's open sets in a continuous lattice.In this paper we prove a generalization of this theorem for the category of , -closure spaces. The main theorem says that, for some cardinal numbers , , absolute extensors for the category of , -closure spaces are exactly , -closure spaces of , -filters in , >-semidistributive lattices (Theorem 3.5).If = and = we obtain Scott's Theorem (Corollary 2.1). If = 0 and = we obtain a characterization of closure spaces of filters in a complete Heyting lattice (Corollary 3.4). If = 0 and = we obtain a characterization of closure space of all principial filters in a completely distributive complete lattice (Corollary 3.3).     

Distance and fusion in Robinson Jeffers' “the purse-seine” and other poems

Distance and fusion are fundamental ideas in Bowenian thinking, especially as expressed in the dynamic of distancing and pursuing. In this paper I have used these ideas as a means to briefly examine a short selection of Robinson Jeffers' poetry, which provides us with a literary example of these concepts in action.My thanks to M. K. Lane and the anonymous reviewers of an earlier draft of this article for their many suggestions, especially to the reviewer who helped me better distinguish between distance and fusion, and intimacy and autonomy.     

A game-based formal system for Ł∞

A formal system for , based on a game-theoretic analysis of the ukasiewicz prepositional connectives, is defined and proved to be complete. An Herbrand theorem for the predicate calculus (a variant of some work of Mostowski) and some corollaries relating to its axiomatizability are proved. The predicate calculus with equality is also considered.     

Looking on the One We Have Pierced: Repentance,Resurrection, and Winnicott's “Capacity for Concern”

This work presents a view of Christian repentance as a process analogous to the development of Winnicott's capacity for concern and illuminated by Rowan Williams' theology of the Resurrection. One begins with fear of forfeiting one's attachment to the divine good mother, confronts the evidence of one's destructiveness in the Passion of Christ, experiences the risen Christ's object survival and acceptance of reparations, and attains a desire to contribute-in to God and neighbor.     

Two Orientations to Sin in the Human Predicament

Two orientations to sin proposed in Valerie Saiving's feminine view of the human situation (1960) are analyzed and developed, suggesting different ways they can be manifested in the lives of both men and women. These ways (of trusting the world) are paired and contrasted with ways of trusting God in order to aid pastors in counseling and teaching about the human predicament.     

Psychotherapy and the Spiritual Journey

This article distinguishes between the ego of Freudian analysis and the ego of spiritual tradition. Using his own personal psychic and spiritual development, the writer demonstrates how the Freudian ego must grow and transform, bringing into consciousness and healing all psychic wounds. Secular depth psychology must open into a spiritual dimension when it encounters the drive in the human psyche toward the necessary and impossible. Finally, the writer shows how our spiritual life may mature into a contemplative life in union with the divine.recently published his autobiography: Both Feet Firmly Planted in Midair: A Spiritual Journey, Westminster/John Knox Press     

Test of the violation of local realism in quantum mechanics with no use of Bell's inequalities

A novel and versatile polarization-entanglement scheme is adopted to investigate the violation of the EPR local realism for a non-maximally entangled two-photon system according to the recent nonlocality proof by Lucien Hardy. In this context the adoption of a sophisticated detection method allows direct determination of any element of physical reality (viz., determined with probability equal to unity in the words of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen) for the pair system within complete measurements that are largely insensitive to the detector quantum-efficiencies and noise.     

Modal logic with names

We investigate an enrichment of the propositional modal language with a universal modality having semanticsx iff y(y ), and a countable set of names — a special kind of propositional variables ranging over singleton sets of worlds. The obtained language _c proves to have a great expressive power. It is equivalent with respect to modal definability to another enrichment () of, where is an additional modality with the semanticsx iff y(y x y ). Model-theoretic characterizations of modal definability in these languages are obtained. Further we consider deductive systems in _c. Strong completeness of the normal _c-logics is proved with respect to models in which all worlds are named. Every _c-logic axiomatized by formulae containing only names (but not propositional variables) is proved to be strongly frame-complete. Problems concerning transfer of properties ([in]completeness, filtration, finite model property etc.) from to _c are discussed. Finally, further perspectives for names in multimodal environment are briefly sketched.     

Clocks,Creation and Clarity: Insights on Ethics and Economics from a Feminist Perspective

This essay discusses the origins, biases, and effects on contemporary discussions of economics and ethics of the unexamined use of the metaphor an economy is a machine. Both neoliberal economics and many critiques of capitalist systems take this metaphor as their starting point. The belief that economies run according to universal laws of motion, however, is shown to be based on a variety of rationalist thinking that – while widely held – is inadequate for explaining lived human experience. Feminist scholarship in the philosophy of science and economics has brought to light some of the biases that have supported the mechanistic worldview. Possible alternatives to the an economy is a machine include an economy is a creative process and an economy is an organism. Such metaphors are intellectually defensible as guides to scientific inquiry and provide a richer ground for moral imagination.     

The Metaethical Paradox of Just War Theory

The traditional requirements upon the waging of a just war are ostensibly independent, but in actual practice each tenet is subject ultimately to the interpretation of a legitimate authority, whose declaration becomes the necessary and sufficient condition. While just war theory presupposes that some acts are absolutely wrong, it also implies that the killing of innocents can be rendered permissible through human decree. Nations are conventionally delimited, and leaders are conventionally appointed. Any group of people could band together to form a nation, and any person could, in principle, be appointed the leader of any nation. Because the just war approach assumes absolutism while implying relativism, the stance is paradoxical and hence rationally untenable.     

The family as portrayed on prime-time television, 1947–1990: Structure and characteristics

Successful family series across four decades of American prime-time television were examined. Family portrayals were defined as either conventional or nonconventional. Conventional families were categorized as couples without children and couples with children. Nonconventional families were categorized as single parent or contrived. Additional family characteristics were also recorded including sex of single parent, reason for singleness, social class status, females employed outside the home, live-ins, race, and whether the presentation was dramatic or comedic. The data show a trend toward more equal presentation of conventional and nonconventional families, few divorced or female single parents, and few minority families. Implications of findings are discussed and future research questions suggested.     

Oral production of linguistically complex sentences with meaning relationships of time

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the abilities of children to use the adjoining mechanism in combining two constituent sentences with the temporal adjoiners: after, before, until, when, and while. To elicit responses, a sentence repetition task was devised that included these five temporal adjoiners in four different syntactic environments: transitive sentences with the adjoiner and the subordinate clause following the main clause, transitive sentences with the adjoiner and the subordinate clause preceding the main clause, intransitive sentences with the adjoiner and the subordinate clause following the main clause, and intransitive sentences with the adjoiner and the subordinate clause preceding the main clause. The 30 were between the ages of 4O and 66 years. They were average children who were free from any known emotional disturbance, who were acquiring Standard American English as a native language, who had normal speech and hearing, and whose parents had neither very high nor very low socioeconomic status. To the extent that the children in this study were representative of normal-speaking children of their ages, certain general conclusions were drawn. Children begin to use the temporal adjoining mechanism early, but they do not master it by the age of 66 years. The ability to use the adjoiners, nor is it equal for different syntactic structures nor for all degrees of semantic complexity. After, before, and when appear earlier than while and until. A rapid period of growth in learning to use the temporal adjoining mechanism occurs between the ages of 4 and 5 years. However, a plateau of learning appears to be reached between the ages of 5 and 6 years. In general, children first learn to use the temporal adjoining mechanism in intransitive sentences with the adjoining link in the middle or at the beginning of the utterance. Next, they learn to use it in transitive sentences with the adjoining link at the beginning of the utterance. Finally, they learn to use it in transitive sentences with the adjoining link in the middle of the utterance. In transitive sentences, children appear to learn the rule for placing the subordinate clause at the beginning of the utterance when temporally adjoining two constituent sentences before they learn the base structure rule. In intransitive sentences, they appear to learn the rule for placing the subordinate clause at the beginning of the utterance when temporally adjoining two constituent sentences at the same time that they learn the base structure rule. The underlying semantic relationships that are expressed by specific temporal adjoiners are important determinants of children's abilities to use these adjoiners. In linguistic evaluations, one should consider the syntactic environment in which the temporal adjoiner occurs and assume that after, before, and when are developmentally earlier than while and until.     

How physicalists can avoid reductionism

Kim maintains that a physicalist has only two genuine options, eliminativism and reductionism. But physicalists can reject both by using the Strict Implication thesis (SI). Discussing his arguments will help to show what useful work SI can do.(1) His discussion of anomalous monism depends on an unexamined assumption to the effect that SI is false.(2) His conclusion on multiple realizability is much stronger than his reasoning warrants.(3) In discussing supervenience, he is wrong to assume that the only approach to explaining why physical truths determine all the truths must be via psychophysical laws.(4) His general argument rests on a mistaken assumption that the only alternative to psychophysical identity theses is to accept supervenient causal relations.     

Myth-conceptions concerning death-related behavior

Summary The discussion here has suggested that it is likely that the following beliefs are myth conceptions: Living is always prefarable to dying. It is possible for people not to play God. We can be sure that what happens biologically is willed by God. God speaks to us only through our biology. Dying occurs only at one point in time-at the end of the terminal period. Death or dead are more accurate labels than passed on. Persons who are dying know without being told that they are dying. Biological death is the most important thing happening when a person dies.The goal of achieving understanding of our death-related behavior can be facilitated by recognition of myth-conceptions such as these and the previously identified myths the acceptance of which may have an impact upon both biological and mental or spiritual health of those involved.He is the author ofSociology of Death and other books and articles.     

The Self Psychology of Heinz Kohut: What's It All About Theologically?

As a psychoanalytic thinker who offered by means of his self psychology a new paradigm of psychological development and functioning, Heinz Kohut was also a theologian manqué. With the help of the method of interpretation devised by Paul Tillich and David Tracy, Kohut's limit-concepts of tragic man, the self-object, and empathy, all set within his theory of narcissism, are elucidated as theological constructs. These are critiqued for adequacy from a Christian perspective. The conclusion is that Kohut's understanding of the human dilemma and of the way of salvation correlates well with Christianity, while his view of empathy as the means of salvation has created some confusion. Kohut has thus left an unfinished, profoundly important, agenda for theologians and clinicians.     

Partially-Ordered (Branching) Generalized Quantifiers: A General Definition

Following Henkins discovery of partially-ordered (branching) quantification (POQ) with standard quantifiers in 1959, philosophers of language have attempted to extend his definition to POQ with generalized quantifiers. In this paper I propose a general definition of POQ with 1-place generalized quantifiers of the simplest kind: namely, predicative, or cardinality quantifiers, e.g., most, few, finitely many, exactly , where is any cardinal, etc. The definition is obtained in a series of generalizations, extending the original, Henkin definition first to a general definition of monotone-increasing (M) POQ and then to a general definition of generalized POQ, regardless of monotonicity. The extension is based on (i) Barwises 1979 analysis of the basic case of M POQ and (ii) my 1990 analysis of the basic case of generalized POQ. POQ is a non-compositional 1st-order structure, hence the problem of extending the definition of the basic case to a general definition is not trivial. The paper concludes with a sample of applications to natural and mathematical languages.     

The missionary syndrome

Early sexual explorations of children that are of a traumatic nature are often labeled by the child as bad or wrong and subsequently repressed. The guilt that results from the labeling may be intensified at a later date by some other similar incident, and at this time the person may make a binding commitment or promise to God to serve Him in some dutiful way. If, at a later date, these plans to serve God cannot be realized, depression, phobias, or conversion symptomatology may occur, which we have referred to as the Missionary Syndrome.Ray O. Sexton, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Memphis, TennesseeWith Dr. Sexton, he maintains a private practice in Memphis, Tennessee.