Ecumenism and Renewal in Brazil: an Appraisal

The ecumenical experience is a call to an experience of renewal, as it makes a challenge for a new form of being-a-church to all of the ecclesiastical proposals crystallized over the centuries. For this reason it demands a decisive opening to cultural, political and religious experiences. These do not always correspond to the criteria maintained by the ecclesiastical institutions, but they contain and manifest in their own way the fundamental values of the gospel.     

Religious Ethics and Economic Inequality

This essay serves as an introduction to five papers on economic inequality in this issue of the Journal of Religious Ethics. In addition to introducing the articles individually, the essay also gives a brief overview of recent economic developments that have led religious ethicists to call attention to the issue of inequality.     

宗教信仰的经济学分析

在经济学家眼里,宗教信徒在参与宗教活动时也具有收益最大化动机,他们需要把有限的资源在市场活动和宗教活动之间进行合理的分配,以实现收益最大化。宗教活动的效应也称作"灵性资本",它包括精神、物质两个方面。前者包括对来世的追求,即所谓的"来世财富",后者包括身体健康、社会网络关系等。同时,宗教活动还具有很大外部效益,其中所包含的利他主义、法制意识等理念,对市场活动中的自私、犯罪等行为是一个很好的制约。     

An Appraisal of Psychological &; Religious Perspectives of Self-control

The boundary between psychology and religion is at its murkiest around topics of interest to both forms of discourse. An attempt to clarify some of the boundary issues specifically present in discussions of self-control or self-regulation, this paper begins by examining self-control in healthy psychological functioning. Research on feedback loops, information processing and ego depletion have highlighted key psychological mechanisms involved in self-control. Next this paper explores common themes in religious perspectives regarding the virtue of self-control and self-restraint. A clear preoccupation of major religious traditions is the management of human passion and desire. In conclusion, three boundary concerns relevant to both psychology and religion are discussed: the meaning of virtue, differences in defining the self in self-control, and relational concerns important to understanding self-control.

论正确认识和处理宗教经济与经济宗教的关系

现阶段,随着我国宗教经济和经济宗教活动的日益活跃,如何正确认识和处理宗教经济和经济宗教二者的关系问题被突出地摆在党和人民的面前。依法管理宗教经济和以经济手段解决经济宗教中存在的问题是我们的必然选择。     

Critical Appraisal of the Justification of Learning Outcome Design in the Subject Area of Religious Studies

Many studies have been carried out which suggest that students learn more effectively when introduced to teaching and learning objectives that promote deep learning over surface learning. Religious studies is a multi‐disciplinary subject concerned with promoting the study skills required for deep learning as these are innate to its approach to the wide variety of religious beliefs and practices found in the world. There are claims that learning outcomes curriculum design can promote the shift away from surface learning to a more deep approach. However, the promotion of learning outcomes can often originate from vocationalism where the specific requirements may not necessarily promote individual thought and independence. Religious studies is not perceived as a vocational subject area and needs therefore to examine very carefully the benefits of learning outcomes.     

统筹做好宗教领域疫情防控和促进经济社会发展工作

2月23日,习近平总书记在统筹推进新冠肺炎疫情防控和经济社会发展工作部署会议上强调,要毫不放松抓紧抓实抓细防控工作,统筹做好经济社会发展各项工作。3月6日,习近平总书记在决战决胜脱贫攻坚座谈会上强调,要坚决克服新冠肺炎疫情影响,坚决夺取脱贫攻坚战全面胜利。     

Religious Fundamentalism,Religious Coping,and Preference for Psychological and Religious Treatment

Religion may not be simply another variable in the assessment of treatment-seeking but an alternative worldview about the nature of suffering and its appropriate treatment. This study examines the relation of religious fundamentalism and religious coping on relative preference for psychological or religious help-seeking in 142 undergraduate students. Higher levels of religious fundamentalism and deferred religious coping were found to be associated with greater preference for religious rather than psychological help-seeking. The results suggest that religious issues need to be included in the investigation of help-seeking.     

Dissociation in self-narrative

We review different analytic approaches to narratives by those with psychopathological conditions, and we suggest that the interpretation of such narratives are complicated by a variety of phenomenological and hermeneutical considerations. We summarize an empirical study of narrative distance in narratives by non-pathological subjects, and discuss how the results can be interpreted in two different ways with regard to the issue of dissociation.     

Religious and Psychological Implications of Positive and Negative Religious Coping in Iran

This study examined the religious and psychological implications of religious coping in Iran. University students (N = 224) responded to the Brief Positive and Negative Religious Coping Scales along with measures of Religious Orientation, Integrative Self-Knowledge, Self-Control, Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, Guilt, Shame, and Self-Criticism. As in previous research elsewhere, Positive Religious Coping was stronger on average than Negative Religious Coping, and Positive and Negative Religious Coping predicted adjustment and maladjustment, respectively, In addition, this study demonstrated that direct relationships between Positive and Negative Religious Coping appeared to be reliable in Iran; that Positive Religious Copings was broadly compatible with, and Negative Religious Coping was largely irrelevant to, Iranian religious motivations; and that Negative Religious Coping obscured linkages of Positive Religious Coping with religious and psychological adjustment.     

宗教理解和宗教多元论问题

我们几乎都能肯定,诸宗教之问或多或少都有"排他"倾向,认为真理掌握在自己的手里,其他宗教信仰或多或少是错误的.一般宗教都在宣传自己的优越性,为自己的存在合理性寻找依据,即使是那些自认为是"非宗教的宗教"也是如此.     

Varieties of Religious Experience:Continuity and Change in Religious Involvement

ABSTRACT The intent of the present study was to determine whether the selective aggregation of background data subgroups could be used to identify and control for differences across persons in the meaning of religious involvement. After background data subgroups had been clustered based on similarity in the variables related to religious involvement, two clusters were identified. One cluster contained individuals whose religious involvement was characterized by a functional, instrumental orientation, while the other was composed of individuals whose religious involvement was characterized by an affective, expressive orientation. Subsequently, causal models intended to describe continuity and change in religious involvement were constructed using individuals assigned to each cluster. It was found that different models were required to describe continuity and change in religious involvement in the instrumental and expressive clusters.     

Religious Belonging,Religious Agency,and Women's Autonomy in Mozambique

Women's autonomy has frequently been linked with women's opportunities and investments, such as education, employment, and reproductive control. The association between women's autonomy and religion in the developing world, however, has received less attention, and the few existing studies make comparisons across major religious traditions. In this study, we focus on variations in levels of female decision‐making autonomy within a single religious tradition—Christianity. Using unique survey data from a predominantly Christian area in Mozambique, we devise an autonomy scale and apply it to compare women affiliated with different Christian denominations as well as unaffiliated women. In addition to affiliation, we examine the relationship between autonomy and women's religious agency both within and outside their churches. Multivariate analyses show that women belonging to more liberal religious traditions (such as Catholicism and mainline Protestantism) tend to have higher autonomy levels, regardless of other factors. These results are situated within the cross‐national scholarship on religion and women's empowerment and are interpreted in the context of gendered religious dynamics in Mozambique and similar developing settings.     

Metaphor,Religious Language,and Religious Experience

Is it possible to talk about God without either misrepresentation or failing to assert anything of significance? The article begins by reviewing how, in attempting to answer this question, traditional theories of religious language have failed to sidestep both potential pitfalls adequately. After arguing that recently developed theories of metaphor seem better able to shed light on the nature of religious language, it considers the claim that huge areas of our language and, consequently, of our experience are shaped by metaphors. Finally, it considers some of the more significant implications of this claim for our understanding of both religious language and religious experience.     

Religious Service Attendance and Religious and Secular Organizational Engagement in the United Kingdom

The study uses nationally representative data to examine whether the moral freighting Putnam and Campbell (2010) propose, based on American experiences, may apply to overall British society. Specifically, it tests whether religious service attendance increases religious or secular organizational activities, possibly due to moral freighting that encourages religious congregants to practice their faith, transcending ego boundaries and self-interest. It is also necessary to determine if engagement in religious or secular organizational activities elevates the degree of religious service attendance, thus forming a bidirectional association. The study employs the maximum likelihood-structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) method to verify the proposed reciprocity. The empirical tests confirm that a synergistic reciprocal relationship is established between religious service attendance and religious organizational engagement, and that religious service attendance increases secular organizational engagement. However, secular organizational engagement does not make a bidirectional contribution to religious service attendance.     

Dissociation and self-awareness in directed daydreaming

Self-awareness, as the ability to be the observer of one's own cognitive. affective, and volitional states, was explored in directed daydreaming. Self-awareness of varying complexity and depth was found in the dissociated ego states, which were experienced as relatively discontinuous with each other in space and time, and discontinuous with the subjects' usual experience of a cohesive self. An extreme expression of shallow self-awareness was found for a few subjects who reported a fantasy with no experience of a self. The most elaborate form of self-awareness, coconsciousness , was found for the majority of subjects in the two-ego state group, where both of their ego states were associated with an identity feeling, and where one ego state evidenced full awareness of the thoughts and feelings of the other state. Coconsciousness was found to be a prerequisite for deep self-awareness in directed daydreaming.     

Implications of Religious Identity Salience,Religious Involvement,and Religious Commitment on Aggression

Social identity can affect perceptions of external threats and the type of response elicited to those threats. Religion is a social identity with eternal group membership and revered beliefs and values; thus, religious identity salience, religious commitment, and religious involvement may have implications for aggressive responses to perceived threats to a person’s religious identity. In a sample of 176 Christians, Muslims, and Jews, we investigated whether people respond aggressively to collective threat as a function of religious identity salience, religious commitment, and religious involvement. Religious commitment was positively related to anger only when religious identity was salient. Religious involvement was negatively related to anger and hostility only when religious identity was salient. Religious identity salience appears to act as a moderator by either enhancing perceptions of threat or by activating internal religious beliefs and values.