Centering prayer’s effects on psycho-spiritual outcomes: a pilot outcome study

Centering prayer is a spiritual and religious form of meditation grounded in the history of Christian contemplative prayer. Despite its popularity, empirical research investigating centering prayer’s effects on psycho-spiritual outcomes is relative sparse. This pilot outcome study explored the effect of a centering prayer workshop on participants’ (N?=?9) depression, anxiety, stress, spiritual transcendence, religious crisis, faith development, and mindfulness. Several significant changes were noted over the course of the six-week study, including decreased anxiety and stress, and increased faith development and mindfulness. Interestingly, we noted that participants likely also experienced a spiritual or religious struggle that follows the established spiritual development paradigm called the Dark Night of the Soul. The study did not include a control group, and so did not account for effects related to history, maturation, or regression to the mean. Nevertheless, the initial results prove promising to develop more sophisticated research programmes that replicate the study’s findings.     

希尔曼原型心理学解析

希尔曼在对人本主义心理学传统的批判和解构的基础上,探讨灵魂的深度,认为心理的病态和混乱是达到灵魂深度的重要途径,主张多神论和多重人格。原型心理学中的神秘主义是其主要的问题之一。     

Prayer and the Theologian of the Cross: Julian of Norwich and Martin Luther

This article constructs a dialogue between Julian of Norwich and the concept of “theologian of the cross,” as found in Martin Luther and his recent interpreters. Since she is Catholic and medieval, one might begin by suspecting that her theology is not acceptable to someone who follows Luther's teaching in the Heidelberg Disputation. However a closer look will suggest that what she has to say is largely in accord with Luther's standard for a theologian of the cross. Put more positively, Julian is a theologian of the cross, in spite of her use of different language and concepts from those of Luther. The focus of the article is the subject of prayer: what Julian teaches about it, and what may be inferred about prayer from Luther's dramatic theses in his disputation.     

Psychologist as Mentor and Detective in the Mirror of the Soul

A case study is presented of a client, involved in business dealings and personal relationships with members of organized crime, who upon looking into his mirror one morning recognized for the first time that his life was quickly slipping away. Unless he broke free, he decided, by doing something bold and outrageous—in the style of his free-spirited and violent youth—he was doomed to a depressive existence for the remainder of his days. He stalked women by night. Disturbed by a series of frightening dreams of his involvement in the murder of a stalked and raped woman, he approached the author for psychological help. During the course of treatment it became apparent that the client lacked a sense of personal goodness. An exploration of the problematic nature of virtue and constructive behavior in psychotherapeutic theory is presented here, together with a rationale for the role of the therapist as mentor as well as therapist for people who lack early and present experiences with constructive role models.     

A Commencement Charge to Therapists of Psyche and Soul

This article is from a commencement address delivered to the 2003 graduates of the Blanton-Peale Institute. It emphasizes the world's need for therapists who stand at the crossroad of psychology and religion. The concept of temenos is used to emphasize the need for making the consulting room a safe place away from the distraction of the outside world. The graduates are further charged with attending fully to those who come to them seeking help. Finally, they are challenged to find ways to encourage a poetics of reverie in their own lives and in those for whom they care.     

中西方“诚信”文化的差异及其现代整合

中国传统伦理文化中的诚信是建立在封建社会自给自足的小农经济基础之上 ,属于一种由人格信任、亲缘 (熟人 )信任所构成的道德范畴 ,强调的是伦理性 ;而西方法律文化中的诚信是建立在市场经济的契约关系之上 ,它强调的是规范和监督 ,体现了平等、自由与正当权利的法治精神。当代中国社会相对传统社会而言在社会结构、伦理关系、价值观念等方面都发生了重大变化 ,市场经济发展中的诚信危机现象 ,既有传统伦理道德文化的失灵问题 ,又有法律诚信的缺失问题。这就要求我们在党的十六届三中全会精神的指导下 ,实现传统伦理诚信文化的现代转型。     

医疗价格过度增长的管制原因分析

医疗服务的准公共产品特征说明医疗价格问题不能完全由市场来解决,政府必须对医疗价格进行管制.造成医疗价格高昂的原因是多样的和复杂的,基于对医疗价格的政府管制现状分析,认为对医疗价格的管制不善,是导致中国高昂医疗价格的原因之一,并且提出了对医疗价格进行管制的制度框架.     

表演式学习──表演理论对“最近发展区”的发展

美国当代心理学家、剧作家、表演理论的创始人弗雷德·纽曼（FredNewman）及其同事致力于在实践中发展维果茨基的理论,从表演的维度探讨了zpd的概念,并以此为核心提出了表演式学习的概念,以区别于在当今社会大行其道的工具性学习,即以获取知识和技能为目的的学习。表演理论通过对工具性学习的消极影响的批判及对表演式学习的倡导,在人的教育和发展方面提出了独到见解。     

小学生求知欲培养的实验研究

本研究探讨了小学生求知欲的构成因素及其培养因子;制定了测评小学生求知欲的问卷;运用现场教育实验,对小学生求知欲进行了培养研究.研究结果表明1.激发学生积极的学习态度、使之获得成功的体验,能有效地提高小学生求知欲的水平,它们是促进小学生求知欲发展的重要途径.2.求知需要、学习态度、积极的情绪情感体验是构成小学生求知欲的重要因素.     

Learning antecedents for anaphoric one

Lidz et al. [Lidz, J., Waxman, S., & Freedman, J. (2003). What infants know about syntax but couldn't have learned: Experimental evidence for syntactic structure at 18 months. Cognition, 89, B65-B73.] claim experimental substantiation of an argument from the poverty of the stimulus, in the sense of Pullum and Scholz [Linguist. Rev. 19 (2002) 9]. They cite a specific feature of English--the assignment of appropriate antecedents for anaphoric one--that cannot possibly be learned from experience because the evidence needed is found only in utterances of a type too rare to be encountered. Their argument involves three empirical claims. In this note we dispute all three.     

Learning to walk changes infants’ social interactions

The onset of crawling marks a motor, cognitive and social milestone. The present study investigated whether independent walking marks a second milestone for social behaviors. In Experiment 1, the social and exploratory behaviors of crawling infants were observed while crawling and in a baby-walker, resulting in no differences based on posture. In Experiment 2, the social behaviors of independently walking infants were compared to age-matched crawling infants in a baby-walker. Independently walking infants spent significantly more time interacting with the toys and with their mothers, and also made more vocalizations and more directed gestures compared to infants in the walker. Experiment 3 tracked infants’ social behaviors longitudinally across the transition from crawling and walking. Even when controlled for age, the transition to independent walking marked increased interaction time with mothers, as well as more sophisticated interactions, including directing mothers’ attention to particular objects. The results suggest a developmental progression linking social interactions with milestones in locomotor development.     

Invitation to the Triune Conversation: Explorations of Prayer through the Theology of Robert Jenson

This paper attempts to contribute to our understanding of prayer through an engagement with its crucial role in the systematic thought of Robert Jenson. I present prayer as our invitation to the triune conversation. Developing some of Jenson's categories, I work to show that a Christian understanding of prayer connects to a spectrum of systematic loci, especially creation and anthropology, the sacraments and ecclesiology, mission and eschatology. In these three modes, the anthropological, the ecclesial and the eschatological, prayer enters into the ultimate conversation that animates the world through faith, love and hope. This paper concludes by arguing that such an account of prayer, if authentic, supports a contemporary retrieval of the cataphatic dimension of theology.     

The Unsettled German Discussions of Justification: Abiding Differences and Ecumenical Blessings

Abstract :  This essay provides an analysis of The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification . It argues that the future of ecumenism demands greater attention to doctrinal differences than was evident after 1980 in much of the Roman‐Lutheran dialogue on justification, especially as it unfolded in Germany.     

Learning to argue with parents and peers

The infant's first natural response when faced with opposition or when he opposes others' actions is to cry. As this kind of behavior becomes ineffective, the responses of the individuals with which he interacts force him to adopt more conventional — especially verbal — patterns of arguing, leading him to rational argumentation. The purpose of the present paper is to observe progressions in children's earliest verbal arguments and to see how and when they learn to adjust their strategies for different kinds of opponents (peers; parents; other adults). In order to examine the emergence of such persuasive strategies, and their distribution according to the different categories of opponents, systematic audiotape recordings of two Spanish-speaking girls between 2 and 3 years were analyzed. The data suggest that, although there were some differences in how the girls argued with parents versus peers, they were only beginning to adjust their speech to make it appropriate for one or the other type of listener. In general, they resorted to one dominant strategy for all listeners (insist, repeat, cry, scream, ...). Each girl, however, developed a small number of less frequently used strategies that she reserved for a subcategory of opponents. For example, one of them, Nancy, only threatened and insulted peers, while the other, Marisa, only used please and a temporizing strategy with parents. The girls used less adaptive, more agressive strategies (e.g. threats and insults) with their peers. With one exception, all of the girls' moves were self-centered. In fact, the girls had not yet reached the stage of rational argumentation.     

《论语》与易学

《论语》是考证孔子与《周易》关系的第一手材料。其包含的易学思想主要有(一)天道观,认为时空是无限的,天地运行自有规律性;(二)中和思想,认为日常生活和政治生活都要持中,不能过头;(三)刚柔之说．认为刚柔是万物无不具有的内在因索,主张刚贵柔贱。     

Balancing Critique and Commitment: A Synthetic Approach to Teaching Religion and the Environment

Courses about religion and the environment should work toward a synthesis of critical thinking – teaching students to examine and question the interplay of environmental degradation, religious traditions, and new religious movements – and advocacy – helping students to embrace, articulate, and refine their own environmentalist commitments, in religious terms when appropriate. To meet these goals, teachers of religion and the environment can learn from literature on balancing faith and critical analysis in other religion courses. This literature will help us to clarify the goals of our courses, critically examine the environmental movement with our students, and remain trustworthy to those who do not share environmentalist commitments. See a companion essay in this issue of the journal (Jennifer R. Ayres, “Learning on the Ground”) and a response to both of these essays (Forrest Clingerman, “Pedagogy as a Field Guide to the Ecology of the Classroom”) also published in this issue of the journal.     

On Learning to Move Randomly

In 2 experiments, the authors examined whether and to what degree young adults can learn to produce random planar motion of the index finger or fingers. Three different types of information feedback were provided to the participants (N = 8 in each experiment) over up to 5 days of practice across the 2 experiments. The results from both experiments revealed that the participants produced a relatively low level of movement randomness in finger motion and that they did not learn through practice to enhance the stochastic properties of their movement under any feedback conditions. The findings provide further evidence that there are relatively tight constraints on the number of dimensions that are regulating single-limb planar motion and that those constraints are not susceptible to change through typical learning protocols.