Guru Nanak’s sensuous metaphysics

ABSTRACT

Religion and aesthetics are demarcated as two different avenues with ‘God’ and ‘Beauty’ as their respective goals. Opposite of anesthetic, aesthetics is clearly the heightening of the senses. But religion with its focus on God dwelling in a world beyond ours mandates a negation of those very senses. Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, overturns such an antithesis. My paper focuses on Guru Nanak’s Japji, the foremost devotional hymn in the Guru Granth Sahib, to explore the way in which aesthetics and religion merge together in the unitary experience of a sensuous metaphysics.     

(Spi)ritual interaction in musical activity for infants in the church space – a qualitative analysis

Abstract

Early mother–infant interaction has been seen as very important for the development of religiosity and spirituality. This case study examines one specific musical activity for infants and mothers from the perspective of human interaction. The studied activity is ‘Babysalmesang’, or baby hymn singing (BHS), within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark. Meetings are held in church buildings and include singing hymns and other songs, playing in and exploring the church space. The qualitative empirical data on BHS activities were collected through video recording, observing and interviewing. The initial analysis on the data showed that four types of interaction can be found: mother–infant interaction, interaction between the participants, interaction between the participants and instructors and ritual interaction. BHS can be seen as a space for (spi)ritual interaction. In this context, nurturing spirituality combines with religious elements. Together with mother–infant interaction, also other types of interaction might nurture spirituality in early childhood.     

A critical commentary on follow-up studies and “desistance” theories about transgender and gender-nonconforming children

ABSTRACT

Background: It has been widely suggested that over 80% of transgender children will come to identify as cisgender (i.e., desist) as they mature, with the assumption that for this 80%, the trans identity was a temporary “phase.” This statistic is used as the scientific rationale for discouraging social transition for pre-pubertal children. This article is a critical commentary on the limitations of this research and a caution against using these studies to develop care recommendations for gender-nonconforming children.

Methods: A critical review methodology is employed to systematically interpret four frequently-cited studies that sought to document identity outcomes for gender-nonconforming children (often referred to as “desistance” research).

Results: Methodological, theoretical, ethical, and interpretive concerns regarding four “desistance” studies are presented. The authors clarify the historical and clinical contexts within which these studies were conducted to deconstruct assumptions in interpretations of the results. The discussion makes distinctions between the specific evidence provided by these studies versus the assumptions that have shaped recommendations for care. The affirmative model is presented as a way to move away from the question of, “How should children's gender identities develop over time?” toward a more useful question: “How should children best be supported as their gender identity develops?”

Conclusion: The tethering of childhood gender diversity to the framework of “desistance” or “persistence” has stifled advancements in our understanding of children's gender in all its complexity. These follow-up studies fall short in helping us understand what children need. As work begins on the 8th version of the Standards of Care by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, we call for a more inclusive conceptual framework that takes children's voices seriously. Listening to children's experiences will enable a more comprehensive understanding of the needs of gender-nonconforming children and provide guidance to scientific and lay communities.     

The ‘Radical’ Revisions of the Commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms: Luther and his ‘Enemies’ (1517-1525)

Abstract

The context in which Luther wrote his original commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms (1517) was very different from the later edition at the time of the Peasants’ Revolt (1525). While revising his writing purportedly to update it due to his improved knowledge of Hebrew, Luther himself now read the words of the Psalmist through a new lens. He connected passages about the Psalmist's ‘enemies’ to those whom he himself struggled against during that period, in particular his ‘radical’ contemporaries. Previous studies that have compared the 1517 edition with the 1525 revision have examined only internal factors that may have influenced the revision. By taking account of the external factors as well, this study attempts to account for both what motivated his decision to make the revisions and the manner in which Luther changed the translation and commentary.     

Regulation of behaviour in pursuit of health goals

Abstract

Prediction of health related behaviours and the specification of cognitive processes which might guide development of effective interventions may be promoted by the identification of processes which mediate between intentions and health behaviour. The present commentary addresses theoretical developments concerning the role of cognitive and personality processes in volitional pursuit of health related goals and in the maintenance of behavioural change.     

André du Toit

Abstract

In this commentary, I suggest that Sam Vice’s exploratory and communicative goals in ‘How Do I Live in This Strange Place?’ are not appropriately advanced by the form of her writing. In particular, her analysis and recommendations—which I regard as perceptive and profound—would have been better presented in a non-argumentative format, and by employing a less direct mode of communication.     

A Neuropsychoanalytic Perspective

ABSTRACT

The term ‘neuropsychoanalysis’ was introduced in 1999, but a concerted effort to integrate the findings of neuroscience with those of psychoanalysis began in 1986. The following is a commentary on the five essays published in this special issue, from the viewpoint of someone who worked under this banner from the outset. Alongside Antonio Damasio, whose work is well represented in the five essays, the commentator’s closest collaborator since 1998 was the late Jaak Panksepp. The commentary adds more detail about Panksepp’s important contributions to the topic of this special issue. It will be seen that, although Solms, Damasio, and Panksepp agree on the foundational issues at stake here, they do not agree on everything.     

Calvin's Conversion as his First Step Towards the Ministry

Abstract

Scholars proposing an early date for Calvin's ‘sudden conversion’ (between late 1527 and 1529) are influenced by Theodore Beza's account (1564). Those who propose a later dating (1533-1534) have looked for signs that show Calvin as a convinced Protestant. A crucial question is whether his conversion actually coincided with his break with the Church of Rome. In this study we follow especially the thread Calvin offers in the preface to his Psalms commentary (1557). This leads to a breakthrough date of about December 1532. It also points to his conversion and later entry into the ministry as a unity, the former as the beginning, the latter as the conclusion. During the Disputation of Lausanne (late 1536) Calvin distanced himself both from the Church of Rome and from the strategy of prudence which the évangeliques of Meaux advocated: Calvin's anti-Nicodemism was born.     

Prepubertal social gender transitions: What we know; what we can learn—A view from a gender affirmative lens

ABSTRACT

?Background: This article provides a review and commentary on social transition of gender-expansive prepubertal youth, analyzing risks, and benefits based on a synthesis of research and clinical observation, highlighting controversies, and setting forth recommendations, including the importance of continued clinical research.

Methods: This article involved: (1) a review and critique of the WPATH Standards of Care 7th edition guidelines on social transition; (2) a review and synthesis of empirical research on social transition in prepubertal children; (3) a discussion of clinical practice observations; (4) a discussion of continuing controversies and complexities involving early social transition; (5) a discussion of risks and benefits of social transition; and (6) conclusions and recommendations based upon the above.

Results: Results suggest that at this point research is limited and that some of the earliest research on young gender-expansive youth is methodologically questionable and has not been replicated. Newer research suggests that socially transitioned prepubertal children are often well adjusted, a finding consistent with clinical practice observations. Analysis of both emerging research and clinical reports reveal evidence of a stable transgender identity surfacing in early childhood.

Discussion: The authors make recommendations to support social transitions in prepubertal gender-expansive children, when appropriate, as a facilitator of gender health, defined as a child's opportunity to live in the gender that feels most authentic, acknowledging that there are limitations to our knowledge, and ongoing research is essential.     

Associations between heart rate,perceived heart rate,and anxiety during acute psychological stress

ABSTRACT

Background: Acute psychological stress elicits increases in heart rate (HR) and anxiety. Theories propose associations between HR, perceived HR, and anxiety during stress. However, anxiety is often measured as a unidimensional construct which limits a comprehensive understanding of these relationships.

Objectives: This research explored whether HR reactivity or perceived HR change was more closely associated with cognitive and somatic anxiety during acute psychological stress.

Design: Two laboratory-based studies were conducted.

Methods: In a single laboratory session, healthy male (N?=?71; study 1) and female (N?=?70; study 2) university students completed three laboratory psychological stress tasks (counterbalanced), each with a preceding baseline. Heart rate, perceived HR change, and cognitive and somatic anxiety intensity and interpretation of anxiety symptoms were assessed immediately following each task. Data were aggregated across tasks.

Results: Actual HR change was unrelated to anxiety intensity, but was associated with more debilitative interpretations of anxiety (study 2). Perceptions of HR change were consistently associated with greater intensity of cognitive (study 1) and somatic (study 1 and 2) anxiety.

Conclusions: Perceived HR rather than actual HR is more closely associated with anxiety intensity during psychological stress. The findings have implications for stress management and the clinical treatment of anxiety symptoms.     

The problem of good and evil in the development of the child

Abstract

Carl Jung's decision to undertake a thorough study of Western alchemy was inspired by his reading of The Secret of the Golden Flower, a ninth-century Chinese Taoist text describing the process of meditation in alchemical terms. When he first read this book in 1928 and wrote a commentary for it, he completely ignored its alchemical aspects. He simply tried to make the text comprehensible to Western readers by explaining its basic psychological concepts and assumptions.

In the foreword to the second German edition of The Secret of the Golden Flower. June acknowledged this oversieht¹     

The experiences of transgender and non-binary children and young people and their parents in healthcare settings in England,UK: Interviews with members of a family support group

Abstract

Background: Transgender and non-binary children and young people and their parents in England, UK are poorly served across a range of healthcare settings. Whilst UK equalities legislation and international guidance on transgender healthcare pathways protects this group from discrimination and mandates an affirmative approach, services in England are not keeping pace.

Aims: This study aims to draw on the experiences of transgender and non-binary children, young people and their parents in a support group in England in order to investigate their experiences of healthcare provision, and to develop some ideas for improvement.

Method: Data was collected with participants in a family support group which offers a parent helpline service, social groups for children and parents, and training for schools and other organizations. 65 parents and children from 27 families from the family support group attended participatory workshops where they were given a range of briefs: “health,” “family,” “friends,” and “education.” Their participation involved being asked to define their own interview questions and collect data by interviewing each other. Their interview notes constituted the raw data. Data was coded inductively by the author with respondent checking as a second stage.

Results: Results constitute the views of a small group of people, so cannot be generalized. However, they do illustrate some of the issues which may arise. Participants’ experiences elicited five key themes: professionals’ perceived lack of clinical and therapeutic knowledge; mental distress caused by excessive waiting lists; professionals’ stereotyped gender assumptions; direct discrimination within healthcare settings; and a lack of attention to parent and child voice, especially in terms of school-based experiences and where a patient had a diagnosis of autism.     

Attentional biases to threat in social anxiety disorder: time to focus our attention elsewhere?

Background: Cognitive models propose that attentional biases to threat contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD). However, the specific characteristics of such biases are still object to debate.

Objectives: The current study aimed to disentangle effects of trait and state social anxiety on attention allocation towards social stimuli.

Methods: Participants with SAD (n?=?67) and healthy controls (n?=?62) completed three visual search tasks while their eye movements were recorded. Half of the participants in each group were randomly assigned to a state anxiety induction.

Results: Contrary to our predictions, neither trait nor state social anxiety was associated with a facilitated attention to or a delayed disengagement from threat. However, participants with SAD did show reduced fixation durations for threatening stimuli, indicating an avoidance of threat. Induction of state anxiety led to an increased distractibility by threat.

Conclusions: We suggest that attention allocation in SAD is characterized by an avoidant rather than a vigilant attentional bias. Accordingly, our results contradict previous results that associate SAD with facilitated attention to threat and existing approaches to modify attentional biases, that aim to decrease attention towards threatening stimuli.     

The power of poverty: queer religious agency past and present

ABSTRACT

As a form of resistance against heteronormativity, queer theology has often also been very critical towards colonialism and capitalism. The queer perspective thus became a privileged standpoint of critique of these three levels of oppression. However, it seems that today, capitalism itself has been “queered”: the hierarchy of the heterosexual “core family” has been replaced by a global hymn of diversity and flexibility centred around consumerism. Within the context of neoliberal capitalism, queer theology seems to have lost its queerness. This contribution is inspired by Giorgio Agamben’s book The Highest Poverty (2011), in which he presents the evolution of the Franciscan rule from a “form of life” (forma vitae) to a “rule” that is a form of proto-capitalism. The Franciscan ideal of poverty is corrupted as soon as the hierarchical Church (the instance of power) affirms this rule, thereby taking it up within a discourse of the law: poverty is no longer a theological concept, but an economical one. Following Agamben’s strategy, I will ask how another spiritual movement of around the thirteenth century, the Beguines, attempted to live an alternative life, a vita apostolica, and understand this as a form of queerness. The Beguine model, I will argue, can help us imagine a deepened queer theology today that cannot be captured and rigidified by the logic of capitalism, but continues to be able to critique it.     

Eight Decades of Employment Interview Research: A Retrospective Meta-review and Prospective Commentary

Abstract

This article presents a critical review and commentary on eight decades of research into the employment interview. Two alternative theoretical perspectives are identified from the body of empirical studies into the interview: the objectivist-psychometric perspective and the subjectivist-social perception perspective. Criticisms of both are presented, and calls are made for additional research into impression management behaviour, dysfunctions in interviewer decision-making, and situational power effects at interview. The article concludes with a cautiously optimistic evaluation of the interview research paradigm but emphasizes the requirement for future research efforts to be concentrated upon integrative theory-building in conjunction with ongoing empirical studies.     

Sapientia and Stultitia in John Colet's Commentary on First Corinthians

ABSTRACT

While John Colet, friend of Erasmus and founder of St Paul's School, London, was himself widely read in Classical and pagan authors, he famously characterized pagan books as having the ‘savour of the Demon’ and exhorted minor clergy to reject human or secular wisdom. This article seeks to resolve the apparent tension between Colet's disparagement of human wisdom in his commentary on First Corinthians and his own use of pagan learning and humanist activities. Through a close analysis of Colet's understanding of human and divine wisdom and human stultitia (foolishness) in the commentary, the article argues that Colet's principal concern in reproaching human wisdom (sapientia) was the moral purity of his audience. The article concludes by considering how Colet's view of secular wisdom, thus conceived, represented an early expression of his commitment to religious, ecclesiastical and moral reform.     

Effort and negative affect interact to predict cardiovascular responses to stress

Objective: Although traditional models posit that negative emotional responses to stress increase cardiovascular reactivity (CVR), laboratory studies have generally not found a strong emotion–CVR association. In this paper, we took a multidimensional approach to examining psychological reactions to stress in three studies.

Methods: In each study we assessed the amount of effort exerted by a participant and the negative affect (NA) felt by the participant with different self-reported measures and an effort behavioural measure.

Results: Our findings consistently demonstrated that NA was associated with CVR when effort was relatively high, but not when effort was relatively low.

Conclusion: This suggests that the weak NA–CVR correlations reported in past research may have been confounded by a third effort-related variable and that CVR is significantly associated with NA under certain circumstances. Furthermore, our findings suggest that by considering the multidimensional nature of psychological responses to stress, we may come to better understand the links between stress-related emotion and physiology.     

‘Portrait of a New Prophet‘: John Calvin Moonlighting as a Pamphleteer in Strasbourg (1539)

Abstract

The sole text in Calvin's name of which just a German translation survives is re-edited here accompanied by an English translation with commentary and notes, as well as other relevant sources including a reproduction of the original. The pamphlet locates Calvin in the Strasbourg publishers, Wendelin Rihel, where he seems to have performed duties to supplement his income and pay off his debts. He also interacted with his colleagues in their dealings with the same printer. The satirical pamphlet tells the story of an itinerant monk trying to reconvert people to Roman Catholicism, and is a sign of Calvin entering the scene of regional and European religious politics, while sharpening his pen. What was originally a French Catholic pamphlet was answered and, incorporating material from Latin correspondence, was recast in German. News thereby straddled linguistic borders.     

Altered working memory capacity for social threat words in high versus low social anxiety

ABSTRACT

Background and objectives: Differences in working memory capacity (WMC) have been suggested in individuals with high levels of social anxiety (SA). Specifically, these individuals may preferentially maintain socially threatening material in working memory.

Design and methods: We adapted the digit span task to a series of word span tasks. We assessed WMC for lists of words that varied in terms of their threat-relatedness, in individuals either high or low in SA.

Results: Experiment 1 revealed reduced WMC for socially threatening words in those with high compared to low SA. Importantly, this relative reduction in WMC was driven by the low SA group showing expanded capacity for socially threatening words relative to neutral or generally threatening words. Furthermore, reductions in WMC for social threat were uniquely predicted by SA, and not by other theoretically related constructs such as state general anxiety, trait general anxiety, or depression. Experiment 2 showed that the semantic similarity of the words within each list was not responsible for the differences in WMC between list type or SA group.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that individuals high in SA may fail to upregulate WMC for social information due to the activation of, or rumination upon, socially threatening concepts.