Jesus the Teacher

One of the strongest portraits of Jesus in the Gospels is that of a teacher (Lee, 1988).¹ Other than the title “Lord,” people call Jesus “Teacher” more often than any other epithet in the New Testament, and often with a great deal of respect and admiration (Mark 10:17; Matt 22:16).² Jesus also calls himself a “teacher.” In the story of the preparation for the Last Supper, for example, Jesus instructs his disciples to find a room for the paschal meal and to tell the owner that “the teacher” has need of it (Mark 14:14; Matt 26:18; Luke 22:11). Apart from the portrayal of him as an infant, the earliest picture we have of him is the episode of the 12-year-old Jesus amazing the teachers in the temple with his learning (Luke 2:46-47). Other depictions include the itinerant Jesus teaching multitudes (Matt 5–7), individuals (John 3 and 4), adversaries (Luke 15), and disciples (Mark 4:10-20, 33–34; 7:17-23; 10:10-11,23-31). He teaches in the temple (Matt 26:55; Mark 1117; John 7:14), in synagogues (Matt 4:23; Mark 6:2; Luke 4:15; John 6:59), in houses (Mark 7:17-18; 9:28), from a boat (Luke 5:3), on the hillside (Matt 5:1-2), at a well (John 4:7-30), at table (Luke 7:36-50),on the road (Luke 24:13-32), and by the shore (Mark 2:13; 4:1). In other words, Jesus teaches people wherever he is and wherever they are. In fact, Matt 26:55 evidences that Jesus taught on a daily basis. Today, in the Western world this traveling teacher is considered the most famous pedagogue (Highet, 1950, 190). With these thoughts in mind, let's (1) examine the words used to specify “teacher” in the ancient world and show how Jesus both corresponds to and differs from the perceptions this title implies, (2) suggest some teaching methods used by Jesus, and (3) propose a way modern teachers can learn from him.     

Islamic Legal, Ethical, and Political Theory: The Search for the Good Society and the Moral Law

Book reviewed:
Standing Trial: Law and the Person in the Modern Middle East , Baudouin Dupret (ed.), I.B. Tauris 2004 (1-86064-997-1), x + 382 pp., $75.00
Muslim Ethics: Emerging Vistas , Amyn B. Sajoo, I.B. Tauris 2004 (1-85043-550-2), xvi + 164 pp., $39.50     

Contemporary Doctrine Classics: The Combined Reports by the Doctrine Commission of the General Synod of the Church of England – Church House

Book reviewed:
Contemporary Doctrine Classics: The Combined Reports by the Doctrine Commission of the General Synod of the Church of England , Church House Publishing 2005 (0-7151-4045-0), xxxiv + 475 pp., pb £20.00     

Joined-up Thomism and the 'Second Quest' for Trinitarian Renewal

Book reviewed:
Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology , Matthew Levering, Blackwell 2004 (Hb 1-4051-1733-8; Pb 1-4051-1734-6), pp. x + 254, Hb £55/$61.95, Pb £19.99/$32.95     

Journeys of Hope: Tragedy, Time and the Desert

Book reviewed:
The Sacred Desert: Religion, Literature, Art and Culture , David Jasper, Blackwell 2004 (Hb 1-4051-1974-8, Pb 1-4051-1975-6), pp. xix + 208, Hb £50, Pb £15.99
Towards Tragedy/Reclaiming Hope: Literature, Theology and Sociology in Conversation , Pink Dandelion, Douglas Gwyn, Rachel Muers, Brian Phillips and Richard E. Sturm, Ashgate 2004 (0-7546-0765-8), pp. xxvii + 157, Hb £45     

Correction to: Reconsidering the dispositional essentialist canon

Philosophical Studies - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-021-01620-5     

The Suspended Middle: Henri de Lubac and the Debate concerning the Supernatural – John Milbank

Book reviewed:
The Suspended Middle: Henri de Lubac and the Debate concerning the Supernatural , John Milbank, SCM/Eerdmans 2005 (0-334-04045-0), x + 117 pp., pb £16.99/$20.00     

Implicit learning,consciousness, and the psychology of thinking

Abstract

Berry, D., & Dienes, Z. (1993). Implicit learning: Theoretical and empirical issues. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd. 197pp. ISBN 0-86377-223-4 £19.95 (hbk).

Reber A. S. (1993). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: An essay on the cognitive unconscious. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1 88pp. ISBN 0-19-505-9425 £30.00 (hbk).     

The Faith of the Outsider: Exclusion and Inclusion in the Biblical Story – Frank Anthony Spina

Book reviewed:
The Faith of the Outsider: Exclusion and Inclusion in the Biblical Story , Frank Anthony Spina, Eerdmans Publishing Company 2005 (0-8028-2864-7), x + 206 pp., pb £9.99/$16.00     

Spirit in the Cities: Searching for Soul in the Urban Landscape – Edited by Kathryn Tanner (ed.)

Book reviewed:
Spirit in the Cities: Searching for Soul in the Urban Landscape , Kathryn Tanner (ed.), Fortress Press 2004 (0-8006-3682-1), xv + 144 pp., pb $10.20     

Jaina Logic and the Philosophical Basis of Pluralism

Michael Dummett, Frege and other philosophers. Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1991. xii + 330pp. £35. ISBN

W.Balzer and C.U.Moulines (eds,), Structuralist theory of science:focal issues, new results, Berlin; de Gruyter, 1996. xi + 295 pp.DM 210. ISBN 3-11-014075-6

Henry Prakken, Logical tools for modeling legal argument a study of defeasible reasoning in law.Dordrecht, The Netherlands:Kluwer Academic, 1997, xiii + 314pp.£75.00/$125.00

J.Srzednicki and Z.Stachniak (eds.) Lesniewski’s Systems.Protothetic.Nijhoff International Philosophy Series, 54, Dordrecht, Boston and London:Kluwer, 1998. xiv + 310 pp, £99 (cloth). ISBN 0-7923-4504-5     

Truth and Holiness: The Way of the Cross

The Unity We Have and the Unity We Seek: Ecumenical Prospects for the Third Millennium , Jeremy Morris and Nicholas Sagovsky (eds), T. & T. Clark 2003, A Continuum Imprint (Hb 0-567-8907-X, Pb 0-567-08879-0), pp. xix + 244, Pb £14.99
In One Body Through the Cross: The Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity , Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson (eds), Eerdmans 2003 (0-8028-2298-3), pp. 62, Pb £7.99/$10     

How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature – Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What It Means for Faith Today – Steven L. McKenzie

Book reviewed:
How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature – Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What It Means for Faith Today , Steven L. McKenzie, Oxford University Press 2005 (0-19-516149-6, 0-19-516149-1), 204 pp., hb $26.00     

Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words – Stanley Hauerwas

Book reviewed:
Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words , Stanley Hauerwas, Brazos 2004 (1-58743-131-9), 108 pp., hb $14.99/£9.95     

Rectifying the Mischaracterization of Logic by Mental Model Theorists

Khemlani et al. (2018) mischaracterize logic in the course of seeking to show that mental model theory (MMT) can accommodate a form of inference (, let us label it) they find in a high percentage of their subjects. We reveal their mischaracterization and, in so doing, lay a landscape for future modeling by cognitive scientists who may wonder whether human reasoning is consistent with, or perhaps even capturable by, reasoning in a logic or family thereof. Along the way, we note that the properties touted by Khemlani et al. as innovative aspects of MMT-based modeling (e.g., nonmonotonicity) have for decades been, in logic, acknowledged and rigorously specified by families of (implemented) logics. Khemlani et al. (2018) further declare that is “invalid in any modal logic.” We demonstrate this to be false by our introduction (Appendix A) of a new propositional modal logic (within a family of such logics) in which is provably valid, and by the implementation of this logic. A second appendix, B, partially answers the two-part question, “What is a formal logic, and what is it for one to capture empirical phenomena?”     

New Books on Darwinism Look at the Religious and Rhetorical Aspects of Evolutionary Theory

Darwin's Proof: The Triumph of Religion Over Science , Cornelius Hunter, Brazos Press 2003 (1-58743-056-8), pp. 168, Hb $17.99
Doubts About Darwin: A History of Intelligent Design , Thomas Woodward, Baker Books 2003 (0-8010-6443-0), pp. 303, Hb $19.99     

Response to Umbers: An Instability of the Duty and Right to Vote

Res Publica - Lachlan Umbers (Res Publica. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-018-9395-4, 2018a) defends democracy against Jason’s Brennan’s (Philos Q 61:700–724, 2011) competence...     

Eve's Revenge: Women and a Spirituality of the Body – Lilian Calles Barger

Book reviewed:
Eve's Revenge: Women and a Spirituality of the Body , Lilian Calles Barger, Brazos Press 2003 (ISBN 1-58743-040-1), 224 pp., pb $14.99     

Putting the cart before the horse: claims for mirror self-recognition in horses are unfounded

Animal Cognition - The recent article by Baragli, Scopa, Maglieri, and Palagi (Anim Cogn https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01502-7 , 2021) that claims to demonstrate mirror self-recognition (MSR)...     

Seeds of the Word: Orthodox Thinking on Other Religions – John Garvey

Book reviewed:
Seeds of the Word: Orthodox Thinking on Other Religions , John Garvey, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press 2005 (0-88141-300-3), 130 pp., pb $9.95