Christology in Dialogue with Muslims: A Critical Analysis of Christian Presentations of Christ for Muslims from the Ninth and Twentieth Centuries – Mark Beaumont

Book reviewed:
Christology in Dialogue with Muslims: A Critical Analysis of Christian Presentations of Christ for Muslims from the Ninth and Twentieth Centuries , Mark Beaumont, Regnum Books International 2005 (1-870345-46-0), xxiv + 227 pp., pb £19.99     

Examining the Regulatory and Reactive Temperamental Characteristics as Predictors of Low Income Preschool Children’s Executive Function

The current study is an examination of low income children’s reactive and regulatory temperamental characteristics as predictors of their executive function, with a particular focus on children’s regulatory temperament (i.e., inhibitory control and attentional focusing) as moderators of associations between reactive temperament (i.e., negative emotionality) and executive function. Participants were 291 children (159 boys) ages 37 to 70 months (M = 53.88 months, SD = 6.44 months) enrolled in 17 classrooms within 3 different preschools serving low income children in two Midwestern cities in the United States. Temperament was assessed via parent report during Fall 2014, and executive function were assessed via structured tasks implemented by independent researchers during Spring and Summer 2015. SAS PROC MIXED was used to test hierarchical regression models of children nested within classrooms. After controlling for child age, gender, ethnicity, and parent education, regulatory temperament moderated the association between reactive temperament and executive function. Children’s reactive temperament was inversely associated with their executive function. These findings suggest that understanding children’s regulatory and reactive temperamental characteristics may help to improve their executive functioning in early childhood.     

The Means of Prosperity: The Neo‐Pentecostal Interpretation of the Lord's Supper in Nigeria

This article investigates the Nigerian neo‐Pentecostal reinterpretation of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper using the lens of the prosperity gospel. This article describes the neo‐Pentecostal view of prosperity as an integral part of salvation, and shows how this impacts its hermeneutics of the Lord's Supper as the means of prosperity. The article argues that such neo‐Pentecostal reinterpretation does not distort the traditional significance of the Lord's Supper, but expands and complements it. As a result, Lutherans may have much to learn from the neo‐Pentecostal view of the Lord's Supper.     

Metalinguistic Awareness and Reading Performance: A Cross Language Comparison

The study examined two questions: (1) do the greater phonological awareness skills of billinguals affect reading performance; (2) to what extent do the orthographic characteristics of a language influence reading performance and how does this interact with the effects of phonological awareness. We estimated phonological metalinguistic abilities and reading measures in three groups of first graders: monolingual Hebrew speakers, bilingual Russian–Hebrew speakers, and Arabic-speaking children. We found that language experience affects phonological awareness, as both Russian–Hebrew bilinguals and the Arabic speakers achieved higher scores on metalinguistic tests than Hebrew speakers. Orthography affected reading measures and their correlation with phonological abilitites. Children reading Hebrew showed better text reading ability and significant correlations between phonological awareness and reading scores. Children reading Arabic showed a slight advantage in single word and nonword reading over the two Hebrew reading groups, and very weak relationships between phonological abilities and reading performance. We conclude that native Arabic speakers have more difficulty in processing Arabic orthography than Hebrew monolinguals and bilinguals have in processing Hebrew orthography, and suggest that this is due to the additional visual complexity of Arabic orthography.     

‘Out to get us’: queer Muslims and the clash of sexual civilisations in Australia

Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with twelve queer Muslims in Australia, this article analyses the ongoing struggle for queer Muslim recognition within the context of the so-called ‘Clash of Civilisations’. Analysing the rhetoric of national security and ‘Western’ civilisational identity, this article interrogates the incorporation of sexuality into the cultural and political discourse of the ‘war on terror’, from the xenophobic demonisation of Muslims as sexual predators, to liberal Islamophobia that posits Islam as an aggressive and alien Other against which liberal capitalism must be defended. Within this hostile environment, queer Muslims in Australia are articulating various strategies for finding meaning in their lives. From a Marxist perspective, this article analyses these strategies for recognition which range from complex acts of ‘closeting’ sexual, ethnic and religious identities, to subversive acts of critical hybridity that seek to negate the exclusionary nature of homophobia and Islamophobia within Australia’s multicultural society.     

Migrant Knowledge Workers’ Perceptions of Housing Conditions in Gulf Cities

The various efforts in diversifying local economies in most Gulf States led to the emergence of new medium to high-income groups of migrant knowledge workers whose efforts are required to develop various new economic sectors. This paper aims to investigate the current housing conditions and perceptions of these migrant communities to identify key similarities and differences with respect to housing made available to them and depending on their cultural background. To this end, the methodology involves field surveys to explore the three main housing typologies for higher-income groups and a questionnaire with a total of 258 knowledge workers in the city of Doha as a representative case to investigate the associated perceptions of four dominant groups from different cultural backgrounds. The findings reveal that there is a distinct social segregation between cultural groups, which is mainly rooted in varying income levels. Furthermore, the supply-driven market has hardly integrated cultural needs of migrants and thus diversified and inclusive housing has been identified as major planning and design challenge.