The Ecclesial Hermeneutic of Raymond E. Brown

Against the background of some positions taken up in a recent document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the article studies Raymond Brown's attempt to combine mainstream historical-critical exegesis of the Bible with a Roman Catholic theological pre-understanding. Particular reference is made to his handling of issues connected with the virginal conception of Jesus. Some of his religious presuppositions such as those concerning the relation between faith and reason, and the development of doctrine, are presented. Biblical criticism in Brown's understanding is an essentially historical discipline which has as its principal object the literal sense of the text, that is, what the text meant when it was written. His religious presuppositions make the practice of the discipline ineliminable in an integral hermeneutic. From an analysis of his treatment of the virginal conception, it is argued that Catholic pre-understanding and historical criticism, when combined, inevitably result in a two-stage hermeneutic. In a first stage appeal is made to presuppostions common to all practitioners of historical criticism. In a second stage religious presuppostions come into play. The distinction between these two stages is seen as more fundamental than Brown's better known distinction between the literal and more-than-literal senses of the text. It is argued that the relation between the two stages is to be understood in chalcedonian terms as exemplifying the dialectic of faith and reason: they must be distinguished, but cannot be separated. Brown's grasp of an incarnational economy of salvation is presented in terms of David H. Kelsy's concept of a discrimen, and emerges as fundamental for an ecclesial hermeneutic of the Bible. Questions about the place of the historical-critical method, the promise of alternative approaches and the role of hermeneutical theory can only be adequately addressed in terms of it.     

Social and individual risk factors for suicide ideation among Chinese children and adolescents: A multilevel analysis

The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors of suicide ideation among primary, middle and high school students. We used multilevel modelling to investigate suicide ideation among 12,733 Chinese children and adolescents aged 9–18 years from wide range of areas across China. Approximately, 32.09% of children and adolescents reported suicide ideation, with females were more likely to report suicide ideation than males (38.09% vs. 29.95%). Our results showed that the risk factors in primary school students were different from middle and high school student groups, whereas significant risk factors for middle and high school students were similar. The city's standard of living as indicated by the Engel coefficient and the city's divorce rate were positively associated with the prevalence of suicide ideation; in contrast, the school's pupil‐to‐teacher ratio was negatively correlated with elevated suicide ideation. Significant risk factors for suicide ideation included study anxiety, self‐accusation tendency, impulsive tendency, terror tendency and physical symptoms. These results have important implications for the prevention of suicide, suggesting that both contextual (city‐level) and compositional (individual‐level) factors could be important targets for prevention and intervention for children and adolescents at risk of suicide ideation.     

Investing in the real me: Preference for experiential to material purchases driven by the motivation to search for true self-knowledge

One mechanism underlying the hedonic benefits of experiential purchases is that one’s core self is more centrally reflected in experiential purchases. However, little is known about whether people consume experiential purchases as a means of discovering their true self. The present research explored the possibility that people value experiential purchases as a potential tool for understanding their true self. Consistent with the hypothesis, Study 1 demonstrated that experiential purchases were perceived to be a more valuable source of gaining knowledge about one’s true self compared to material purchases. Using correlational methods, Study 2 found that the motivation to search for true self-knowledge positively predicted preference for experiential purchases over material purchases. Finally, Study 3 showed a causal effect of motivation to search for true self-knowledge on a tendency to prefer experiential purchases to material purchases. Implications and future directions for well-being research and marketing are discussed.     

Does the dark side of a calling exist? Examining potential negative effects

The present studies examined the potential dark side of perceiving and living a calling with diverse samples of employed adults. In Study 1, living a calling and life meaning were found to suppress the relation between perceiving a calling and life satisfaction, resulting in these variables being significantly, negatively related. This suggests that perceiving a calling may predict decreased well-being when it is not lived out and does not provide meaning. In Study 2, participants living a calling did not experience greater burnout, workaholism, or organizational exploitation. Additionally, counter to hypotheses, living a calling was found to be a significant buffer in the relation of burnout/exploitation and job satisfaction. Specifically, the slope of the relation between living a calling and job satisfaction was more pronounced with individuals experiencing high levels of burnout/exploitation. These findings suggest that living a calling may help individuals in difficult working conditions maintain job satisfaction.     

Examining how aspects of vocational privilege relate to living a calling

The current study examined how aspects of vocational privilege directly – and indirectly via work meaning and career commitment – related to living a calling. With an economically diverse sample of 361 employed adults, both social class and work volition were found to moderately to strongly correlate with work meaning, career commitment, and living a calling. We used a structural equation model and found career commitment and work meaning to significantly predict living a calling and fully mediate the link between work volition and living a calling. Additionally, social class related to work meaning and career commitment via work volition. Findings suggest that the links between social class, work volition, and living a calling may be explained by individuals working in jobs they are committed to and that are meaningful, and that work volition may represent the gateway from social class to the experience of fulfilling work. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Classroom Interactions: Gender of Teacher,Gender of Student,and Classroom Subject

An observational study investigated the effects of gender of teacher, gender of student, and classroom subject (mathematics vs. English literature/language) on teacher–student interactions. A total of 597 high school students (294 males and 303 females) and 36 teachers (28 males and 8 females) were observed in either 18 mathematics classes or 18 literature/language classes. Students and teachers were predominately Caucasian, with the majority of students from a lower- or middle-class background. Observations were coded using the interactions for sex equity in classroom teaching (INTERSECT) observational instrument. It was found that female mathematics teachers, male literature/language teachers, and female literature/language teachers tended to interact somewhat more with male students than with female students. This tendency was not the result of male students having initiated more direct verbal interactions with teachers.     

Making faces: Creating three-dimensional parameterized models of facial expression

Previous studies of the perceptual processing and dynamics of emotional expression in faces have been limited by the lack of realistic yet controlled stimuli. The present work offers researchers a method for creating such stimuli for exploring these phenomena. We describe the creation of the stimuli and a series of experiments testing the validity of these stimuli with respect to emotional expressions in humans. Participants evaluated synthesized facial images and standardized photographs of six basic emotional expressions for intensity and accuracy of perceived emotion. Comparisons of these measures were qualitatively similar for synthesized and photographed faces. A manipulation of the magnitude of the synthesized expressions yielded a significant effect on the perceived intensity of expression. In a subsequent multidimensional scaling study, no systematic differences were uncovered in the derived configurations of the synthesized expressions and the photographs. These results are discussed in the context of possible future research applications.     

Anaphoric inference during reading

Three experiments provide evidence that an anaphoric noun phrase reinstates its antecedent in the course of comprehension. Subjects read a series of texts each containing a target item. Immediately after the last line of each text, the item was probed using a recognition task in Experiment 1 and a naming task in Experiment 2. Subjects were faster to respond to the item when the last line contained an anaphoric reference to it than when the last line referred to a different item from the text. Additional control conditions ensured that the effect was not due to semantic priming and that the probed item was not in working memory when the last line was encountered. A third experiment suggested that previous evidence for reinstatement reflected interference from a change of topic in the last line rather than facilitation due to reinstatement of the probed item.     

Effects of Severity of Accident,History of Drunk Driving,Intent, and Remorse on Judgments of a Drunk Driver1

A total of 160 women and 160 men read scenarios of an accident caused by a male drunk driver. The severity of the accident was either high (death) or low (monetary damage) and the driver either had or did not have a history of drunk driving. In addition, the driver expressed or denied feeling remorse and expressed or denied intent (or negligence-he admitted or denied knowing he was drunk before deciding to drive). The driver was evaluated on character traits and cause, responsibility, blame, and punishment. Participants also recommended sanctions (fine and prison sentence). Trait ratings of the driver were influenced negatively by history and positively by remorse. The driver who expressed intent was evaluated as more believable and more reckless. Participants with high belief in a just world evaluated the driver as being less responsible and believable and more of a cause of the accident. There were no differences in judgments given by men and women. Severity did not affect trait ratings, but was the only variable influencing sanctions. Although the driver's self presentation strategies were effective in moderating judgments about his character, they had no bearing on recommended sanctions.     

A computer program for determining optimal data transformations minimizing skew

A program is presented that solves for an optimal transformation of data that minimizes skew. Various possible transformations are represented by a function that depends upon a single parameter, λ. A process of iterative approximations is employed to find a value of λ that will transform the data so as to produce a third moment equal to zero. The transformation found by this process may be used as computed or used to indicate which of the commonly employed transformations will most adequately counteract skew. The use of this program in processing data before analysis of variance is discussed.