Newman's Forensic Classic of Development: Its Uniqueness and Its Agon with Gibbon and Surrogates

In this article I argue for the uniqueness of The Development of Doctrine vis‐à‐vis other classic texts on doctrinal development supplied by the German theologians J.S. Drey and J.A. Möhler. Whereas the accounts of the German theologians are ‘theological’ in the strict sense, Newman's is theological only indirectly and forensic in its primary construction and execution. By ‘forensic’ I mean that the bulk of his reasoning is argumentative and intends to clear a space for thinking plausibly of the development of doctrine given other assumptions in the secular imaginary. While I make plain that in his classic text Newman is taking issue with the barriers against the idea of development from a number of religious constituencies, I suggest that in the end the enemy of enemies are religious rationalists, especially those with a historical sense largely derived from reading Edward Gibbon. Although The Development of Doctrine is an extraordinary text in so many ways, it comes to life when one understands it as Newman doing battle with Gibbon over the proper historiography of Christianity over the ages.     

Irritable bowel syndrome: A behavioral model

Current models for explaining irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), the most common gastrointestinal disorder, are critically reviewed and found wanting. Although inadequate to explain the complex clinical features of IBS. these models now determine treatment and research strategy. A behavioral model is offered as an alternative in the hope that it will lead to effective treatment and a progressive research program. The central features of this model are: (a) that verbal, motoric and physiological behavior characteristitic of IBS are capable of independence or desynchrony; (b) that these aspects of behavior are quantitative variations of normal; and (c) that there is a genetic predisposition to neuroticism which, in turn, predisposes to IBS. Some of the model's implications are discussed.     

Dr. Richardson

Pastoral Psychology -     

Statistical problems in the evaluation of army tests

The introduction of psychological tests for personnel selection in the British forces has given rise to several novel problems in statistical procedure. The solutions proposed are in the main extensions of devices already familiar in educational psychology. The more important are: (i) where the criterion yields a threefold classification only, a method of triserial correlation or of biserial correlation assuming point-distributions for the extremes; (ii) where the data on which validation has to be based are drawn from a selected sample, a simplified form of Pearson's equations to correct for selection; (iii) where the best line of demarcation has to be deduced from theoretical rather than practical considerations, a formula based on the principle of minimal discrepancy.