Resistance to Women in Ministry and the Psychodynamics of Sadness

The relationship between losses within mainline Protestant churches and the resistance to women in ministry is explored. Loss in congregations and denominations awakens an unconscious desire for a “dominant other” that will save the church from real or perceived loss or even the threat of death. Women are not seen as “dominant” and are thus overlooked when leadership for restoration is sought. Loss may also awaken unconscious resentment and hatred against women. Women are associated with the “wombishness” of Jesus, a trait historically rejected, but one that could not be destroyed even as it remained life-giving and nurturing.     

On Getting away with It: Jesus and the Temptation in the Desert

The experience of getting away with something is a well-known personal dynamic, yet it is relatively unexplored by psychodynamic theorists, even though such experiences impact both persons and society in significant ways. In reading the Gospels, one is left with the perception that Jesus got away with desire—that is, he withstood Satan’s temptations. The essay explores “getting away with it” in light of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Ways this experience might have formed the person and ministry of Jesus are suggested.     

The effect of overlearning on long‐term retention

Once material has been learned to a criterion of one perfect trial, further study within the same session constitutes overlearning. Although overlearning is a popular learning strategy, its effect on long‐term retention is unclear. In two experiments presented here, 218 college students learned geography facts (Experiment 1) or word definitions (Experiment 2). The degree of learning was manipulated and measured via multiple test‐with‐feedback trials, and participants returned for a final cued recall test between 1 and 9 weeks later. The overlearners recalled far more than the low learners at the 1‐week test, but this difference decreased dramatically thereafter. These data suggest that overlearning (and its concomitant demand for additional study time) is an inefficient strategy for learning material for meaningfully long periods of time. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The "ticktock" of our internal clock: direct brain evidence of subjective accents in isochronous sequences

The phenomenon commonly known as subjective accenting refers to the fact that identical sound events within purely isochronous sequences are perceived as unequal. Although subjective accenting has been extensively explored using behavioral methods, no physiological evidence has ever been provided for it. In the present study, we tested the notion that these perceived irregularities are related to the dynamic deployment of attention. We disrupted listeners' expectancies in different positions of auditory equitone sequences and measured their responses through brain event-related potentials (ERPs). Significant differences in a late parietal (P3-like) ERP component were found between the responses elicited on odd-numbered versus even-numbered positions, suggesting that a default binary metric structure was perceived. Our findings indicate that this phenomenon has a rather cognitive, attention-dependent origin, partly affected by musical expertise.     

The Search to Be Real: Why Psychotherapists Become Therapists

This paper argues that one receives the calling to become a therapist to experience feeling real. Stated differently, therapists become therapists to heal themselves. Drawing on object relations theory, the author identifies five wounds therapists may consciously and unconsciously address by entering a therapeutic profession. The wounds are located in the capacity to believe, the capacity to imagine, the capacity for concern, the capacity to be alone, and the capacity of object usage. Achieving these capacities provides the therapist with a sense of wholeness, health, and holiness.     

Fear of Rejection versus Religious Commitment as Predictors of Adjustment Among Reformed and Evangelical College Students in Canada

The contradictory findings about the (positive or negative) associations between religion and adjustment suggest that different aspects of religion might have different effects. A total of 160 men and 283 women attending two faith-affirming colleges in Canada completed measures of fear of rejection (by God and church members), religiosity, prosocial attitudes, social adjustment (work orientation, school attitudes), and personal adjustment (life satisfaction, self-esteem). Fear of rejection was found to be predictive of lower religious commitment and of poor social and personal adjustment. In contrast, religious commitment was found to be predictive of prosocial attitudes and of good adjustment. Religious commitment had much higher correlations with prosocial values and adjustment among men than among women. Regression analyses indicated that fear of rejection was a strong predictor of poor adjustment among religious persons.     

Seeing Things Differently and Not Being Looked At

Three traits inform a pastoral theological hermeneutic. These include: interpreting “the living human web”; relying upon the unique location and nature of pastoral theological imagination; and embodying the power that comes with knowledge and the discernment of meaning. These traits often lead to pastoral theologians seeing things in a different light than colleagues in other theological disciplines, while often holding comparatively less power or influence in the academy. The image of the pastoral theologian as hermeneutical juggler is identified to complement existing metaphors that can inform the identity and hermeneutic of a pastoral theologian.