Homosexuality,the Halacha,and the helping professions

The position of Jewish writings on homosexuality is the topic of inquiry. Overt homosexuality, child homosexuality, and lesbianism are examined in the light of Jewish Halacha (law). Though Talmudic writings view homosexuality with severe disapproval, a sprrit of tolerance and compassion is also voiced in them. It is suggested here that Jewish law placed overt homosexuality in the category of illness to evoke compassion for it Halachic insights also suggest that homosexualities be viewed differentially. Activities involving minors and lesbians are not given equal weight in the realm of retribution. There are efforts to obviate social stigma. Prevention and rehabilitation are given major concern. To conclude the article, the role of the Jewish religious practitioner and his responsibilities vis-à-vis the homosexual client are given a brief examination.     

Personality patterns of adolescent poor and good sleepers

To determine whether poor sleepers have a unique personality constellation significantly different from that of good sleepers, a sample of 162 emotionally disturbed adolescent poor sleepers was compared to a sample of 153 emotionally disturbed adolescent good sleepers on standardized personality instruments. Poor sleepers were found to have a high incidence of neurotic psychopathology with personality patterns characterized by depression, fearfulness, inhibition, anxiety, and rumination. In contrast, good sleepers showed quasi healthy and/or characterological patterns. While this study does not resolve cause and effect relationships, it does establish a highly significant relationship between neuroticism and sleep disturbance for adolescent boys and girls, and also demonstrates a similarity of personality dynamics and patterns between adult and adolescent samples of patients with sleep disturbances.     

Directionally different expectancy theory predictions of work motivation and job satisfaction

Conventionally, expectancy theory has utilized a multiplicative combination of expectancy and value scores in predicting both job behavior (work motivation and job performance) and job-related affect (job satisfaction). An extensive clinical literature, however, suggests that affect is a function of the discrepancy between expectancies and values. Hence, two hypotheses were advanced and tested in organizational settings: (1) that the multiplicative formulation (EV) will yield superior predictions of work motivation and job performance in comparison to the discrepancy model (E-V), (2) that the discrepancy model (E-V) will yield superior predictions of job satisfaction in comparison to the multiplicative model (EV). Results from three studies (of 399 engineers, 202 librarians, and 1,777 engineers) were highly supportive of both hypotheses.An early version of this paper was presented at the 10th Annual National Meeting of the American Institute for Decision Sciences, November 1, 1978, and an abbreviated write-up appeared in the AIDSProceedings. The author is greatly indebted to the following people: Susanne P. Wahba, for allowing the use of her data (Study Two); Gene Dalton and Paul Thompson, for their contribution to the research in Study One; and Joe Folkman for his help with the data analysis in Study Three. Financial support was provided in part by the Research Foundation of the City University of New York (RF10662).     

Theories of family pathology: In what direction

Although specific typologies, classifications, or taxonomies of family pathology have been demonstrated to have research merit, it is clear that their practical or clinical application has been at best marginal. The general theories in family therapy have not yet led to the development of viable typologies.I believe there are three general theories which perhaps converge only in their acceptance of a process of victimization in families that may lead to the outbreak of psychiatric symptoms in members: the intergenerational, the communicational, and scapegoat theory. The paper describes these theories and suggests their strengths and limitations. The dominant family therapies that have arisen in the late 1970s are short-term approaches. These are especially favorable to the development of scapegoat theory, fit reasonably well with communicational theory, but are inconsistent with intergenerational theory.An invited lecture at the 11th International Congress of Psychotherapy in Amsterdam, August 28, 1979.     

Pastoral care for pastors: Toward a church strategy

Areas of stress in the ministry are compared with those in the other professions. After noting the similarities and outlining some of the unique areas of need in the ministerial profession, the author discusses some basic presuppositions about appropriate career support models. The specifics of one such judicatory support system are outlined briefly and are related to the specific needs discussed earlier. A plea is made for greater investment in pastoral care for pastors as a means of supporting effective ministry as well as of meeting the legitimate needs of the pastors.Prior to that time, he worked as a hospital chaplain-supervisor and for fourteen years was Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at the St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri.     

Story and promise in pastoral care

The writer describes the pastoral office and considers the difference his theological orientation makes in understanding its work. The gospel is described as narrative and as promise. As narrative it concerns a particular person, Jesus, and especially his passion and resurrection. Becoming Christian means allowing one's own story and that of one's communities to be shaped and reshaped by Jesus. As promise, the gospel comments on the final outcome of the human enterprise. Ministers are those to whom the community grants the burden of tending the life of the gospel in the church. Their temptation in pastoral care is to lose the specificity of the gospel in slogans that are temporary and partial, e.g., identifying health care with the liberation of the gospel. Pastoral care is described as sacramental and as eschatological.He is the author ofStory and Promise: A Brief Theology of the Gospel About Jesus.     

Toward a task-centered christianity

The concepts of task-centered (intrinsic) and self-centered (extrinsic) religion have been found useful in a psychological understanding of Christianity. The task-centered dimension is related to a healthy, mature religion, and the self-centered dimension is related to much that has been found to be unhealthy about religion. Theologically the former concept implies a turning to God and His work and away from self. Implications are discussed in terms of the pastor as a model of a task-centered and not a self-centered Christian. In the pastor's role of promoting task-centered religion, special attention is given to worship and to implications for ministering to people's hurts and troubles.     

Phenomenology and pastoral care

The author discusses phenomenology as a potential resource for pastoral care generally and then illustrates its implications in two specific areas of pastoral care. After a brief discussion of the development of phenomenology, he defines pastoral care and identifies its methodological problem. Phenomenology, it is argued, offers potentially helpful methods and interpretative categories in its attitude, its attempts at self-aware, ordered discernment, and its anthropology. It serves to militate against the temptation in pastoral care to understand human problems in terms of individual and social pathology, in the case of individuals, and to illumine the ways the community functions as a dimension of pastoral care.He is the author ofEcclesial Man.     

An experimental analysis of peer social initiations on the behavior of withdrawn preschool children: Some training and generalization effects

In this study, positive social initiations by an age-peer was evaluated as an intervention for isolate preschool children in training and generalization sessions. During baseline, the confederate made few social approaches to the target subjects. The confederate greatly increased his rate of positive social initations during the first intervention, decreased social approaches during a second baseline, and increased social approaches again in a second intervention phase. Increases in confederate initiations resulted in an immediate acceleration in the frequency of subjects' positive social behavior during training sessions. Additionally, for two of the three subjects, positive social behaviors were also observed to increase during generalization sessions. The results suggest that (a) peers may be trained successfully to set the occasion for positive social behaviors by withdrawn classmates, (b) increased social responding by withdrawn children in the presence of frequent peer social initiations may also generalize beyond the training setting, and (c) the magnitude of direct and generalization effects appears to be related to the entry-level repertoire of target children.