Eudaimonism,Virtue, and Self‐Sacrifice

This essay introduces some of the key topics at stake in the ongoing controversies about the place of eudaimonism in Christian ethics and theology. Whether and in what way a person should seek her or his own happiness and flourishing has been a central question in ethics for centuries. Here I summarize the contributions the essays in this focus issue make to that conversation, and conclude by briefly sketching a Neoplatonist approach to eudaimonism that may offer a way to build on the insights and concerns articulated in the focus essays.     

A Psychiatrist's Experience of Death Terror

ABSTRACT: An episode of total paralysis (from medication) with full consciousness is described and its relation to death terror is discussed.     

Grace as Pardon and Power: Pictures of the Christian Life in Luther, Calvin, and Barth

Christians have long understood grace both as a declaration of acceptance and as a power that transforms. This article illumines two theses while investigating the relationship between these understandings of grace in Luther, Calvin, and Barth's development of the law/gospel dialectic and the doctrines of justification and sanctification. First, though each theologian makes use of both understandings of grace, each also tends to emphasize one over the other. The unity and tension within and between these perspectives help to show that while both pictures are of the greatest importance for each other and cannot be separated, they also exist in tension, as long as they are worked out in the lives of sinners. Second, the author claims that the positions of Luther and Barth are more alike than is generally recognized.     

Alliance and Group Cohesion in Relationship Education

Relationship education programs have been shown as an effective way to increase relationship functioning. There is less known about how process factors, such as alliance with the leader or group dynamics, affect outcomes in these interventions. We examined group cohesion and alliance with the leader in a relationship education program tailored for individuals. Specifically, we examined whether participants' ratings (n = 126) of the group cohesion and alliance with the leader were associated with changes in relationship adjustment, relationship confidence, and communication quality from pre‐ to postintervention. The results demonstrated that participants' perceptions of the cohesion among the members in their relationship education group, but not the leader–participant alliance, made a significant contribution to the changes in participants' relationship functioning. These results suggest that the group dynamics among the members in the group are important ingredients in relationship education. Implications for relationship programs are provided.