Three Reviews of For Life Abundant: Practical Theology,Theological Education,and Christian Ministry,edited by Dorothy C. Bass and Craig Dykstra, 2008

For Life Abundant, the fruit of sustained reflection among systematic theologians, practical theologians, and pastors, is an important new work that deserves attention. The volume provokes creative and critical thinking about practical theology. Its contributors conceptualize the field as a disciplined practice of imagination and skill residing at the confluence of Christian tradition and living ecclesial communities, and ask what such a construal of practical theology might mean for theological education. Given the significance of For Life Abundant, Teaching Theology and Religion asked three theological educators who are located in different regions, types of institutions, and fields, to review and respond to it. Rebecca Slough describes the volume's central questions and organization, and considers how it might contribute to the deliberations of a seminary faculty regarding a school's curriculum. Martha Stortz shows how the process and structure of For Life Abundant are in themselves illustrative of the conceptualization of practical theology for which it argues. Kwok Pui‐lan notes the volumes strengths and goes on to probe its lacunae, particularly with regard to global, gender, and multi‐cultural considerations relevant to a robust construal of pastoral theology in our time. While the authors of these three reviews and responses to the volume did not interact as they wrote them, together they comprise a conversation that should be on‐going. TTR invites further responses to the volume.     

Impact of the effort–reward imbalance model on intent to leave among Belgian health care workers: A prospective study

The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) model on intent to leave the current organization (ITL organization) and intent to leave the nursing profession (ITL profession) in a prospective way. A total of 1,531 health care workers who remained in their job filled in a self‐administered questionnaire at baseline and 1 year later. ERI was measured at baseline by a 23‐item questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Within a population with low intent to leave at baseline, we found that an imbalance between high efforts and low rewards (extrinsic hypothesis) increased the risk of high ITL organization (OR 4.98; 95% CI 2.07–11.97) and high ITL profession (OR 1.84; 95% CI 1.03–3.30), 1 year later. A high level of overcommitment (OC; intrinsic hypothesis) was not predictive for both intent to leave outcome variables, neither was the interaction between high efforts/low rewards and a high level of OC (interaction hypothesis). Our results showed that a perceived effort‐reward imbalance (ERI) at work is a significant predictor of intent to leave among health care workers. This contribution concludes with some directions aimed at boosting nurses' retention and recommendations for future research.     

Counselor Education and Supervision: The Development of the CACREP Doctoral Standards

The purpose of this article is to illuminate the unique features of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs guidelines and accreditation standards that shaped doctoral preparation in counselor education. Current issues that affect advanced training in counselor education and implications for future doctoral standards revisions are also presented.     

Distinctiveness in flashbulb memory: Comparative analysis of five terrorist attacks

The purpose of the present study was to find out whether a series of terrorist attacks, which share some common features, elicit flashbulb memories (of the personal circumstances in which the person first learned about these events) that are usually elicited by a single, unexpected, surprising, and personally important event. A total of 131 participants answered questions regarding details of five terrorist attacks that had taken place in Israel during the years 1995–1997. In addition, they assessed, for each of the five events, the number of overt rehearsals, and the degrees of emotional intensity, surprise, novelty, personal importance, and distinctiveness. Data analyses showed that most variables that are usually associated with the formation of flashbulb memories were also found in memories of the terrorist attacks that were judged by the participants as being distinctive. Distinctiveness may therefore be considered an important factor in the formation of flashbulb memories.     

The concept of ‘mine‘ 1

Misunderstanding of the word mine and its shifting relations to ‘pro‐attitudes’ inspired much of Aristotle's attack on collectivism at Politics 1261B 15ff. Similar misunderstandings contribute to certain criticisms leveled by modern conservatives like Goldwater against ‘welfarism’, they presuppose confused psychological and ethical doctrines. Thus semantically necessary truths may be misconstrued as entailing contingent propositions about political and economic arrangements. Different confusions about mine and ‘pro‐attitudes’ lend a correspondingly specious aura of certainty to some Platonic and Marxist claims. The ownership model of mine impedes our understanding of men.     

When in Rome… Identification and acculturation strategies among minority members moderate the dehumanisation of the majority outgroup

The study of humanness as a dimension of social judgment has received extensive attention over the past decade. Although the common reported finding is that people attribute more human characteristics to their ingroup than to the outgroup, similar tendencies are expected to be tempered for minority groups when judging the host society. In Study 1, carried out with Gypsy minority members, we tested the hypothesis that those group members who adopt an assimilative strategy identifying more with the host compared with the heritage culture will display the lowest levels of dehumanisation. In Studies 2 and 3, conducted with immigrants in Italy and in Portugal, respectively, the hypothesis was extended from an identification conceptualisation to an acculturation one. Despite significant variability in intergroup settings and measures, results confirmed our hypothesis that immigrants who choose to assimilate with the host culture dehumanise the outgroup less compared with those who adopt any of the other acculturation strategies. Implications for the ethnocentric nature of dehumanisation biases and for intergroup relations in general are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.