The God of Chance and Purpose

The author argues that ontological randomness is genuine, and that God does not determine the outcome of every scientifically random event, but instead controls randomness by setting broad boundaries. Through paleontological examination, this paper looks at how randomness shapes the world from the bottom up. However, the phenomena known as convergence indicate that evolution through natural selection may proceed along various paths, but the destinations are few. Thus there is a dichotomy: randomness is constrained within pattern.     

王肃易学刍议

本文以王肃易学为中心,概述了魏晋之际经学大师王肃的易学之来源、性质、内容、作用及其发生、发展的内在和外在原因。认为王肃易学是郑玄易学和王粥易学的中间环节,对于义理派经学具有较大的影响。     

MAKING SENSE OF EMERGENCE: A CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT WITH LEIDENHAG,LEIDENHAG, AND YONG

A number of theologians engaged in the theology and science dialogue—particularly Pentecostal theologian Amos Yong—employ emergence as a framework to discuss special divine action as well as causation initiated by other spiritual realities, such as angels and demons. Mikael and Joanna Leidenhag, however, have issued concerns about its application. They argue that Yong employs supernaturalistic themes with implications that render the concept of emergence obsolete. Further, they claim that Yong's use of emergence theory is inconsistent because he highlights the ontological independence of various spirits in the world concurrently with his advocation of supervenience theory. In view of these concerns, Leidenhag and Leidenhag urge Yong to depart from his application of emergence theory. In what follows, we plan to address each of these criticisms and demonstrate that they are tenuous, if not unwarranted, especially in light of a kenotic‐relational pneumatology.     

Widening the temporal window: processing support in the treatment of aphasic language production

Investigations of language processing in aphasia have increasingly implicated performance factors such as slowed activation and/or rapid decay of linguistic information. This approach is supported by studies utilizing a communication system (SentenceShaper) which functions as a "processing prosthesis." The system may reduce the impact of processing limitations by allowing repeated refreshing of working memory and by increasing the opportunity for aphasic subjects to monitor their own speech. Some aphasic subjects are able to produce markedly more structured speech on the system than they are able to produce spontaneously, and periods of largely independent home use of SentenceShaper have been linked to treatment effects, that is, to gains in speech produced without the use of the system. The purpose of the current study was to follow up on these studies with a new group of subjects. A second goal was to determine whether repeated, unassisted elicitations of the same narratives at baseline would give rise to practice effects, which could undermine claims for the efficacy of the system.     

Population size and suicide in U.S. cities: a static and dynamic exploration

The relationship between city population size and suicide rates rarely has been examined directly, though scholars often assume such a relationship exists based on studies of the association between suicide rates and urbanization (percent of the population living in cities) in various social contexts. In an effort to determine the basic association between suicide rates and city population size, we analyze data for four time points, 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990, using a random sample of U.S. cities with 10,000 or more population in 1960. In addition, we conduct a time series analysis of change in population size and change in suicide rates over a two decade period. Results indicate that an association between population and suicide is atypical, and even when observed is highly sensitive to methodological specifications. The results call into question the notion that larger city population size is conducive to suicide as well as the assumption that studies of suicide and urbanization can substitute for studies of suicide and city population size.