Ecumenical Attitudes as Criteria for Ecumenical Relations

Abstract

Quality of relationship is required to manifest the unity of the Church, together with common confession of faith and mutually recognized order. This is one of the lessons learnt from the history of Faith and Order, a think-tank now more than seventy-five years old on the premises for the unity of the Church. The author of this article contends that criteria for such quality can be seen in attitudes, defining the relationship required for communion in and between institutional churches of different traditions. The BEM document of 1982 and the processes required in that document offer excellent examples of ecumenical attitudes. This document has also been pivotal for the establishment of bilateral agreements, like the Porvoo agreement between Anglican and Lutheran Churches. The ecumenical attitude of mutual accountability, described as openness, reliability and ability to give and take criticism, is important in the development of an ecumenical ecclesiology. The article uses Ivar Asheim's ethics of attitude and provides examples of how these attitudes influence ecumenical processes, such as BEM, Porvoo and Leuenberg.     

Sola Scriptura—A Hermeneutical Impossibility and a Doctrinal Necessity: Twenty‐One Theses

The following theses represent an attempt to delineate some of the contemporary basic conditions for maintaining the use of the sola Scriptura in the Lutheran churches. This must, I argue, be done without using it as a means for ignoring other types of information and experience than that which is contained in the Scriptures. I argue that sola Scriptura formulates what is necessary for salvation, but cannot be used to delineate or present all information that is necessary to live in the contemporary world and interpret all contemporary experience.     

Inequality constrained analysis of variance: a Bayesian approach

Researchers often have one or more theories or expectations with respect to the outcome of their empirical research. When researchers talk about the expected relations between variables if a certain theory is correct, their statements are often in terms of one or more parameters expected to be larger or smaller than one or more other parameters. Stated otherwise, their statements are often formulated using inequality constraints. In this article, a Bayesian approach to evaluate analysis of variance or analysis of covariance models with inequality constraints on the (adjusted) means is presented. This evaluation contains two issues: estimation of the parameters given the restrictions using the Gibbs sampler and model selection using Bayes factors in the case of competing theories. The article concludes with two illustrations: a one-way analysis of covariance and an analysis of a three-way table of ordered means.     

The Epidemiology of Homicide followed by Suicide: A Systematic and Quantitative Review

This systematic review of population based studies of homicide followed by suicide was conducted to examine the associations between rates of homicide‐suicide, rates of other homicides and rates of suicide. The review analysed 64 samples, including the case of an outlier (Greenland) that were reported in 49 studies. There was a significant association between the rates of homicide‐suicide and those of other homicides in studies from the U.S.A. Outside the U.S.A. there was no clear association between homicide‐suicide and other homicide but there was modest but significant association between rates of suicide and homicide‐suicide. Homicide‐suicide appears to be closer in epidemiological terms to homicide than suicide in regions with high rates of homicide and measures to reduce homicide in these regions may also reduce homicide‐suicide.