RADICAL ORTHODOXY AND THE NEW CULTURE OF OBSCURANTISM

Centering around a careful, sustained critique of John Milbank's polemic against Kant, this essay connects the growing anti‐philosophical sentiments in theology to a wider anti‐rational trend in the human sciences generally. What most visibly unifies these new obscurantist outlooks is their reliance on free‐floating, unapologetically self‐perpetuating ideological historiographies, which are advanced via a kind of “co‐opt‐and‐plunder” approach to historical texts. However, the rejection of rational integrity also entails a rejection of the traditional intellectual virtues—attentiveness, consistency, modesty, charity etc.—virtues which any theological claim to orthodoxy cannot do without. Radical Orthodoxy therefore risks a worrying slide into new forms of esoteric gnosticism.     

A META-ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONAL REASONING TESTS OF AGGRESSION

James et al. (2005) reported an estimate of criterion-related validity (corrected only for dichotomization of criteria) of r = .44 across 11 conditional reasoning test of aggression (CRT-Aggression) validity studies. This meta-analysis incorporated a total sample size more than twice that of James et al. Our comparable validity estimate for CRT-Aggression scales predicting counterproductive work behaviors was r = .16. Validity for the current, commercially marketed test version (CRT-A) was lower (r = .10). These validity estimates increased somewhat (into the .24–.26 range) if studies using dichotomous criteria with low base rates were excluded from the meta-analysis. CRT-Aggression scales were correlated r = .14 with measures of job performance. As we differed with James et al. in some of our coding decisions, we reran all analyses using James et al.'s coding decisions and arrived at extremely similar results.     

LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOR IN THE THEOLOGY OF KARL RAHNER AND KARL BARTH

The way Barth and Rahner envision the relationship between the commands to love God and neighbor is affected by their views of the relationship between the immanent and economic Trinity. Rahner identifies the immanent and economic Trinity; thinks the two commands are identical, and believes that self‐acceptance is the same as accepting Christ and revelation. Barth insists that, while identical in content, the immanent and economic Trinity must be sharply distinguished without separation; insists the two commands are inseparable but not identical and maintains that we must seek God only in Christ. This divergence, I contend, results from their very dissimilar understandings of nature and grace and is rooted in their different starting points for theology, namely, transcendental experience for Rahner and God's Word and Spirit for Barth.     

On the Perceived Non-Utility of Research in Counseling

Additional observations about the perceived non-utility of research are offered in terms of relevance and rigor, practicum training, practitioners' work environments, and efficiency of information exchange.     

THE EFFECT OF POSITIONING A MESSAGE WITHIN DIFFERENTIALLY COGNITIVELY INVOLVING PORTIONS OF A TELEVISION SEGMENT ON RECALL OF THE MESSAGE

The effect on message recall of placing a message within differentially cognitively-involving portions of a complex audiovisual program was examined. In an experimental design that controlled for time of total exposure to stimulus material and for the time interval between exposure to a test message and later recall and interest tests, subjects viewed a program package consisting of a commercial, a pretested segment of an action-adventure program, and an especially created control in one of four conditions of commercial placement: (1) the commercial was placed between two moderately involving portions of the program which occurred a few minutes prior to both the action-climax and the resolution of the suspense, (2) the commercial was placed immediately subsequent to the highly involving climax and immediately prior to the moderately involving resolution, (3) the commercial was placed subsequent to the climax and immediately subsequent to the resolution, or (4) the commercial was placed between two minimally involving portions of the control communication. Assessments of message recall were taken on one-half of the subjects shortly after they had completed viewing the experimental materials. In order to assess for long-term effects, the remainder of the subjects received a similar recall test and a test of interest in the product depicted in the commercial message one month after the experimental viewing session had been completed. The findings supported the proposition that recall of message content is inversely related to the cognitive involvement potential of the program material presented immediately before and after the critical message.