'NOLI ME TANGERE': WHY JOHN MEIER WON'T TOUCH THE RISEN LORD

John Meier distinguishes ‘the real Jesus’ from ‘the historical Jesus’. Meier claims that whatever happened to the real Jesus after his death, his resurrection cannot belong to the historical Jesus because that event is in principle not open to the observation of any observer. But why think that the resurrection is not observable in this way? Meier finds justification in Gerald O'Collins' view that although the resurrection of Jesus is a real event, it is not an event in space and time and hence should not be called historical, since a necessary condition of historical occurrences is that they are known to have happened in our space‐time continuum. Is this a good argument for the resurrection's being in principle excludable from the historical Jesus? A close examination of the argument reveals that it is not and that Meier's adoption of such a procedure contradicts Meier's own historical methodology.     

The Meaning of Employee Engagement

The meaning of employee engagement is ambiguous among both academic researchers and among practitioners who use it in conversations with clients. We show that the term is used at different times to refer to psychological states, traits, and behaviors as well as their antecedents and outcomes. Drawing on diverse relevant literatures, we offer a series of propositions about (a) psychological state engagement; (b) behavioral engagement; and (c) trait engagement. In addition, we offer propositions regarding the effects of job attributes and leadership as main effects on state and behavioral engagement and as moderators of the relationships among the 3 facets of engagement. We conclude with thoughts about the measurement of the 3 facets of engagement and potential antecedents, especially measurement via employee surveys.     

Forty Years of Using Labels to Communicate About Nontraditional Students: Does It Help or Hurt?

This article deals with two topics: how the education literature describes minority students and how to communicate with minority students effectively. An analysis of articles in the Education Index since 1950 showed that, despite increased concern for minorities in the literature, the labels used to describe them may have done much to exacerbate problems. When talking to minority students, the writers recommend using Bowen's differentiation concept to discuss racism and negotiating systems. Recognizing and responding sensitively to interethnic differences can improve the quality of communications. Este manuscrito trata dos temas: Como la literatura educativa describe a los estudiantes de minorías étnicas, y cómo comunicarse efectivamente con ellos. Un análisis de articulos en el Education Index desde 1.950 muestra que a pesar de un aumento de preocupación en la literatura por los grupos de minorías étnicas, es posible que los motes dirigidos a “cultura” han hecho mucho para exacerbar problemas sociales y educativos. También al hablar con estudiantes pertenecientes a minorías étnicas, la falta de émfasis en la historia de sus culturas podría causar problemas al intentar construir una relación. Se recomendó el uso de motes menos reactivos para cuando se habla de ellos y una fórmula para conjeturar sobre sus historias cuando se habla con ellos.     

A Study of Prejudice Toward University Student-Athletes

The attitudes of 293 first-time entering students at a large, public eastern university were measured using the revised Situational Attitude Scale (SAS) Student-Athlete. The findings suggested that freshman students perceived student-athletes negatively in situations dealing with academic competence. The contention was made to include the student-athlete culture as one susceptible to prejudice and discrimination. Student-athletes should be educated to the “isms” they may be facing from their peers in the classroom and on the campus. These results also indicated the need to include the student-athlete culture when engaging in “ism” reduction efforts with members of the campus community. Se midieron las actitudes de 293 estudiantes del primer año en una universidad pública grande en el este, usando el Revised Situational Attitude Scale (SAS) Student-Athlete. Los resultados sugieren que los estudiantes del primer año perciben a los estudiantes-atletas de una manera negativa en situaciones que tienen que ver con la competencia académica. Se discutió la visión de la cultura estudiante-atleta como susceptible de prejuicio y discriminación. Se debe educar a los estudiantes-atletas sobre los “-ismos” que ellos podrán encontrar en el aula y en el campus. Estos resultados también indican la necesidad de incluir la cultura estudiante-atleta cuando los miembros de una comunidad universitaria intentan reducir los “-ismos.”     

As the Twig Is Bent? The Myth of Child-Rearing Influences on Personality Development

Social scientists and laypersons alike believe that child-rearing styles and family environments are formative of personality traits such as shyness and activity level, intellectual traits such as IQ, and psychopathology. After 100 years of behavioral genetic research, however, including new studies of twins raised apart and together, little factual support for this “common sense” proposition can be found. Nonintellectual traits seem to be determined instead by genetic influences and by relatively specific environmental influences, most of which are not particularly tied to the family or parental treatments. Intellectual traits show modest family environmental influence, but that influence may diminish in importance after childhood. I conclude that parents should be given less credit for children who turn out well and should take less blame for children who turn out poorly. Counselors who blame parents less for children's behavioral outcomes—especially extreme traits and psychopathology—may find those parents to be more willing helpers in those intervention processes that have been shown to work.