Youth Exposure to Community Violence: Association with Aggression,Victimization, and Risk Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between exposure to community violence and aggression, victimization, and risk-taking behaviors among young adolescents. Secondary analysis was conducted on data from a cross-sectional survey of 8,259 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students from eight urban schools in Texas. Results indicated that students exposed to a high level of community violence were 7.7 times more likely to carry a handgun, 5.2 times more likely to be involved in a gang were 6.4 times more likely to use marijuana, 5.3 times more likely to binge drink, and 2.8 times more likely to be injured as a result of fighting. This suggests the need for an interdisciplinary approach to violence prevention that targets all the environments of youth, including schools, homes, neighborhoods, and other community units.     

Modern civilization: Its demise Rubin Gotesky

This paper presented during the Physis: Inhabiting the Earth conference, Florence, Italy, October 28–31,1986 examines how new brain research, by radically expanding our knowledge of the physiological foundation for empirical social science, makes possible a new understanding of the nature of higher mind and the place of the human being in evolution. It reports research supporting a model of right, left and frontal brain interaction in forecasting. It also describes development of measures and methods indicating a primarily frontal brain guidance system for higher mind consisting of futures, systems, social, moral, and managerial sensitivities. Driving and shaping this guidance system, and thereby human cultural evolution, appears to be the function of our dialectical construction of the Image of the Future.     

Reformation,Africa, and Diakonia

What does the inheritance of Reformation mean for Africa in church and in society in the context of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace of the World Council of Churches? This article argues that the commemoration of the Reformation provides important markers for the global and ecumenical context drawing from the three dimensions of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace; namely, celebrating the gifts of the Reformation, visiting the wounds of injustices, and identifying areas that require transformation or have already showed signs of hope for transformation toward justice for all. Throughout the conversation, there is constant questioning of what the Reformation should look like in the context of Africa to reject distortion of truth and embrace the experience of justice for all. For the way forward, the proposal is made that focusing on action through diakonia will bring meaningful transformation in the church and society in a way that promotes ecumenism and life in fullness for all the children of God and God's creation.     

和平与发展问题的伦理思考

和平原则的道德价值,主要表现在对生存原则的肯定、尊重和对不同社会形态、意识形态、文化背景、价值观念的包容。道德融入发展的意义,主要体现在人类最大限度地共享发展带来的丰硕成果的同时,能不断提高自身的文明程度和道德水准,以及促使世界各国谋求发展的目的和手段道德化。和平与共同发展原则不仅是国际关系的基本原则,同时也应成为国际关系伦理的基本原则。     

Witnessing Together to Christ's Compassionate Love

This is the text of the address on 31 August 2022 of the moderator of the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the WCC's 11th Assembly, which took place in Karlsruhe, Germany, from 31 August to 8 September 2022.