Reply to Wilkinson

In his review of my book Whose Body is It Anyway, Wilkinson criticises the view (which I defend) that confiscating live body parts for the sake of the needy is (under some circumstances) a requirement of justice. Wilkinson makes the following three points: (a) the confiscation thesis is problematic on its own terms; (b) there is a way to justify coercive resource transfers without being committed to it; (c) the thesis rests on a highly questionable approach to the status of the body. Wilkinson’s paper is challenging, and some of his points are well taken. On the whole, however, it does not constitute an insurmountable challenge for my thesis.

Jesus, Historians, and the Psychology of Historiography: A Response to My Respondents

It is remarkable to me that my book became a part of the SBL Dissertation Series. For this I thank Walter Wink who brought the work to the attention of, Wayne Rollins. And I am thankful to Wayne Rollins for bringing the book to the attention of the right people at the SBL, most particularly Rex D. Matthews and Mark Allan Powell. I am grateful to Mark Allan Powell for promoting the process of publication so we would have a book in hand at the Psychology and Biblical Studies book review session, now over two years ago. I am very appreciative of Lewis Rambo, editor of this journal, and J. Harold Ellens, special editor of this issue, for making possible the continued discussion of these ideas.     

REDEFINING MYTH AND RELIGION: INTRODUCTION TO A CONVERSATION

Abstract. Minimally, myth means "story," and religion means "that which binds" a community into a coherent unity. Myth and religion are closely associated because a shared myth is the most efficient and effective means for achieving social coherence. Ancient myths were initially formulated in terms of the science of their day, Thus, an integration of science, myth, and religion is essential to a healthy culture. As these elements become disintegrated there arises a need to generate new mythic visions. The question of our day is whether science offers resources relevant to the expression of a new myth.     

NATURE, HISTORY, AND GOD: TOWARD AN INTEGRATED CONCEPTUALIZATION

Abstract. In this paper I attempt to bring the ancient symbol God into a meaningful and illuminating conceptual relationship with modern understandings of the development of the cosmos, the evolution of life, and the movements of human history. The term "God" is taken to designate that reality (whatever it may be) which grounds and undergirds all that exists, including us humans; that reality which provides us humans with such fulfillment or salvation as we may find; that reality toward which we must turn, therefore, if we would flourish. I suggest that the cosmos can quite properly be interpreted today in terms of two fundamental ideas: (1) a notion of "cosmic serendipitous creativity," (2) the expression of which is through "directional movements" or "trajectories" of various sorts that work themselves out in longer and shorter stretches of time. In a universe understood in these terms, the symbol "God" may be taken to designate the underlying creativity working in and through all things, and in particular working in and through the evolutionary-historical trajectory on which human existence has appeared and by which it is sustained. The symbol "God" can thus perform once again its important function of helping to focus human consciousness, devotion, and work in a way appropriate to the actual world and the enormous problems with which men and women today must come to terms; but the ancient dualistic pattern of religious piety and thinking in which God is regarded as a supernatural Creator and governor of the world—so hard to integrate with modern conceptions of nature and history—is thoroughly overcome.     

Mythological Underpinnings of Feminine Development

In the manner of Oedipus Rex, the myth of Myrrha—a story about a daughter's initiation of sex with her father—promises to divulge insights about feminine development. Given parallels between these two myths, the author asks why Jung identified Electra rather than Myrrha as the feminine counterpart to Oedipus, and revisits Freud's and Jung's differing interpretations of the incest theme in personality development. To break open the metaphor of Myrrha's incest, the author analyzes a similar account of incest in the Old Testament story of Lot and his wife and finds that they share a theme of female bitterness related to wounding of the mother and its arresting effect on the daughter's maturation. The article then considers the Demeter-Persephone myth, a tale not of incest but rape in Persephone's initiation into womanhood. In contrast to Myrrha, Persephone's development unfolds with strong maternal support tempered by the opposing claims on her by the masculine. The article draws these stories together to illuminate the archetypal forces that drive feminine development as well as the human affairs that resist and complicate them. The article concludes with a case study of a client whose developmental “stuckness” follows the contours of the Myrrha myth.     

消费时代大众文化的审美伦理与哲学省思

随着经济全球化的发展,以消费主义为标志的后现代文化思潮对中国当代社会的全方位浸染已是在所难免,以情感制作与“快适伦理”为表征的“后情感主义”审美趋向日渐明朗。然而,大众文化承诺给人们的欢乐神话与身体解放,却往往陷入娱乐透支后的身心疲乏和性感聚焦后的精神空幻,形象的欲望满足取代了文化的意义追索,审美正义与文化伦理成为亟待解决的现实问题。消费时代的大众文化完全无视生命中的“痛苦”、“严肃”、“庄严”与“意志”一端,沉溺于“人生幻觉”“瞬间的快感”,在世俗娱乐中丧失起码的自知与清明,不但以“媚俗”为荣甚至以“恶俗”为乐,踏越了文化伦理的底线,使中国文化道统愈陷困境。     

Training to be a volunteer Rape Crisis counsellor: a qualitative study of women's experiences

This is an account of a qualitative study designed to elicit and analyse the narratives of women who had trained to be volunteer counsellors at a Rape Crisis centre. Little prior research has focused on the experiences of workers in Rape Crisis centres and this project was designed to explore women's experiences in ways that were meaningful to them. The research methods used were face-to-face, unstructured, in-depth individual interviews and group sessions. Participants in the individual interviews had all undertaken Rape Crisis training within the preceding two years. The group sessions involved all workers who were actively involved with the Rape Crisis centre at the time of the research. Five themes emerged from an inductive analysis of the data: motivation to train, complexity and change, changes in personal relationships, personal change and feminism. Overall the study highlights the complex, transformative processes that volunteer Rape Crisis counsellors may experience. The article concludes by identifying implications for practice that may serve to enhance training for volunteer counsellors in the future.     

E.O. Wilson's Conquest of Earth

The publication of Edward O. Wilson's recent book, The Social Conquest of Earth, launches a new missile in the purported warfare between science and religion. The launching-pad is Wilson's embracing of group selection over kin selection to explain the evolutionary success of cooperation and even altruism in complex social groups. Rather than the selfish gene, groups of genetically diverse individuals who cooperate with one another drive evolution toward increased social organization, toward eusociality. Within the field of sociobiology, this is interesting. But Wilson does not stop here. He proceeds to engage in combat with all competing points of view, especially religious points of view. By relegating religion to a primitive stage of evolution and elevating science to an advanced stage, he provides justification for science to eliminate all its enemies and to establish hegemony in the worldview war. This article provides a critical analysis of Wilson's scientific method, especially his attempt to replace creation myths with his own scientized myths of origin. It concludes that Wilson need not do battle, because he could find among theologians allies in his understanding of human nature and his concern to make the world a better moral place.     

Mental time travel after trauma: The specificity and temporal distribution of autobiographical memories and future-directed thoughts

The present study investigated the relationship between trauma exposure and specificity and temporal distribution of autobiographical memories and future-directed thoughts. A group of sexual assault victims were compared with women without previous trauma exposure in relation to specificity of autobiographical memories, as measured by the Autobiographical Memory Task (AMT) and specificity of future-directed thoughts as measured by the Future Cueing Task (FCT). The temporal distribution of future-directed thoughts and autobiographical memories was studied by asking the participants to estimate when each memory reported on the AMT had occurred and when each future event reported on the FCT would occur. The results showed no difference between the trauma group and the controls on specificity of autobiographical memories and future-directed thoughts. In line with a review of Moore and Zoellner (2007), PTSD symptoms as measured by the Impact of Event Scale (IES) correlated negatively with specificity. Furthermore, we observed no difference in temporal distribution of future-directed thoughts or autobiographical memories between trauma exposed participants and controls.     

Myth and Legend in Family Therapy: Maintaining the Distinction Between the Sacred and Secular in Family Process

Family therapy has blurred the distinction between the sacred (myth) and the secular (legend) with resultant ethical implications, and has also created problematic cross-cultural considerations with its use of “myth.” The objectives of this paper are (a) to briefly introduce the evolution of the concept of “myth” in folklore; (b) to identify specific problems resulting from the current utilization of the term “myth” by family therapists; and (c) to demonstrate how appropriate usage of the concepts “myth” and “legend” from folklore theory radically decreases the confusion created in comparison to the present reliance on the term “myth” alone. Kimberly Ann Holle, MS, MSW, LSW, LCDC -III, CADC, graduated from the College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, in June, 2005. Ms. Holle now resides in Columbus, Georgia, USA (kimmers.1212@aol.com).