Ecumenism and Global Governance

On 21 June 2018, on his 23rd international journey, Pope Francis travelled to Geneva to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the World Council of Churches. The Swiss city also hosts a large number of representative international institutions dealing with global governance and the issues of peace, human rights, and migration. After reviewing the main highlights of the journey, this article discusses its significance: to appeal to the common commitment of Christians to proclaim the gospel and its power of salvation in a divided and wounded world. In this way, Pope Francis underlined that in the pluralistic society of today, harmony is not possible if we just ignore faith and focus on what it means to be human while excluding the transcendent. Indeed, it is the gospel that promotes harmony and commitment to a better world.     

Freedom,Love, and Justice

This article starts from love as being a fundamental value, guiding modes of behaviour that establish a reliable framework and basis for the recognition of the rights and dignity of everyone in the community. The affirmation of justice and freedom based on love leads to corrective and transformative action in cases where life is threatened and rights are being violated. Drawing on the experience and witness of Martin Luther King Jr, the article underlines that love empowers the oppressed to stand up and becomes a moral imperative for change, against the background of the many forces promoting conflict and violence, division, and polarization. The power of love is a message to the world, to the powerful, and to the powerless – to all who long for a different reality from what we see in today’s world. This needs to be expressed in the quest for the unity of the church and the unity of humankind, serving the sustainability and unity of God’s creation.     

The Future of Multilateral Ecumenical Dialogue

This article offers an overview of work undertaken in multilateral ecumenical dialogue, as it has been conducted at the international level by the commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC), to clarify the issues discussed in this dialogue and the methods used. In particular, the article analyzes the statements on unity made at various WCC assemblies. While they demonstrate a certain continuity regarding the key points of church unity they identify, they clearly mark a shift in the overall understanding of how unity is conceived. The second part of the article examines the current ecumenical situation and its importance for this dialogue, to show how Faith and Order has responded and what further progress in multilateral dialogue might look like.     

A Plea for Internormative Ethics

Plurality of life forms and value systems is a given (almost) everywhere on earth. Imposing on them a value system or individual values and virtues from an exterior position is rather counterproductive. Value systems are normative for individual communities but not the same. They are to relate to each other and to interact, negotiating with each other common goals and the validity and limits of values involved in their relationships and shared action. Anything else leads to tensions and violence. Internormative ethics reflect on such interaction of value systems.     

反馈评估的局部背景依赖效应：ERP研究

人脑对反馈的评估依赖于其所处背景。但是只能依赖整体背景(整个组块的结果范围), 还是可以依赖局部背景(单个试次的结果范围)进行评估, 目前并不清楚。本研究通过获益/损失线索操纵所在试次的反馈背景, 探讨反馈评估仅依赖整体背景, 还是可延伸到局部水平。25名被试参与实验。结果发现, 背景试次间变化时, 在获益背景下, ￥0 (负反馈)比+ ￥4 (正反馈)引发更负的FRN (feedback-related negativity); 在损失背景下, - ￥4 (负反馈)比￥0 (正反馈)引发更负的FRN。这一结果说明反馈评估以某线索背景中可能的结果为参考对象, FRN的背景依赖可以延伸到局部水平。结合前人研究, 推测任务类型和反馈真实性会调节背景依赖水平。在含真实反馈的主动性任务中, FRN的背景依赖效应可延伸至局部水平。     

Difference to One: A Nuanced Early Chinese Account of Tong

The graph tong同and its associated concepts, such as da-tong (Great tong大同) and xuan-tong (mystic or dark tong玄同), have played important roles in the development of Chinese philosophy. Yet tong has received scant attention from either western or eastern scholarships. This paper is a first attempt to remedy such regret. Unlike usual understandings of tong as sameness or unity, this paper presents a nuanced account from early China, that is, ‘difference to one,’ a definition from the Mozi墨子. This definition can be supported from etymological, textual, and lexical evidence. ‘Difference to one’ should not be solely attributed to a Mohist understanding; it in fact represents a common understanding of tong across philosophical streams in early China. This nuanced account provides new insights into the concept of tong in early philosophical texts, and furthermore breaks solid grounds for further studies of tong and its associated concepts.     

Contextual Adaptation of the Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Victims of the Armed Conflict in Colombia: A Case Study

The delivery of a contextually adapted version of the Unified Protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders is illustrated through a case study of an internally displaced female victim of armed conflict in Colombia. A detailed account of how her history of continuous traumatic events and her forced displacement resulted in multiple emotional disorders and behaviors which hindered her ability to react to daily stressors illustrates the particular conditions of individuals exposed to extreme violence. Emphasis is placed on how her culture and context required adaptations of evidence-based interventions. The contextually adapted UP (CXA-UP) is described in “slow-motion,” through a session-by-session account of the procedure along with the specific changes in each module. Outcome measures showed four positive diagnoses at pretreatment, but none at posttreatment, 3-month, or 2-year follow-up. Implications for global applications with individuals in similar contexts and for widening access to such interventions are discussed.     

Impact of maternal adverse childhood experiences on child socioemotional function in rural Kenya: Mediating role of maternal mental health

Mothers in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC) suffer heightened vulnerability for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which is exacerbated by the multitude of risk factors associated with poverty and may lead to increased risk of psychiatric disorder. The constellation of complex, co‐occurring biological, environmental, social, economic and psychological risk factors are in turn transmitted to her child, conferring vulnerability for adverse development. This study examines the association between maternal intra‐ and extra‐familial ACEs, maternal education and the mental health of her child, mediated by maternal mental health. Mother‐child dyads (n = 121) in Machakos, Kenya were examined cross‐sectionally using self‐report measures of ACEs, maternal mental health and child internalizing and externalizing mental health problems. The four models proposed to examine the relationship between intra‐ and extra‐familial maternal ACEs and child internalizing and externalizing problems demonstrated indirect pathways through maternal mental health. These effects were found to be conditional on levels of maternal education, which served as a protective factor at lower levels of maternal ACEs. These models demonstrate how the impact of ACEs persists across the lifespan resulting in a negative impact on maternal mental health and conferring further risk to subsequent generations. Elucidating the association between ACEs and subsequent intergenerational sequelae, especially in LMIC where risk is heightened, may improve targeted caregiver mental health programs for prevention and intervention.     

The ecumenical commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in Western Europe

This article explores why the Lutheran/Roman Catholic commemoration of the Reformation in 2017 is an ecumenical challenge par excellence. In particular it contrasts the context of the 2017 commemoration with that of previous centenaries and goes more deeply into this by analysing the dialectics of centenaries both in general and with respect to this very special centenary. It also describes major changes in the relationship between Protestants and Catholics, presenting other main aspects of the new context in which that commemoration is taking place in 2017, and addressing different aspects of commemoration. It offers an analysis of how the Catholic/Lutheran Commission on Unity overcame the hindrances to a common commemoration and celebration in its document ‘From Conflict to Communion’, opening the way for a twofold commemoration, both in joy and gratitude, and in lament and confession of guilt. The article also focuses on five ecumenical imperatives which this document offers, not only looking back, but also looking forward, committing Catholics and Protestants to continue their way from conflict to communion. It concludes by describing the highly remarkable service of Common Prayer, which took place in Lund Cathedral, with Pope Francis, for which the above document prepared the way and formed the basis. It becomes clear how theological preparation and the Common Prayer in Lund concurred in making possible a historic ecumenical commemoration and celebration of the Reformation.