Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941): mysticism and worship

This article focuses on some themes in the work of Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941). It is now over a century since she began work on the first version of Mysticism (1911). She was a pioneer not only in the study she undertook for this book, but in the specifically Christian theology she was bold enough to work out from it, with Christ in person the paradigm mystic. The Latin Mass of her day she deemed both as recapitulating Christ's own experience, as well as re-presenting the stability and growth of his ‘Body’ present at the Eucharist. Once recommitted to the Church of England in 1921, at a time of liturgical revision and in a deeply troubled political era, her concentration on Christ's sacrifice led her to embrace pacifism as the world lurched towards World War II. Her theological work, summed up in her final major book Worship (1936), reveals her continuing preoccupation with the question of how Christology integrates with liturgy, and therefore with the living of a distinctively Christian life.     

A Lutheran Reflection on The One Mediator,The Saints,and Mary1 in Relation to the Question: How Do Lutherans Understand Prayer for Other People?2

Abstract : In this article, the author offers a critical, appreciative appraisal of The One Mediator, The Saints, and Mary (1992), which was the publication that emerged from the eighth round of the U.S. Lutheran‐Catholic Dialogue. Writing from a Lutheran perspective and using the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ, October 31, 1999) as a critical hermeneutical lens, the author points to Luther's theological conviction concerning how Mary—the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ—and departed saints are to be regarded. Luther's emphasis on Christ the only Mediator was highlighted. Reflection on this text was done in light of the theme of the dialogue's eleventh round, “The Hope of Eternal Life.” Prayer is always in and through Jesus Christ.     

Mindfulness and Contemplation: Secular and Religious Traditions in Western Context

This article considers the growth of mindfulness as a secular practice embedded in a culture that is pluralistic but still primed by Western religion and spirituality. Eastern and Western meditational practices are compared and contrasted for greater understanding of the strengths of each. Western contemplative practices are described as an attentional training process with common factors related to mindfulness. Even as Eastern and Western meditational forms are distinguished, the shared concerns of those who value a religious–spiritual perspective in counseling are raised. Ethical implications are discussed related to informed consent, competence, and multicultural awareness.     

Center,Light, and Sound: The Psychological Benefits of Three Distinct Meditative Practices

Meditation has been a popular topic in counseling and psychological research in recent years. However, other meditative practices have been gaining exposure recently of which counselors may not be aware. The current article provides a brief overview of 3 meditative practices: centering prayer, jyoti meditation, and acem meditation. The purpose of this article is to provide counselors with introductions to alternative meditative practices that may be otherwise overshadowed.     

A Survey of Recent Scholarship on the New Testament and Aging and Suggestions for Future Research

ABSTRACT

This article has a double agenda. In the first section, it identifies and selectively surveys nine areas that have figured prominently in recent scholarship on aging and the elderly in the New Testament. In the second section, it identifies areas for future research. Particularly emphasized is the challenge of exploring the relationship between the New Testament material and the Greco-Roman world. In order to do this, it is necessary to identify attitudes, roles, and practices that surround aging and the elderly in that cultural context. Some resources and questions that may serve as starting points for further research are indicated.     

Praying to Die

Prayer has long been a staple in the proverbial Jewish medical toolbox. While the vast majority of relevant prayers seek renewed health and prolonged life, what might prayers for someone to die look like? What ethical dimensions are involved in such liturgical expressions? By examining both prayers for oneself to die and prayers for someone else to die, this essay discerns reasons why it may be good and even necessary to pray for a patient's demise.     

RATS,We Should Have Used Clinton: Subliminal Priming in Political Campaigns

Political strategists decide daily how to market their candidates. Growing recognition of the importance of implicit processes (processes occurring outside of awareness) suggests limitations to focus groups and polling, which rely on conscious self‐report. Two experiments, inspired by national political campaigns, employed Internet‐presented subliminal primes to study evaluations of politicians. In Experiment 1, the subliminal word “RATS” increased negative ratings of an unknown politician. In Experiment 2, conducted during former California Governor Gray Davis's recall referendum, a subliminal photo of Clinton affected ratings of Davis, primarily among Independents. Results showed that subliminal stimuli can affect ratings of well‐known as well as unknown politicians. Further, subliminal studies can be conducted in a mass media outlet (the Internet) in real time and supplement voter self‐report, supporting the potential utility of implicit measures for campaign decision making.     

Priming the Vote: Campaign Effects in a U.S. Senate Election

A growing body of evidence suggests that campaigns affect voters by priming the criteria on which voters base their decisions. Yet virtually all of this work uses simulated campaign rhetoric and/or relies on indirect measures of vote choice. This paper combines a content analysis of media campaign coverage with an Election Day exit poll to explore the impact of a real-world campaign—the 2000 campaign for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota—on voters' decisions. In this case, the campaign did in fact prime exposed and attentive voters to base their decisions on the issues and images emphasized in the campaign. Such campaign effects were reinforced by interpersonal discussions. The results constitute the first demonstration of priming effects in a U.S. election with voters at the polls.     

THE PLACEBO EFFECT: WHAT'S INTERESTING FOR SCHOLARS OF RELIGION?

Abstract. The placebo effect these days is no longer merely the insubstantial, subjective response that some patients have to a sham treatment, like a sugar pill. It has been reconceived as a powerful mind‐body phenomenon. Because of this, it has also emerged as a complex reference point in a number of high‐stakes conversations about the metaphysical significance of experiences of religious healing, the possible health benefits of being religious, and the feasibility of using double‐blind placebo‐controlled trials to investigate the efficacy of prayer. In each of these conversations, the placebo effect is always pointing toward some larger issue, serving some larger agenda. The agendas, though, tend to pull in different directions, leading to a situation that feels at once fractured and stalemated. This essay reviews the main areas of interest, and proposes some specific issues where humanistic scholars of religion in particular might be able to introduce constructive and creative new perspectives.     

PRAYING TOGETHER: CORPORATE PRAYER AND SHARED SITUATIONS

In this article, we give much needed attention to the nature and value of corporate prayer by drawing together insights from theology, philosophy, and psychology. First, we explain what it is that distinguishes corporate from private prayer by drawing on the psychological literature on joint attention and the philosophical notion of shared situations. We suggest that what is central to corporate prayer is a “sense of sharedness,” which can be established through a variety of means—through bodily interactions or through certain environments. Second, we argue that corporate prayer, when understood as a kind of shared situation, enables common knowledge, as well as a kind of alignment between participants. Through this process, participants’ attention is focused on the same target and affiliation between participants increases. Thus, we suggest, one benefit of understanding corporate prayer as a shared situation is that it establishes and deepens a sense of community in such a way that common purposes and goals can be enacted more effectively.