《周易》思想与文化传播——以道教和西南少数民族禹步为例

《周易》是中华传统文化的组成部分,是道家道教思想的重要来源.《周易》中有关乾坤、卦的思想,是道教和西南少数民族禹步的理论基础.论文以道教和西南少数民族禹步为例,详细考察其宗教法术蕴涵的《周易》思想,指出道教和西南少数民族宗教法师的禹步,其科仪始终按九宫八卦布局行法,此深得《周易》思想天人关系的精要.作为仪式中具有宗教象征意义的《周易》八卦符号,表达出中华先民对自然界阴阳运动规律的认识.     

美国政府对宗教事务的管理

美国没有专门管理宗教事务的政府机构,政府对宗教事务的管理主要通过普通法律,辅以政府文件来实现.本文选取美国宗教事务中最具代表性、宗教事务管理中最具典型性的部分加以叙述,力求对美国宗教事务管理作概况性的描述,并勾画其基本特征.     

传统宗教文化与中国企业家慈善事业——以胡润百富慈善榜闽籍企业家群体为研究对象

分析2009年胡润慈善榜发现,广东、浙江、福建省等三地富豪上榜最多,与胡润百富榜上榜富豪相比,其从事慈善事业的比率也相对较高,这其中的原因与三地经济发达,富豪数量较多相关,但也与地方传统宗教文化发达,富人能自觉从事慈善与社会公益事业有关。中国企业家从事慈善事业的背后是有传统宗教伦理支持的。     

政府在世俗化过程中的角色

本文以北京东岳庙的恢复为例,讨论政府在社会变迁过程中的作用及其角色的多面性。世俗化和非世俗化是国际社会学家对50多年来世界不同地区宗教消沉或复兴的描述方式。在20世纪的中国政府对传统宗教的管理是世界世俗化运动的特殊表现。本文认为最近30年中国形成了新的宗教市场,政府的参与说明中国的世俗化力量还没有彻底摆脱传统宗教的生存形态。     

宽恕与人格特征关系的研究综述

宽恕是积极心理学研究的最热点内容之一,大量研究都表明宽恕与个体的人格特征具有密切的关系。本文详细探讨了宽恕与大五人格、共情、自尊及宗教性和精神性等人格特征之间的关系,最后对宽恕与人格的研究进行了总结和研究展望。     

Religious Commitment,Skepticism, and Struggle Among U.S. College Students: The Impact of Majority/Minority Religious Affiliation and Institutional Type

Using a longitudinal sample of over 14,000 undergraduate students, this study explores whether and how students’ religious transformations during the college years are associated with their religious affiliation, religious experiences, and the institutional characteristics of their college or university. Hierarchical linear modeling reveals that students from religious majority groups (i.e., mainline and evangelical Protestants) generally experience increased religious commitment and decreased religious skepticism as compared with students from religious minority groups. Interestingly, though, students from these majority groups also report greater levels of religious struggle compared to minority group students. Moreover, institutional religious affiliation and an inclusive campus religious climate often attenuate the relationship between students’ religious affiliation and their religious transformation. Environments at both the macro (campus) and micro (friendship groups) levels contribute critically to young adults’ religious commitment.     

Changing Patterns of Attendance at Religious Services in Canada, 1986–2008

According to the General Social Survey, the combined rate of weekly and monthly attendance at religious services in Canada has declined by about 20 points from 1986 to 2008. Approximately half of this decline stems from the increase in the proportion of people reporting no religion, who, for the most part, do not attend religious services. The other portion of this decline is attributable to eroding attendance rates among Catholics, particularly older Catholics, and Protestants in Québec. Attendance rates for Protestants outside of Québec show signs of increase. The reported increase in weekly attendance in Canada by the Project Canada surveys and cited by Bibby as a possible indicator of a religious renaissance is revealed as an artifact in the data due to an oversample of Protestants. I find another weighting problem in the Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating that leads to underestimates of aggregate religious attendance rates.     

Investigating the Role of Religion‐Supported Secular Programs for Explaining Initiation into First Sex

Research finds that religious youth, compared to less religious youth, are more likely to delay their sexual debut (sometimes until marriage). This study is one of the first to examine the influence of involvement in religion‐supported secular activities for shaping initiation into vaginal sex. Does involvement in religion‐sponsored secular programs produce any health‐related benefits for youth? Using two waves of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion this study finds that among teens who have engaged in some of the precursors to first sex, namely, sexual touching, involvement in religion‐sponsored secular activities is associated with lower odds of having first sex between W1 and W2. Conservative attitudes about sex outside of marriage explain, in part, the relationship. Conversely, network overlap, the number of friends who belong to a youth group, and pressure from friends and partners to have sex do not significantly mediate the relationship.     

Empathy,Perspective Taking and Prosocial Behaviour: The Importance of Parenting Practices

The current study analyzed the relationships among maternal empathy (emotional and cognitive), parenting that encourages the child to take the perspective of others, child cognitive empathy and child prosocial behaviour. Participants were 72 typically developing children (66 Caucasian, six Asian) aged between 47 and 76 months (M = 61.5 months, SD = 8.3 months). Results support the facilitative effect of parenting that encourages the child to take the perspective of others. Thus, the role played by parents in the development of prosocial behaviour extends beyond warm/sensitive/responsive parenting in infancy. Together these forms of parenting are key factors that facilitate the development of prosocial behaviour. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CHRIST AND EVOLUTION: A DRAMA OF WISDOM?1

Abstract This paper argues that a genuine engagement of Christianity with evolution needs to include a discussion of Christology. Further, it develops a particular approach to Christology through a theo‐dramatic account of incarnation. The somewhat static post‐Chalcedon theological categories of divine and human natures are hard to square with contemporary evolutionary accounts of human origins. Once the divine Logos is portrayed in the active categories of Wisdom it becomes easier to envisage divine and creaturely wisdom coexisting in the person of Christ. I argue, in particular, that a focus on God's agency through a modified version of Hans Urs von Balthasar's account of theo‐drama invites participation and affirms human agency in a way that grand narratives do not. More particularly, drawing on examples from hominid evolution, contemporary discussion of paleontology and cooperative evolutionary theories, I suggest that the most convincing accounts of evolutionary biology fit into this theo‐dramatic account more readily than alternatives. As such, in the spirit of Robert Boyle, this paper deliberately blurs the categories of revealed and natural theology by arguing that we can make sense of the former through concentration on the latter.