Leo Tolstoy the spiritual educator

This paper considers the often overlooked religious and educational works of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). After outlining Tolstoy's life, religious and educational views, it is argued that Tolstoy has much to offer spiritual educators today. In particular, it suggests Tolstoy's insistence on the absolute and eternal nature of spiritual and moral truths, coupled with a free and heuristic pedagogy, are key ingredients of an authentic spiritual education.     

The Nature and Meaning of the Near-Death Experience for Patients and Critical Care Nurses

This study was designed to develop a conceptual framework for the near-death experience (NDE), reflecting its nature and meaning for the patient and the critical care nurse. The study used naturalistic inquiry to examine the question: What is the nature and meaning of an NDE and how has it influenced the individual's view of the self, the future, and feelings and beliefs about life and death? The NDE Scale (Greyson, 1983) was used with patients and semi-structured interview guides were used with both nurses and patients to explore the NDE from a comprehensive perspective. An NDE was defined as the report of “unusual” recollections associated with a period of unconsciousness during either serious illness or injury, or resuscitation from a cardiac or respiratory arrest. The sample included 12 patients who experienced an NDE and 19 nurses who cared for patients who experienced NDEs. This study highlighted the emotional aspects of the NDE. Patients described how the NDE transformed their lives and nurses reported how their experiences with patients changed them personally and professionally.     

The Nearing Death Process and Pastoral Counseling

Philosophic concepts of death are pervasive throughout all societies as shared values, differing in particulars, but similar in general. So, too, is the prospect of a death a consideration for every person, an eventual reality brought most forcefully to mind as it nears. This article explores various mindsets those who provide pastoral counseling will encounter among clients and suggest effective approaches to providing the mental and spiritual solace sought. Further, consideration is given to the psychological and spiritual mein of the pastoral counselor, and how this can affect both client and counselor.     

Exploring the Pastoral Dynamics of Mixed-Race Persons

The number of persons in the United States who identify with more than one racial group is a steadily growing segment of the larger population. Yet pastoral care literature has not focused much attention to date on the spiritual care of multiracial people in America. This article intends to begin that conversation by examining their intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics, suggesting four directions of caring, and then exploring five implications for offering compassionate and relevant ministry.     

Argumentation Schemes in Persuasive Brochures

Many public information documents attempt to persuade the recipients that they should engage in or refrain from specific behaviour. This is based on the assumption that the recipient will decide about his or her behaviour on the basis of the information given and a rational evaluation of the pros and cons. An analysis of 20 public information brochures shows that the argumentation in persuasive brochures is often not marked as such. Argumentation is presented as factual information, and in many instances the task of making argumentational links and drawing conclusions is left to the reader. However, since the information offered does follow familiar argumentational schemes, readers can, in principle, reconstruct the argument. All the brochures make use of pragmatic argumentation (argumentation from consequences),i. e.,they formulate at least certain benefits of the desirable behaviour or disadvantages of the undesirable behaviour. In addition, they make regular use of argumentation from cause to effect and argumentation from example. Argumentation from rules and argumentation from authority are less frequently used. This empirical analysis of the use of argumentation schemes is a solid base for interesting and rich hypotheses about the cognitive processing of persuasive brochures. Central processing requires the reader to be able to reconstruct argumentation from informational texts and to identify and evaluate various types of argumentation.     

儿童应对权威的矛盾解决策略研究

本文采用两难故事法对儿童(7～17岁)在与三种权威(父母、教师与社会上的成人)发生两难冲突时所采取的矛盾解决策略进行了研究,结果发现儿童与权威发生矛盾时所采取的解决策略存在(1)显著的对象差异,即儿童对教师更倾向接受策略,儿童对父母更倾向协商策略,儿童对社会更倾向拒绝策略;(2)显著的年龄差异,即随着年龄增长,儿童从接受权威的观点发展为坚持自己观点;(3)男女儿童,不同地区儿童应对权威的矛盾解决策不存在显著差异。     

诚信与公民社会散论

“诚”在中国传统思想文化中具有本体特性之义和德性之义 ,“信”具有主体对客体的态度 ,主体—客体相互作用的过程或行为 ,客体对主体的状态三种情形 ,“诚”与“信”之间略有差异。诚信不完全等同于信用 ,诚信的特点是主观性、渐成性和根本性 ,信用之所以具有伦理品格是由它的时间差、不确定性和不充分性等特性来决定的。公民社会异于威权社会 ,它是以诚信为基础的社会 ,在平等交往、契约自由、权利与义务统一的公民社会 ,诚信具有广泛存在的社会基础和学理根据。维护公民社会的诚信要注重社会机制的建设。     

A Coherentist Theory of Normative Authority

What makes an ``ought'' claim authoritative? What makes aparticular norm genuinely reason-giving for an agent? This paper arguesthat normative authority can best be accounted for in terms of thejustification of norms. The main obstacle to such a theory, however, isa regress problem. The worry is that every attempt to offer ajustification for an ``ought'' claim must appeal to another ``ought''claim, ad infinitum. The paper argues that vicious regress canbe avoided in practical reasoning in the same way coherentists avoid theproblem in epistemology. Norms are justified by their coherence withother norms.     

Spiritual emergency and counselling: An exploratory study

Growing up in a multicultural community in England brought me into close personal contact with the beliefs and perceptions about healing held by people of many different cultures. In many cases, no strong boundary was seen between physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of an illness, and experiences of hearing voices or seeing visions were accepted as normal everyday occurrences. During my training as a counsellor, I came into contact with the work of Stanislav Grof on the concept of spiritual emergency, which, together with the work of African and European authors who were exploring transpersonal aspects of psychology, provided a theoretical framework for researching how counsellors respond to clients wishing to explore experiences of spiritual crisis. This paper describes an exploratory study into the phenomenon of spiritual emergency within counselling. Questionnaires were distributed by post to people known to have been in counselling relationships, and interviews were conducted with three informants reporting different types of spiritual experience. All respondents who completed questionnaires reported having at least one of the ‘non‐ordinary’ experiences classified by Stanislav Grof as characteristics of a ‘spiritual emergency’. Several participants felt unable to explore this experience with their counsellors, some for fear of being labelled as mentally ill, while others found their counsellors helpful and sympathetic. Differences in dealing with spiritual phenomena were apparent between European and non‐European participants. These findings are discussed in relation to theory and practice.