The Lord's Prayer in Eastern Spirituality

This article first speaks briefly of prayer in general and its essence; and then discusses various kinds of prayer in the Orthodox Christian tradition, chief among which is personal prayer made in private, and liturgical prayer celebrated in church. There is also spontaneous prayer, less favored in Orthodoxy, where the model prayer is the Lord's Prayer. The main part of the article examines the petitions that make up the Lord's Prayer and the interpretation given to them by patristic writers. It concludes by affirming the unique character of the prayer, which can be regarded as the perfect summary of the Christian message.     

The Centrality of the Response Process in Construct Validity: An Illustration via the Rorschach Space Response

Recently, psychologists have emphasized the response process—that is, the psychological operations and behaviors that lead to test scores—when designing psychological tests, interpreting their results, and refining their validity. To illustrate the centrality of the response process in construct validity and test interpretation, we provide a historical, conceptual, and empirical review of the main uses of the background white space of the Rorschach cards, called space reversal (SR) and space integration (SI) in the Rorschach Performance Assessment System. We show how SR and SI's unique response processes result in different interpretations, and that reviewing their literatures with these distinct interpretations in mind produces the expected patterns of convergent and discriminant validity. That is, SR was uniquely related to measures of oppositionality; SI was uniquely related to measures of cognitive complexity; and both SR and SI were related to measures of creativity. Our review further suggests that the Comprehensive System use of a single space code for all uses of white space likely led to its lack of meta-analytic support as a measure of oppositionality (Mihura, Meyer, Dumitrascu, &; Bombel, 2013 *Mihura, J. L., Meyer, G. J., Dumitrascu, N., &; Bombel, G. (2013). The validity of individual Rorschach variables: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the Comprehensive System. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 548–605. doi:10.1037/a0029406[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We close by discussing the use of the response process to improve test interpretation, develop better measures, and advance the design of research.     

Rorschach Comprehensive System data for a sample of 111 adult nonpatients from Romania

In this study Rorschach data from a Romanian sample of 111 respondents was collected and analyzed in a first attempt to establish national norms. The protocols were collected in a 5-year period (2002-2006) by the author. Interrater reliability statistics are presented for a sample of 20 cases, along with scores for the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 1993). These results can be used for cross-cultural comparisons of the CS.     

On Conducting Construct Validity Meta-Analyses for the Rorschach: A Reply to Tibon Czopp and Zeligman (2016)

We respond to Tibon Czopp and Zeligman's (2016) critique of our systematic reviews and meta-analyses of 65 Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS) variables published in Psychological Bulletin (2013). The authors endorsed our supportive findings but critiqued the same methodology when used for the 13 unsupported variables. Unfortunately, their commentary was based on significant misunderstandings of our meta-analytic method and results, such as thinking we used introspectively assessed criteria in classifying levels of support and reporting only a subset of our externally assessed criteria. We systematically address their arguments that our construct label and criterion variable choices were inaccurate and, therefore, meta-analytic validity for these 13 CS variables was artificially low. For example, the authors created new construct labels for these variables that they called “the customary CS interpretation,” but did not describe their methodology nor provide evidence that their labels would result in better validity than ours. They cite studies they believe we should have included; we explain how these studies did not fit our inclusion criteria and that including them would have actually reduced the relevant CS variables’ meta-analytic validity. Ultimately, criticisms alone cannot change meta-analytic support from negative to positive; Tibon Czopp and Zeligman would need to conduct their own construct validity meta-analyses.     

Mission of the Church Under Pressure—An Orthodox Perspective

Mission always has focused on the constituent elements of the church, which are an intrinsic part of the church's very existence. Mission therefore is defined directly in relation to evangelism. This study aims to present briefly two of the today's missionary challenges from an Orthodox perspective. The first is how to preserve cultural and religious identity in a polymorphic society in all aspects, and how to eliminate the risk of confusing it with an ideology. The second refers to the missionary dimension of monasticism and the efficiency of the professional practice of the spiritual competences.     

Poverty and Wealth in the Orthodox Spirituality (with special reference to St. John Chrysostom)

Abstract : This essay deals with the right relation we should have to material wealth in modern society, a society often marked by rank consumerism. Material goods are given to humans only to be managed for the benefit of all people, regardless of faith or race. This ethical stance does not attack or seek to abolish the right to private property, but restores it to its proper place. Specifically, patristic spirituality, such as that articulated by St. John Chrysostom, does not invalidate the principle of individual ownership, but corrects it, meaning that, while owners are owners in relation to the poor, they are only managers of wealth in relation to God.