bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Small-Incision Periosteal Flap Canthopexy: Aesthetic Applications
Authors: Tarbet Kristin J. , Lemke Bradley N.
Published: July 2017

Purpose:

To describe a small-incision approach to eyelid laxity repair employing a short, periosteal flap canthopexy to be used in association with aesthetic eyelid procedures.

Methods:

Cadaver specimens were used for surgical dissection to demonstrate the relevant anatomy and technique. Histologic sections through the lateral orbit were examined to identify the lateral canthal anatomy. Patients with ≥2 + lateral canthal ligament laxity, lateral canthal dystopia or rounding, a lower eyelid distraction measurement of ≥6 mm, or frank or incipient ectropion were selected for the procedure. Clinical records, including preoperative and postoperative photographs, were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate the surgical outcome.

Results:

One hundred fifty-six eyelids met inclusion criteria for small-incision eyelid laxity repair. Thirty-six procedures were performed for ectropion or lower lid laxity alone. The remaining 120 were performed in association with other eyelid or facial procedures. Sixteen included adjunct upper lid blepharoplasty. Six eyelids were tightened in combination with both upper and lower blepharoplasty. Forty-eight lid repairs were combined with upper lid blepharoplasty and ptosis repair. Twenty-eight lid procedures included ptosis repair alone. Twenty-two lower lid laxity repairs were combined with other procedures. Average follow-up was 58 days. Lower lid and canthal angle positions were symmetric with improvement in laxity, contour, and apposition to the globe in all cases. No reoperations were required.

Conclusions:

A novel canthopexy technique for eyelid laxity repair is described. This new technique offers significant advantages. Aesthetically, the incision is well hidden, and the canthal angle is preserved, allowing for improved cosmesis. Anatomically, the periosteal flap raised inside the orbital rim correctly restores lid-to-globe apposition and allows a secure bite through the periosteum. It allows for greater technical ease in securing the eyelid tissues within the orbital rim and in adjusting the final tension and height.
The Dangers of Herbs When Performing Surgery
Authors: Shiffman Melvin A.
Published: July 2017

It has recently come to the attention of the medical community that herbs may be dangerous if taken just before surgery. Many of the herbs can cause allergies, heart problems, anesthesia problems, operative or postoperative bleeding, or excessive clotting. It is important for cosmetic surgeons to be aware of the problem and to warn their patients to avoid herbs before surgery, including some spices and foods, for at least 2 weeks before any surgical procedure.
A Cross-Cultural Study of the Career Maturity of Korean and United States High School Students
Authors: Lee Ki-Hak
Published: July 2017

The present study aimed at conducting a cross-cultural comparison of career maturity between Korea and the United States. First, a Korean version of the Career Attitude Maturity Inventory (CAMI) was constructed. Then, an English version parallel to that Korean version was formed following three stages of procedure; translation, back translation, and field study. Finally, high school students of 11th grade from two different cultures (331 from Korea and 266 from the United States) were administered to the CAMI. Results indicated that constructs of career maturity are similar across two cultures with no gender differences. However, it was found that the level of maturity for those constructs was culture-bound. Those findings were discussed in cultural aspects of the development of career maturity.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Developing Placement Services for Liberal Arts Undergraduates
Authors: Nell Amanda E.
Published: July 2017

In Fall 2002, the University of Missouri-Columbia began a new initiative to develop placement services for liberal arts students. Placement services had never before been offered to this student population and the MU Career Center was designated as the principal creator, administrator and provider of these career services. The Career Center staff decided the most effective approach would be to develop a strategic plan that reflected the needs, values, and desires of our faculty, student, and employer constituents. We conducted an environmental scan, collected substantial data and gathered campus feedback. After careful analysis, we developed a dynamic and responsive strategic plan that would meet our goals and achieve success with our financial, organizational, and human resources in mind.
It Takes a Team to Run a Restaurant: Introducing Elementary Students to the Interrelatedness of Occupations
Authors: Beale Andrew V.
Published: July 2017

This action-oriented classroom career guidance activity introduces elementary school students to the need for workers to work together in operating a newly opened restaurant. Through the use of pantomime and role play, students quickly realize that running a restaurant requires a variety of employees who work well together as members of a team.
Management Tools in Engineering Education
Authors: Fehr M.
Published: July 2017

Continuing from previous work in which a new teaching philosophy was developed, this paper discusses the management tools used to make it function in practice. Teaching has become virtual. Time has been promoted to the single most important resource, is used efficiently and accounted for accurately. Quality control has become a common tool of performance evaluation. The relationship between teacher and students mimics an industrial setting in which results are required and tolerance levels are low. Excellent technical documents are produced. The ratio of knowledge gained to time spent has reached an optimum level and job satisfaction of both teacher and students is high.
Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry
Authors: Roco M.C. , Senich D.
Published: July 2017

Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) initiative which covers a broad spectrum of university–industry interaction mechanisms, from faculty visits to industry and graduate student industrial assistantships to full scale industry–university research projects. The initiative promotes high-risk/high-gain research with focus on fundamental topics, which would not have been undertaken by industry. It also encourages development of innovative collaborative industry–university educational programmes, and direct deployment of new knowledge between academe and industry. This paper outlines the basic concepts of the initiative, characteristics of the funded research and education projects, and several trends. Illustrations of projects from engineering, manufacturing, environment and education are included.
Towards a Contemporary Australian Retrieval of Sacral Imagination and Sacramentality
Authors: Fletcher Frank
Published: July 2017

A theologian of Ghana argues that the West is declining in adherence to Christian Faith because its cultural meanings which are constitutive of the human and the cosmos tend to suppress human sacral imagination and the sacramentality of the cosmos. This author wagers that the Ghanaian's position is correct and goes on to explore how this suppression of sacral imagination has taken place through the cultural changes in the West from pre-modernity to modernity and up to the present. Against the argument behind these cultural changes the author seeks to establish the validity of sacral imagination and sacramentality through a critical appropriation of the human subject as incarnate spirit and symbolic animal. A contemporary Australian spirituality might thus retrieve a capacity for sacral imagination adequate to the mystery carried in this land and to the redemptive hope needed in Australian society.
Gospel Narrative and the Jesus of History: Where Should Christology Begin?
Authors: Byrne Brendan
Published: July 2017

The prevailing tendency to make a reconstruction of the historical life of Jesus the starting point for christology runs into two serious difficulties. First, such reconstructions vary greatly among themselves and are largely precarious in what they claim to know about Jesus. Secondly, resting upon the historical-critical method, the adequacy of which in theological terms has now come into serious question, they fail to do justice to the narrative quality of the gospels, which resists simple reduction to history. This article critically surveys the work of Hans Frei, George Lindbeck, David Kelsey, Luke Timothy Johnson and Francis Watson and formulates seven principles attempting to state the appropriate relationship between the gospels and history with regard to christology. It concludes that the starting point for christology must be the canonical gospels. Four related issues are addressed at the end: first the openness of a text to multiple meaning; then three concerns arising, respectively, out of liberation theology, feminist interpretation, and the anti-Jewish slant of the gospels.
Metaphysics and a Personal God
Authors: Langtry Bruce
Published: July 2017

Many people think of God as similar to a human being, but without various limitations and defects, and with much greater powers. They hold that although much that we say when likening God to human beings is either analogical or metaphorical, much is not: it is literally true that God has beliefs, intentions and other mental states, in the same sense, or in close to the same sense, as when we say that human beings do. This paper defends this view by arguing that it is consistent with thinking of God as God's incorporeal, omniscient, immutable, and timeless. It is inconsistent with the claim that God lacks a plurality of properties; but one does not need to hold anthropomorphism to find simplicity with respect to properties implausible.
Gandhi, Scripture and the Bible
Authors: Emilsen William W.
Published: July 2017

Mohandas K. (“Mahatma”) Gandhi considered it the duty of every cultured man and woman to sympathetically read the scriptures of the great world religions. Though not himself a biblical scholar, Gandhi's facility and familiarity with the Bible (especially the New Testament) has been insufficiently appreciated. This article explores the following questions: What principles of interpretation did Gandhi bring to the scriptures of the great world religions? What, in particular, was the extent and depth of his knowledge of the Christian scriptures? In essence, what was Gandhi's Bible?
“Born of the Virgin Mary”: Toward a Sprachregelung on a Delicate Point of Doctrine
Authors: van Beeck Frans Josef
Published: July 2017

This essay offers an interpretation of the traditional catholic teaching that “Jesus Christ, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary”. The author reviews recent exegesis and theology, then revisits the tradition of the church, then discusses the contrast between the physiological “facts” involved in human conception as they were understood in the classical periods — and thus at the place and time of the composition of the infancy narratives — and the accepted modern, scientific account of the same “facts”. He argues that neither the New Testament nor the Church teaches that Jesus' virginal conception is a cosmological miracle: rather this is a conclusion of the data of the faith, not an article of faith in and of itself. This should guide our speech in ministry.
Interculturation: Exploring Changing Religious, Cultural, and Faith Identities in an African Context
Authors: Grenham Thomas G.
Published: July 2017

Inculturation, as a theological concept, needs more understanding. An improved understanding suggests invoking the term interculturation to describe the dialogical process between Christian religion and other cultures with diverse religious worldviews. This article suggests that evangelisation and educating in faith encompasses a mutual reciprocal partnership between religious and non-religious cultures in order that the gospel can transform them to reveal God's vision for humankind. This vision is manifested for Christians in the Reign of God. The Turkana nomads of Kenya are a case study in which an exploration of religious interculturation takes place to effect significant changes in Christian and Turkana religious identity. The gospel is proclaimed through dialogue and witness that expresses itself through appropriate cultural materials that have the capacity for transcending the particularity of cultures. The article concludes with some reflections on the implications of interculturation for worldwide religious education.
Jonah in Antioch
Authors: Hill Charles
Published: July 2017

Though the Gospels offer a range of interpretations of the story of Jonah, early commentators found this prophetic book challenging, including those from Antioch. Working from a distinctive form of the Septuagint version, Theodore of Mopsuestia was unnerved by the “novel and extraordinary things” in the book, to which he tried to apply his distinctively literalist approach by having recourse to typology. Aware of his predecessor's interpretation, and better equipped to handle the text, Theodoret comes closer to the biblical author's theological and satirical portrait of this intriguing figure for readers in Antioch.
Narrative or History? — A False Dilemma
Authors: McEvoy James
Published: July 2017

The twentieth century saw a paradigm shift in christology from a christology determined by the terminology of the Chalcedonian doctrine to one with a focus on Jesus in the context of his time. A common understanding of the theological significance of the historical Jesus, however, is yet to be achieved. In the last decade three scholars — William Loewe, Brendan Byrne and Luke Timothy Johnson — have argued that the historical Jesus has limited theological significance. This article examines the way in which these authors understand the relationship between narrative and history and argues for an interpretive view of that relationship. The views of Loewe, Byrne and Johnson are critiqued from this perspective.
The Spirituality Revolution and the Process of Reconfessionalisation in the West
Authors: Johnston William M.
Published: July 2017

The author aims to clarify varieties and functions of Christian spirituality in the West in our time. It interprets the explosion of “spirituality” as both a cause of, and a response to, the process of “reconfessionalisation” that is affecting major churches or “confessions”, notably the Roman Catholic church and Eastern Christian churches. The article examines first the concepts of “confession”, “reconfessionalisation”, and “deconfessionalisation”, arguing that the latter two trends tend to “deconfessionalise” loyalties. In respect to “spirituality” (defined as any individual's personal process of selecting and rejecting resources from one or more religious traditions), the article differentiates “macrospirituality” as institutional from “microspirituality” as personal, viewing them as dual dimensions of a “Spirituality Revolution” that can be seen as democratising the imperative of personal choosing which French existential philosophy celebrated. The article concludes by examining how individual quests are giving rise to variants such as “interspirituality”, “proto-spirituality”, and the “spirituality of mass calamity”, all of which are growing in appeal.
Augustine and the Trinity: Whose Crisis?
Authors: Ormerod Neil
Published: July 2017

This article analyses criticisms made of Augustine's Trinitarian theology by Colin Gunton. It demonstrates that many of these criticisms are unfair, or are based on inconsistencies and inadequacies in Gunton's own position. More constructively, it shows that Augustine's account of human consciousness is not that of an isolated monad, but of a consciousness always in relationship with the world.
The Ethics of Using Embryonic Stem Cells
Authors: Black Rufus
Published: July 2017

The ethics of the use of embryonic stem cells can be determined in three stages. First, the ethical framework needs to be established. For this purpose, a renewed form of moral realism should replace the logically-flawed utilitarianism that is widely used in discussions today. Second, the ontological status of the embryos from which stem cells are removed needs to be determined. An approach that sees embryos as personal bodies offers a middle way between the polar traditions that see embryos either as mere human tissue or as full human persons. Finally, particular ethical obligations can be deduced. It is ethical to use embryos surplus to the needs of assisted reproduction in research whose purpose is to enhance life substantially where appropriate consent is obtained and the bodily material not utilised in research is disposed of respectfully but not otherwise.
Canto Ergo Sum: Indigenous Peoples and Postcolonial Theology
Authors: Brett Mark G.
Published: July 2017

This essay argues that indigenous Christian theologians are justified in expanding their canonical resources to include the ancestral “Testaments” of their own people groups, and scripture itself provides a precedent. The book of Genesis reveals a pattern of respect for the distinctive religion of the ancestors. And contrary to a reading of Paul which has Galatians erase distinctive cultures, the body of Christ is as much Greek as Jew, as much Pitjantjatjara as Anglo-Celtic. Theology needs, however, more than the serial addition of ethnicities, to work with postcolonial understandings of cultural hybridity and self-limiting practices of “kenotic” listening - to attend within the body of Christ to the particularity of all the songlines which have become, or may become, incorporated into our life together.
“If It Be Your Will”: Making Promises with Derrida, Ricoeur and Chauvet
Authors: Deverell Garry J.
Published: July 2017

Through a critical engagement with the work of Derrida, Ricoeur and Chauvet, the author defines the Christian vow or promise as an ever-new performance of the self in favour of the “other”. The notion of the asymmetry of one's relationship with the other is explored in terms of a “call” in the face of another, any other, which is experienced as more originary that one's own sense of self. This call has a particularly apocalyptic or eschatological dimension to it. It unsettles and destabilises the Christian self in the same movement as it produces and makes that self real. The call effects a radical destabilisation of the self such that the self may only come to be by making room for the other who is Christ. The paper concludes that eucharistic worship, as a constant re/membering of the Christian's death and resurrection in Christ, is a primary or exemplary instance of the vow so defined.
Celebrating Eucharist in a Time of Global Climate Change
Authors: Edwards Denis
Published: July 2017

Climate change is an urgent issue facing the whole human community in the 21st century. For Christian believers, committed to love for God's creation and to respect for the dignity of every person, responding to this issue will need to be central in the life of faith. What does global climate change mean for a Christian community that gathers each Sunday in the name of Jesus to listen to the Word of God and break the bread? This article begins with scientific insights on long-term and human-induced climate change. It draws on insights on creation and the Eucharist both from the West (Teilhard de Chardin) and from the East (John Zizioulas). It builds on these with a theology of the Eucharist as the living memory of all God's creatures.
Anglicanism and Anzac Observance
Authors: Moses John A.
Published: July 2017

Research has shown that the precise origins of Anzac commemoration are to be found in the work of the Brisbane Anzac Day Commemoration Committee (ADCC) founded on 10 January 1916. The precursor to that committee was the Brisbane Recruitment Committee consisting of leading Brisbane businessmen and municipal leaders, the secretary of which was an energetic Dubliner and Anglican priest, one Canon David John Garland. The article shows that while the Anzac Day “liturgy” devised by Garland had to take account of religious/theological divisions as well as secular attitudes, underneath it lay a specific Christian purpose, namely to commemorate the fallen, console the bereaved and call the nation to penitence for the sin of war.
Pope John Paul II and Reconciliation as Mission
Authors: O'Sullivan Dominic
Published: July 2017

A particular emphasis of Pope John Paul II's pontificate was the recognition of certain political rights belonging to indigenous peoples. In particular, in Australia the Pope recognised that encouraging political reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous people is essential to religious mission. At Alice Springs in 1986 he gave impetus to a growing Catholic acceptance that promoting reconciliation is an important missionary duty.
Australian Aboriginal Catholic Women Seek Wholeness: Hearts Are Still Burning
Authors: Skye Lee Miena
Published: July 2017

This article is both a celebration of the changes in the Catholic church since 1986 and is critical of the oppression that still exists concerning Australian Indigenous Peoples. The material comes from field research, undertaken when I stayed with the East Arrernte at Santa Teresa mission outside Alice Springs, and the Tiwi Islanders near Darwin. I have selected this material specifically because both these communities are Indigenous Catholic and the Santa Teresa Community partook in Pope John Paul II's visit in 1986. The Aboriginal Santa Teresa women have a deep love for their “spiritual father” as they call the Pope, but are not forgetful of the abuse the church has put them through, and the church is making a sincere effort in this community to rectify spiritual ontological, cultural and theological oppression. In the Tiwi Islands community the church is not quite as forthcoming in dealing with oppression, particularly theological. The women, however, find they must inculturate Christianity into their Indigenous Spiritualities if they are to find salvation. They have to make Catholicism contextual. Thus, this article will reveal their historical and present-day Sitze im Leben and Weltanschauungen, their Indigenous Christian theologies/spiritualities, and their attempts to find salvation and wholeness while suffering, what I term, Quadri-dimensional oppression, that is racism, classism, sexism and naturism (abuse of nature) through church and State.
The Paraclete and Jesus in the Johannine Farewell Discourse
Authors: Sheridan Ruth
Published: July 2017

This article aims to show that the Paraclete is portrayed in the Johannine farewell discourse (chapters 14–16) as the successor to Jesus in his ministry in the world and as the mediator of Jesus' ongoing presence. Jesus and the Paraclete are functionally similar yet not identical in person; they are distinct yet united. Their intimacy is such that the Paraclete can be understood as one who makes the presence of Jesus felt in the period of Jesus' absence. Contrary to some tendencies in Johannine scholarship, the Paraclete is not to be described as Jesus returned in another “form”. A close reading of the five Paraclete texts of the Johannine farewell discourse (14:16-17; 14:25-26; 15:26; 16:7-11; 16:13-15) shows that the Paraclete is Jesus' successor and the mediator of his presence. This implies that the two characters are distinct-and respects the sense of Jesus' impending death and absence - as well as implying that there is an inextricable intimacy between them.
The Drama of Jesus and the Non-Violent Image of God: Raymund Schwager's Approach to the Problem of Divine Violence
Authors: Stork Peter
Published: July 2017

After a brief biographical introduction, this essay traces Schwager's approach to the problematic of divine violence, a prevalent theme in the Old Testament. By relating this notion to Jesus' non-violent teaching and conduct on the one hand, and to his judgement sayings on the other, Schwager interprets the tension as “drama”. What renders his theology “dramatic” is the pathos of God as reflected in the biblical text. When read through the dramatic lens, it reveals a non-violent God who in Christ turns unconditionally to sinful humanity to effect a radical deliverance from human entanglement with “sacred violence”. The article concludes with a reflection on the heuristic value of the dramatic view, pointing to the cruciality of the non-violent image of God for a faith that works its own way into a violent world through God's action in history.
Christendom: An Unthinking Faith?
Authors: Padgett Andrew
Published: July 2017

Søren Kierkegaard's and John D. Caputo's criticisms of “Christendom” and “the church” raise the spectre of the organised church being incapable of nurturing faith. The following evaluates these arguments by examining Christendom and the church against the background of a model of faith developed at the intersection of three theological perspectives — the scholasticism of St Thomas Aquinas, Kierkegaard's critique of the official Danish church of the mid-nineteenth century, and Caputo's deconstruction of the contemporary church. Drawing on Kierkegaard's concept of “Christendom”, the article argues that we must look outside the church to see such a faith modeled, such as to the genesis of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which proposes a faith-like picture of the universe, in contrast to the “scientific” understanding of God proscribed by the church. The article concludes by examining several aspects of the church's dysfunction that are exposed by its inability to foster faith.
Human and Animal Relations in the Theology of Karl Barth
Authors: McIntosh Adam
Published: July 2017

This article presents a theological approach to human and animal relations by way of engagement with the theology of Karl Barth. Barth's specific discussion of the ethical status of the killing of animals and his theological presuppositions are critically assessed. The author argues that Barth's theological framework, especially his use of the concept of “secondary responsibility” and the implications of God's covenantal relationship with human beings for animals, is morally problematic. A theology of human relationships with animals is inextricably linked to christology, eschatology and ecclesiology. Barth's account is persuasive, though limited, in the first two categories, but is wanting in ecclesiology. An ecclesiological account of human relationships with animals is proposed by means of an engagement with Barth's eschatological ecclesiology.
Capital, Culture and Contradictions: Contemporary Christian Economic Ethics
Authors: Abraham Ibrahim
Published: July 2017

This article analyses contemporary Christian economic ethics within the context of global financial capitalism. Arguing that contemporary Christian economic thought is inseparable from Christian attitudes towards capitalism, this article suggests there are four main approaches to the topic today: pro-capitalist attitudes; advocacy of the moral regulation of capitalism; advocacy of the moral reform of capitalism; and diverse anti-capitalist approaches. Comparing and contrasting these approaches, the article notes that certain contradictions exist in aspects of contemporary Christian economic ethics, particularly around attempts to curtail the influence of capitalism on culture.
Calvin on Psalms: Reading His Hermeneutic from the Preface to His Commentary
Authors: Wallace Howard
Published: July 2017

Calvin loved and lived the psalms. A lifetime of reflection and praying them stands behind his commentary on the Psalter. The Preface to the commentary, in which Calvin tells much of his own story, is revealing of his hermeneutic when dealing with the psalms. Parallels between his own life and that of David as psalmist functions as a major key for interpretation. This article explores Calvin's hermeneutic when dealing with the psalms and notes ways in which it correlates with principles of composition of the Psalter itself.
Patristics and the Postmodern in the Theology of John Zizioulas
Authors: Reid Duncan
Published: July 2017

This review article argues that, in contrast to the older movements of Sophia mysticism and neo-Palamism, associated with the names of Soloviev and Florovsky respectively, a new book by Zizioulas represents the emergence of a new school of Eastern Orthodox theology. Like the older movements, this newer, more personalist movement seeks to bridge the gap between Orthodox thought and the contemporary world. Where sophiology and neo-Palamism attempted to speak to the theology and culture of western modernity, Zizioulas addresses the more post-modernist themes of identity and otherness.
Feeling for Country: Interpreting the Old Testament in the Australian Context
Authors: Brett Mark G.
Published: July 2017

The secularized use of biblical imagery in Australian history provokes significant questions for theological hermeneutics, not least in cases where the Bible has been used against Indigenous interests. This paper analyses: (1) doctrines of discovery derived from Genesis; (2) the “peaceable kingdom” vision arising from Isaiah 11 and its historic connection with ideas of treaty making; (3) exodus narratives and the human rights tradition; and (4) the theme of exile. With a sufficiently comprehensive understanding of the task of biblical hermeneutics, the Bible can be read afresh as a challenge to the Christian churches to support Aboriginal rights and to re-engage with prophetic contributions to our national conversation.
Every Letter Tells a Story: Mission and Unity at Odds in the Local Church: A Socio-Narrative Analysis of 3 John
Authors: van Oudtshoorn Andre
Published: July 2017

3 John is the shortest book in the New Testament. It seems to lack specific doctrinal content and it is thus often neglected. This article employs a socio-narrative analysis to place the letter within a broader narrative framework. It then considers how the letter poetically restructures the original narrative sequence to serve its persuasive intention. The persuasive intention of 3 John is critically tested against certain compliance-gaining theories. The way in which characters function within letters is considered, and from this the symbolic worldview that forms the interpretative background to the letter's intention is constructed. The article shows that, at its core, the letter is doctrinal since the character of God and God's purpose for the world ultimately determine its contents and intention. Mission is shown to be a key factor by which the church is defined and Christians' commitment to this cause becomes a touchstone reflecting their relationship to God.
The Politicisation of Martin Luther in the German Democratic Republic
Authors: Moses John A.
Published: July 2017

This article provides an account of one of the strategies employed by the post-war East German state to restrict the influence of the Protestant churches in the new Soviet order. Under the leadership of Erich Honecke the regime seized upon the idea of portraying Martin Luther as a genuine bourgeois revolutionary and harbinger of the proletarian revolution. Hence the regime permitted the churches formally to mark the Reformation in 1967 and later the 500th anniversary of Luther's birth in 1983. In this way it was hoped to persuade Protestants to acknowledge the ideological leadership of the ruling party. The church was thus forced to accept a role of being “the church in socialism”. The government expected that church people would gradually desert the church and accommodate themselves to the rule of so-called “real existing socialism”; a state of affairs which, of course, never came to pass.
Further Clarifications of Geertz's Account of Culture as a Resource for Theology
Authors: Koning Robin
Published: July 2017

This article builds on a previous article in Pacifica on Clifford Geertz's understanding of culture. It continues the articulation of Geertz's views by way of an examination of various criticisms both of the details of his work and of his approach. It shows that many of these criticisms have misunderstood Geertz's work or are otherwise unfounded. In particular the author examines the objection that any hermeneutic approach to culture cannot be empirical, and looks at what “empirical” might mean in relation to a discipline in which “meaning” is a key category. The work of Bernard Lonergan is used throughout as a major resource for clarifying both Geertz's own thought and that of his critics.
Mark as Story: Retrospect and Prospect
Authors: Moloney Francs J.
Published: July 2017

The recent publication of a collection of essays that looks back to a founding text in the now widespread practice of narrative criticism (Rhoads and Michie, Mark as Story [1982]) raises questions concerning the future of literary (rather than historical) approaches to Gospel texts, and offers an opportunity to survey the current situation of such approaches. Ongoing narrative criticism, performance criticism, and postmodern criticism come under scrutiny. As always with “methodologies”, no single approach to ancient Biblical texts provides the complete answer to every interpretative possibility. The perennial challenge to some form of “objectivity” remains for some, while for others it is no longer important. New Testament literary scholarship, now some thirty years old, continues to deliver rich results, and to generate questions that both challenge interpreters and offer new insights to the many possible meanings of our Gospel narratives.
Intellectual Conversion in Book 7 of the Confessions
Authors: Ormerod Neil
Published: July 2017

In light of the recent publication of Brian Dobell's work, Augustine's Intellectual Conversion, this study argues that Book 7 of the Confessions is an argument of narrative form seeking to move the reader towards his/her own intellectual conversion. It draws parallels between the argument presented by Augustine and that of Bernard Lonergan in his work Insight, and the implications these have for the problem of evil and the notion of consciousness. It concludes by noting the contemporary relevance of intellectual conversion for the current debates on atheism.
The Past in Hiding: Accessing Religious History
Authors: Matheson Peter
Published: July 2017

Historians and archaeologists, noting the catastrophic loss of continuity with previous generations, talk of the “death of the past”. Over the last two decades letters, autobiographies, diaries and family chronicles have attracted increasing attention as a window to the emotional life of the past. Clearly this is of particular interest for theology. What actually happens when thoughts, events, emotions are distilled into writing and when scratchings of quill on paper are transmogrified into print? Is it helpful to describe such fragments from the past as “Ego-documents” or “Self-representations”? What did early modern believers, and religious writers such as Erasmus, Cardinal Contarini, Martin Luther, Thomas Müntzer or Argula von Grumbach think about genre, identity, processes of communication? What are we to make of their writings, how steer a way between naive replication and impenetrable theory? Are there rituals we should be deploying to sharpen our focus and clean up our interpretive grid?
David Tracy's Analogical Imagination in Ethical Action
Authors: Little Brent
Published: July 2017

Although David Tracy's seminal work The Analogical Imagination (1981) primarily addresses the issue of public theology, this study explores the ethical implications of his thought for relationships in the “private” sphere. As Tracy points out, a specifically Christian analogical imagination is an imagination that sees “similarities-indifferences” through the lens of the Christ-event. In regards to interpersonal relationships, then, a Christian analogical imagination, informed by a faith-tradition's religious classics, reflects upon the narrative of Christ in order to discern proper action in an experience with one's neighbour. In addition, Tracy's concept of “manifestation” (here brought into dialogue with Karl Rahner's writings on the unity between love of God and neighbour) allows us to recognise an encounter with the “other” as a possible encounter with grace. By way of conclusion, I discuss a concrete example of the Christian analogical imagination in ethical action: Henri Nouwen's Adam: God's Beloved (1997).
The Ordination of Women and Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue
Authors: Edwards Denis
Published: July 2017

The ordination of women belongs in the hierarchy of truths neither in the level concerned with revealed truth about salvation, nor in the level concerned with revealed truth about the means of salvation. Rather it belongs to a third group of beliefs and practice which are taught authentically, which are not revealed doctrine but which are related to revealed doctrine. Since the Roman Catholic exclusion of women from ordination is not deigned doctrine, nor a matter of revealed truth concerning salvation or the means of salvation, but rather authentic teaching on a matter whose relationship to revelation is a matter of theological debate, it ought not be seen as a dogmatic barrier towards growth in union with the Anglican Communion.
Fundamental Theology: An Agenda for the 1990s
Authors: O'Collins Gerald
Published: July 2017

This paper offers a review of recent writings on fundamental theology and its shift of locus from the intellectual life of journal and university to the praxis of faith in the barrio. It suggests that a further key to the future of fundamental theology is dialogue with God in the context of worship.
When Does Human Life Begin? Science, Government, Church
Authors: Ford Norman
Published: July 2017

A survey is made of the varying views on the moment of the beginning of human life held by scientists, government commissions, and church bodies. Philosophical issues are then discussed in the light of the scientific facts. Some implications of this discussion for moral theology are then considered.
Pseudo-Gregory and Purgatory
Authors: McEniery Peter
Published: July 2017

The Catholic teaching about purgatory rests in part on the authority of the Dialogues attributed to Gregory the Great. It is difficult, however, to accept that the author of Gregory's Moralia also wrote the Dialogues. Perhaps, given current practices, the doctrine is due for reconsideration.
On Earth as in Heaven: Corresponding to God in Philippine Context
Authors: Lovett Brendan
Published: July 2017

This article attempts to dispel confusion about the demands of faith and the concrete path of witness by promoting a better understanding of the dynamics of the integral human good. The article falls into two sections: Part One is devoted to illuminating the Law of the Cross under which the Church should operate; Part Two follows on the realisation that living in accord with this Law demands insight into the dynamics of the integral human good. Life under the Law of the Cross is actualised in the concrete mission of establishing the integral scale of values in human-earth and inter-human relations, establishing the appropriate relation between the social infrastructure and the cultural superstructure of society. This serves to clarify the dynamics of historical salvation and the concrete paths to be followed in participating in such salvific process.
Science versus Religion in Nineteenth Century New Zealand: Robert Stout and Social Darwinism
Authors: Stenhouse John
Published: July 2017

Though for Sir Robert Stout the theory of evolution had relegated Christianity to the status of a relic of our benighted past, his scientific rhetoric was misleading and virtually propaganda. He blended the prestige of Darwinian evolution with Spencerian philosophical ideas to produce a potent ideology. This was used to attack groups like the clergy, the wealthy, the unproductive poor and the non-white races, all of whom stood in the way of “progress”. The source of antagonism to Christianity lay not in science, but in political developments associated with the rise of the middle classes.
The Four Senses of Scripture: Lessons from the Thirteenth Century
Authors: Martin John Hilary
Published: July 2017

There is much in medieval hermeneutics that can be conveniently forgotten. But medieval exegesis did allow a sense of theme and unity to come to the fore. The existence of a list of texts, even if it is a changing list, is what is of significance: it stands as an indication that there was a body of opinion, fairly widely shared, which thought that these texts were dealing with common religious themes. Hidden under the letter, so to speak, there was a point of view which was present to the consciousness of authors writing in that living tradition. The existence of these shared religious themes and symbolic values was the very reason why these authors had taken up their pens. When approaching Scripture medieval exegetes assumed that they would be able to find common themes among the types and symbols which constantly reappeared in the sacred text.
“Although We Cannot Fully Meet” the Roman Catholic Response to Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry
Authors: Cross Peter R.
Published: July 2017

The publication of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry by the World Council of Churches in 1982 was the culmination of more than fifty years of ecumenical discussion. The document was designed to elicit official comment from the churches involved in its production and also to involve a wide membership of the churches in the process of reception of the text by taking its insights into their spiritual, pastoral and theological life. This present article analyses the response of the Roman Catholic Church. The response is largely positive, but the methodology of the document reveals unresolved tensions concerning theological reformulation while the wider issue touching reception in the life of the Church is avoided.
Asia and Western Christianity
Authors: Wilfred Felix
Published: July 2017

The focus in this article is on the set of factors which explain why it has been difficult for Asia to understand Western Christianity. Any authentic encounter of Western Christianity has to be also a deep encounter with the great religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism - which shape the culture and worldview of the East. In particular, present Western theology must be more open in its scope and concern, seeking an existential dialogue with Asian religions and traditions.
Theology in Context and “The Right to Think” in Three Contemporary Theologians: Gutiérrez, Dussel and Boff
Authors: Russell Anthony J.
Published: July 2017

All theology is rooted in context. European-North Atlantic theology has long dominated the mediation of theological discourse, and imposed implicit controls on the agent, locus and methodology of theology. The churches of the “periphery” are now seeking to establish the importance of their own context in doing theology, and are evaluating the validity of the hegemony of the theology of the “centre”. Liberation theology, in particular, regarded as a “neoorthodoxy”, is developing what could be called a contextualised orthodoxy. What is the role, status and function of contextualised orthodoxy?
Narrative Criticism of the Gospels
Authors: Moloney Francis J.
Published: July 2017

Contemporary biblical scholarship is devoting increasing attention to the narrative nature of much biblical literature. There is an author of the text and an author in the text, just as there is a reader in the text and a reader of the text. The relationship between the reader in the narrative and the reader of the narrative determines its lasting value and classical status.
A First-Century Jewish Mission to Gentiles?
Authors: Murphy-O'Connor Jerome
Published: July 2017

When critically interpreted, the contemporary evidence does not support the common opinion that first-century Jews were aggressive missionaries and that the Roman empire gave an enthusiastic reception to Jewish values and institutions. As data accumulates, the mysterious God-fearers become even more enigmatic. Thus a revisionist view of Paul's relationship to the Law cannot claim support from the hypothesis that he was once a Jewish missionary.
Deconstructing the Concept of God
Authors: Gleeson Gerald P.
Published: July 2017

In the Preface to his recent study, The Trespass of the Sign, Kevin Hart writes of his “abiding interest in bringing deconstruction into conversation with Christian theology” (p. x). At the heart of his account of how the strategy of deconstruction can illuminate theology is the distinction between the reality of God and the concept of God. In this article I wish to draw attention to the importance of the distinction Hart has made for all future considerations of the relationship between negative and positive theology.
The Distortion of Christian Ritual
Authors: Darragh Neil
Published: July 2017

Although we normally expect christian liturgies to have benevolent effects on the participants, this may not always be the case. Christian rituals may not only fail to achieve their intended purpose, they may also suffer from distortion, with harmful results. Two kinds of distortion may be distinguished here: “recipient distortion”, which arises from defects in the recipients of the ritual action; and “symbolic distortion”, which arises from within the patterns of the ritual symbols themselves. We need to attend to strategies of detection and correction, particularly for symbolic distortion. The extensive footnotes to this article constitute a sub-text in themselves: this is a deliberate choice on the part of the author in order to separate basic argument from illustration, comment, and useful references.
Scripture, Inspiration and the Word of God
Authors: Garrett Graeme
Published: July 2017

This article seeks to restate the idea of the inspiration of scripture in the context of contemporary debates about authority. It is argued that an adequate theory of scripture must be constructed as part of a comprehensive theology of the “word of God”, on the one hand, and a dynamic theology of the Spirit, on the other. In short, the doctrine of the inspiration of scripture cannot be stated in isolation, as if the Bible could be treated as an isolated object, whole and complete in itself. Only as the word of God empowered by the Spirit of God is comprehended in all its dimensions, and as the reception and interpretation of each dimension is apprehended in dialogical relation to the others, can we grasp what is the unique and irreplaceable part that biblical literature plays in the economy of God's self-declaration in human history.
Reception Hermeneutics and the “Development” of Doctrine: An Alternative Model
Authors: Rush Ormond
Published: July 2017

Despite its strengths, the development model for understanding the history of doctrine has certain inadequacies. It is proposed that the category of “reception” provides a more adequate reading of doctrinal history. Appropriating the reception hermeneutics of Hans Robert Jauss, this approach envisages the expression of doctrine and dogma in any age as part of the living reception of the living tradition. Such a reception-model highlights a certain dynamic evident in the history of doctrine that has implications for the interpretation of doctrine and dogma today.
Are There Really Angels in Carlton? Australian Literature and Theology
Authors: Rowe Noel
Published: July 2017

This article considers how literature and theology can cooperate to develop “Australian theology”. It also asks that theology be sensitive to the ways in which literature can create its meanings, be aware of the demonic possibilities in writing, and come to terms with texts which deconstruct the words and worlds of traditional theology.
Persons, Souls and Embryos
Authors: Coghlan Peter
Published: July 2017

The first part of this paper offers comments on the current debate within the Catholic church over the point in the development of the human embryo when ensoulment takes place. Interest is not so much in trying to determine the point of ensoulment as in clarifying the concept of ensoulment (animation, hominization) as inherited from Aristotle and Aquinas. This clarification leads to the second part of the paper, a discussion of some problems with the traditional Catholic notion of the soul as a spiritual principle “created immediately…by God”.