bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The European Union's Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS): Still a Viable Entity or a Concept Spiraling Towards Obscurity?
Authors: Wenk Michael
Published: July 2010

The European Union's Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) was envisioned as a panacea for the perceived ills facing the European Union (EU) at the time of its inception. Its manifest purpose was to more comprehensively administer environmental management and compliance, to help ensure a uniform set of environmental performance across the entire EU. The scheme, together with the Eco-Label, the other EU voluntary tool, was developed as a complement to traditional 'command-and-control' legislation. While noble and ambitious in its design, EMAS has failed to become the shining light of environmental management which it was designed to be, and instead has devolved into a second class citizen. While the ongoing revision, EMAS III, offers some hope for the future, the program as a whole remains burdened by inefficiency and impracticality. The Scheme must expand in scope, and include motivations and rewards for incorporating such pressing ideas as CSR, or it will be doomed to the ash heap of history.
Sustainable Urban Development, the Dutch Method: Best Practice for the European Integrated Approach?
Authors:   Boeve, van Middelkoop L.
Published: July 2010

An important European environmental policy aim is to create “sustainable cities”. The aim of this article is to explore the possible tensions between environmental measures and urban spatial planning law that can arise in creating such sustainable cities and examine opportunities for integrated sustainable urban planning. The policy document discussed in this article is the European Thematic Strategy on Urban Development of 2006. This Strategy promotes an integrated approach as the tool to achieve sustainable urban development, with the implementation of existing EU environmental legislation as its outer boundary. However, no specific EU legislation has been adopted or is foreseen thereon. The EU merely intends to offer support and guidance to the Member States. But will such a policy suffice to reach the aim? Are not clearer (legislative) parameters needed? Within the EU several “best practices” to the integrated approach are being developed by the Member States. This article highlights the Dutch approach to integrated urban development that could be seen as such a best practice. Particularly relevant in urban (re)development projects are the Dutch 'Interim Act City and Environment approach', the legal Framework for Air Quality in the Dutch Environmental Management Act and the 'Crisis and Recovery Act'. These instruments show chances for integrated urban (re)development. But some points of attention remain even in the Dutch approach, such as the guarantee that the ecological aspect of sustainability must not come off worse. Is EU legislation needed to address these points of attention or will national (or local) action do?
The Regulation of Environmental Noise in Germany
Authors: Albrecht Eike
Published: July 2010

The protection from noise is one of the most important environmental topics, in particular because the noise situation has not improved in the recent years. To combat noise and to protect the citizens from noise is a major topic of national environmental law as well as European law. This article will give a short overview of the noise situation and noise related legislative activities in Germany, and also different instruments of environmental policy and law. Because of the importance of the European Environmental Noise Directive, the article focuses on the transposition of the Directive into German law. A crucial point of this Directive and of German law is whether there is an individual right of the citizens against the competent authority for the preparation of noise action plans.
Recent Developments in EC Environmental Policy and Law
Authors: Mertens Kathleen
Published: July 2010

This section briefly describes the significant political initiatives and acts of legislation adopted in the environmental field from August 2009 until December 2009. Part one gives an overview of the relevant political initiatives and part two describes the relevant legislative acts adopted in this period.
Egalitarian Justice and Valuational Judgment
Authors: Knight Carl
Published: July 2010

Contemporary discussions of egalitarian justice have often focused on the issue of expensive taste. G.A. Cohen has recently abandoned the view that all chosen disadvantages are non-compensable, now maintaining that chosen expensive judgmental tastes—those endorsed by valuational judgment—are compensable as it is unreasonable to expect persons not to develop them. But chosen expensive brute taste—the main type of non-compensable expensive taste on the new scheme—cannot be described in such a way that there is a normative difference between it and chosen expensive judgmental taste. As there are related problems with denying compensation for the other kind of expensive taste that might remain non-compensable, Cohen's position on taste appears to be either implausible or virtually indistinguishable from that of equality of welfare. However, compensation for valuational judgment-based expensive taste might be justified on grounds of responsibility.
The 'Banality of Good'?
Authors: Scarre Geoffrey
Published: July 2010

Whilst there has been much talk about the supposed 'banality of evil', there has been comparatively little discussion of the putatively parallel notion of the 'banality of good'. This paper explores some of the resonances of the phrase and proposes that banally good acts have the leading feature that the agent's reasons for action do not include the thought that the effects intended are good (either morally or practically). It is argued, against David Blumenthal, that the label 'banal' should not be applied to acts of spontaneous or everyday goodness but instead to those characterized by a lack of genuine moral commitment, for example, acts done purely in obedience to authority, or from self-seeking motives or mere habit. Finally, it is proposed that the doing of good in a banal mode may reasonably be encouraged in circumstances where more estimable moral motives may be lacking or feeble.
The Ideality of Law
Authors: Coyle Sean
Published: July 2010

Both of the books under review (R. Dworkin, Justice in Robes and N.E. Simmonds, Law as a Moral Idea) offer a challenge to the dominant jurisprudential tradition of legal positivism. Underlying this superficial similarity in aims is a sharp divergence in philosophical outlook. Whereas Dworkin's arguments operate within a body of background assumptions that he shares with his opponents, and which he has done much to shape, Simmonds sees his task as challenging those assumptions. This is particularly evident in the moral philosophies at the heart of each book: Dworkin (I argue) can be seen as offering a Protestant-voluntarist-atheist philosophy; whereas Simmonds resembles a Catholic-conservative-Aristotelian.
From 'Convention' to 'Ethical Life': Hume's Theory of Justice in Post-Kantian Perspective
Authors: Westphal Kenneth
Published: July 2010

Hume and contemporary Humeans contend that moral sentiments form the sole and sufficient basis of moral judgments. This thesis is criticized by appeal to Hume's theory of justice, which shows that basic principles of justice are required to form and to maintain society, which is indispensable to human life, and that acting according to, or violating, these principles is right, or wrong, regardless of anyone's sentiments, motives or character. Furthermore, Hume's theory of justice shows how the principles of justice are artificial without being arbitrary. In this regard, Hume's theory belongs to the unjustly neglected modern natural law tradition. Some key merits of this strand in Hume's theory are explicated by linking it to Kant's constructivist method of identifying and justifying practical principles (à la O'Neill), and by showing how and why Hegel adopted and further developed Kant's constructivism by re-integrating it with Hume's central natural law concern with our actual social practices.
Thinking about Normativity: Ralph Wedgwood on 'Ought'
Authors: de Muijnck Wim
Published: July 2010

Ralph Wedgwood's The Nature of Normativity provides a theory about the semantics, metaphysics, and epistemology of normative judgments, taken to be judgments of the form 'I ought to '. The theory is based on the principle of Normative Judgment Internalism, and the principle that 'the intentional is normative'. I argue, first, that by being merely about oughts, Wedgwood's account leaves out one essential constituent of normativity: value. Secondly, I argue that mainly because of this, the account faces a serious issue of relevance.
What is Objectification?
Authors: Papadaki Lina
Published: July 2010

Objectification is a notion central to contemporary feminist theory. It has famously been associated with the work of anti-pornography feminists Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, and more recently with the work of Martha Nussbaum. However, objectification is a notion that has not yet been adequately defined. It has been used rather vaguely to refer to a broad range of cases involving, in some way or another, the treatment of a person (usually a woman) as an object. My purpose in this paper is to offer a plausible understanding of objectification. I do that by focusing on the work of four prominent thinkers: Immanuel Kant, and contemporary feminists Catharine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin and Martha Nussbaum. Through drawing on these thinkers' conceptions of objectification, I am finally led to a more complete and coherent understanding of this notion.
Constructivism and Practical Reason: On Intersubjectivity, Abstraction, and Judgment
Authors: Ronzoni Miriam
Published: July 2010

The article offers an account of the constructivist methodology in ethics and political philosophy as 1) deriving from an agnostic moral ontology and 2) proposing intersubjective justifiability as the criterion of justification for normative principles. It then asks whether constructivism, conceived in this way, can respond to the challenge of “content skepticism about practical reason”, namely whether it can provide sufficiently precise normative guidance whilst remaining faithful to its methodological commitment. The paper critically examines to alternative way of meeting this challenge, namely John Rawls's original position and O'Neill's Kantian constructivism, analyses what is problematic about both, and endorses a third, possibly intermediate model. Within such a model, the basic features of the original position are accepted, but in a flexible and heuristic manner, thereby accommodating some of O'Neill's concerns.
Trivial Sacrifices, Great Demands
Authors: Sin William
Published: July 2010

Suppose that people in the affluent countries can easily save the lives of the starving needy in poor countries. Then, three points seem to follow. First, it is wrong for these people not to make the easy rescue (The Principle of Easy Rescue). Second, it is wrong to stop making the easy rescue even if they have made many rescues already (The Inexhaustible Nature of Positive Duties). Third, if we accept the first two points, the demands of morality are super-extreme. That is, people have to keep making trivial sacrifices until there is no more trivial sacrifices to make (The Super-Extreme Nature of Moral Demands). Here, predictably, our commonsense will resist the third point. However, I argue in this paper that, since the first two points are harder to refute, we have to accept the third point anyway.
Ecclesiology as Narrative
Authors: O'Brien John
Published: July 2010

By focusing on how the transmission and reception of ecclesiologies are enshrined in narratives and in the conversation between narratives, this article argues that that there can be a retrieval and a re-articulation of classical ecclesiologies which surpass the mens auctoris of these narratives, leading to a higher synthesis and communion, with important ecumenical implications. The structure of this conversation of ecclesiological narratives is triangular, with narratives emerging from the laity, the theologians and the bishops offering correctives to each other. Each of these narratives can surpass its own hidden rootedness in possible structures of oppression by locating itself in a further triangular hermeneutical space defined by the the preferential option for the excluded, a contemplative search for the designs of God and a search for structures of greater inclusiveness. In this way an adequate ecclesiology may emerge whose temporal distance from classical ecclesiologies provides a potential productive ground of even deeper understanding.
The Promise of Constructive Comparative Ecclesiology: Partial Communion
Authors: Haight Roger
Published: July 2010

Constructive comparative ecclesiology is the method used by the Faith and Order Commission in its transdenominational documents. The method aims at characterizations of the Church that are inclusive of as many churches as possible. These interpretations thus represent an existential ecclesial existence that is shared by Christians across the churches. This common existential ecclesial existence can be the basis for partial communions among churches, that is, communions that recognize common ecclesial bonds despite substantial ecclesial differences that prevent full communion. The thesis of this essay, then, is that the usefulness of constructive comparative ecclesiology lies in its encouragement of partial communion among the churches.
Time will teach us … Reflections on Thirty-five years of Pentecostal – Roman Catholic dialogue
Authors: Creemers Jelle
Published: July 2010

The official dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and Classical Pentecostal representatives is the only substantial bilateral dialogue between a historic church and a 'young' spiritual movement. In view of the challenge of ecumenism in the twenty-first century to incorporate new expressions of Christian community life into the ecumenical movement, this dialogue offers us an interesting test case. Since its establishment in 1972, it has gone through five phases of dialoguing, each lasting five to nine years. Both the Final Reports on each phase and the comments given by participants and observers throughout the last 35 years show the inner dynamic of this unique dialogue. It was based on a simple friendship and started as a long series of exploratory meetings with little theological but much relational gain. Yet slowly but surely it evolved into a strong dialogue that is characterised by a recognition of spiritual unity, a deep mutual respect, and an ability of honest self-criticism, teaching us that the new ecumenism requires the basis of a loving relationship and courage to leave the well-trodden paths.
The Baptismal Revolution in the American Episcopal Church: Baptismal Ecclesiology and the Baptismal Covenant
Authors: Podmore Colin
Published: July 2010

The Episcopal Church has come to espouse a developed form of baptismal ecclesiology, in which all laypersons are believed to be ministers by virtue of their baptism and the ordained ministry is understood as a particular form of the ministry of all the baptized. The adoption of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer was significant for this. Also included in that book was a 'Baptismal Covenant' that has come to be seen as an iconic statement of the Episcopal Church's commitment to social action and 'inclusion'. This article documents the genesis and content of this developed form of baptismal ecclesiology and of the Baptismal Covenant, highlights their relevance for the ordination of women to the priesthood, and points to their significance for the moral and ecclesiological aspects of the current crisis in the Anglican Communion. Comparison is made with the ecclesiology of the Church of England, as expressed in its liturgy and in relevant reports.
A Mad Hatter's Tea Party in the Old Mitre Tavern? Ecumenical Reactions to Growing into Union
Authors: Atherstone Andrew
Published: July 2010

In the immediate aftermath of defeat for the Anglican-Methodist Unity Scheme in the Church of England's Convocations in July 1969, Archbishop Ramsey famously spoke out in despair: 'Let the minorities, who disagree among themselves, tell us what their scheme is. But they won't, they won't, they wont'. The Scheme's evangelical and catholic opponents had frustrated ecumenical hopes, but without offering a viable alternative. Responding to the archbishop's cri de coeur, four leading dissentients (Colin Buchanan, Graham Leonard, Eric Mascall and J.I. Packer) published Growing into Union (1970), one of the most controversial ecumenical tracts in recent decades. This paper examines the background to their pioneering catholic-evangelical alliance and the reactions which Growing into Union provoked, especially amongst ecumenical thinkers.
Priests and Bishops in Bede's Ecclesiology: the use of sacerdos in the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
Authors: Thomas Benjamin
Published: July 2010

As the earliest historian of the Church in England, Bede's presentation of the English Church exercises a wide influence on the self-understanding of the Anglican Communion. This understanding, especially with respect to the historical nature of the episcopal and the presbyteral orders of ministry, is not always clear even in the best English translations, particularly in the rendering of the word sacerdos which can be correctly translated as both 'priest' and 'bishop'. Although Bede apparently supports a three-fold ordered ministry, a careful investigation of the use of sacerdos in his History suggests that he is willing to treat priests and bishops as colleagues and equals in certain contexts, including the sacramental ministry, the evangelistic mission, and the synodical counsels of the Church. This equality does not mean that Bede sees the two orders as essentially the same, rather that in their overlapping areas of responsibility the two orders, bishops and priests, are functionally equivalent.
Our Call: The Constitutive Importance of the People's Judgment
Authors: Richardson Henry
Published: July 2010

It is often debated whether what we ought, politically, to do is determined by standards that are independent of any actual political process or whether, by contrast, judgments reached in actual democratic processes have constitutive importance in determining what we should do. This paper argues that this is not an exclusive disjunction and that, consistently with there being independent standards, constitutively authoritative judgments can enter into the truth-conditions pertaining to claims about what we ought, politically, to do. The crucial objection to constitutive judgment is that it involves an unacceptable form of bootstrapping, according to which reasons arise out of nothing. To circumvent this objection, the paper deploys John Broome's notion of a wide-scope 'normative requirement'. Normative requirements affect what ought to be done without altering the balance of reasons and defuse the bootstrapping objection by blocking the derivation of all-things-considered conclusions. To show that politics involves constitutive authority of this kind, the paper defends two illustrative normative requirements applicable to the political process that give constitutive roles to political judgments of various kinds. Throughout, the discussion is enlivened by comparisons to the judgments of a baseball umpire, which have been illuminatingly discussed by Robert Brandom.
Doing Harm, Allowing Harm, and Denying Resources
Authors: Hall Timothy
Published: July 2010

Of great importance to many non-consequentialists is a claimed moral difference between doing and allowing harm. I argue that non-consequentialism is best understood, however, as consisting in three morally distinct categories where commentators typically identify two: standard doings of harm, standard allowings of harm, and denials of resources. Furthermore, the moral distinctness of denials of resources is independent of whether denials are doings or allowings of harm, I argue. I argue by way of matched examples, as well as by way of two widely accepted features of non-consequentialism: stringent rights of persons, and the susceptibility of resources to distribution within political society.
Virtue Ethics, Character, and Normative Receptivity
Authors: Upton Candace
Published: July 2010

Classically-conceived accounts of character posit traits that are both dynamic and global. Dynamic traits produce behavior, and global traits produce behavior across the full range of situation kinds relevant to a particular trait. If you are classically just, for example, you would behave justly across the full range of situation kinds relevant to justice. But classical traits are too crude to fulfill trait attributions' intrinsically normative purpose, which is to reflect the moral merit agents deserve. I defend an extra-classical account of character traits that endorses flexible traits that might issue in behavior across any narrow or broad range of situation kinds, and static traits that might issue in no behavior at all. Extra-classical traits are more subtle and sensitive, and so are normatively receptive to the credit that psychologically-complicated agents merit. Further, extra-classical traits can fulfill all the unproblematic roles of classical traits. Extra-classicism is, hence, a significant and substantial improvement upon classically conceived character traits and traditional virtue ethics.
Morality and Privilege
Authors: Williams Reginald
Published: July 2010

This paper discusses, from a moral psychology perspective, the putative fact that many people's socio-economic status makes it difficult for them to live what their philosophical thinking suggests is a fully moral life—an under-appreciated fact, or better phenomenon, that I call 'culturo-socio-divergence'. Section 1 explicates my distinction between 'culture' (the philosophical thinking of one's time) and 'society' (socio-economic conditions). Section 2 highlights some ways in which the culture and society in America can be seen as divergent, and section 3 discusses the significance of this divergence for moral psychology, linking the experience of culturo-socio-divergence with that of both guilt and shame. Finally, section 4 sketches this paper's implications for future research.
Patriotism and Morality: Mapping the Terrain
Authors: Primoratz Igor
Published: July 2010

I first distinguish patriotism from nationalism. The kind of patriotism that provides the last refuge to the scoundrel is put aside as not to the point. I then develop a typology of positions on the moral standing of patriotism that includes (1) extreme patriotism that trumps moral considerations that conflict with it, (2) extreme patriotism understood as the central moral virtue, (3) moderate patriotism, (4) patriotism as a morally indifferent preference, and (5) a distinctively ethical version of patriotism. I argue that (1) is clearly morally unacceptable; concur with the critics of (2) that it, too, must be rejected; agree with the defenders of (3) that it is a distinctive and morally legitimate position, but go on to argue that there is nothing to be said for it, morally speaking, and that it is therefore (4) a morally indifferent preference; finally, I present (5) as a different type of patriotism which, under some fairly common circumstances, may be a moral duty.
The Grounds of Moral Agency: Locke's Account of Personal Identity
Authors: Spector Jessica
Published: July 2010

For Locke, the personal identity problem was a moral problem from the beginning, an attempt to pin down the conditions for responsibility and accountability. This article discusses the implications of Locke's consciousness theory of personal identity for thought about the continuity of moral agency, arguing that Locke's treatment of personal identity is best understood in connection with his expanded discussion of liberty in the Essay and with his interest in the proper grounds for assessing responsibility for action. By grounding personal identity in an agent's ability to recognize her actions as her own, Locke presents a picture of moral life compatible with skepticism about substance while not skeptical about morality. I argue that this description highlights some important features of self-awareness and personhood without resorting to any metaphysical suppositions such as soul, essence or spirit.
Utility Maximization Generalized
Authors: Weirich Paul
Published: July 2010

Theories of rationality advance principles that differ in topic, scope, and assumptions. A typical version of the principle of utility maximization formulates a standard rather than a procedure for decisions, evaluates decisions comprehensively, and relies on idealizations. I generalize the principle by removing some idealizations and making adjustments for their absence. The generalizations accommodate agents who have incomplete probability and utility assignments and are imperfectly rational. They also accommodate decision problems with unstable comparisons of options.
Personal Integrity, Morality and Psychological Well-Being: Justifying the Demands of Morality
Authors: Besser-Jones Lorraine
Published: July 2010

Most moral theories purport to make claims upon agents, yet often it is not clear why those claims are ones that can be justifiably demanded of agents. In this paper, I develop a justification of moral requirements that explains why it is that morality makes legitimate claims on agents. This justification is grounded in the idea that there is an essential connection between morality and psychological well-being. I go on to suggest how, using this justification as a springboard, we might be able to develop a viable theory of moral requirements that maintains the strict and demanding status we take to be distinctive of moral requirements, yet avoids worries of alienation.
Substantively Constrained Choice and Deference
Authors: Holroyd Jules
Published: July 2010

Substantive accounts of autonomy place value constraints on the objects of autonomous choice. According to such views, not all sober and competent choices can be autonomous: some things simply cannot be autonomously chosen. Such an account is developed and appealed to, by Thomas Hill Jr, in order to explain the intuitively troubling nature of choices for deferential roles. Such choices are not consistent with the value of self-respect, it is claimed. In this paper I argue that Hill's attempt to explain the problem with such a choice, and Marcia Baron's interpretation and defence of his view, fail in this task. The troubling nature of some choices for deference cannot be explained in terms of a substantive self-respect condition for autonomy.
Hegel and the Philosophy of Food
Authors: Martin Wayne
Published: July 2010

In this review of Robert Pippin's recent book, elements of Hegel's Practical Philosophy are assessed both against opposed philosophical positions and by the guidance they offer in thinking through the practical matter of deciding what to eat.
Defining Terrorism for Public Policy Purposes: The Group-Target Definition
Authors: Reitan Eric
Published: July 2010

For the sake of developing and evaluating public policy decisions aimed at combating terrorism, we need a precise public definition of terrorism that distinguishes terrorism from other forms of violence. Ordinary usage does not provide a basis for such a definition, and so it must be stipulative. I propose essentially pragmatic criteria for developing such a stipulative public definition. After noting that definitions previously proposed in the philosophical literature are inadequate based on these criteria, I propose an alternative, which I call the 'group-target' definition and which distinguishes terrorism from other forms of violence by the distinctive principle of discrimination used by terrorists to identify legitimate targets. I argue that this definition meets the criteria for a satisfactory public definition, and suggest that based on it there is good reason to suspect the adequacy of anti-terrorism policies that rely predominantly on forceful interdiction of terrorists.
Locke on Punishment, Property and Moral Knowledge
Authors: Ward Lee
Published: July 2010

Locke's admittedly 'very strange' sounding doctrine of natural executive power, according to which the individual has the right to execute the law of nature, has long been one of the most controversial features of his moral philosophy. In contrast to the many commentators who deny its theoretical innovation and challenge its individualist premises, this study proposes that the philosophical significance of Locke's natural right to punish derives from its critical departure from earlier moral and political theory. It also argues that the individualist political and religious implications of the natural punishment doctrine are only fully intelligible in light of Locke's theory of property and the assessment of the epistemological limits and possibilities for acquiring moral knowledge in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Taking the Highway on Skepticism, Luck, and the Value of Responsibility
Authors: Vargas Manuel
Published: July 2010

I consider some themes and issues arising in recent work on moral responsibility, focusing on three recent books—Carlos Moya's Moral Responsibility, Al Mele's Free Will and Luck, and John Martin Fischer's My Way. I argue that these texts collectively suggest some difficulties with the way in which many issues are currently framed in the free will debates, including disputes about what constitutes compatibilism and incompatibilism and the relevance of intuitions and ordinary language for describing the metaphysics of free will and moral responsibility. I also argue that each of the accounts raise more particular puzzles: it is unclear to what extent Moya's account is properly an account of free will; Mele's account raises questions about the significance of luck for compatibilist theories; and Fischer's account of the value of responsibility as self-expression raises questions about the normative significance of moral responsibility.
Partiality and Weighing Harm to Non-Combatants
Authors: Lefkowitz David
Published: July 2010

The author contests the claim made independently by F.M. Kamm and Thomas Hurka that combatants ought to assign greater weight to collateral harm done to their compatriot noncombatants then they assign to collateral harm done to enemy non-combatants. Two arguments by analogy offered in support of such partiality, one of which appeals to permissible self/other asymmetry in cases of harming the few to save the many, and the second of which appeals to parents' justifiable partiality to their children, are found wanting. The author also rebuts Kamm's argument that combatants should assign greater weight to collateral harm done to neutrals than to compatriot non-combatants. However, he contends that in some cases a neutral state's right to sovereignty may entail that a combatant ought to choose the act that will collaterally kill a greater number of compatriot non-combatants over one that involves collaterally killing a lesser number of neutrals.
Luck Egalitarianism, Permissible Inequalities, and Moral Hazard
Authors: Lang Gerald
Published: July 2010

In this article, I appeal to the phenomenon of moral hazard in order to explain how at least some of the inequalities permitted by Luck Egalitarianism can be given an alternative, more plausible grounding than that which is supplied by Luck Egalitarianism. This alternative grounding robs Luck Egalitarianism of a potentially significant source of intuitive support whilst enabling conditional welfare policies to survive the attacks on them made by Elizabeth Anderson, Jonathan Wolff, and others.
The Paradox of Forgiveness
Authors: Zaibert Leo
Published: July 2010

Philosophers often claim that forgiveness is a paradoxical phenomenon. I here examine two of the most widespread ways of dealing with the paradoxical nature of forgiveness. One of these ways, emblematized by Aurel Kolnai, seeks to resolve the paradox by appealing to the idea of repentance. Somehow, if a wrongdoer repents, then forgiving her is no longer paradoxical. I argue that this influential position faces more problems than it solves. The other way to approach the paradox, exemplified here by the work of Jacques Derrida, is just too obscure to be by itself helpful. Yet, I argue that what I take to be its spirit is on the right track. I recommend distinguishing between (1) the definition and the justification of forgiveness, and also between (2) forgiveness understood as (a) a mental phenomenon and (b) an overt, communicative act. These distinctions are not given their due in the specialized literature, and I expose the nefarious consequences of this neglect. By focusing on forgiveness as a mental phenomenon I seek to analyze the root of the talk of paradoxes which surrounds the discussion of forgiveness. Finally, I present an analysis of forgiveness as a pure mental phenomenon, and argue that this analysis is the most important step in understanding forgiveness in any other sense. While my analysis reveals interesting aspects of forgiveness, it reveals, too, that forgiveness is not quite as paradoxical after all.
The Autonomy of Morality and the Morality of Autonomy
Authors: Stern Robert
Published: July 2010

This review article is a discussion of Charles Larmore's book The Autonomy of Morality. After presenting an outline of Larmore's position, it focuses on three critical issues: whether Larmore is right to see Kant as an anti-realist; whether he deals adequately with the threat to autonomy posed by the apparent obligatoriness of morality; and whether he establishes that the constructivist idea of practical reason as self-legislating must really be as unconstrained and empty as he suggests.
Review of Frank D. Macchia's Baptized in the Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology
Authors: Pinnock Clark H.
Published: July 2010

Frank Macchia's Baptized in the Spirit is a significant volume in Christian theology written by a leading American Pentecostal theologian. The book sheds light on topic after topic, employing Spirit baptism as the guiding principle. Macchia argues that, more than empowerment, Spirit baptism justifies and sanctifies, renews and empowers the people of God and will go on doing so until creation is turned into the dwelling place of God. He develops a doctrine of the church as a Spirit-baptized and gifted fellowship, a sign of grace in the midst of the gracelessness that is in the world. The book represents an important maturation of Pentecostal thinking that engages a world-wide conversation.
Baptized in the Spirit: Reflections in Response to My Reviewers
Authors: Macchia Frank D.
Published: July 2010

Baptized in the Spirit: A Global Pentecostal Theology is essentially my effort to develop the early Pentecostal focus on the chief vocation of humanity to bear the divine Spirit in the image of Jesus Christ. I have sought to expand the horizons of this focus on the divine indwelling in order to view it as an eschatological reality that will end in the entire creation becoming the dwelling place of God. I attempt within this pneumatological context to understand the Pentecostal breakthrough experiences of conversion to Christ, sanctification, and empowerment (with signs following). It is also within this context that I utilize Pannenberg's understanding of the divine monarchy (reign) of God as mediated by the mutually-dependent communion of persons (a mutual indwelling), which ends in the divine indwelling of creation (and creation in God) as the Son and the Spirit submit themselves to the will of the Father in overcoming the reign of sin and death by the reign of the divine righteousness and life. Spirit baptism is the organizing principle for looking at various doctrinal loci from the vantage point of the divine indwelling and the eschatological reign of the divine life throughout all of creation.
Sacred Song and God's Presence in 2 Chronicles 5, the Renewal Community of Judah and Beyond
Authors: Spawn Kevin L.
Published: July 2010

After an overview of his compositional technique in the temple dedication narrative (2 Chronicles 5-7), the Chr's theology of worship in chapter 5 is examined. The Chr's emphasis on the sacred song, God's glorious presence and related themes are traced in this essay. The relevance of this message is explored for: the Chr's community during the reconstruction period, the task of biblical theology and the renewal tradition as it embarks upon another century after the Azusa Street Revival.
Spirit and Kingdom in the Writings of Luke and Paul: An Attempt to Reconcile these Concepts by Youngmo Cho
Authors: William Mittelstadt Martin
Published: July 2010

The emergence of Pentecostal scholarship in the last quarter century set the stage for fresh and ongoing dialogue concerning the relationship between Pauline and Lukan pneumatologies in the broader scholarly community. The collection of articles, theses, dissertations, and monographs attempting to chart and settle this relationship increases annually. To this collection, Asian scholar Youngmo Cho submits a valuable addition. In his 'Spirit and Kingdom in the Writings of Luke and Paul', Cho, as suggested by the subtitle, proposes 'An Attempt to Reconcile these Concepts.' Originally written as his PhD thesis at the University of Aberdeen under Andrew Clarke, this revised thesis is sure to contribute to the continuing discussion not only in Pentecostal circles but in the broader academic world. A detailed theologian Cho utilizes strong exegetical, lexicographical, and hermeneutical instincts to explore the unique early Christian contribution of Paul's innovative pneumatology against Luke's traditional intertestamental pneumatology. In this review essay I offer a thorough synopsis of Cho's work followed by a brief evaluation.
A Reply to Keith Warrington's Response to 'Jesus and Healing: Yesterday and Today'
Authors: Shelton James B.
Published: July 2010

This is a reply to Dr Keith Warrington's response to my comments on his original article 'Acts and the Healing Narratives: Why?' (JPT) 14.2 (April 2006), pp. 189-217). I responded in the same JPT issue under the title '"Not Like It Used to Be?": Jesus, Miracles and Today' (pp. 219-227). Dr Warrington responded to my questions in 'A Response to James Shelton Concerning Jesus and Healing: Yesterday and Today, 'JPT 15.2 (April 2007), pp. 185-193. In this response, we further explore the use of Jesus' and the Apostles' healing ministry as models to be followed in the contemporary Church and the use of James' anointing model and other modes of healing.
A Moderate Move or Missing the Point? A Response to Tony Moon's 'J. H. King's Theology of Religions: 'Magnanimous Optimism?'
Authors: Richie Tony
Published: July 2010

This article is a response to Tony Moon's scholarly charge that this author has overstated his case regarding Bishop J. H. King's Pentecostal theology of religions. Dr Moon urges a more moderate move, but I respectfully argue that he is missing my point regarding King's theology of religions as at its core characterized by optimism, that is, by a positive and balanced but non-dogmatic sense of hopefulness.
In the Name of Jesus: A Conversation with Critics
Authors: Twelftree Graham
Published: July 2010

Interacting with critics, significant aspects of the project are set out: there was a range of approaches to exorcism from magicians to charismatic magicians, through to charismatics. Jesus is to be placed between the charismatic magicians and the later charismatics. For the Fourth Gospel, exorcisms were unable to reflect adequately on Jesus. Yet demon possession is maintained not for the few deranged but for the many, showing the demonic is fought not with the hand of a healer but with accepting Jesus, his truth and honoring God as one's Father. In the early second century there appears to be no interest in exorcism. Around the middle of the second century there was a renewed interest in exorcism, beginning in Rome. Often influenced by the Fourth Gospel, other material is evidence that the demonic was confronted other than by exorcism, indicating the ministry of Jesus was not always determinative for early Christians.
The Spirit of God Hovered Over the Waters: Creation, the Local Church, and the Mentally and Physically Challenged, A Call to Spirit-led Ministry
Authors: Fettke Steven
Published: July 2010

What does it mean to be created in the imago dei? Are all created in God's image? To whom should the Spirit-filled Church minister? Contemporary Pentecostal/Charismatic practical theology seems obsessed with cultural relevance and worldly success that is often keyed to a particular pre-packaged program rather than to God's creational and redemptive concerns. In answering the questions about God's creation, God's image, and true Spirit-led ministry, this article will point the Pentecostal/Charismatic Church to the biblical witness that calls for ministry to all people in all states of their creation. Spirit led laity and professional ministers can resist compliance with popular ministry models of 'success' and find ways to develop a practical theology that includes ministry to all for whom Christ died as the Spirit leads and empowers. The Spirit of God still hovers over God's creation. If that is true, then those who are mentally and physically challenged must be included in the life of the local church. People afflicted with debilitating illnesses cannot be excluded. Those who have been broken by caring for disabled or ill family members must be remembered. As a local Pentecostal/Charismatic Church develops a Spirit-led practical theology, the members may imagine a different way of 'doing ministry' from popular models of success. Instead, as the Spirit of God still hovers over all creation, local Spirit-filled lay leaders and professional ministers can courageously and sacrificially minister to all created in the imago dei.
Scripture and the Disabled: Redeeming Mephibosheth's Identity
Authors: Rouse Christopher
Published: July 2010

Disabled individuals form a constituency often marginalized in society. The Christian Church must realize that participation in the missio dei, requires the redemption of individual identity. Thus, societal structures which produce stigmatizing labels must be challenged appropriately. Pentecostals also face unique challenges in regards to the relationship between 'healing' and 'disability'. Focusing upon the story of Mephibosheth, one can construct a 'redemptive reading' which allows for the voice of the disabled to be redeemed. A Foucaultan lens is employed to account for issues of power, structure and society applicable to the plight of individuals with disabilities. Attention is also given to the place of the disabled in Israelite culture, as further illustrated from other Jewish sources. Finally, Mephibosheth's voice is conceived as a 'sign' for the Sitz-im-Leben of the disabled universally. Approaching the text from this particular hermeneutic can ultimately empower the Church (and particularly Pentecostals) to redeem the identity of the disabled in community.
Spirit, Apocalypse and Ethics: Reading Catholic Moral Theology as a Pentecostal
Authors: Martin Jonathan
Published: July 2010

As Pentecostals develop their own approach to theological ethics, the Catholic tradition may turn out to be their most promising dialog partner. At its core, Catholicism is a holiness movement with deep resources for ethical renewal. As Pentecostals appropriate their own quirky catholicity bequeathed by Wesley, they have much to learn from the narrative of Catholic moral theology given by Servais Pinckaers in The Sources of Christian Ethics. Negatively, Pentecostals have already developed some of the same destructive tendencies in their short history that took centuries for Catholic moral theologians to develop. Yet while the story of Catholic moral theology will at times be a cautionary tale, there is equal potential to shape Pentecostal ethics constructively, as exemplified by Pinckaers, Pope John Paul II and ultimately Herbert McCabe. With his approach to ethics as language, McCabe's important but still largely underappreciated Love, Law and Language is an especially provocative resource that could help Pentecostals articulate ethics as a pneumatically formed new language.
Nature and Grace: Why this Catholic Delineation of the 'Supernatural' is Important for Pentecostals
Authors: Colle Ralph Del
Published: July 2010

The traditional Catholic distinction of nature and grace is utilized to examine the importance of maintaining the 'supernatural' character of grace as Christian theology is increasingly concerned about the modality of divine agency beyond the church and the necessity of Christian witness in the world in all dimensions of human experience. The inseparability but distinction between grace and faith experience is employed in service of a common Catholic and Pentecostal witness to the signification of the supernaturality of grace to counter any tendency toward religious naturalism in the effort to promote Christian witness in the secular world.
Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches in Ghana and the African Culture: Confrontation or Compromise?
Authors: Darkwa Amanor Kwabena
Published: July 2010

The paper establishes the reality of conflict between Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches in Ghana and the African culture. It examines the history of this conflict since the early days of Christianity in Ghana as well as the causes of the conflict. It also looks at the effects of the conflict on the dialogue expected between Christianity and the African culture, mediation efforts by third party governance and civil society organizations, and the theological implications of the antagonism for the Christian engagement with other non-Christian religions, especially, Islam, which shares Africa with Christianity.
Continuing the Conversation on King: My Really Final Response to Tony Moon?
Authors: Richie Tony
Published: July 2010

Tony Richie contends that Bishop J.H. King and a close circle of comrades and colleagues, influential in early Pentecostalism as leading administrators, educators, thinkers, and writers, and including G.F. Taylor and A.A. Boddy, exhibited various levels of (what today is known as) inclusivism regarding Christian theology of religions. He suggests this striking discovery has significant import for the developing field of Pentecostal theology of religions. However, as Tony Moon has rightly pointed out, King did not present non-Christian religions as direct divine instruments or agents of Christ's atonement benefits. Richie agrees with Moon that King primarily encourages hope for some of the humanly unevangelized. Yet Richie, in agreement with Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, also argues that King's thought can be particularly complex. King's complexity especially shows in his perception of the trans-historical 'essential Christ' and 'religion of Christ'. Thus, Richie persistently suggests that at least King, but probably Taylor too, holds out a well-grounded but cautiously guarded optimism, not so much on world religions per se, as in the boundless Christ and an unbounded—but not boundary-less—religion firmly and forever rooted in the revelation of and redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Disability and the Gifts of the Spirit: Pentecost and the Renewal of the Church
Authors: Yong Amos
Published: July 2010

The interface between the disability rights movement and renewal Christianity has been one of missed opportunities in part because of the centrality of healing in renewal Christian circles. This essay delineates the challenges that occur at this intersection and charts the way toward a renewal theology of disability in dialogue with J. Rodman Williams, one of the leading theologians of the charismatic and neo-Pentecostal movements. Central to such an endeavor is the articulation of an inclusive ecclesiology derived from the Pauline metaphor of the body of Christ animated by the Spirit's diverse giftings amidst and through the church's many members.