bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Paul Ricoeur's “Biblical Hermeneutics”
Authors: Oldenhage Tania
Published: October 2003

This chapter turns to Paul Ricoeur's contributions to American New Testament parable studies in the 1970s. In his essay “Biblical Hermeneutics,” Ricoeur argues that structuralism can offer new and helpful approaches to the parables but that it needs to be combined with an existential interpretation. He moves on to make metaphor theory fruitful for parable studies and thereby offers a new, interpretive vision of the parables of Jesus. Understood as metaphorical narratives, the parables are said to offer a new vision of reality. Ricoeur argues, moreover, that, as limit‐expressions, the parables refer to limit‐experiences of human life, including death, suffering, guilt, and hatred. Throughout the essay, Ricoeur emphasizes the limitations of historical criticism and calls for a more comprehensive interpretive theory.
Secret Sits in the Middle
Authors: Johnson Paul Christopher
Published: October 2003

Presents a point of departure for the study of secrecy through a close examination of Georg Simmel's seminal 1906 essay and offers a preliminary examination of secrets and secretism in Candomblé discourse. The chapter explores the meaning of the assertion that “a secret religion becomes public.” The chapter suggests that though there are no consensual secrets uniting the religion of Candomblé as a whole, there are “local secrets” that mark grades of status within each temple. Secrecy is theorized as a technique for the construction of social boundaries; it is a boundary without specific content marking reclusion from the public sphere.
Signifying the Street in Outbound Rites
Authors: Johnson Paul Christopher
Published: October 2003

Presents descriptions and interpretations of three ritual performances that share in common their reliance upon the space of the street. The first two are yearly terreiro‐based rituals in which the move to the street is secretive and the community's audience is itself alone, while the third is a public demonstration in the city's central plaza and seeks the attention of the public in general. The objective of viewing the three as a set is to show the move to the street as analogous to the revelation as a secret, but also to illustrate and interpret the shifting significance of the street. The public space of the street represents a site of danger, but also a site of public display in which the religion's national and public importance is expressed and, as a political claim, pressed.
1 Introduction
Authors: Noll Mark A.
Published: October 2003

Between 1730 and 1860, American Protestant Christianity developed in a way that set it apart from other forms of the faith in other western locales. American Protestantism moved away from traditional, establishmentarian forms of practice toward an individualistic, market‐oriented type. Contributing to these developments was an intellectual synthesis of evangelical Christianity, republican political thought, and commonsense moral reasoning.
2 Theology in Colonial America
Authors: Noll Mark A.
Published: October 2003

Theologians dominated the public square in Colonial America. Colonial American theology in many ways maintained continuity with Old World understandings of the world and the church. Colonial theologians emphasized the importance of historic confessions and creeds and viewed hierarchical social structure as God‐given.
4 Republicanism and Religion
Authors: Noll Mark A.
Published: October 2003

Outside the American context, republican ideology had always been seen as a pernicious influence upon religious life. According to orthodox Christians in the Old World, especially in Britain, republicanism, with its emphasis on the role and choice of the individual, relied too much on heterodox views of human volition. Nevertheless, Americans came, by the end of the eighteenth century, to embrace a mixture of republican and Christian philosophies. In turn, the principle of “Christian liberty” contributed greatly to the effort for American independence.
7 Colonial Theologies in the Era of the Revolution
Authors: Noll Mark A.
Published: October 2003

Before 1790, and despite the massive ideological changes sparked by the American Revolution, theology in America remained mostly in continuity with traditions from the Old World. The innovations present in American theology up to 1790 resulted more from importing British and continental advances rather than from indigenous development in the American context.
9 The Evangelical Surge . . .
Authors: Noll Mark A.
Published: October 2003

Evangelical Christianity, and Protestantism more generally, were in decline in the second half of the eighteenth century. After 1800, however, a great boom in numbers and energy of evangelical Christianity occurred. Disestablishment created a religious climate unique to the United States. Denominations with a more traditional, “Old World” structure experienced difficulty in maintaining adherents, while populist groups like the Methodists and Baptists flourished.
14 The Americanization of Calvinism
Authors: Noll Mark A.
Published: October 2003

Between 1790 and 1840, Reformed theology reached the summit of its broad influence in American culture. With New England's Congregationalists in the lead, and then joined by mid‐state and southern Presbyterians, the Reformed theologians engaged in the most serious religious and public debates of the years. These debates led to the production of a great surge of theological literature, most of which was significantly influenced by the new conditions of American public life. The rise of Unitarianism during this period presented a special challenge to more traditional Calvinist theologians.
22 Conclusion
Authors: Noll Mark A.
Published: October 2003

America's leading theologians from the time of Jonathan Edwards to the period of the Civil War were fully convinced that their work had eternal significance. They were widely, and legitimately, regarded as being among the nation's most consequential thinkers. The theology they promoted was connected intimately to political, social, and economic developments of their times. Viewed positively, American theologians were particularly adept at translating the Christian message into the cultural contexts of the new American nation. Viewed negatively, American theologians were often left with nothing to say beyond their religiously colored absorption of popular American themes.
The Body in Pain
Authors: Lang Karen C.
Published: October 2003

The Buddha identifies three types of suffering: ordinary, physical, and mental pain, the suffering brought on by the change of pleasure into pain, and the suffering inherent in the very nature of the mental and physical constructs that build an individual's body and the world in which it moves. Suffering encompasses the physical pain of birth and aging, the mental pain of losing beloved relatives, the frustration of unfulfilled expectations, and the daily discomforts of being human. All sensual pleasures, including those experienced in heaven, are transient. After discussing Buddha's teachings on suffering and its causes, Candrakiriti engages in a philosophical debate on the existence of pleasure with Vasubandhu, author of the Abhidharmakośa. He concludes that since Vasubandhu fails to understand that pleasure is empty of any inherent existence, he misunderstands both the Buddha's and Āryadeva's views on suffering.
The Dangers of Corporeal Passion
Authors: Lang Karen C.
Published: October 2003

Ignorant people do not understand that the human body is neither a source of pleasure nor of pride. The Buddhist monks’ condemnation of sex develops an old misogynist theme of women's bodies as the bait that traps unwary, foolish men in the cycle of repeated birth and death. Adulterous fools mistakenly believe that women's impure bodies are sources of pleasure. Male bodies are equally impure and Buddhists criticize the Brahmins’ claim to superior purity, based upon their mistaken views of chastity and their claims of descent from the gods.
Rejecting the Illusion of Permanence
Authors: Lang Karen C.
Published: October 2003

Chapter 6 attacks the mistaken apprehension of impermanent things as permanent by pointing out the impermanence of the human body. The first half of the chapter concentrates on the need for developing an awareness of impending death; the second half concentrates on another troubling aspect of death, namely grief over the death of loved ones. Candrakiriti criticizes Brahmins’ idealized views on family life and paints a dismal portrait of family men afflicted with domineering wives and ungrateful children. He concludes that the fear of death should motivate people to renounce lay life and adopt the religious life of a monastic.
Rejecting the Illusion of Pleasure
Authors: Lang Karen C.
Published: October 2003

Attacks the mistaken apprehension of painful things as pleasant by using the human body to illustrate the three types of suffering. The body experiences the ordinary pain of hunger and mental stress, the pain brought about by the transformation of pleasant sensations into painful sensations, and the pain inherent in the very nature of the forces that construct the body. After discussing the Buddha's teachings on suffering and its causes, Candrakiriti engages in a philosophical debate on the inherent existence of pleasure with Vasubandhu, author of the Abhidharmakośa. He concludes that since Vasubandhu fails to understand that things are empty of any inherent existence, he misunderstands both the Buddha's and Āryadeva's views on suffering.
Rejecting the Illusion of Egotism
Authors: Lang Karen C.
Published: October 2003

Repudiates the mistaken apprehension of impermanent phenomena as being a permanent self and criticizes the selfish and egotistic behavior exemplified by a king and undermines the king's false pride in royal role and his royal lineage. Candrakiriti, in a lengthy criticism of the artificially created distinctions of the caste system, quotes the Buddhist myth of the origins of the royalclass, which explains class distinctions as job descriptions. He urges the king to repudiate harsh punishments and the exercise of war and engage instead, in meritorious actions by sharing his wealth generously and by treating all people with compassion.
Partners for Democracy
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

This book demonstrates that Japan's postwar Constitution has provided a solid foundation for democracy because, contrary to the conventional view that the American Occupation simply “imposed” it, there was considerable Japanese input in its making.

The first two chapters analyze a sharp clash, during the American planning of the Occupation, over the fate and role of Emperor Hirohito. Papered over in the Potsdam Declaration and never resolved in official Washington, the dispute gave General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), an opportunity to protect the emperor and use his authority to support MacArthur's own objectives.

In the fall of 1945, both American and Japanese officials determined that democratization required constitutional revision and that Japan should take the lead in revising its Constitution. Accordingly, Japanese scholars and officials began advancing their ideas. Meanwhile, both the emperor and the cabinet named commissions (headed by Konoe Fumimaro and Matsumoto Jōji, respectively) to study the need for amendments. However, poor communication from the American side and political chaos among the Japanese doomed these fledgling efforts.

In early February 1946, MacArthur, alarmed by the Moscow Agreement that created the Far Eastern Commission (FEC) and fearing that he might lose control over the political reform of Japan, ordered his Government Section (GS) to draft a model constitution for Japan, then pressured Prime Minister Shidehara's cabinet to present it as a Japanese government draft. Japanese attempts to modify SCAP's draft, an effort that achieved some success in the face of determined American resistance, have been largely ignored by those who slight Japan's contribution to its own postwar democratization.

Chapters 12 through 20 trace the deliberations of the Japanese parliament (called the Diet) during the summer of 1946. It is a mistake to pass over this stage quickly, as most accounts of Japan's postwar democratization do. This was a critical juncture in postwar Japan's commitment to constitutional democracy, affording politicians in the recently elected House of Representatives and in the House of Peers a major opportunity to put their imprint on the document. Intense struggles took place over the role of the emperor, Article 9 (renouncing war and armed forces), the bill of rights and provisions for parliamentary governance.

The Conclusion emphasizes that, as Japan currently deliberates whether to amend its postwar Constitution, it is important to understand that the transformation of Japan into a stable constitutional democracy was a joint achievement, to which both American and Japanese contributions were substantial and crucial.
“This Fundamental Problem”: MacArthur Saves Hirohito
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Describes how MacArthur in late 1945 and early 1946 saved Hirohito from trial as a war criminal. Contacted by imperial advisers, MacArthur became convinced that Hirohito would cooperate in democratizing, and perhaps Christianizing, Japan (MacArthur believed that Christianity was essential to democracy and encouraged American missionaries to fill Japan's “spiritual vacuum”). The emperor's New Year's statement supported this view. When Washington signed the Moscow agreement, which gave the Allies control over political reform in Japan, and warned that Hirohito might be indicted, MacArthur defended the emperor in a long telegram to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and ordered his staff to draft a “model constitution” for Japan with the emperor at the head of the state.
“In Good Faith”: Japan Considers Constitutional Reform
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Presents the thinking of Japanese officials on constitutional reform. Convinced that the Potsdam Declaration had left the matter to the Japanese, Irie Toshio, chief of the cabinet's Legislation Bureau, argued in two memoranda in September and October 1945, that democracy could best be achieved by strengthening the Diet and guaranteeing basic human rights. The government sought advice on constitutional reform from scholars Miyazawa Toshiyoshi and Yabe Teiji. The Foreign Ministry then follow up with tentative proposals, by Tatsuki Keiichi, to reduce the influence of the military and make the Diet fully responsible to the people. However, both Irie and Tatsuki wished to preserve imperial sovereignty and the autonomy of the imperial household. In early October, a new cabinet under Shidehara Kijūrō appointed Matsumoto Jōji to head a committee to study constitutional reform.
“A Rational Way”: Konoe and Matsumoto on Constitutional Reform
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Describes the contention within the Japanese government for control of constitutional reform. Prince Konoe Fumimaro interpreted MacArthur's advice to him as a mandate to direct the process and secured an imperial appointment. Konoe's advisers, Sasaki Sōichi and Takagi Yasaka, solicited ideas on constitutional reform from George Atcheson, MacArthur's political adviser, until, stung by press criticism, MacArthur repudiated Konoe. Meanwhile, Matsumoto Jōji believed his cabinet committee studying constitutional reform could proceed independently of SCAP, and MacArthur ordered his staff to avoid all contact with the Matsumoto committee. After three months, the committee produced a draft constitution that MacArthur's Government Section brusquely rejected.
“Do Your Best”: The Marathon Meeting
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Describes how a thirty‐hour meeting on March 4 and 5 achieved agreement on a preliminary draft constitution. As Matsumoto's draft was being translated, he and Kades clashed over the preamble and provisions on the emperor and Matsumoto withdrew, leaving Satō Tatsuo the sole Japanese negotiator. Kades told Satō that the preamble and chapters on the emperor and imperial family, renunciation of war, rights of the people, and powers of the legislature must adhere to the SCAP draft, while accepting Japanese proposals on the judiciary, the cabinet and local government. When Whitney informed the cabinet that MacArthur would publish the draft on March 6, the cabinet polished the wording and presented it to Hirohito, who reluctantly approved it without delay as an “amendment” to the 1889 constitution. Hussey had the cabinet secretary certify that the English version was the “exact and official translation of the original Japanese” and submitted copies to the Far Eastern Commission in Washington.
“Grave Danger”: The Allies Challenge MacArthur
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Analyzes The Far Eastern Commission's objection to MacArthur's arbitrary approval of the March 6 draft and his plan to elect a new Diet in April to approve it. The FEC challenge threatened MacArthur's intricate plot to preserve the imperial institution in Japan's new constitutional order. The Army's Chief of Staff, Dwight Eisenhower, and the State Department defended MacArthur, contending that his actions were consistent with the Moscow Agreement of December 26, 1945, because the draft was the product of a process initiated by the Japanese government in the fall of 1945. The FEC continued to spar with MacArthur during the summer of 1946 and eventually persuaded him to order minor amendments to the draft.
“Seize This Opportunity”: Reworking the March 6 Draft
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Describes the Legislation Bureau's efforts to simplify the language of the draft. The cabinet embraced the idea of making the basic law more available to the people, and allowed the Legislation Bureau to re‐write the March 6 draft from difficult literary Japanese to the common spoken language. As government ministries submitted their comments and suggestions on the content of the draft, Irie and Satō negotiated with Kades and Hussey to clarify the draft's language but the Americans allowed no further substantive changes. By April 17, agreement was reached on a final draft in the form of a legislative bill written in colloquial Japanese, and a new English‐language draft.
“No Choice But to Abide”: The Privy Council and Bureaucrats Prepare
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Presents the Privy Council's debate of the draft bill and Legislative Bureau's preparation for the Diet debates. Before the draft could be submitted to the Diet, the Privy Councillors, former prime ministers and other conservative advisers to the emperor, examined and debated it. In eleven sessions between April 22 and June 3, the councillors expressed deep concern about the chapters on the emperor, on the permanent disarmament of Japan and many other provisions of the draft, but came to understand why they could not change them. These sessions helped minister Kanamori Tokujirō and Satō Tatsuo of the Legislation Bureau to prepare the government to face the House of Representatives in the debate of this bill.
“Along Democratic and Peace‐Loving Lines”: Yoshida Presents His Draft
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Opens with the brief speech by Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru to the lower house of the Diet that invited the Diet's examination of the government's draft revision. It sets forth the preliminary exposition of the text offered by Kanamori Tokujirō, the cabinet member charged with defending the so‐called “government draft.” It presents initial reactions by Diet members, from Kita Reikichi on the right to Morito Tatsuo and Nosaka Sanzō on the left, indicating that the debate would be lively and spirited. It shows how early skirmishing centered on kokutai (the form of the polity, heretofore based on the authority of the emperor) and the renunciation of war.
“Complex and Labyrinthine”: The Structure of Government
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

In mid‐July, the revision committee turned its attention to the draft's language on the structure of government in Japan's new parliamentary system: the make‐up and powers of the Diet, the “highest organ of state power” (including the House of Representatives and House of Councillors), the executive (cabinet) and the judiciary; and explicit restrictions on the exercise of governmental power by the emperor. Ch. 15 traces the brilliant performance of Kanamori as interpreter and expositor of constitutional language.
“Broaden and Deepen the Debate”: Fifty Years Without Revision
Authors: Moore Ray A. , Robinson Donald L.
Published: October 2003

Surveys proposals for amending the 1947 Constitution. With the end of the Occupation in 1952, critics were free to propose amendments to the constitution. In its hearings, the Commission on the Constitution (1956‐1964) produced a host of arguments in favor of revision, but the conservative parties have never had the two‐thirds majority in the Diet required to pass an amendment. The 1991 Gulf War again stirred debate on the antiwar clause (Article 9) and stimulated a national debate on revision. In 1999, both houses of the Diet established commissions on the constitution and two years later, in May 2001, announced that public hearings would begin.
Introduction
Authors: Hayes Christine E.
Published: October 2003

The ethnic identity of ancient Israelites was constructed in opposition to Gentile, or alien, “others” and was expressed in terms of purity and impurity. Different constructions of Jewish identity entailed different characterizations of aliens and different views on the degree to which Gentiles might acquire Israelite identity. Previous scholarship, which assumes that all ancient Jews viewed Gentiles as ritually impure and thus off‐limits, is reviewed and critiqued. There are, in fact, several distinct modes of impurity (ritual impurity, moral impurity, genealogical impurity) employed by various groups of ancient Jews, and the boundary between pure Israelite and impure alien was more or less permeable depending on the mode of impurity attributed to the alien. These different assessments of the permeability of the boundary between Jews and Gentiles are connected with widely different attitudes to the postexilic phenomena of conversion and intermarriage, and contributed to the sectarianism that characterized Second Temple Judaism as well as the eventual separation of Christianity from rabbinic Judaism.
Gentile Impurity in the Bible
Authors: Hayes Christine E.
Published: October 2003

According to the Pentateuch, Gentiles are not subject to the laws of ritual impurity and do not communicate ritual impurity to others (the important and apparently exceptional cases of carcass and corpse impurity are considered at some length). However, Gentiles are subject to moral impurity: like Israelites, Gentiles can engage in sinful acts, generating a moral impurity that impinges on the sanctity of the land and the temple but is not communicable to others by contact or removable through rites of purification. Because the distinction between Gentile and Israelite in the Pentateuch is moral, it is impermanent, and Gentiles who renounce idolatry and immorality may reside within the community, intermarry and assimilate to a high degree. But in the period of the Restoration, Gentile access to Jewish identity is denied by Ezra who posits the intrinsic holiness and genealogical purity of all Israelites (not merely priests). According to Ezra's innovation, conversion is impossible and intermarriage – an admixture of seeds that ought to remain distinct – is denounced as an illegitimate profanation of the holy seed of Israel.
Intermarriage in the Writings of Paul and the Early Church Fathers
Authors: Hayes Christine E.
Published: October 2003

Pauline and early Christian attitudes towards the marriage of believers and nonbelievers owe much to the rhetoric and ideology introduced by Ezra and developed in related Second Temple sources (such as Jubilees and 4QMMT). Paul implies that mixed marriage is fornication, a sexual sin that generates a moral impurity that defiles the believer and, by extension, Christ. Paul also implies that mixed marriage is a joining of holy and impure bodies as one body. Through carnal (i.e., sexual) connection, the moral impurity of the morally defiled body of the unbeliever is communicated to the holy and pure body of the believer, resulting in a carnal (i.e., fleshly) defilement. This new “carnal impurity” which conflates the sinful nature of moral impurity with the physicality and communicability of ritual impurity, figures prominently in patristic literature.
Gentiles and Moral Impurity: Rabbinic Attitudes to Intermarriage
Authors: Hayes Christine E.
Published: October 2003

The rabbinic approach to intermarriage differs considerably from that of the Second Temple sources examined in Ch. 4. The rabbis reject the holy‐seed thinking of Ezra and related sources and – in contrast to Jubilees and related texts – they deny that a universal ban on all interethnic sexual unions can be located in the biblical text. For the rabbis, conversion is possible, marriage with converted Gentiles is permitted, and the rationale for the rabbinic prohibition against marriage with unconverted Gentiles is moral–religious rather than genealogical. Nor does the fear of ritual impurity motivate rabbinic prohibitions of sexual unions with unconverted Gentiles. Indeed, the rather limited rabbinic decree of Gentile ritual impurity is best understood as a resistance to competing (and extreme) characterizations of Gentiles and intergroup unions as generating a dangerous carnal impurity or indelible genealogical impurity.
Conclusion
Authors: Hayes Christine E.
Published: October 2003

Different notions of Jewish identity and Gentile impurity contributed to the rise of Jewish sectarianism in the Second Temple period and the separation of early Christianity from rabbinic Judaism in the first centuries of the Common Era.
The Idea of Physical Reality
Authors: Stroud Barry
Published: October 2003

Argues that an absolute conception of reality, starting from a minimal, absolute framework, is needed in order to investigate whether colour belongs to it or is due to human subjectivity. Examines ideas about the physical world, from Descartes's dualism to the question of what physical facts are in science, and assesses the translational reductionism of 1940s positivistic physicalists, who tried to reduce subjective reality to observable scientific phenomena. Argues against Berkeley's support of the objective existence of colour by stating that things in an independent, physical world have only the properties of physical truths, and therefore no colour. Concludes that physical truths do not consider colour, and therefore the question remains of how to conclude that objects have no colour.
Unmasking Explanation and the ‘Unreality’ Of Colour
Authors: Stroud Barry
Published: October 2003

Argues against the idea that reality is purely physical and can be totally captured by scientific explanation, thus excluding colour from reality. Counters exclusive physicalism by arguing that explanation does not necessarily constitute a true account of the world and its supposedly subjective qualities, and scientific language does not go beyond the limits of the physical. Raises questions about the link between physical and psychological phenomena and about the view of perception as separate from what is perceived, and argues that an understanding of the perception of colour is required in order metaphysically to unmask its link to physicality.
Discomforts and Distortions of Metaphysical Theory
Authors: Stroud Barry
Published: October 2003

Discusses the failure of the metaphysical unmasking project, referring to the difference between knowledge of and perception of colour. Argues that the relativity of perception of colour is not generally true, and that physical‐scientific facts do not explain psychological facts such as colour. Counters dispositional theory and Straw's attempts to resolve the conflict between metaphysical error theory and human beliefs about colour through the introduction of a degree of relativity.
Morals
Authors: Stroud Barry
Published: October 2003

Argues that the investigation of the relation between the human conception of reality and objective reality requires a determinate conception of the world, the identification of beliefs, and resistance to the tendency to utilise metaphysical preconceptions about reality which limit the understanding of beliefs. Examines the irreducibility of causation and necessity and concludes that humans are unable to elevate themselves sufficiently above the world to answer the book's metaphysical question fully.
Incarnation and Physics
Authors: Luoma Tapio
Published: October 2003

Thomas Torrance's original contribution to the dialog between theology and the natural sciences arises from two interrelated features in his thought: first, his adherence to the theology of Karl Barth and, second, his insistence on the centrality of Christology, especially the doctrine of the Incarnation and the concept of the homoousion. He has succeeded in having brought into the dialog not only his own Reformed tradition (Calvinism and Barthianism) but also the central viewpoints of patristic theology of the Early Church. His claim that the empirical natural sciences, both in their epistemological and ontological aspects, as well as the modern relational view of space and time, are actually an outcome of the patristic incarnational theology needs a firmer evidential ground to be convincing. Realism proves to be essential for Torrance's discussion, but, at the same time, his view of realism does not open fully through philosophy of science but rather, through his understanding of God's compulsive power as revealed, especially in the election, a central Reformed doctrine. The most serious threat to realism and its proper function in theology and science is, according to Torrance, the phenomenon he calls dualism, a deep‐seated way of perceiving reality through two opposing principles with no genuine interaction between them. Torrance's interpretation of Arius and Arianism as well as Isaac Newton and his science proves that the main reason for Torrance's criticism of dualism lies in its inability to take seriously the true humanity and true divinity of Christ. Torrance holds that the modern natural sciences, having begun to free themselves of dualistic habits of thought, now have something important to remind theology of, especially regarding the ontological and epistemological grounds of theological science. Torrance's view of the doctrines of Christology, involving the Incarnation and the homoousion, and Trinity as the correct basis with which to begin theological reflection is an ambitious effort to redirect modern theology to follow the example of theoretical novelties in physics back toward its ontological and epistemological basis. Both the freshness and the strength, and the restrictions and the weaknesses, of Torrance's contribution to theology–science dialog can be seen to lie in his determinate adherence to the Incarnation and to the concept of homoousion.
Torrance's Thought in Outline
Authors: Luoma Tapio
Published: October 2003

Torrance's theological basis lies deep in the Reformed tradition, in the thinking of both Jean Calvin and Karl Barth. Partly because of his extensive ecumenical activity, Torrance has made important contributions in patristics and especially in the Trinitarian theology. Torrance's view on the relationship between theology and the natural sciences is characterized by his periodization in which the history of Western thinking is divided into three phases, those of the Ptolemaic, Newtonian, and Einsteinian cosmology. His efforts to give a personal and markedly Christian face to the philosophical, neutral concept of God can be regarded as an answer to the problem of ”the God of the gaps.”
The Power of Reality
Authors: Luoma Tapio
Published: October 2003

Torrance's realism is characterized by his idea of compulsion, which, in turn, is strongly based on his Barthian interpretation of Calvin's doctrine of election. Reality compels us to know itself because rationality in nature and in human beings is based on Christ the Logos as the One chosen by God. Torrance's theologically reasoned realism has one serious threat, dualism, a paradigmatic way of perceiving reality, which is seen as consisting of two principles with a relationship either distorted or totally missing. The roots of Torrance's understanding lie in his interpretation of Arius’ Christology in which the human aspect overruns the divine one in Christ's Person. From these premises Torrance criticizes Isaac Newton's dualistic anti‐Trinitarianism and finds there the reason for the rise of determinism and for the eclipse of contingency.
The Impact of the Natural Sciences on Theology
Authors: Luoma Tapio
Published: October 2003

Torrance holds that the scientists James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Einstein remind theology of its ontological basis in the Incarnation and the Trinity, a basis largely neglected in modern theology. Torrance's view of the indeterminism of Maxwell's theory of the electromagnetic field as well as Einstein's theory of relativity is grounded on his understanding of the tension between causal relations and inherent relations. Torrance sees a deep epistemological integration taking place in the modern natural sciences, e.g., between noumenal and phenomenal as held by Immanuel Kant and between subject and object as entertained in Cartesianism, all features that cannot but have a positive effect on theology. Torrance is detected to use the natural sciences for programmatic purposes, first, to regard theology as an empirical science, whether it deals with Christology and the Trinity or Biblical interpretation, and, second, to provide the ecumenical movement with insights resulting from a major paradigm shift in the Western culture.
Environmental Justice
Authors: Shrader-Frechette Kristin
Published: October 2003

Environmental problems do not affect everyone equally. Environmental injustice occurs whenever innocent people bear disproportionate environmental risks, have unequal access to goods like clean air, or have unequal voice in imposition of environmental risks. Most minorities and poor people are victims of environmental injustice, either because of their increased health risks or because of the way their rights are limited, even in a democracy. 40,000 people die each year from pesticides that are mostly manufactured in the U.S., but banned in the U.S.and used abroad. And even in the U.S., 80 % of all hazardous‐waste facilities are sited in minority neighborhoods. But should everyone have equal rights to breathe clean air or drink clean water, independent of income? This book argues “yes.” Each chapter gives a detailed analysis of how and why a particular environmental‐ justice (E.J.) value is threatened. The book discusses democracy, distributive justice, participative justice, equality, procedural justice, informed consent, duties to future generations, equity, paternalism, just compensation, moral heroism, and citizens's responsibilities for E.J. Using case studies focusing on offshore oil, Appalachian coal, California farmland, Louisiana hazardous facilities, Nevada nuclear waste dumps, exploitation of indigenous people, African oil drilling, workplace risks, and shipment of banned products to developing nations, the author shows how flawed scientific methods, flawed ethics, and flawed policy contribute to environmental injustice. The final two chapters argue for ordinary citizens's duties to fight against environmental injustice, and it suggests some strategies for doing so.
Introduction
Authors: Shrader‐Frechette Kristin
Published: October 2003

Using case studies focusing on native Americans, Latinos, and developing nations, the chapter analyzes the concepts of biocentrism and environmental justice. It also gives examples of how environmental injustice violates rights to equal treatment and informed consent, and traces the history of the environmental‐justice movement. It shows that, throughout the world, poor people and minorities consistently bear disproportionate environmental risks. These risks harm those least able to bear such health burdens, like children, and are a major threat to genuine democracy. After examining and responding to the two main excuses (or justifications) for environmental injustice, the chapter closes with an outline of each chapter of the book.
African Americans, LULUs, and Free Informed Consent
Authors: Shrader‐Frechette Kristin
Published: October 2003

Using case studies focusing on energy development in Louisiana, the chapter analyzes the concepts of equality and free informed consent in order to show how African‐Americans are typically victims of environmental injustice. In one chapter example, blacks were victimized by a multinational corporation seeking to build a production facility for nuclear energy. Carefully assessing the scientific and ethical flaws in the arguments for siting such facilities in poor and minority neighborhoods, the chapter focuses on the first major U.S. environmental‐justice victory, in Louisiana, in which the author and her students played a role. By assessing scientific and ethical flaws in the Louisiana environmental impact statements, they were able to protect affected minorities and stop the facility.
Native Peoples and the Problem of Paternalism
Authors: Shrader‐Frechette Kristin
Published: October 2003

Using case studies focusing on Shell Oil drilling in Africa and on native American attempts to take U.S. hazardous and radioactive waste onto reservations, the chapter analyzes the concept of paternalism. It argues that it is not paternalistic to demand a halt to imposing such risks on indigenous people. Showing that behavior – which victimizes indigenous people – amounts to threats to equality and to supporting colonialism, the chapter argues for a concept of geographical equality.
Risky Occupational Environments, the Double Standard, and Just Compensation
Authors: Shrader‐Frechette Kristin
Published: October 2003

Using case studies focusing on higher workplace risks because of exposure to pollutants in exchange for “hazard pay” or a “compensating wage differential,” the chapter analyzes the ways in which workers are victims of environmental injustice. Using detailed data about a Department of Energy cover‐up of occupational risks, the chapter reveals the hazards faced by the 600,000 U.S. D.O.E. workers in nuclear energy and nuclear weapons facilities. Workers would receive equal treatment if they were really compensated for the higher risks they bear, but they are not typically compensated, even though they face pollution often 50 times higher than members of the public. Moreover, occupational pollution threatens the integrity of the gene pool, so workers cannot give genuine informed consent to these risks because they cannot consent for others who may be innocent victims of it.
Taking Action
Authors: Shrader‐Frechette Kristin
Published: October 2003

Using case studies focusing on biased scientific research that helps promote environmental injustice, the chapter argues that there are both deontological and utilitarian ethical reasons for citizens to behave as public‐interest and environmental advocates. These duties are to protect victims of environmental injustice. The chapter also argues that such duties are not a matter of moral heroism or supererogation, but rather normal duties of citizenship in a democracy. Analyzing constraints on public‐interest advocacy, the chapter closes by suggesting a number of ways that citizens might exercise their duties of public‐interest advocacy, particularly through work with nongovernmental organizations or N.G.O.s.
The Making of a Frontier Church
Authors: Machado Daisy L.
Published: October 2003

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a Protestant denominational body born on the frontier of the U.S. As such, it was shaped by that environment and ethos. The impact of the frontier ethos can be found in the many writings of Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Disciples. An examination of his prolific works makes it clear that the Disciples were able to develop a nineteenth‐century theology that did gain a great appeal among the Euro‐American frontier people. It was a theology in tune with the frontier values of democracy, separation of church and state, primitive Christianity, evangelism, Anglo‐Saxons as a chosen people, and the importance of freedom of ideas and beliefs.
If Moses Was a Mulatto
Authors: Wright Melanie J.
Published: October 2003

This chapter discusses Zora Neale Hurston's 1939 novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain, characterizing the novel as a complex, sophisticated work influenced by biblical narrative, African‐American religion, and the social sciences. In the light of Hurston's near iconic status in some feminist circles, the importance of her identity as an African‐American woman for her representation of the exodus is considered. Hurston's anthropological training with Franz Boas, and consequent familiarity with the concept of cultural relativism, is also shown to be formative of her presentation of the biblical story as at once both unique and relative, the myth by which Americans live(d).
The Press Effect
Authors: Jamieson Kathleen Hall , Waldman Paul
Published: October 2003

What Americans know, understand, and believe about the world of politics is the product of a negotiation between journalists and political actors. The news is primarily shaped not by a liberal or conservative bias, but by the need for news to be dramatic and easily packaged. Consequently, the frames into which events are fit – more than any objective idea of truth – determine what information passes through the news filter.

The Press Effect surveys events in a critical period of American history, from the election of 2000 through the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. In each of the events that took place, journalists inhabited a different role that shaped the news. During the election between Bush and Gore, they acted as amateur psychologists, delving into the minds of the candidates in an attempt to reveal their true character. On election night, they acted as soothsayers, while in the postelection events in Florida, the press actively shaped events. On September 11 and after, journalists functioned as patriots, seeking to unify the country. In each case, the role inhabited by the press left critical questions unanswered and allowed distortions of the facts to pass into news. The book closes with a discussion of the means by which the press can enhance its most critical role, that of custodian of fact.
The Press as Storyteller
Authors: Jamieson Kathleen Hall , Waldman Paul
Published: October 2003

The reports that journalists offer are not called “stories” by accident. This chapter analyzes a series of cases, in wars, electoral campaigns, and policy debates, in which dramatic stories framed coverage and overwhelmed the facts. As a result, inaccuracies passed into news and the public was left misinformed.
The Press as Soothsayer
Authors: Jamieson Kathleen Hall , Waldman Paul
Published: October 2003

If news is the rough draft of history, the draft written on November 7, 2000 was rougher than most. This chapter analyzes how the preconceptions journalists brought to election night 2000 resulted in critical errors in judgment, leading to mistaken calls alternately benefiting Al Gore and George W. Bush. While all the networks did not use the same frames to describe the same events, each was misled by the metaphors guiding their coverage.
Freedom and Moral Sentiment
Authors: Russell Paul
Published: October 2003

This book presents a critical examination of Hume's views on the subject of freedom and moral responsibility. It is widely held that Hume's discussions “Of liberty and necessity,” as presented in both the Treatise and first Enquiry, constitute the classical statement of the “compatibilist” position – the view that freedom and moral responsibility cannot only be reconciled with causation but actually require it. According to the classical interpretation, what is central to Hume's strategy is a distinction between two kinds of freedom: a freedom that implies the absence of causation and a freedom that implies the absence of compulsion. Hume is understood as claiming that it is the second kind of freedom that is required for moral responsibility, whereas the first kind would make moral responsibility impossible. The general argument leading to this conclusion is taken to be essentially logical or conceptual in character. Contrary to the classical interpretation, I argue that it is the workings of moral sentiment, and not the concept of freedom that is fundamental to Hume's views concerning moral responsibility. More specifically, the compatibilist strategy that Hume pursues must be interpreted in terms of his detailed description of the circumstances in which people are felt to be responsible. These naturalistic commitments are directly relevant to Hume's complex understanding of how freedom relates to responsibility. It is his view that we must not exaggerate the importance of voluntariness and control for moral responsibility. These “naturalistic” aspects of Hume's position are not only crucial to understanding the nature and character of his own (distinctive) position on this subject they are also the key to understanding the considerable contemporary relevance of his naturalistic approach (e.g., in relation to P. F. Strawson's influential contributions on this subject).
Action, Character, and Excuses
Authors: Russell Paul
Published: October 2003

Hume's understanding of how moral sentiment is aroused commits him to some puzzling and controversial views about responsibility and excusing considerations. More specifically, Hume maintains that people are responsible for actions only insofar as they reveal enduring qualities of mind or character. He also holds that agents cannot be held responsible for actions that were produced by qualities of mind that they no longer possess. In this chapter, I examine the basis of these claims and consider how they relate to Hume's naturalistic principles. I suggest that the specific theses that Hume advances are implausibly strong and at odds with the sort of ordinary moral experience that he claims to be drawing from.
Will, Intention, Feeling: The Indications of Character
Authors: Russell Paul
Published: October 2003

In Hume's account, an accurate interpretation of action requires that we carefully identify the motives and intentions that caused it. I examine these aspects of Hume's account of action and the way that they relate to his theory of responsibility. I am especially concerned about explaining the role of will and intention in this sphere and showing that according to Hume a person can be held responsible for aspects of character that are manifested involuntarily (e.g., emotions and desires). These are, clearly, matters of considerable importance for an understanding of the relationship between responsibility and freedom.
Retributive Feeling and the Utility of Punishment
Authors: Russell Paul
Published: October 2003

My primary objective in this chapter is to articulate Hume's theory of punishment. I argue that Hume is committed to a “mixed” or teleological‐retributivist account of punishment. The contemporary interest of Hume's theory of punishment, I maintain, rests with his effort to develop his account of punishment on the foundations of his naturalistic theory of moral responsibility. The discussion provided compares and contrasts Hume's views on this subject with those of several other thinkers, most notably Adam Smith.