bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Introduction: Vernacular Religion and Mormon Apocalypticism
Authors: Blythe Christopher James 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
This introduction explains the book’s basic arguments and methodology. The book examines the place of apocalypticism in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a means of responding to what they perceived as persecution from the United States. It is particularly interested in how last days prophecies and visions have been told by those outside of church leadership. It defines the idea of apocalypticism and argues that Mormon Studies scholars have not sufficiently integrated their work with the field of lived or vernacular religion. This book seeks to remedy this neglect. A summary of each of the six chapters is provided.
Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Apocalyptic Trajectories
Authors: Blythe Christopher James 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
This chapter documents the fracturing of end-of-world belief among Latter-day Saints in the twentieth century. Church leaders re-envisioned apocalypticism as a “moderate millenarianism.” At the same time, Mormon fundamentalists—deemed heretics by many church leaders—deployed apocalypticism to challenge the processes of Americanization, adding the church’s own apostasy as a distinctive part of their last days chronology. Finally, radical apocalypticism continued to find resonance with a contingent of committed Latter-day Saints. This chapter wrestles with how this final group has been able to negotiate their apocalyptic sentiments and LDS affiliation even in the face of continual criticism. Most importantly, it is in this chapter that the author demonstrates how apocalyptic ideas of any variety continued to be perpetuated in private and family circles.
Shaping the Future Wisely
Authors: Chapin F Stuart 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
This chapter describes a stewardship framework that would enable society to shift from a pathway of planetary degradation toward sustainability. During the time since about 1950—a blink of an eye in geological terms—the burning of fossil fuels has radically changed Earth’s metabolism. It’s not too late to fix this problem. Understanding and realigning the interactions between people and the rest of nature is the greatest and most urgent societal challenge faced by humanity. Both the causes and potential solutions to global problems are deeply rooted in human nature. Human beings are endowed with instincts to both compete for resources and care for others and cooperate so that all people may thrive together. Stewardship enables people to shape physical, biological, and social conditions to benefit both people and nature so that both may flourish.
Tackling Climate Change
Authors: Chapin F Stuart 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Rapid climate change affects both nature and society. This chapter describes actions that people can take to understand and minimize climate change. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels account for about two-thirds of the energy imbalance that causes Earth’s climate to warm. People born this century will probably experience more climate warming during their lifetimes than has been seen by all of humanity since the beginning of major human civilizations. Climate warming causes increased flooding in wet climates and more frequent droughts and wildfires in dry climates. Rising sea level and more frequent intense storms contribute to more coastal flooding. Climate warming can be slowed by reducing fossil-fuel emissions and by protecting and restoring forests and wetlands. Discussions with others can increase society’s awareness of climate change. More than 9,000 communities around the world have already developed climate action plans to reduce rates of climate warming.
Dialogues for Solutions
Authors: Chapin F Stuart 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Dialogues that respectfully communicate stewardship goals can build trust and shape the social norms and behavior of others. Communicating effectively, as described in this chapter, is the second element in this book’s four-tiered stewardship strategy. Trust and effective dialogue occur most easily when people share worldviews or are open to the opinions of others. Many attitudes and behaviors are, however, socially constructed and may not be responsive to new information. When information campaigns and hazard warnings conflict with the opinions and worldviews of others, they are likely to elicit negative responses or denial, as in many climate-information campaigns. Even in this situation, progress can be made by looking for points of agreement, such as concern for the future of children or care for Creation. In general, positive conversations that focus on common ground and opportunities for solutions rather than blame for problems are most likely to elicit action.
Collaborating for Shared Goals
Authors: Chapin F Stuart 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Collaboration with others provides a lever that magnifies each person’s impact on the future and is the third element in this book’s four-tiered stewardship strategy. Collaborations often begin by building on consensus around common concerns. Half of Americans (and a much larger proportion of young people) share a self-identity as environmentalists despite differences in worldviews. The critical step is to engage and coordinate actions in ways that resonate with distinct worldviews. Bridging organizations magnify the effectiveness of individuals and groups by fostering communication and collaboration among groups with complementary (or potentially conflicting) objectives. Collaborative governance enables private citizens and other groups to work with government in seeking consensus for public decisions. Collaboration among apparent adversaries requires processes that are fair, inclusive, and transparent and follow rules that build trust among participants. Collaboration with business often benefits from involvement of government to set standards of acceptable environmental and social behavior.
Financial Performance Analysis
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
The purpose of analyzing a firm’s financial performance is to illuminate the economic health of an organization relative to its’ selected peer group and to assess the efficacy of managerial decisions and associate adverse consequences with root causes. Analyzing a company’s financial performance can be an important first step in understanding the outcomes of implemented strategies. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of financial performance analysis. Finally, the chapter discusses the case of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and applies the steps of financial performance analysis to these two firms.
SWOT
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
A SWOT analysis is a simple way to examine a firm’s current situation by accounting for a firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It provides a means to account for internal and external factors plus positive and negative factors confronting a firm, thereby providing a balanced perspective of strategic issues. The SWOT analysis can be used to establish strategic fit between a company’s internal environment (its resources and capabilities) and its external environment. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of SWOT performance analysis. Finally, the chapter discusses the illustration of the Chocolate Moose and applies the steps of SWOT analysis to this case.
Strategy
Authors: Mitchell George E. , Schmitz Hans Peter , Bruno-van Vijfeijken Tosca 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Chapter 3 describes major shifts in the strategic orientations of TNGOs that represent a concerted movement from their historical roots as charitable conduits to social and political change agents seeking sustainable impact and long-term transformations. Three illustrative strategic shifts—from direct service delivery to championing rights and supporting entrepreneurship; from reactive advocacy to proactive global campaigning; and from capacity-building to systems thinking—underscore the growing mismatch between the inherited institutional and normative features of the architecture and the sector’s contemporary ambitions and strategies. The evolution in TNGO strategies over the past several decades suggests new future roles for TNGOs, but future-oriented change is complicated by the need to overcome architectural challenges and confront past legacies.
Collaboration
Authors: Mitchell George E. , Schmitz Hans Peter , Bruno-van Vijfeijken Tosca 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Collaboration is a common strategy for improving TNGO impact and legitimacy. Chapter 10 examines different collaboration types, levels, and approaches, considers the benefits and obstacles to collaborations, and identifies various capacities required to collaborate strategically with a broad range of partners, including “unlike-minded” actors. In general, collaboration requires a greater focus on the external environment and leading without having top-down control. Success is largely driven by the attention given to the alignment of informal expectations, understandings, and behaviors. Cultural factors thus emerge as a common obstacle to collaboration effectiveness. Additional considerations include challenges related to competition, unequal partnerships, and credit-sharing for collective outcomes.
The New Age of Kabbalah Research
Authors: Huss Boaz 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
This chapter examines the new directions and perspectives that emerged in the research of Jewish mysticism in the late twentieth century. It discusses the theoretical and methodological changes that transpired that undermined many of Buber and Scholem’s basic assumptions but also the perseverance—and even intensification—of the use of the term mysticism as a fundamental category. The chapter demonstrates that the changes that occurred within the field were to a great extent delineated by the theological logic of the research field. The chapter examines definitions of mysticism among Kabbalah researchers and identifies their modern theological suppositions. This theological paradigm, I maintain, explains the ideological affinities between Kabbalah research and today’s alternative spiritual movements, first and foremost, the New Age.
Epilogue
Authors: Huss Boaz 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
The epilogue to the book clarifies that this book took the opposite direction from the ongoing project of exposing the existence of Jewish mysticism and of subjugating Kabbalah and Hasidism to this category. Instead of assuming the universality of mysticism, and presupposing that Kabbalah and Hasidism are Jewish forms of mysticism, the book exposed how these assumptions were formed and the way they shaped the research and practice of Kabbalah and Hasidism. The book explored the historical contexts and discursive processes that shaped the construction of Jewish mysticism uncovered the political and theological presuppositions underlying the academic study of Jewish mysticism and showed how the theological paradigms of the academic discipline have defined the borders of this field, directed the creation of scientific knowledge, and determined the symbolic value of the researched data. The epilogue suggests that relinquishing “mysticism” as the major category for the conceptualization and study of Kabbalah and Hasidism may disengage the research field from theological presuppositions. This can open up the study of social, political, and economic aspects of Kabbalah that scholars of Jewish mysticism have neglected, enable a research of new historical and cultural contexts that were not taken hitherto into consideration, and encourage the study of Kabbalistic movements that were rejected by scholars as insignificant or inauthentic.
The Management Ethos
Authors: Blakely Jason 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
The pseudoscientific notion that humans are machines or computing robots has led to the spread of a manipulative way of being in both personal life and politics. This manipulative ethic is a “management ethos.” On the personal level, modern people increasingly try to gain control of their lives using a panoply of supposedly scientifically validated self-help methods and techniques. This chapter examines the influence of scientism on practices such as dating and efforts to enhance personal charisma. Many of these methods unwittingly turn courtship into a form of mass consumer shopping, replacing alternative ways of perceiving one’s deepest attachments. In political life, there has been a tremendous spread of technocratic forms of authority. Technocracy is a form of rule that replaces democratic rule by ordinary people with government by experts. Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s popular book Nudge is criticized as an example of technocracy and the management ethos usurping democratic life.
Conclusion
Authors: Blakely Jason 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Social science should be read not only as an empirical description of the world but as a way of creating the cultures that we inhabit. This is difficult for modern people to comprehend because of the spread of scientism in modern society. This defective way of relating to the world was powerfully diagnosed by Martin Heidegger and his critique of technology. However, the tendency of modern social scientific theory to turn into its opposite (superstition and scientism) was earlier anticipated by Mary Shelley in her brilliant story about Victor Frankenstein. Shelley’s short novel is an essential allegory for understanding our own predicament. Hermeneutics points the way to a more humanistic and interpretively sensitive way of relating to the world.
DNA Demystified
Authors: McHughen Alan 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
DNA, once the exclusive domain of scientists in research labs, is now the darling of popular and social media. With personal genetic testing kits in homes and genetically modified organism (GMO) foods in stores, DNA is an increasingly familiar term. Unfortunately, what people know, or think they know, about DNA and genetics is often confused or incorrect. Contrary to popular belief, for instance, genes don’t “skip a generation” and, no, human DNA is not “different” from DNA of other species. With such popular misconceptions proliferating in the news and on the internet, how can anyone sort fact from fiction? DNA Demystified satisfies the public appetite for and curiosity about DNA and genetics. Alan McHughen, an accomplished academic and public science advocate, brings the reader up-to-speed on what we know, what we don’t, and where genetic technologies are taking us. The book begins with the basic groundwork and a brief history of DNA and genetics. Chapters then cover newsworthy topics, including DNA fingerprinting, using DNA in forensic analyses, and identifying cold-case criminals. For readers intrigued by the proliferation of at-home DNA tests, the text includes fascinating explorations of genetic genealogy and family tree construction—crucial for people seeking their biological ancestry. Other chapters describe genetic engineering in medicine and pharmaceuticals, and the use of those same technologies in creating the far more controversial GMOs in food and agriculture. Throughout, the book raises provocative ethical and privacy issues arising from DNA and genetic technologies.
Introducing Genetic Genealogy
Authors: McHughen Alan 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
DNA is a great tool for genetic genealogy and family tree construction. If you were blown away by your surprising medical DNA results, tighten your belt and hold on to your genes! A primary reason people test their DNA is to discover genealogical connections. What does DNA say about racial or ethnic differences among peoples of the world? Are you really related to your weird Uncle Charlie? How can it help an adoptee find his or her biological parents? The next chapters explain how to use DNA to connect to other humans, to break through that “brick wall” of traditional genealogy, or simply to confirm or refute a genetic relationship. DNA genealogy tests also provide information on your ethnic makeup. For instance, it may confirm or refute that old family rumor about Great Grandpa marrying a Native American princess!
The Rise and Fall of Early Non-Descriptive Approaches
Authors: Thomasson Amie L. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
This chapter recounts the early history of non-descriptive approaches to modality and why they fell out of favor. It begins by tracing the challenges of understanding modality back to British empiricists such as Hume and Mill. It then moves to discussing the form of modal conventionalism developed by Moritz Schlick and promoted by A. J. Ayer, and examines common criticisms raised against conventionalism—finding that they misconstrue the view. The chapter also recounts Wittgenstein’s development of a view along these lines, along with later developments of non-descriptive views by Ramsey, Ryle, and Sellars. Such views encountered familiar problems such as the Frege-Geach or “embedding” problem, and later barriers arose with the work of Quine and Kripke. The challenge is thus laid out for a contemporary non-descriptivist view to show how it can overcome these historical barriers.
The Function of Modal Discourse
Authors: Thomasson Amie L. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
This chapter begins to develop a neo-pragmatist view of modal discourse that (contrary to most work in the recent metaphysical tradition) denies that talk of what is possible or necessary serves a descriptive function. Instead, the chapter argues that the modal terminology serves a normative function. More particularly, having modal terms in our language enables us to convey norms and rules in useful ways, for it enables us to make explicit that an expression has a regulative status, to express conditionals that make explicit our ways of reasoning with rules, and to express permissions as well as requirements. Metaphysical modal discourse in particular (it is argued) serves to convey semantic rules and their consequences in the useful form of object-language indicatives. The chapter also discusses how one should understand semantic rules, and in what ways they are analogous and disanalogous to rules of games.
The Meaning of Modal Discourse
Authors: Thomasson Amie L. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
The goal of this chapter is to make it clear how the modal normativist account can avoid the notorious “Frege-Geach” or “embedding” problem that has long threatened non-descriptive views of all kinds. While Chapter 2 identifies an alternative function for modal discourse, we cannot take this to be a matter of identifying the meaning of modal terms. For modal claims may be embedded in conditionals, negations, etc., in which case they are not serving their characteristic function, and yet must be thought to have the same meaning. To meet this problem, this chapter gives the meaning of modal terms in terms of their inferential role—which is constant even in embedded contexts—and shows how this meaning is related to the function of modal terms. The chapter also aims to show how the modal normativist account can avoid the classic objections to modal conventionalism.
Methodological Advantages
Authors: Thomasson Amie L. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
This chapter makes the case that modal normativism also brings significant methodological advantages. First, it can provide a much-needed justification of using intuitions, thought experiments, and a form of conceptual analysis, in answering metaphysical modal questions. Second, it provides a straightforward methodology for answering such questions—considered as “internal” questions—and gives reasons for thinking that some such questions are simply unanswerable. But such questions may also be addressed as external questions, where we are concerned not with what rules our terms do follow, but what rules they should follow, and what linguistic and conceptual schemes we should use. This gives us the means for understanding some debates about metaphysical modality as engaged in metalinguistic negotiation and conceptual engineering—and thereby preserving the idea that such debates may be deep and important.
Conclusion
Authors: Thomasson Amie L. 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
The conclusion ties the work done here to the broader goals of demystifying and reorienting metaphysics. It aims to demystify metaphysics by showing that metaphysical questions that are well-formed and answerable can be answered in ways that require nothing more mysterious than conceptual and empirical work. It also aims to reorient metaphysics toward work on how our conceptual scheme does work, and on what linguistic or conceptual scheme we ought to use. The conclusion also aims to draw out the three threads that have been interwoven throughout this book: the neo-pragmatist functional pluralist idea that modal talk is non-descriptive, the deflationary meta-ontological “easy ontology” view, and the view that the rules of use for our terms are often open-textured and revisable. While these three views are separable in principle, together they form a stronger package, and exemplify an approach that may also prove useful in addressing other philosophical problems.
In Search of a Theory of Everything
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
In Search of a Theory of Everything takes readers on an adventurous journey through space and time on a quest for a unified “theory of everything” by means of a rare and agile interplay between the natural philosophies of influential ancient Greek thinkers and the laws of modern physics. By narrating a history and a philosophy of science, theoretical physicist Demetris Nicolaides logically connects great feats of critical mind and unbridled human imagination in their ambitious quest for the theory that will ultimately explain all the phenomena of nature via a single immutable overarching law. This comparative study of the universe tells the story of physics through philosophy, of the current via the forgotten, in a balanced way. Nicolaides begins each chapter with a relatively easier analysis of nature—one conceived by a major natural philosopher of antiquity—easing readers gradually into the more complex views of modern physics, by intertwining finely the two, the ancient with the new. Those philosophers’ rigorous scientific inquiry of the universe includes ideas that resonate with aspects of modern science, puzzles about nature that still baffle, and clever philosophical arguments that are used today to reassess competing principles of modern physics and speculate about open physics problems. In Search of a Theory of Everything is a new kind of sight, a philosophical insight of modern physics that has long been left unexamined.
The Quest for a Theory of Everything
Authors: Nicolaides Demetris 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Thales’s question, What are things made of?, is still the most difficult in physics. He reasoned that despite the apparent diversity and complexity in nature, all things are made from the same stuff (water), and everything obeys a common set of unchanging basic principles (water’s transformations). Thus, nature is characterized by a certain sameness or unity between all things, however diverse they appear to be. Presently, according to the standard model of physics, everything is made from quarks and leptons. And the plethora of diverse things is partly due to their transformations. Thales’s quest for sameness is modern physics’ search for a theory of everything. It tries to unify the four fundamental forces of nature—the electromagnetic, the nuclear strong, the nuclear weak, and gravity. The challenge of this undertaking is to find a quantum version of gravity. String theory claims to have succeeded, but its hypotheses are still experimentally unverified.