bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Gospel and Culture in Nineteenth-Century Mozambique
Authors: Van Butselaar G. Jan 
Published: March 2013

In this article the interaction between gospel and African culture, as reported in the writings of Swiss missionaries at work in nineteenth-century Mozambique, is studied. A small booklet written by the famous missionary and anthropologist H. A. Junod, Causeries sur l'Afrique serves as a guide. Several conclusions are reached: 1. The unity and equality of humankind were fully recognized. 2. Proclaiming the Gospel in a culture that is not familiar to the preacher carries the dangers of paternalism, superiority, and even hidden racism. 3. These missionaries did not consider European culture to be Christian. 4. African culture had a strong impact on the foreign missionaries. 5. Foreign missionaries were completely dependent on their African colleagues to gain a true understanding of African culture and of the interaction between gospel and culture.
Christian-Muslim Dialogue
Authors: Malek George N. 
Published: March 2013

This article reviews the postwar development of the Western concept of Islam in light of the present conflicts between the Middle East and the West, and analyzes Christian mission through an historical, psychological examination of the motive of postwar Christian mission to the Middle East. It then presents the problem of Christian/Muslim relations in light of the fundamental issue facing the two sides, that is, religious misunderstanding, not political or economic interaction. The article then raises questions on the method and motive of postwar Christian mission to the Middle East, suggesting an alternative method for future mission. The paper takes the position that dialogue is the most productive form of contact between Christianity and Islam. It attempts to indicate, by critical examination, the potential points of tension, error, and reconciliation in the theological thinking of both. A major contribution of the paper is its affirmation and definition of a dialogue, its method and motive. Finally, the paper charts some solutions, theologically, psychologically, and cross-religiously.
Toward a Biblical Understanding of Polygamy
Authors: Mann Pamela S. 
Published: March 2013

The policy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon concerning polygamy is one of tolerance for polygynous husbands and their plural wives who live in areas untouched by the gospel. To those who live where the gospel has been preached, polygamy is a roadblock to baptism or, for those already baptized, to holy communion. The enforcement of this policy has created painful stress in Cameroonian Christian homes, including the Dowayo community, where the author has lived. As polygamy is a respected form of marriage in the African tradition, the question must be asked: Is monogamy the only marriage model Scripture allows, or is it the only one the missionaries' culture permits? With a concern for both biblical faithfulness and cultural appropriateness, the author searches the Old and New Testaments anew to understand the biblical directives for Christ-centered marriage in the African context.
Developments in Coptic Orthodox Missiology
Authors: Markos Antonius 
Published: March 2013

“The Church of Alexandria,” the Coptic Church of Egypt, is the ancient African church established in apostolic times around A.D. 42 by Saint Mark, the Gospel writer. In the ensuing two thousand years Coptic Christians practiced their faith fervently. The Coptic Church, a missionary church since its earliest times, was known to be the first carrier of Christian faith to Ireland, Switzerland, Ethiopia, Nubia, and North Africa. Since geographically and ethnically the Egyptians belong to Africa, the Coptic Church found fellowship with Christian movements in Africa. Two historical meetings of leaders of such churches led to the formation of the Organization of African Independent Churches.
Modernity: Scaffolding or Stumbling Block for a Chinese Gospel
Authors: Ahern Dennis M. 
Published: March 2013

Modernity adds complexity to one's Chinese urban Asian diet. Mission thinking has not made the transition from rural rice fields to metropolitan McDonald's. Missionaries who fail to analyze modernity's impact ignore the central cultural dynamic affecting ministry. Three Chinese urban Asian settings provide illustrative material to answer four modernity-generated questions: How has traditional missionary training failed to prepare cross-cultural workers for Chinese urban Asia? How have missionaries viewed modernity and why? How has modernity affected gospel receptivity? How can missionaries prepare for life in the urban jungle? An ambiguity-free job description is an Icarus not even the Chinese can dream.
A Christian Understanding of “Religion” and “the Religions”
Authors: Taber Charles R. , Taber Betty J. 
Published: March 2013

The existing literature about religion and the religions is usually either too complex or too heavily biased by nexamined presuppositions to introduce the field to the beginner. This article proposes a model in which, from an explicitly Christian perspective, religions, i.e., organized human efforts to relate to Ultimate Reality, are seen as responses to divine revelation. But they differ, not only in the kind and amount of revelation available to them (Jesus Christ being the final and perfect revelation), but crucially in the quality of the response; this may be yes, no, or yes but. Tentative conclusions are drawn. This is a preliminary report on an ongoing research project aiming to produce an introduction to the study of religion and the religions which will take an unapologetically Christian stance, but which will avoid as much as possible the sweeping a priori generalizations which often bedevil the field. We have developed the paper in three parts: first, the rationale for this particular line of enquiry; second, the approach and method; and third, a preliminary statement of findings.
Reflections from the Edge: Mission-in-Reverse and Missiological Research
Authors: Gittins Anthony J. 
Published: March 2013

Anthropologists sometimes spend several decades talking about people and situations they have not seen since their initial fieldwork; small wonder if their enthusiasm wanes and their credibility is sapped. But missiologists too may experience a certain tension between their teaching about and their experience of mission. Jesus' message is for everyone and for all time, but he ministered in a particular time and place and adopted a clear perspective: that of the poor, the sinners, the outcasts. This article, heavily autobiographical, attempts to link fieldwork and ministry, the academy and the community, in the spirit of Jesus-the-missionary.
Two-Thirds World Missions: The Next 100 Years
Authors: Keyes Larry E. , Pate Larry D. 
Published: March 2013

World missions is shifting from being primarily coordinated and directed by North America and Europe to becoming also a strength of the churches in the Two-Thirds World, the countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Keyes and Pate write about the growth, trends, and implications of Two-Thirds World missions into the next century. This paper also wrestles with global trends in technology, politics, economics, and religion in an effort to discern future patterns and how they may impact the Two-Thirds World missions and missions in general. The authors conclude with a section entitled “The Globalization of World Missions” in which they describe possibilities in a coming age of cooperative missionary activity.
Trauma in Missionary Life
Authors: Grant Robert 
Published: March 2013

Many missionaries suffer from a variety of psychological, physical, and spiritual injuries. Many are the result of living and working in environments characterized by violence, disease, inhumane living conditions, social oppression, and political corruption. Trauma, by definition, involves experiences that overwhelm an individual's ability to cope and hence to make sense of certain life events. In this light, post-traumatic responses can be seen as attempts to master feelings of helplessness, terror, and guilt. The intent of this paper is to provide missionaries, as well as supportive personnel, a framework with which to make sense of and thus to deal with the destructive effects of unresolved trauma. Trauma is rarely understood and often mistreated, even by many members of the psychology profession. This paper will address trauma in regard to its definition, its various forms, its short-and long-term effects, and its implications for ministry. Considerations regarding treatment and prevention will also be addressed.
Understanding and Relating to the Three Cultures of Cross-Cultural Ministry in Russia
Authors: Menconi Margo Lyn 
Published: March 2013

When missionaries or church workers enter a new culture with the gospel, they actually have three cultures to deal with: their own native culture, the culture of the target people, and also biblical or “kingdom” culture. We need to understand all three in order to communicate faithfully our message to the people we aim to reach for Christ. In this paper, I make a sample comparison between Russian culture and that of the United States and of Scripture, using Carolyn Ryffel's adaptation (1994) of one of Geert Hofstede's “Dimensions of Culture” continuums (1991, 1986, 1984) as a framework. The purpose of this paper is to encourage the reconsideration of the place of each of these three cultures in our missionary activities and the making of conscious, informed decisions about our approach to mission in regard to them.
The Return of the Fourth “R” to Education: Relationships
Authors: Chinchen Delbert 
Published: March 2013

Two philosophies of education—the collective and the individualistic systems—are in contention wherever modern schools are found in collective societies. The Western style of teaching and relating to students places the collectively oriented student at a distinct disadvantage. Tradition informs collective students that it is impossible to succeed in life independently. These students find it necessary to link up with the teacher through a personal relationship in order to succeed in the classroom. A secure learning atmosphere is provided for the collective student when the teacher matches his or her relationship style with the student's. This article provides the missionary teacher with insights into this collective relationship style and suggestions for its implementation along with a warning of the potential danger of this relationship's degenerating into a form of paternalism.
Ethnicity and Placement: Beginning the Debate
Authors: Small John 
Published: March 2013

This article is based on an interview with John Small by Guest Editor Beverley Prevatt Goldstein during the Fourth International Conference of Caribbean and International Social Work Educators, which took place in Jamaica in July 1999. Small played a key role in the recruitment of black carers, which, with its focus on the importance of identity, contributed to the radical shift in the ideological base of British social work practice from the early 1980s. After a brief introduction by the Editor, he reflects on these issues, both in the light of the pioneering work carried out by black activists at that time and the challenges for those engaged in family placement work today. In conclusion, Prevatt Goldstein comments on the interview and the relevance of Small's position in the 21st Century.
A Legitimate Choice and Voice: The Experience of Adult Adoptees Who have Chosen Not to Search for their Biological Families
Authors: Roche Heather , Perlesz Amaryll 
Published: March 2013

Although the phenomenon of searching for biological parentage by adoptees has been well documented over the last decade, limited attention has been paid to the experience of those people who decide not to search. Heather Roche and Amaryll Perlesz present the findings from an Australian pilot project in which the experiences of three mature non-searching, adult adoptees were explored in depth. The findings indicate that the decision to search or not to search reflects an ongoing developmental life process congruent with the social and familial context of the adoptee. Loyalty to their adoptive family, comfort with and commitment to birth parents, the co-existence of a strong ethic of reciprocity, and an ethic of self-discovery and belief in a spiritual connectedness with a ‘bigger Other’ emerged as the most predominant reasons for not searching for their biological roots. The narration of their adoption stories had a very positive impact on the participants in this study. The paper concludes that there is a need for further in-depth, qualitative studies of this sort to witness and honour the adoption experience regardless of ‘search’ status.
Calling for Post-Adoption Monitoring and Support: A Personal Statement
Authors: Challand Kay 
Published: March 2013

This is the first of what we hope may become a regular contribution to the journal from people who have been personally involved in an adoptive or foster family. In this instance, Kay Challand describes her own unhappy childhood in not just one adoptive household but two. As Kay's story movingly illustrates, a second or even third failure of a family that is meant to be ‘forever’ can be catastrophic. She also shows how outwardly a person may appear successful and materially advantaged, yet inside feel bereft and confused. Kay makes a plea for children's placement with adopters to be monitored after the order is granted and for the children to have access to support when they need it. The informal and casual nature of Kay's original adoptive placements also highlight the importance of careful assessment, which is worth bearing in mind at a time when agency scrutiny has been criticised by some for being unnecessarily intrusive. Kay is now working for all those involved in the adoption triangle, to improve the system which failed her as a child.
Placement Choice in Temporary Foster Care: A Research Study
Authors: Waterhouse Suzette , Brocklesby Edwina 
Published: March 2013

This study examined 50 referrals for temporary family placement to assess the extent of choice and matching. The findings, discussed here by Suzette Waterhouse and Edwina Brocklesby, revealed that three-quarters of the placements were made in a crisis-led and unplanned way. Such unplanned placements had negative consequences, particularly in terms of contact, lack of knowledge of the family and a need for a subsequent move. The lack of a child-centred focus in the process by which children came to be placed was notable. An acute shortage of carers meant that it was increasingly the norm for placements of children to be made outside of carers' approval criteria. In such circumstances carers did not receive compensating support to remedy the placement deficits. The authors conclude that fostering continues in a state of crisis without due recognition of the ***profession-alisation of the service now being offered.
Users' Views of Looked after Children's Mental Health Services
Authors: Beck Alison 
Published: March 2013

This study by Alison Beck explores the views of young people in the care of Lambeth local authority, and those of their carers, about the young people's mental health and their access to and experience of mental health services. It is associated with a separate study which used a quantitative design to clarify mental health needs in the same population (Beck, forthcoming) and which identified two particularly disadvantaged subgroups: young people living out of the borough and young people who moved their placements frequently. Their views are considered separately, where relevant, in this paper. The main methodology was a postal questionnaire survey comprising open-ended questions. The results highlighted a number of themes: young people tended to identify internal emotional problems while their carers predominantly focused on externally visible problem behaviours; young people generally valued contact with social workers but reported this lacking; both groups of respondents described barriers to accessing mental health services. These included physical obstacles, such as distance to travel, as well as psychological barriers such as the belief that only ‘mad’ people use such services. A two-limbed service model is proposed to address the needs of young people in local authority care incorporating: provision by mental health professionals of information about mental health services and liaison between all parties to secure appropriate services; and mental health interventions aimed at engaging young people with local CAMHS.
‘Theatre of Attachment’: Using Drama to Facilitate Attachment in Adoption
Authors: Moore Joan 
Published: March 2013

Joan Moore describes an innovative drama therapeutic approach to facilitating attachment between adoptive parents and their children who suffered abuse and neglect in their family of origin. Children of hostile parents often display fear of adults' proximity. Play is proposed as the most natural way to increase empathy between these children and adoptive parents. Their joint engagement in ‘make-believe’ invites discovery of new perspectives and heightened self-awareness. The child's life story is explored, initially using metaphor as fictional contexts provide the privacy of distance that allow us to confront what may otherwise be too disturbing or painful. It is argued that working in the child's home, using sensory materials, assists transfer of learning from the therapeutic play space to daily life. Children begin to reassess their survival of adversity as ‘heroes’ rather than ‘victims’. Released from blame for events over which they had little control, children explore continuing troublesome patterns and, through theatrical enactment, create new ways of being. Parents' direct involvement in performance of the child's story (both fictional and real) leads to improved mutuality. The shared emotional experience brings parent and child closer, and parents gain improved confidence to support their children.
Selecting Foster Carers: Could Personnel Psychology Improve Outcomes?
Authors: Kennedy Barbara , Thorpe Rosamund 
Published: March 2013

Foster care services are struggling in a context of decreasing community interest in providing care and increases in the demand for placements, the proportion of children with special needs requiring care and placement breakdowns. As Sinclair's recent (2005) overview emphasises, improving carer selection could reduce pressure on services by selecting those applicants best suited to the demands of the task. Research and practice from personnel psychology has long been used by employers seeking to identify the most suitable employees for a particular job, but this approach appears not to have been applied to selecting foster carers. In recent years, in personnel psychology, there has been increased recognition of the impact of personal characteristics on work performance satisfaction and retention. Barbara Kennedy and Rosamund Thorpe explore the utility of one such test, the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), in predicting foster carer suitability and subsequent retention among Australian carers. Both group and case-study analysis suggests potential worthy of further investigation.
The Child Wise Programme: A Course to Enhance the Self-Confidence and Behaviour Management Skills of Foster Carers with Challenging Children
Authors: Herbert Martin , Wookey Jenny 
Published: March 2013

Looked after children with a history of maltreatment and abandonment are prone to develop high rates of mental health difficulties. They tend to suffer from multiple impairments, sometimes involving cognitive deficits and extremes of antisocial behaviour. Foster carers' management skills and emotional resources are tested to the limit. A further concern is the contribution of challenging behaviour to the unplanned termination of foster placements. Carers, if they are not to feel deskilled by the increasing numbers of children with special needs placed with them, require a more focused preparatory and follow-up training than they usually receive. A study by Martin Herbert and Jenny Wookey questioned whether a broadly based cognitive behavioural programme could, by increasing carers' behaviour management skills and self-assurance, reduce the challenging behaviour of looked after children and the resultant instability of placements. The answers were sought from a randomised controlled study of foster carers attending the parent training Child Wise Programme (CWP) designed by the authors. The programme combines course leaders' professional experience of working with challenging children and parent groups, and foster carers' personal expertise based on living with and caring for challenging children. The intervention, with an experimental group of 67 foster carers and a comparable waiting-list control group of 50 carers, succeeded in meeting just over half of its key aims. An increase in the confidence of the carers was a significant gain. Also positive was the majority of personal reports indicating improvements in looked after children's behaviour, changes generally attributed to the acquisition of new behaviour management skills. Although some of the statistical comparisons were disappointing in their failure to reach significance levels (eg in a reduction in placement breakdowns), they provided useful information about ways of improving the training. Qualitative methods were used to explore the subjective responses of participants to the Webster-Stratton and Herbert (1994) collaborative style of training employed. These produced valuable insights into the personal and professional dilemmas of a foster carer's role, as well as data which contributed to the evaluation of the training programme.
Degrading Attitudes Related to Foreign Appearance: Interviews with Swedish Female Adoptees from Asia
Authors: Lindblad Frank , Signell Sonja 
Published: March 2013

Seventeen adopted young women from South Korea and Thailand (age 25–35 years) were interviewed about their experiences of degrading attitudes related to their geographic origin and physical appearance. Prejudices related to sexuality displayed four themes — exotic associations, availability, strong libido and exploitation — corresponding to prevailing Western sexualised cultural stereotypes about Asian women. Prejudices specific to adoption included expected gratitude and indiscriminate friendliness. The experiences usually involved recurring rather than single incidents and several women reported that they had adversely influenced their well-being and quality of life. Many had developed strategies for coping with such attitudes, usually from men. Frank Lindblad and Sonja Signell argue that the psychological threats resulting from racism are perceived differently among adoptees than among non-adopted immigrants. The experiences may force the female adoptee to reject part of her self-image as she finds herself treated more as a representative of a group than as an individual in her own right. Furthermore, in the interaction with the perpetrators, she is afforded attributes that are unfamiliar to her and her family environment. All these factors pose major challenges to self-image and identity.