bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Millenarians
Authors: Thompson Damian 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the small number of textbook millenarians in the congregation — people who were confident that Jesus would return in their lifetimes. It presents the story of Maureen, a woman in her early sixties who not only provided a full account of how she was introduced to the concept of the End Times, but also claimed to have received an apocalyptic message from Jesus. Interview data are used to explore the social and psychological factors that might dispose a member of Kensington Temple to move beyond explanatory millenarianism to belief in an imminent parousia. It is shown that apocalyptic beliefs were influenced by conversion experiences, individual psychology, and degree of subcultural immersion.
Conclusions
Authors: Thompson Damian 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter is divided into two sections. The first examines the wider lessons to be drawn from the study of millenarianism at Kensington Temple. The second section argues that although the Problem of the End has manifested itself throughout the history of millenarianism, it is becoming more acute. It concludes that secularization weakens millenarianism in a more direct way than it weakens other forms of religious consensus.
Theology's Role in Public Bioethics
Authors: Cahill Lisa Sowle 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
For at least two decades, the role of theology in public matters has been governed by what might be termed a “liberal consensus”. This consensus, shared by policymakers, theologians, philosophers, and the public, has two parts. First, that law and public policy need to be considered in terms of individual liberties and rights. Second, that the only appropriate “public” language in which to justify, qualify, and reconcile liberties and rights should be neutral, secular, and rational. The thesis of this chapter is that such a framing of the issues is outmoded. To begin with, the “secular” sphere is not neutral, since all participants inevitably come from communities which have identity. Therefore, it is appropriate to use religious narratives and language, or those of any moral tradition (which includes liberalism), as long as they are not propounded dogmatically or in a way that undermines democratic process and participatory politics.
Bioethics, Religion, and Linguistic Capital
Authors: Chambers Tod 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
Linguistic capital is what is at issue when we ask who can speak for a religion. But asking who has the linguistic capital to speak for a religious community in public policy forums is different from asking who has linguistic capital within the religious community. The first question forces us to examine the acquisition of linguistic capital in three separate — yet overlapping — fields of social discourse: academia, religion, and government. Each of these requires distinctive ways of earning the necessary social capital to be authorized to speak. The issue of who has the status to speak for a religion in a political forum is essentially a question of what types of linguistic capital gained in one field are deemed legal tender within another field.
Religion, Public Reason, and Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Authors: Cohen Cynthia B. 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
This chapter argues that although there are certain limits on how religious bodies and their members should attempt to insert their beliefs into public policy matters, religiously based arguments should, as a matter of principle, be allowed to enter into public debate. This is the case even when many participants in these debates do not accept the premises on which the arguments of religious believers are constructed. The first part of the chapter considers the stances that various religious bodies and commentators have taken publicly regarding embryonic stem cell research and the ways in which they have justified their views in the course of public discussion. It then examines why critics of religious bodies object to the introduction of religious views into public policy debates and offer several responses to these critics, using the responses of religious bodies and thinkers to embryonic stem cell research as examples. Finally, the chapter sets out an alternative view that offers a system for allowing religious bodies to present their views in the public sphere, provided that they follow certain practices that allow fair and open debate.
“These and Those Are the Words of the Living God”
Authors: Dorff Elliot N. 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
This chapter argues that American public policy discussions should follow the Jewish model — which encourages open, frank, and even heated debate within an atmosphere of mutual respect. It further argues that religious views should be part of the American public discussion. This is a departure from a long-standing belief in a strong wall of separation between church and state.
Law and Bioethics in Rodriguez v. Canada
Authors: Guinn David E. , Keyserlingk Edward W. , Morton Wendy 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
This chapter argues that ethics plays an extremely important role in decision making and lawmaking in bioethics issues. These decisions are not simple case-by-case judgments; rather, they rest upon deeply considered ethical opinions. It also discusses the implications of this epistemic grounding for bioethics and its use of case law materials as an ethical resource. Finally, since many people base their moral judgments on religious beliefs, the religious implications of this legal-moral relationship are considered.
Ethics of Ambiguity
Authors: Nakasone Ronald Y. 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
This chapter examines the structure and role of ambiguity in the Japanese Organ Transplant Law by looking at the Chinese Huayen Buddhist doctrine of dharmadhatu-pratityasamutpada (fajie yuanqi shuo) or universal dependent “coarising”, a major interpretation of the Buddha's pratityasamutpada, dependent-coarising or interdependence. Specifically, it will examine the nature of ambiguity through the zhuban yuanming jude men or “the attribute of the complete accommodation of principal and secondary dharmas” that Fazang (643-712) formulated. The interdependent and evolving Buddhist vision of reality causes ambiguity in decision making and action.
“On One Path or the Other”
Authors: Cameron Nigel M. de S. 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
The series of policy positions of the US administration in the opening years of the “biotech century” in respect to cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and the patenting of human embryos offers a case study in the development of public policy that, though it has been developed in the context of secular argument, reflects distinctive concerns of Christian theology. Through several events (including the development of mammalian cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer, the pursuit by Bill Clinton's administration of a workaround for congressional bans on embryo research, the UN Franco-German cloning initiative, and concerns over intellectual property claims on human nature), the Bush administration has confronted a series of policy decisions affecting the ethical-legal framework for biotechnology. Though there has been little explicitly Christian reflection within the bioethics community, Christians together with other thinkers have recognized that these questions could determine the scope and course of developments in biotechnology.
Apples and Oranges
Authors: Glicksman Gail Gaisin , Glicksman Allen 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
In recent years a new approach to the study of religion in the social sciences has emerged. It differs from the classical approach in four important ways. First, it treats all specific religious traditions as subsets or specific expressions of some underlying domain that is universal across all groups. Second this new approach treats religion as generally beneficent, and in this way it differs from both those theoreticians like Durkheim and Weber, who saw a more complex relationship between religion and society, and those such as Marx and Freud, who generally took a negative view of the effect of religion. Third, adherents of this new approach claim to be able to identify a therapeutic effect of religion on the physical and mental health of individuals, treating religion as a “health behavior”. This chapter asks whether this new approach accomplishes the goals of its proponents. It examines the Jewish identities felt by American Jews sixty-five years of age and older as a test case.
The Heart of the Matter
Authors: Guinn David E. 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
Concerns about caregivers providing religious or spiritual care arise, in large part, out of a misunderstanding about religion and spirituality and what those terms really mean. Many people treat religion and spirituality as special and unique. This chapter argues that religion and spirituality are basic human facts as inseparable from what it means to be human in the same way as our sex, our age, our ethnicity or the other social and cultural factors that caregivers routinely address. The chapter begins by offering a functionalist definition of religion and spirituality. It then examines research on the needs of patients at the end of life and suggests how these express religious and spiritual concerns. Finally, it offers guidelines as to how the caregiver may meet those needs of a patient.
Bioethical Entanglements of Race, Religion, and AIDS
Authors: Goodwin Michele 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
The domains of religious doctrine and practice provide ground for double bind analysis, particularly as applied to race, religion, and bioethics. In these spheres, reconciling church doctrine with social or medical practice is often challenging; the demands from each sphere are unique and sometimes irreconcilable. This chapter uses double bind theory as a framework to engage in a dialogue concerning race, religion, and bioethics. It offers a dialogue that scrutinizes conservative religious thought in what is colloquially known as the “black church” regarding the challenges of medical ethics and race.
Dark Feelings, Grim Thoughts
Authors: Solomon Robert C. 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre were the giants of 20th-century “existentialism”, although neither of them was comfortable with that title. Their famous differences aside, they shared a “phenomenological” sensibility and described personal experience in exquisite and excruciating detail and reflected on the meaning of this experience with both sensitivity and insight. That is the focus of this book: Camus and Sartre, their descriptions of personal experience, and their reflections on the meaning of this experience. They also reflected, worriedly, on the nature of reflection. The thematic problem of the book is the relationship between experience and reflection. The book explores this relationship through novels and plays, Camus’ The Stranger, The Plague, and The Fall, Sartre’s Nausea and No Exit, and Sartre’s great philosophical tome, Being and Nothingness.
Meditations on Nausea
Authors: Solomon Robert C. 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
Sartre’s first novel, Nausea, is quite clearly a working out of the phenomenological insights he was developing at the time in such works as “Transcendence of the Ego” and “The Emotions”. This chapter explores the basic tenets of Sartre’s phenomenology, focusing in particular on his rejection of certain themes in his mentor, Edmund Husserl. It also spends considerable time looking at the perversity of Sartre’s central character, Roquentin, who quite clearly resembles Sartre himself at that time in his situation and his provincial circumstances.
No Way Out
Authors: Solomon Robert C. 
Published: September 2006

Abstract
Sartre’s No Exit is a conscientiously trite play that explores some profound truths about what Sartre (in Being and Nothingness) calls Being-for-Others. No Exit presents us with three perverse characters in Hell who are forced to spend eternity together. The play explores the nature of human relationships, how people deceive one another and deceive themselves. Sartre’s conclusion is “Hell is other people”.
In Praise of Blame
Authors: Sher George 
Published: September 2006

AbstractBlame is an unpopular and neglected notion: it goes against the grain of a therapeutically oriented culture and has been far less discussed by philosophers than such related notions as responsibility and punishment. This book seeks to show that neither the opposition nor the neglect is justified. The book’s most important conclusion is that blame is inseparable from morality itself — that any considerations that justify us in accepting a set of moral principles must also call for the condemnation of those who violate the principles. Because blame has not received much sustained attention, the book works its way toward its conclusions by first raising, and then seeking to resolve, a series of conceptual and normative questions. These questions include: How are blameworthy acts related to the characters of the agents who perform them? Can agents deserve blame for their bad traits as well as their bad acts? Is blame best understood as a kind of action, a kind of belief, a kind of feeling, a combination of these elements, or something entirely different? What sort of moral concept is blameworthiness? How do blame and blameworthiness — correlative concepts — fit together? Although the book draws both on Hume’s treatment of the relation between character and blame and Strawson’s landmark discussion of the “reactive attitudes”, the theory that emerges is neither Humean nor Strawsonian. It is a new theory that seeks to do more justice than its predecessors to the indispensable role that blame plays in our moral lives.
The Structure of Blameworthy Action
Authors: Sher George 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter exploits the insight that emerged in the previous chapter — that a bad act may be rooted in an agent’s character without manifesting a defect in that character — to explain how an act’s badness can render an agent blameworthy. According to this explanation, the crucial fact is that the act’s bad-making features can be traced to the interplay of the very same desires, beliefs, and dispositions that also make the agent the person he is. By assigning character this reduced but still substantial role, we can preserve what is important about Hume’s account while avoiding his errors.
Blame for Traits
Authors: Sher George 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThe main thesis of this chapter is that agents can be blamed for their bad traits as well as for their bad acts. Because we often cannot help being the sorts of people we are, this thesis is inconsistent with the view that agents can only be blamed for what is (or once was) within their control. However, although that view is widely held, its grounding is not well understood. The chapter’s main argument is that no version of it that applies to traits (as opposed to acts) is defensible.
Women's Liberation and the Sublime
Authors: Mann Bonnie 
Published: September 2006

AbstractIn the 1980s, this book contends, an uncritical affirmation of anti-essentialism turned this important feminist critique into a disciplinary dogmatism that constrained and homogenized feminist thinking. Feminist work in the academy became forgetful of both women and nature, and began to exchange an engaged politics for the intensity of sublime experience in its postmodern form. This book works between the modern and postmodern notions of the sublime to show that the gendered politics and effacement of nature, central to the modern sublime, especially in Kant's account, are at the heart of the postmodern sublime as well. It turns to Lyotard's postmodern sublime to argue that this sublime is hard at work in feminist poststructuralism, especially the early texts of Judith Butler. The melting away of the extra-discursively real in these accounts tends to make feminist thinking incapable of meaningfully articulating our relations to the natural world and to one another. Yet these very relations are necessarily tied to powerful aesthetic experiences of beauty and sublimity.
Feminism and the Sublime
Authors: Mann Bonnie 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the notion of the sublime, which is discussed in relation to its foil: beauty. It is argued that some of the specific ways that the experience of the sublime is gendered and racialized are to be found on both sides of the boundary between the modern and the postmodern. The chapter also considers Kantian sublime out of an interest in how the sublime functions as a mode of Euro-masculine self-constitution and how we might understand, in detail, what this means and how it works.
The Kantian Sublime
Authors: Mann Bonnie 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThe turn of the century was marked by a preoccupation with relationships of Otherness, both internal and external to Europe. In establishing his difference from these Others, the Euro-masculine subject also established himself. The very possibility of erecting a convincing edifice of freedom, autonomy, and sovereignty rested on what he did with these Others. Kant wrote his Observations and, more than two decades later, his “Analytic of the Sublime” in the midst of these debates. He attempted to sort through the confusions that characterized the Euro-masculine relation to Others, both as a philosopher and as one of the founders of the new field of anthropology. This chapter discusses these confusions based on two general sets of paradoxes: the paradox of space and the paradox of time. The first paradox considers these sorts of questions: where are the Others of the Euro-masculine subject in relation to him — inside or outside? What kind of space or place does this subject inhabit? Is a woman a part of a man? If so then how is it that a man is not partly a woman? How is this subject's spatial self-constitution built around a man's spatial relations to nature and women? The second paradox considers questions of time and sequence: what kind of time does this subject inhabit? What kind of time inhabits him? Where are others in this subject's time? Are racialized others that I encounter encountered in my time? How is temporal self-constitution built around temporal relations to racialized others?
The Postmodern Sublime
Authors: Mann Bonnie 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the notion of the postmodern sublime. It considers Lyotard's late work to illustrate what is disturbing and what might be important in feminist appropriations of the sublime. It begins by contextualizing Lyotard's treatment of the sublime in terms of his broader project of developing a “philosophical politics” of “bearing witness to the differend.” It then looks more closely at Lyotard's reading of the Kantian sublime and at his discussion of language using the famous example of “Albert.” The chapter addresses the following questions: what happens to place in Lyotard's philosophical politics? What political possibilities are opened or closed in the process? Finally, one of Lyotard's essays on feminism, or as he terms it “women's struggles,” is discussed, which paves the way for looking at how the postmodern sublime is at work in feminist thinking in the next chapters.
The Stakes of Feminism and the Feminist Postmodern
Authors: Mann Bonnie 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter focuses on Judith Butler's early work in order to clarify some central stakes (or mis-takes) of feminist postmodernism. It begins by acknowledging and responding to her insistence that the term “postmodernism” is misleading and masks a “ruse of authority” that distorts rather than clarifies the issues at hand. It is argued that establishing the feminist postmodern over and against a foreclosed“essentialism” amounts to a disavowal of the realm of necessity. A dual conception of “nature” as “human nature” and the natural world is foreclosed at the moment that inaugurates the textual space in which feminist postmodernism sets to work. This disavowed realm returns on the inside of Butler's theory as a discursive “nature,” which makes constant trouble in regards to the subject's agency, the subject's freedom. It is shown that Butler's approach to the relation between extradiscursive being and speech authorizes the displacement of feminism from its foundation, but not a foundation in the unitary subject so much as a foundation in a certain set of historical projects. The return of the repressed realm of necessity (or otherwise said, the repressed relation to the earth) in Butler's early texts, its return as discursive determinacy, pushes toward exactly what Butler turns to in her later work: the theme of embodied vulnerability in relation to other persons.
Talking Back to Feminist Postmodernism
Authors: Mann Bonnie 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter focuses on a feminist account of the body that returns it to its flesh and blood, while taking into account the theoretical developments that turned the body into a text. Topics discussed include history notes on feminism and the body, Judith Butler's work and the textualization of the body, Butler on Merleau-Ponty, and Merleau-Ponty on the body and place.
Obscene Jesters
Authors: Snodgrass Jeffrey G. 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter describes Bhat relationships to the ritualized village patron-client “gift” economy found throughout northern India called jajmani. It is shown that the Bhats’ skill as bards, and their perspectives on caste relations more generally, emerge from the manner in which this social economy places value on exchanges between patrons and clients. In particular, this chapter explores Bhat understandings of virtue, and thus also of caste hierarchy, through a consideration of Bhat praise- and insult-poems which celebrate gifting and generosity. It is argued that views of caste emphasizing the importance of patronage and kingship — as opposed to purity, pollution, and priesthood — better explain Bhat relations to the Indian institution of caste.
The Enduring Power of Praise-Abuse
Authors: Snodgrass Jeffrey G. 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the Bhats’ tactical narration of their religious history, and specifically the manner in which they present themselves as alternately Hindu or Muslim in order to gain employment as political propagandists for both India’s secular Congress Party and Hindu-nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (B.J.P.). The chapter also examines how Bhats “cast” traditional Rajasthan in a puppet drama sponsored by a state-run bank meant to teach Indians an ethic of saving their money and planning for the future. Bhats are not entirely serious about the claim explored throughout the book that they are the former bards of kings. Instead, claims of royal ancestry are just one tool in a repertoire of tricks that Bhats use to advance in contemporary India. Bhat speech about kings, then, is less representative of true claims to royalty and more indicative of a bardic cleverness which forms a deeper basis of Bhat identity claims in contemporary Rajasthan.