bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Preston’s universal formula for avian egg shape
Authors: Biggins John D , Montgomerie Robert , Thompson Jamie E , Birkhead Tim R 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Nearly 70 years ago, Preston published a pioneering study in which he provided formulae for the shapes of birds’ eggs. One of these formulae is universal in that it provides an almost perfect representation for all eggs, even pyriform ones, and is better than all other formulae published since. This essentially perfect representation of egg shape is obtained by estimating the parameters in Preston’s universal formula by least squares, using hundreds of measurements of the egg’s radii along its entire length. Preston’s universal formula can also be used to obtain an equation for avian egg shape that uses just 5 measurements (the length and 4 appropriately spaced diameters). The equation based solely on these 5 measurements provides an egg shape that is virtually indistinguishable from one based on hundreds of measurements. We demonstrate the usefulness of Preston’s formulations using digital photographs of eggs. Our perspective is that, despite a number of subsequent approaches, Preston’s original one has not been bettered and should be the standard for studying avian egg shape.
Existential Media
Authors: Lagerkvist Amanda 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
This chapter synthesizes the key discussions in the opening part of the book and provides an outline of the main contours of the project of existential media studies. It argues for a broad media concept and a literal understanding of the postdigital. It describes existential media studies as a philosophically, ethically, and politically motivated project, challenging the forgoing of our shared existential vulnerability, in media theory and beyond. It is a theoretical and ethical methodology in line with the field of critical disability studies. It proposes a different subject for media studies and a different human after posthumanism: the coexister, who remolds existence in humble self-realization and in care for the world, practically and ethically, while also being a cocreator of the contemporary digital limit situation. Deeply entangled, coexisters still possess the capacity to act, choose, respond, and take responsibility, yet within limits and never in isolation. The coexister is the principal inhabitant of the digital ecology, and our principal subject in media studies is not a being in full control. The chapter defines existential media and their four key properties: First, they are world-makers and our infrastructures of being, enabling yet setting limits for our movement and dwelling. Second, they throw us into a particular yet uncertain world, and this involves opening limits: features of indeterminacy, anticipation, and ambivalence. Third, they activate our shared vulnerability and deep sense of dependence and relationality. Finally, they demand responsive action, critique, ethical choice, even an either/or on behalf of the coexisters.
Anticipatory Media
Authors: Lagerkvist Amanda 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
This chapter summarizes the key deliberations in the book and frames the existential issues at stake in the digital limit situation by discussing how in the present age, AI (artificial intelligence) emerges as both a medium to and message about (or even from) the future, eclipsing all other possible prospects. Interrogating how AI succeeds in presenting itself as an arrival on the human horizon at the end times, the chapter scrutinizes the “inevitability” of AI-driven abstract futures and probes how such imaginaries become living myths, by attending to how the technology is embedded in broader appropriations of the future tense. Reclaiming anticipation existentially, by turning to the lessons drawn from the mourners, the coexisters, and by conceiving of anticipatory media as another form of existential media, the chapter offers an invitation beyond the prospects and limits of “the new AI era” of predictive modeling, exploitation, and dataism. It submits that the present moment of technological transformation and of escalating multifaceted and interrelated global crises is a digital limit situation in which there are entrenched existential and politico-ethical stakes of anticipatory media. The chapter suggests that attending to them as a “future present,” opening up horizons of “futurability,” and taking responsible action constitute our utmost capability and task. The chapter concludes that precisely here lies the assignment ahead for pursuing a postdisciplinary, integrative, and generative form of humanities and social sciences as a method of hope that engages AI designers in the pursuit of an inclusive and open future of existential and ecological sustainability.
Unity and Universality, Locality and Diversity According to Baptist Thinking about the Church
Authors: Fiddes Paul S. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractIt is the distinctive Baptist way of being the church not to legislate for the relation between the universal and the local church. There is no formulated division of responsibilities between local congregation and a trans-local assembly of churches gathering together. There can only be a covenantal relationship, which in Baptist tradition is a matter of mutual trust. The local church has the liberty to make its own decisions under Christ, but has an obligation to listen to the wisdom of the wider church as it also discerns the mind of Christ. While this can be effective, sometimes the local church fails to listen, especially where it is rich in its own resources and feels that it does not need the help of others to operate successfully. Receptive Ecumenism can help Baptists in this situation learn from specific aspects of Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican theology and practice.
Receptive Ecumenism and the Dynamics of Development within Pentecostalism
Authors: Kärkkäinen Veli-Matti 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThis chapter investigates the potential for a Pentecostal vision of Christian unity in the framework of Receptive Ecumenism. In order to help situate Pentecostalism, it first considers difficulties and obstacles on the way to seeking for Pentecostal engagement with ecumenism, including some of the unique features of that kind of enterprise. Second, it presents one of the classical ecclesiological notions, namely apostolicity, as a viable bridge for helping Pentecostal and other churches connect with the ecumenical task in general and the paradigm of Receptive Ecumenism in particular. Third, in a constructive proposal, it suggests three interrelated tasks on the way towards a mutual engagement in Receptive Ecumenism by both Pentecostals and others.
Foundations and Openings for Ecclesial Learning
Authors: Bolen Donald 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThis chapter looks first to the ecclesiological foundations for ecumenical engagement set forward at Vatican II and subsequently developed in authoritative Catholic teaching. It enquires into the intrinsic consistency of Receptive Ecumenism with Catholic ecclesiology. A Catholic perspective on the relevance of the Lund Principle—that Christian churches do all things together except where deep differences require that we act separately—is proposed. Bringing these perspectives together with observations from half a century of dialogues, the chapter suggests that as helpful as Vatican II’s framework for ecumenical engagement is, there are unanswered questions and necessary work remaining, which could be facilitated by a commitment to ecclesial learning from other Christian communities.
The Call to Holiness
Authors: Chapman David M. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThis chapter applies the methods of Receptive Ecumenism to investigate what Catholics and Methodists can learn and receive from each other concerning the call to holiness in relation to personal Christian discipleship, the ecclesial character of grace, the church as means of grace, and holy living and holy dying as a vocation to sanctification and fullness of life. It draws on The Call to Holiness: From Glory to Glory (Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Catholic Church, 2016) and Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate on ‘The Call to Holiness in Today’s World’ (2018). As well as identifying areas of theological convergence, the chapter considers respective potential learning in service of ecclesial reform through the transformation of structures, spiritual and liturgical practices, and Christian service in the world. Each section concludes by posing questions for further study.
Finnish Luther Studies, Lutheran Dialogues, and Ecclesial Learning
Authors: Saarinen Risto , Hietamäki Minna 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThe ‘New Finnish Interpretation of Luther’, a project initiated by Tuomo Mannermaa in the 1980s, has grown to be an influential research venture which influences both Reformation studies and current ecumenical theology. Risto Saarinen first outlines briefly the basic ideas and claims of this school. He then investigates its ecumenical influence in the Lutheran–Roman Catholic dialogue, the Lutheran–Orthodox dialogue, and the Anglican–Lutheran Porvoo communion. Minna Hietamäki discusses in more detail how the so-called differentiated consensus method relates to this trend and the ways in which it has similarities with Receptive Ecumenism. Hietamäki also introduces the more recent Finnish ecumenical project, ‘Reason and Religious Recognition’, an approach aiming to understand how genuinely different theological convictions can co-exist within an ecumenical frame, and reflects on how this might serve to develop the theology and practice of Receptive Ecumenism.
Not Problems but Pioneers
Authors: Ryan Diane 
Published: June 2022

AbstractInterchurch families, where the couple are active members of different Christian denominations, are described as ‘laboratories of unity’ (Pope Benedict XVI) and as living ‘in their marriage the joys and difficulties of the path to Christian Unity’ (Pope John Paul II). The relevance of Receptive Ecumenism to such families (and vice versa) was noted at the First International Conference in 2006, and aspects of this relationship have subsequently been explored in short articles. However, no substantive account of the potential receptive ecclesial learning in this context has been published. This chapter provides a basis for further work by presenting three interlocking perspectives. First, the existing literature on interchurch families is critically situated in relation to key principles of Receptive Ecumenism. Second, the author’s experience as a partner and parent in an interchurch family is related to the ‘domestic’ and ‘institutional’ church. And, third, a more systematic perspective is offered through examining interchurch families as a sign and sacrament of unity.
Learning to Love Differently Well
Authors: Nicholls Linda C. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractOver the past fifty years emerging social changes in the understanding and expression of human sexuality have challenged the church to reflect and respond. The Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Communion have been engaged in discernment on these emerging issues both internally in Anglican family relationships and externally with ecumenical partners. Handling disagreement and dialogue on such sensitive issues necessitates new approaches and structures, such as a process of ‘Continuing Indaba’ in the Anglican Communion. Elements of Receptive Ecumenism are present in the journey of discernment on issues of human sexuality in ecumenical conversations and in internal dialogue within the Anglican Communion and within the Anglican Church of Canada, particularly in its relationship with Indigenous peoples. This chapter traces the use of elements of Receptive Ecumenism in this discernment.
Unlikely Siblings?
Authors: Medina Néstor 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThis chapter articulates a Latina/o Pentecostal ethical response to Marian devotion. It makes a three-fold point. First, it argues that the Catholic devotion to Mary presents Pentecostals with unique ethico-theological challenges to and opportunities for understanding the mystery of the divine, both by drawing on the embodied experience of women and through using female language to re-imagine the mystery of God. Second, it proposes that when Mary’s life and experience of divine conception are understood pneumatologically, she becomes the ethical model for understanding the activity of the Spirit in the life of believers. And third, it insists that discussions on Mary provide the opportunity for ethically reclaiming the embodied experience of women, which can inevitably lead to changing present ecclesial structures. The Catholic practice of Marian devotion is a unique entry point for a Latina/o Catholic and Latina/o Pentecostal ethico-theological dialogue.
Australian Practices of Receptive Ecumenism
Authors: Hawkes Geraldine 
Published: June 2022

AbstractOver eleven years and across seventeen traditions state-wide and beyond, the South Australian Council of Churches (SACC) has had an intentional focus on Receptive Ecumenism. The self-critical ethic of Receptive Ecumenism is not so much a diminishment of identity as being called forth into the fullness of what it is to be ‘church’. This chapter describes how SACC nurtured and nourished the way of Receptive Ecumenism in a range of ecclesial settings. These include practical and spiritual resources, workshops, conversations, and presentations. At the heart of this approach is a willingness to invite people in all arenas of church to join the journey with a new disposition of listening, learning, and loving.
Two-Eyed Vision
Authors: O’Brien John 
Published: June 2022

AbstractReception of the Sufi tradition, as exemplified by the both/and hermeneutic of Ibn al-’Arabi, can enrich Receptive Ecumenism on the part of the Catholic tradition. Sufism posits similarity as a corrective to incomparability. For its own part, Catholicism might reflect on Mystery as a corrective to conceptualization. Difference can be the fruit of foundational experiences giving rise to traditions or interpretations that cannot be adequately rationalized without comparable experience. Ecumenical receptivity is an inner moment in Christian theology, because attention to the self-disclosure of God in all things is co-extensively attentiveness to that self-communication both within one’s own tradition and outside it.
What Prevents Christian Churches from Learning?
Authors: Astley Jeff 
Published: June 2022

AbstractBuilding on the work of John Hull on adult Christian education, this chapter reflects on the educational themes of critical openness, learning, and teaching, together with the virtues of humility, hospitality, and friendliness, so as to explore some of the problems and possibilities of ecumenical learning between local Christian communities. It draws on the author’s study of the literature on Christian education, and his empirical and theoretical research on the ordinary (in the sense of non-specialist and non-academic) theology of the majority of Christians, who are formed in Christ through their everyday lives, loves, and worship.
Living Church
Authors: Watkins Clare 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThis chapter takes up the suggestion of Receptive Ecumenism that there is a particular challenge in integrating the academic and ecclesial worlds of ecumenical dialogue and theology with the living of Christian unity on the ground. The fracture identified here resonates strongly with the central concerns of practical theology. Drawing on practical theological work using the methodology of Theological Action Research, the chapter describes how specific contributions to ecumenical learning, at all levels, might be furthered through attention to practices. The argument is made for a more thoroughly integrated approach to ecumenical learning across ecclesial traditions; one which recognizes, in line with adult learning insights, that it is the enabling of learning through shared practices and concerns that is most fruitful, sustainable, and transformative. The implications for effective learning and ecclesial change in Receptive Ecumenism present challenges for both academy and church, as the demand is made to integrate the experiences and realities of ecumenical practice with our conversations.
Chariot of Fire
Authors: Whittaker Jason 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
The Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marked a moment when British society was becoming more divided than at any point in the previous century, with an increasingly conservative majority seeking to make Britain great while other sections of society, whether disaffected youth or striking miners, became increasingly cynical of attempts to build Jerusalem. This chapter examines the ways in which the ‘Jerusalem’ hymn was used both as a symbol of Thatcherite Britain and resistance to it, beginning with the song’s adoption by those involved in the punk and New Wave scenes in film and music, as well as later in Chariots of Fire.
Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy
Authors: Wilson Catherine 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
According to his own exposition, the chief targets of Kant’s critical philosophy were determinism, atheism, and materialism. These positions, a source of existential anxiety for his contemporaries, were associated with the eighteenth-century radical Enlightenment in Europe, whose representatives included Locke, La Mettrie, Buffon, Hume, Maupertuis, Holbach, Herder, and the Göttingen materialists. Appealing to the powers of nature and to empirical enquiry, these philosophers typically ridiculed academic metaphysics, rejected appeals to incorporeal substances, emphasized the animal-human continuum, grounded ethics and law in convention and utility, and challenged the legitimacy of worldly hierarchies and priestly authority. The present study focuses on Kant’s transcendental idealism and his theory of human nature. Reversing certain more familiar characterizations, it shows how the critical philosophy was intended to constitute a bulwark against a radical naturalism while leaving space for nonthreatening investigations in physics, chemistry, and the sciences of life. It substantiates earlier claims that Kant was, at best, a proponent of ‘moderate Enlightenment’, while offering a cleared pathway to comprehension through his famously complicated expositions. The reader is further encouraged to reflect critically on Kant’s philosophical relevance for us, given that our present concerns and anxieties are so different from his. The most progressive and humane positions, from our current perspective, with respect to scientific explanation, mind-body relations, altruism, economic and criminal justice, animals, women, warfare, non-Europeans, and evolution, were in fact held by Kant’s implied and declared opponents.
Introduction
Authors: Wilson Catherine 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Kant is a difficult author whose philosophy is more often treated as a self-contained, coherent, but somewhat esoteric system than as a set of intelligible responses to intellectual, moral, and cultural challenges of mid-to-late eighteenth century German culture. The present study argues that rather than being in the forefront of Enlightenment philosophy, Kant resisted the newly emerging naturalistic image of the human being. Faced with developments in cosmology and earth history, the sciences of life, anthropology and moral psychology, that appeared to favour a form of pessimistic hedonism, Kant aimed to reconstruct a metaphysics of the supersensible that would be invulnerable to empiricist criticism.
The Idea of a Political Settlement
Authors: Kelsall Tim , Schulz Nicolai , Ferguson William D. , vom Hau Matthias , Hickey Sam , Levy Brian 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
In the past, political settlements analysis (PSA) has suffered from a lack of conceptual clarity. In this chapter we provide an extended conceptual discussion, ultimately defining a political settlement as an ongoing agreement among a society’s most powerful groups over a set of political and economic institutions expected to generate for them a minimally acceptable level of benefits, which thereby ends or prevents generalized civil war and/or political and economic disorder. The authors provide an extended and nuanced defence of this definition, arguing that in contrast to most extant versions, it is both theoretically fertile and consistent with commonsense understandings of a political settlement. Universally applicable, the concept is compatible with many different and distinct political settlement theories, frameworks, and hypotheses, yet it directs attention to what should be PSA’s distinctive contribution: an analysis of how the problem of violence shapes ruling elites’ commitment to different sorts of development policy, or not as the case may be. The chapter also briefly introduces a new typology of political settlements, based on two novel dimensions: the social foundation and the power configuration of the settlement.
Collective-action Problems and Development
Authors: Kelsall Tim , Schulz Nicolai , Ferguson William D. , vom Hau Matthias , Hickey Sam , Levy Brian 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
This chapter takes a further step towards enhancing political settlement analysis’s formal rigour. It offers a framework that permits systematic inquiry into relationships between distributions of power, institutional evolution, and prospects for resolving a series of context-specific collective-action problems that often hinder inclusive development. Specifically, this chapter argues that economic and social development require resolving two types of collective-action problems: first-order problems of free riding and second-order problems of coordination and enforcement. Furthermore, political settlements address the most fundamental collective-action problem of development—preventing outright internal warfare—but do so in distinct fashions depending on their specific configuration. To illustrate, we introduce a new four-quadrant typology of political settlements based on two dimensions: the social foundation—the powerful groups included in the settlement—which can range from narrow to broad, and the power configuration among such groups, which can range from concentrated to dispersed. For each quadrant, we proceed to explore the accompanying collective-action problems, related developmental challenges, and the associated implications for elite commitment to, and state capacity for, economic and social development.
Describing Political Settlement Evolution in a Single Country
Authors: Kelsall Tim , Schulz Nicolai , Ferguson William D. , vom Hau Matthias , Hickey Sam , Levy Brian 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
This chapter provides an extended illustration of the authors’ new approach by applying it to South Africa, a country that, since 1960, has experienced all four types of settlement. The emphasis is on showing how empirical developments in that country are reflected in the country codings, and also how the concepts provide a helpful language for explaining what is observed. On the one hand, there is a broad story of South Africa transitioning between settlement types, and on the other, by lifting the hood and examining the construction of these variables, a more precise and fine-grained analytical narrative than more conventional accounts provide is arrived at.