Personal Witness Research Articles

Mentoring for Discipleship and Spiritual Growth: An Assessment of Cases in Bentiu District of the SDA Church in South Sudan

This study sought to explore experiences in mentoring for discipleship and spiritual growth in Bentiu District of the SDA Church in South Sudan. The study involved three focus groups to receive data. There were two groups composed of seven participants each. The third group had eight participants, making a sample size of 22 respondents, selected randomly. Before venturing into the field to collect the data, the researcher secured permission from the Adventist church authority. Respondents signed the informed consent forms. Data analysis took place in the form of content analysis in the sense that the researcher assembled common themes to answer the research questions. Based on the findings, the study concludes that the youth in Bentiu District experienced mentoring for discipleship and spiritual growth through spiritual programs such as public evangelistic meetings, personal witnessing, small group meetings and through school programs. Women experienced mentoring through convention programs, association of younger women in various activities and through adult education programs. Special groups of people, also experienced the mentoring in various ways. The study recommends that church leaders need to explore more ways of mentoring the youth and the inexperienced by providing more trainings and involving them in spiritual programs. The church leaders should encourage disadvantaged women to enroll in adult education programs. Moreover, there is a need to integrate spiritual programs in the Adult Education programs so that women will be well equipped for service in the church and in the community.

Some Reflections as We Walk Toward the 4th Centennial of the Congregation of the Mission

In anticipation of the 400th anniversary of the Congregation of the Mission's foundation, the author invites us to reflect on the possibility of a modern Pentecost to renew Vincentian spirituality and evangelization. He examines whether the profound experience of the original Pentecost, which revitalized the early disciples amidst crisis, can be replicated today. The author proposes that a new Pentecost requires understanding and addressing the complex, secular, and pluralistic realities of contemporary society. This reflection highlights the necessity of a genuine conversion and a return to the core Christian values, emphasizing love and openness over rigid doctrines. The author calls for the Church to engage dynamically with today's globalized and technologically advanced world, urging a shift from hierarchical structures to a more inclusive and networked approach. This transformation aims to reconnect the Church with younger generations, fostering faith through lived experiences and personal witness, and ultimately, proposing a hopeful, vibrant Christian message in the modern era.

Narrative, Practice and Reality: Historical Criticism of Ümit Kurt’s Book Antep 1915 as a Diaspora-oriented Narrative

This article consists of three sections. First of all, the narrative that Armenians, who live in Western countries as a community who suffered from deprivations while migrating, have built out in the diaspora about the causes and processes of the migration has been described. Second, the criticism on the description of this narrative by Mr. Ümit Kurt, in his work Antep 1915 which radically verifies the narrative without interrogating its validity, that attempts to reveal the factual practice likewise has been made. In the end, the fact that the life practices of Armenians in Antep mostly invalidates the arguments built out by the narrative by the memoirs of the Armenians concerning their life experiences in Antep whom Mr. Enç, as a personal witness of the migration process, encountered in the United States in his lifetime has been emphasized. Thereby, Mr. Ümit Kurt has radically adopted the narrative, that a diaspora community has produced to persevere in the diaspora, which sometimes distorts historical factuality disregarding historical documents and oral history narratives and also some more evidence. Therefore, Mr. Ümit Kurt has tried the harmonize the factuality with the narrative. In this article, a critical analysis of Kurt’s book has been made in the light of historical documents. In addition, the information expressed in the book has been compared with the lived experiences of Armenians in both Antep and the United States, which Mitat Enç conveys in two works (Unending Night; Manly Talks).

Ways to improve witness privileges

The obligation of a witness to give truthful testimony during the pre-trial investigation and trial is subject to a number of exceptions set forth in the CPC of Ukraine. These exceptions are the right of a certain category of witnesses to refuse to testify in situations expressly provided for by law, and they are an integral part of the «witness privilege», which means both the release of a witness from the obligation to testify and the release of a person from the procedural status of a witness. The existence of personal witness privileges in the legislation is one of the signs of Ukraine's compliance with the requirements of a legal, democratic state. However, despite all its positive aspects, the institute of witness privileges and immunities is still not free from certain drawbacks. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the problematic aspects and identify the ways to improve witness privileges. In the course of the study, we proposed to: 1) to expand the circle of persons referred to in clause 1, part 1, art. 3 of the CPC of Ukraine, including: all other relatives by the lateral line of kinship children of siblings; cousins; siblings of parents; parents, siblings of husband and wife; 2) to make a reservation in the CPC of Ukraine that a witness is obliged to testify against a deceased close relative or family member only if it is necessary for the rehabilitation of other persons; 3) to provide for mandatory participation of a defense counsel in criminal proceedings in all cases where the rights of a minor are concerned. To do this, it is necessary to supplement Part 2 of Article 52 of the CPC of Ukraine with paragraph 10 as follows: «with regard to minors who, due to their age, are unable to fully exercise their rights, from the moment the fact of minority is established»; 4) to introduce «asymmetry of the rules of admissibility of evidence» into the criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine. Currently, there are still some issues in Ukraine regarding the normative delineation of the circle of family members who enjoy witness privileges, and there is also a need to improve guarantees for the realization of privileges for minors.

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, THE BATTLE OF LIFE FOR ALL HUMAN KIND

<p><span>The Old Man And The Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, went in printing in 1952, a year later was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In 1954, Hemingway was given the Nobel Prize in Literature. After such a big success and a long and well accomplished career, a few years later, on a Sunday, the morning July 2nd 1961, Hemingway committed suicide. The paradox of the author’s ending with the ending of his most famous novel The Old Man And The Sea is that Ernest Hemingway, the man, gave up, whereas his character in the novel Santiago never gave up, was never defeated, emerging triumphant with the struggle against larger forces. This paradox raises the question: is The Old Man And The Sea a reflection of the author’s personal life and agony, as most commentators believe, or is it much more than that? A novel that depicts and represents the constant struggle of human kind in every era? Why was Hemingway in agony? Ernest Hemingway was a writer that belonged to the Lost Generation. One can imagine living the horrors of WWI, known as the Great War, being a personal witness in the Civil Spanish War, then WWII, living the entire adult life in and between wars. One looses hope and only dwells in the despair of loss, and agonizing in every breath. But as painful as his life was, Hemingway wrote this novel not just like a reflection of his own agony, not just as an expression of his own voice, but more than that, he portrayed the constant human struggle throughout the centuries, speaking in the voice of all humanity, past, present and future. This approach is the key what makes the novel so great. And the style and symbolism used in it make it a masterpiece therefore reading it a very thrilling experience. In this paper I will analyze the symbolism used in The Old Man And The Sea as well as make a comparison with a flow of historical and literary memory and conscience of the human kind, the world at large and of its author Ernest Hemingway. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis on why this novel goes beyond the voice of the author. It is a universal work that represents the struggle and calling of humanity throughout the ages.</span></p><p><span><strong>Keywords:</strong> Hemingway, Old Man, sea, symbolism, Santiago, Manolin, Marlin, sharks, lions, fish, humankind, struggle, universal.</span></p>

The Best of Medic in the Green Time: Writings from the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath by Marc Levy

Reviewed by: The Best of Medic in the Green Time: Writings from the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath by Marc Levy Richard Levine (bio) the best of medic in the green time: writings from the vietnam war and its aftermath Marc Levy Winter Street Press 641 pages; Print $22.00 It is 1970. The Vietnam War is still going full throttle. Marc Levy is "nineteen, a virgin, innocent in the ways of the world," and a newly arrived medic in Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Division, U.S. Air Cavalry (Delta 1/7 Cav). He's an FNG ("Fucking New Guy"). Levy's service would earn him a Combat Medic Badge, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with V (for valor), Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, a lifelong battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a dishonorable discharge. (After a second court-martial this was upgraded to a general discharge, which does not carry the stigma and does not withhold earned benefits. Twenty years later he was finally granted an honorable discharge.) How, you might wonder, does such heroism lead to expulsion from a service after duties so valorously performed and rewarded? The answer, which is perhaps a window on the military's failure to meet the needs of its veterans, is part of what is chronicled in The Best of Medic in the Green Time. [End Page 117] It brings the war to life in many forms and voices—memoir, reportage, letters, and poetry, some written by Levy. But it reaches beyond personal witness to argue its worth as a valuable historical document. What gives a war captured on the page historical value rather than just being a good yarn? Allegiance to truth, resisting exaggeration to tell a better story, examining events from many vantages, with exacting detail that locates events geographically and in time, knows weapons systems and tactics and identifies key players by name. It's all there in The Best of Medic. Perhaps the best example is an account of a failed invasion into Cambodia. The ill-fated campaign was undertaken clandestinely and without oversight by Congress. Even the families of fallen soldiers were not told. Carl Lee (4th platoon squad leader, Delta 1/7 Cav) told Levy of writing to the parents of Mike Dawson, a close Delta-friend who was killed in the invasion. "I did contact Mike's parents … and sent some pictures. I told them he had died in Cambodia which surprised them, because the Army had told them that he had died in Vietnam." If the first truism of combat is "War is hell!," then the second is surely "You never forget war, but you never remember it quite right." Knowing this, and perhaps not trusting his own memory—he is now in his seventies—Levy contacted members of Delta company, as well Bravo 1/7 and First Cavalry field artillery crews, and invited their recollections of that grizzly time. There are perhaps a dozen different descriptions that begin, "Medic received this account of the attack from …" Each account begins with a brief introduction by Levy. "In the second week of May, lifting off from Quan Loi, we chopper into Cambodia. I remember my fear and dread. … This is it. We're gonna die. But after the door gunners open up, after the birds (helicopters) swoop low and we jump out, after we rush forward and throw ourselves down, nothing happens. Instead, every blade of grass. Every layer of canopy, every shimmering mote of sunlight is vivid and beautiful—until the cool, summery night when sappers1 attack LZ (Landing Zone) Ranch, overrun it." "Colonel Everette 'Moose' Yon," the battalion commander of LZ Ranch, "was likely responsible for (the base's) poor placement, the eastern berm too [End Page 118] close to the wood line." "I want to give the gooks a chance," he is alleged to have said. After the sapper attack he was relieved of his command. Medic writes: "On May 16, at 2:45 AM, sappers crawled past the trips and Claymores (anti-personnel mines) on the eastern berm, defended by Delta's fourth platoon. They killed machine gunner Mike Dawson immediately, then headed for the TOC...

Subjectivity and Trauma in Early Modern French Mémoires

Abstract Focusing on accounts of the massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day and its aftermath found in early modern French writers of memoirs, most but not all Protestant, this article adopts a conceptual approach based on the work of Cathy Caruth to examine how the trauma of 24 August 1572 frames subjectivity in terms of the textualization of experience, external identification, and the imprint of history on the mind and sometimes on the body of the suffering victim. The article argues that such subjectivity occurs, not by absorbing the external into the self, but by the reverse process: assimilating the self to the larger framework of pain and suffering afforded by historical, political, and biblical models. It assesses the merits and drawbacks of Caruth’s theory of trauma and how successfully her approach invites us to revise our ideas of experience, selfhood, and personal witness in sixteenth-century French accounts of civil war.

Smile of the Universe: Miracles in an Age of Disbelief by Michael Grosso

Smile of the Universe (2020) by Michael Grosso is a delightful book filled with magic and intrigue for the inquisitive reader. Grosso starts our journey with citing many historical events that have been deemed “miraculous” not only by the Catholic church, which seems to have had the corner on miracles since the Church’s beginnings, but also those that fall out of the realm of organized religion. What made this book delightful for me is that Grosso’s own particular interest in miracles resonates with mine, and I am fairly certain will resonate with many other readers.
 In the opening pages of Grosso’s book he immediately makes it clear that he personally has experienced a miracle, several in fact. The reader then knows that this book is not just a documentation of dry historical events, but rather of a topic that presents phenomena that the author himself has been personal witness to. We are immediately engaged in both the subjective and the objective: story telling at its best. And what are miracles but human stories created around a set of unexplainable material events? A dream, what most believe to be pure subjective containing no material substance at all, is not considered a miracle. But if that dream manifests in material form, then indeed it becomes miraculous. Not all miracles are first dreams of course, but all miracles do have a material construct, and what makes them a miracle is their stubbornness in ignoring the set, presently known, laws of nature.

What Does It Mean to Be a Catechist? The Ecclesial and Spiritual Profile of a New Ministry

What Does It Mean to Be a Catechist? The Ecclesial and Spiritual Profile of a New Ministry Bishop Dr. Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst (bio) When Pope Francis introduced his Motu proprio “Antiquum ministerum” to the Universal Church in May of last year, we, at the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, were aware that it would be most welcomed where a large number of catechists highlighted the Church’s vitality and their efforts to evangelize and catechize. This lay Ministry of Catechist requires an understanding of what is meant by catechesis. Our familiar word ‘echo’ is part of it and points to what catechesis is all about. The word catechesis is derived from the Greek expression “kat echein,” that is, to teach by word of mouth. Catechesis is like ‘rhythmic waves’ that touch us and make us become, in turn, ‘resonators’ for others. This is the original meaning of catechesis when used and understood in the transitive form. Later in church history, it also has been used in the intransitive form, which has emphasized the teaching of the content of catechesis. Both understandings are important. To be touched by ‘pulsating waves’ and to move others to open their hearts to the gift of faith by our personal witness is part of this ministry. Catechesis also means teaching and maturing in the faith1 by receiving knowledge so that we may not think too small of God and His grace. A faith identity assumes identification with the content of everything we believe, summarized in our creeds. The ministry of catechist entails both receiving and giving all that the faith holds within the tradition of our Church and turning always to the origin of our faith. Scripture, our living tradition, and magisterial teachings are some of the sources of our faith and catechists should be [End Page 5] immersed in their ‘undulating flow.’ These ‘solid waves’ lead catechists to a threefold awareness of their ministry. I. Catechists embrace the cross During my studies in the United States more than thirty years ago, I participated in the Rite of Election for Catechumens at the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. The songs of that first Sunday of Lent included one, I have never forgotten; part of its words are: “Lift high the cross/The love of Christ proclaim/Till all the world/Adore his sacred name.//Each newborn servant/Of the Crucified/Bears on the brow/The seal of him who died.” George W. Kitchin wrote this song in 1887 for the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. It has also been suggested that this hymn was inspired by the story of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity after seeing a cross with the inscription “In hoc signo vinces” (“in this sign you will conquer”). To accept and bear the crosses in our lives leads us to embrace the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The more we empathize with the sufferings around us, the closer we are to the cross of the Lord. Catechists who want to proclaim the Gospel must have touched Christ’s cross and personally bear “the seal of him who died.”2 The entire story of our faith includes the manner in which canonized saints and the “saints next door”3 have found their personal call and have identified with the cross. During the Rite of Institution in the Ministry of Catechist,4 a cross is given to each candidate. When catechists receive the crucifix during the liturgy of institution, it is a clear sign that they are called to touch the wounds of Christ. To bear a personal cross, united with the cross of Christ, enables us to carry the crosses of others. This communion makes catechists capable of witnessing, in words and in deeds, the content of our faith. “Lift high the cross” there, where life tends to pull us down, seems to be the strongest proof [End Page 6] of our confidence in the providence of the love of Christ. Bearing “on the brow the seal of him who died” inspires catechists to regard others with the eyes of Christ. This leads us to a second aspect...

The Catechist: Witness to New Life in Christ: The Third International Catechetical Congress, Rome

The Catechist: Witness to New Life in ChristThe Third International Catechetical Congress, Rome Jem Sullivan, Ph.D. (bio) Pope Francis' institution of the Ministry of Catechist draws renewed attention to the personal witness and formation of catechists.1 This emphasis is also highlighted in the Directory for Catechesis.2 In the two catechetical documents that preceded it, namely the General Catechetical Directory (1971) and the General Directory for Catechesis (1997), the vocation and formation of catechists were treated in concluding parts, namely chapters six and five respectively. In a significant shift, the Directory for Catechesis clearly prioritizes the catechist's vocation and initial and ongoing formation by placing these themes in chapters three and four of the first part of this catechetical document. The Third International Catechetical Congress for Catechists held in Rome in September 2022 echoed this focus on the catechist's vocation and witness as a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ. Titled The Catechist: Witness to New Life in Christ, the catechetical gathering was hosted by the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization and led by its Pro-Prefect, Archbishop Rino Fisichella. The meeting drew more than 1400 participants from some 82 countries with bishops, deacons, consecrated [End Page 179] religious, and lay catechetical leaders and catechists in attendance.3 Speakers from Vatican dicastries and from around the world invited participants to reflect on the vocation to catechetical ministry and to renew their dedication to their shared mission of making the Gospel resound in the minds, hearts and lives of persons today. This essay offers a summary documentation of the Third International Catechetical Congress of Catechists (2022), its major themes and implications for the ongoing renewal of catechesis today. To begin the essay, a brief overview of significant international catechetical gatherings taking place in the course of the last century provides historical context for this recent international catechetical meeting of a large and diverse community from around the world. International Catechetical Gatherings One notable early gathering of bishops, pastors and catechists took place in a catechetical congress held in September 1910 in Milan, Italy.4 The occasion was the celebration of the third centenary of the canonization of Saint Charles Borromeo, renowned for his efforts to renew catechesis when he served as Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. Borromeo's many contributions to the post-Reformation Church were significant, including the reform of clergy formation and his oversight and redaction of the final text of the Catechism of the Council of Trent, or Roman Catechism as it came to be known.5 Four key themes focused the attention of participants at this 1910 meeting, namely the Catechism, the catechist, the catechized and catechetical methods. In the following decades, a vigorous catechetical movement emerged alongside the biblical, liturgical and patristic movements of the first half of the twentieth century. Catechetical themes brought to the forefront in the research and publications of key figures of the catechetical movement found concrete expression in a series of catechetical [End Page 180] gatherings that came to be known as the International Catechetical Study Weeks.6 Organized by Johannes Hofinger, S.J., this series of catechetical meetings began with a session in Nijmegen, Netherlands (1959) during which participants explored the relationship of liturgy to catechetical ministry. Discussion of this theme continued at the next international gathering in Eichstätt, Germany (1960). The Eichstätt Catechetical Study Week was groundbreaking in its synthesis of Josef Jungmann's kerygmatic approach to catechesis and the "pedagogy of signs" in liturgical catechesis. The discussions and outcomes of the Eichstätt Catechetical Study Week would be integrated into key documents of Vatican II, particularly in the restoration of the ancient catechumenate. The next catechetical gathering in Bangkok, Thailand (1962) focused on the term "pre-evangelization," while the seminars in Katigondo, Uganda (1964), and Manila, Philippines (1967) expanded reflection on themes from earlier meetings now unfolding within a more global perspective. The sixth International Catechetical Study Week, held in Medellin, Colombia (1968), drew insights from theological currents in Liberation Theology and the "preferential option for the poor," contributing significantly to reflection on how catechesis is shaped by the social and political demands of the Gospel, experienced in the concrete...

Church Autonomy after Our Lady of Guadalupe School: Too Broad? Or as Broad as it Needs to Be?

In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (Guadalupe), the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment preserve a broad right of church autonomy. The breadth of Guadalupe’s church autonomy doctrine respecting religious institutions’ personnel decisions in particular, is potentially remarkable. It is, however, also required given the empirical evidence about the crucial role personal witness plays in preserving and promoting religious beliefs and norms. At the same time, Guadalupe’s church autonomy doctrine poses potentially dangerous incentives and consequences, threatening both the doctrine and religious institutions. This Article will examine these matters as follows: Part I will detail the breadth of Guadalupe’s church autonomy doctrine. Part II will attend to potentially narrower readings of the doctrine suggested by the majority opinion, especially the prospect that its application might be limited to teachers directly charged to transmit the faith. It concludes, however, that severe limitations are unlikely. Parts III and IV propose that Guadalupe’s church autonomy doctrine is no broader than it needs to be respecting religions’ freedom to appoint personnel. Part III examines religious teaching about the role of personnel in preserving and communicating an institution’s faith, doctrine, and mission. Part IV reviews a body of empirical research indicating the dispositive role played by personal witness toward preserving and communicating religious beliefs and norms. This literature—variously published in the fields of “social influence” theory and the psychology and sociology of religion—confirms the practical wisdom of religions’ theologically-based personnel policy: to staff their institutions with persons whose beliefs and conduct strengthen the community’s witness to its faith and mission, by communicating to others the plausibility and even attractiveness of the religious mission(s). If Guadalupe means to allow religions to effectively govern their own “faith and doctrine,” including its transmission, then this empirical literature strongly indicates that the state will have to leave religions a wide berth of freedom to choose their own personnel. Part V considers future threats to a broad church autonomy doctrine, and recommendations to counter these. The Guadalupe dissenters highlight fears that religious institutions will abuse their roles as employers and courts will abdicate their judicial responsibilities to determine the applicability of the church autonomy doctrine. Both of these errors can be avoided.

Glad Tidings? Personal Witnessing, Religiosity, and Mental Health among U.S. Adults

A growing body of research has documented connections between religious involvement and mental health. However, religion is complex and multidimensional. Religious witnessing, the interpersonal sharing of religious faith, is an important religious practice that has received little attention. Religious witnessing is a relatively unconventional behavior in contemporary American society, yet it can promote social interaction and belonging and has implications for personal identity and sense of self-worth. Using data from a 2010 national random sample (N = 1,342) of U.S. adults, we examine associations between religious witnessing and mental health and the moderating role of public and private religiosity. Mental health is measured using three classes of psychiatric symptoms (general anxiety, social anxiety, and paranoia). Results show that witnessing is related to positive mental health among more highly religious individuals and negative mental health among less religious individuals. Drawing from identity theory and authenticity research, we argue that the contingent impact of religious witnessing on mental health can be explained by (1) participation in social contexts and groups conducive to religious self-expression and (2) the interplay between witnessing, private religiosity, and feelings of authenticity.

Global capitalism as counter-Evangelization: how should Catholic educators respond?

Pope Francis describes the greed-driven global economy as an idol colonising society and enforcing values contrary to the gospel. In this context, education is essential to develop the skills in critical and creative thinking needed to identify, resist, and transform the anti-gospel aspects of global capitalism. But this education must do more than include Catholic beliefs as supplemental to a curriculum intent on enabling students to out-compete others. Instead, we need a return to the broader purposes of education for career, citizenship, and culture, along with personal and institutional witness to inspire students to redeem this global economy.

OMEGA, OOR EN UIT: DIE STORIE VAN ’N OPSTANDIGE TROEP - François Verster

War narratives are in essence categorised as a distinct literary kind of its own. In his masterpiece The soldier’s tale: Bearing witness to modern war, Samuel Hynes argues that mankind is generally curious about war. Hynes contends that it is often easier to respond to one man and his ‘war’, than to try to comprehend the overwhelming statistics associated with modern wars – especially in terms of the overwhelming numbers of soldiers, battles and casualties. For Hynes, it was important to “understand what war was like, and how it feels, we must … seek the reality in the personal witness of the men who were there”. As such, the recording of the personal narratives of soldiers are extremely important. These narratives, however, can be subdivided into two broad categories depending on differing needs – the need to report and the need to remember. Accounts that fall into the reporting category generally comprise letters, diaries and journals that are kept as the war unfolds. The value of these sources is varied, but in essence, they offer immediacy and directness in recording the personal experience of war. The second category comprises memoirs. Memoirs are indeed much more reflective in nature, in that they are written years afterthe actual experience of war. Moreover, memoirs give a selective overview of “what the young self did, what happened to him, what changed him”.

Maddi Faith in conversation with Jerome Carson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Maddi Faith. Design/methodology/approach In this single case study, Maddi gives a short background and the origins of her mental health issues and is then interviewed by Jerome. Findings Maddi tells the authors how her problems developed in her childhood and of the journey she has been on since. Research limitations/implications Single case studies provide a single perspective. Yet are they of any less value than a commentary by an academic? On the contrary, many offer unique insights into how the authors provide services for people with mental health problems, and of better ways to help them. Practical implications Maddi raises the issue of “falling between services”, with the result that the individual concerned does not receive the help they need. Social implications The persistent stigma of mental health problems is an issue that will need to be addressed for decades if it is to be overcome. Personal witness is vital in tackling this issue. Maddi has already done a lot to address this through her work at University. Originality/value The Trust the second author worked for, for many years used to have a staff “Made a Difference” award. Maddi surely deserves such an award for her own efforts to develop our understanding of the realities of mental health problems.

South German Anabaptist Ecclesiology and Its Present-day Pentecostal Counterpart

Th is article accepts that twentieth-century classical Pentecostalism originally shared a similar ethos to that exemplified among the South German Anabaptists, and investigates some resonances in ecclesiology between the two. Scrutiny of a selection of early sixteenth-century documents relating to Anabaptism identifies the following: a radically consistent application of sola scriptura, a rejection of the state-church synthesis, a revisioning of sacramental belief and practice that subverts the clergy-laity divide, commitment to the teachings of Jesus as the primary and central guide to discipleship, a sacrifi cial pilgrim mentality of “just passing through this world,” individual choice and responsibility to follow Jesus, confi dent personal witness to the goodness and salvation of the Lord, and some level of demonstration of the charismatic gifts. Early Pentecostalism resonated with all these themes, although it developed a more detailed and sophisticated biblical and theological understanding of the charismatic aspects. However, present-day popular Pentecostalism, especially but not exclusively in the West, appears to demonstrate in its implied ecclesiology a number of dissonances from all of these elements, which may indicate a significant divergence from the original ethos of the movement and present major future challenges to its authentic and consistent continuation and self-propagation.

SAVING FAITH: STOCKHAUSEN AND SPIRITUALITY

ABSTRACTInvited in 2011 by Robert Sholl and Sander van Maas to contribute to a proposed symposium on the spiritual in late twentieth-century music, I accepted, not because I agreed with the project and its aims, but to defend Stockhausen's character and reputation from convenient misrepresentation. Sin and virtue, spirituality and the spiritual life ask to be addressed in terms of actual works and personal witness – in my own case, not least given the composer's complaint late in life: ‘You have to watch out for Maconie's nihilism’. The test of spirituality inevitably entails scrutinizing the motives of former Stockhausen disciples who changed their minds, among them two English composers of my own generation, Jonathan Harvey and John Tavener, who have since passed away. In 2014 the opening sentence of the present paper provided theologian and Stockhausen-forum editor Thomas Ulrich with an amusing starting-point (‘Suffering? How very Protestant!’) for just the second of a trickle of online discussions of largely pathetic inconsequence.

Retoriche politiche, etica e connessioni di sviluppo nella pratica della valutazione: il contributo di Albert O. Hirschman

This paper intends to propose a personal and professional witness on how Hirschman’s approach can contribute to enlighten the practice of evaluation. The author, after recalling how she got in touch with Hirschman and his thought, describes the way in which Hirschman’s concepts (the thesis of the slack, the linkages effects, the exit and voice scheme, the ethical concern, the political rhetoric, etc.) have gradually influenced her research activities and her evaluation practice. In this way, the author can thus focus on recurrent problems, and ways to address them, as regards the planning of development measures, the role of intellectuals in change process, the relationship between politics and evaluation, the use of methodologies and evaluation techniques.

Gloria Anzaldúa and the Problem of Violence against Women

Gloria Anzaldúa and the Problem of Violence against Women John Kaiser Ortiz “It seems like one of my functions is to go in and out of various worlds.” —Gloria Anzaldúa (2009, 105) In Interviews/Entrevistas, Gloria Anzaldúa relates the story of her brother who had returned “half dead and unrecognizable” from Vietnam, weighing “only 87 pounds,” after ending up “in the bottom of a foxhole,” where he was drowning in the blood of his fellow platoon members, “which is what saved him” (Anzaldúa 2000, 44). As an example of Anzaldúa’s sense that philosophical dialogue carries with it possibilities of conf lict mediation, this war story stretches the familiar claim in Borderlands/La Frontera that “the U.S.-Mexican border es una herida abierta [is an open wound] where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds” (Anzaldúa 1999, 25). Of significance here is not only the disturbing idea that this moral hemorrhaging promises to save both nations and their relationship, even though Anzaldúa’s notion that moral crises bleed onto and into still other problems clearly approximates a sorely lacking critique of the extreme violence marring life in and between the United States and Mexico. More importantly, the act of retelling someone else’s survival of traumatic experience intimates a way of publicly raising problems of violence in terms that expressly engage the issue of how such conf licts might be tackled. [End Page 195] Anzaldúa’s reiteration of her brother’s uncommon survival in warfare calls attention to her abiding concerns with how one is humanized by thinking, talking, and writing about moral crises. Attending philosophically to the problem of violence against women in particular, Anzaldúa’s thought shows us how the ways in which we discuss the trauma or human rights abuses of others discloses our proximity and also distance (and so our relevance) to these issues, thereby showing us how we might act in terms of getting closer to these issues in order to effectively challenge them. I argue that Anzaldúa’s thought maps out a moral geography that identifies key moments where a normative view of how to address violence begins to appear. I draw on Anzaldúa to argue for what I call a normative view of philosophical practice as conflict mediation. By this I mean a mapping of moral conflict that normatively gestures toward practical ways of ending the many forms of violence faced by women on the border. The philosophical challenge in mediating violence is to stretch our thinking about and acting upon (through talking about and writing on) the ways in which given forms of violence relate visibly and directly to other moral crises, especially in terms of our own personal witness. But acts intended to mediate violence produce the realization that in order to staunch any one form or instance of violence one must also draw real, felt, and personal connections to these and all other existing forms of violence (often at the same time). This essay attempts to delineate my own sense of how philosophy serves to mediate conflict when seen next to Anzaldúa’s model for what it means to write and talk about violence, moral crises, and human rights abuses. That my own spiritual activism leads me to think of Anzaldúa’s writings and interviews as theorizing models of peacemaking and healing explains why I invoke metaphors of bleeding and bruising throughout this essay. References to bleeding and bruising should be seen as an attempt to visualize and dramatize my own personal relation to the realities of femicide and other human rights abuses along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mapping out moral conflict in this distinctly Anzaldúan sense means seeing the diverse persons and places who share this planet together as members of equal standing in terms of both a shared geography and a collective normative cartography. Importantly, my approach to philosophical dialogue as conflict mediation resolves what I call the problem of distance. The problem of distance refers to the problem of motivating others to care about and act upon violence suffered by people who live in parts of...

About This Issue

About This Issue Thomas Rzeznik, Co-editor The articles in this issue cover a range of topics, but each focuses on the middle decades of the twentieth century. Together, they invite us to think more about the intellectual movements and social activism that animated American Catholicism during that period, recovering stories and developments that are slowly fading from living memory. Our lead essay by William Issel (San Francisco State University) recounts the behind-the-scenes contribution of Auxiliary Bishop Mark J. Hurley in bringing an end to the contentious 1968 student strike at San Francisco State College. In so doing, Issel offers a revisionist account of the strike’s settlement, one which speaks to the prominent role that the church and its leaders played in civic affairs during the post-war period. Carol K. Coburn (Avila University) next recalls the establishment of the Sister Formation Conference in 1954 and assesses its considerable influence on women religious and their communities. She notes how their seemingly “radical” proposals and initiatives helped prepare American sisters for the changes brought about by Vatican II and the secular women’s movement. Our third essay, coming from John Harney (Centre College), explores the development of American Vincentian missionary activity in China between the 1920s and 1950s. In particular, it examines the creation of the Bishop Sheehan Memorial Museum at the Vincentians’ seminary in Perryville, Missouri and the role it played in commemorating the community’s China mission and creating a bond between members home and abroad. Our cover essay by David O’Brien (College of the Holy Cross) offers a brief sketch of the life and legacy of Gordon C. Zahn, a Catholic public intellectual whose writings and personal witness did much to advance church teachings on issues of war and peace. It serves as a call for further research on this important figure, who still lacks a comprehensive biography. Finally, it is our pleasure to congratulate our contributors who received awards from the Catholic Press Association. We were pleased to receive word of several first place awards, including ones for best feature article, best essay, and best review in our category. The honors are well-deserved. [End Page 1] Copyright © 2015 American Catholic Historical Society