View Of Humankind Research Articles

Job–Sirach

Job–Sirach Christopher T. Begg and Joseph E. Jensen 1385. [Job; Isaiah 40–55] C. L. Brinks, "Job and Deutero Isaiah: The Use and Abuse of Traditions," BibInt 20 (2012) 407-20. The similarities between Job and Deutero-Isaiah have been used to argue for a relative chronology. These kinds of arguments are problematic; nevertheless, noting quotations and allusions when they occur is of great value in interpreting the quoting or alluding text. For example, M. Fishbane's explication of the allusion to Ps 8:4-6 in Job 7:17-18 sheds light on Job's attitude toward the psalmist's view of humankind's status in the created order. Literary theorists have noted similar kinds of allusions, called "reflexive" or "dialectic" allusions, in which one text alludes to another in such a way that the alluding text "smears" the source text and the value systems of the two texts compete with one another. Allusions fitting this description have been noted with regard to Job, both in individual texts and in the genre of the book as a whole. Here, I argue for two further allusions of this kind to Deutero-Isaiah, as found, respectively, in Job 9:4, 8 and 12:9. In both cases, the author of Job uses words to describe God that are the same as or similar to those used by Deutero-Isaiah but with a profoundly different effect on the reader. In so doing the Joban author effectively sets up a competing way of interpreting the same picture that Deutero-Isaiah paints of God and God's action in creation. Accordingly, readers who note the similarities between the two texts experience the Deutero-Isaiah texts as having been "smeared" by the Job texts. Recognizing the above allusions fills out our picture of the elusive author(s) of Job and his/their attitudes toward familiar texts and traditions. [Adapted from published abstract] [End Page 472] 1386. [Job] Markus Witte, "Was die Hiobforschung bewegt—Eine historisch-kritische Übersicht über 300 Jahre literargeschichtliche Arbeit am Buch Hiob," Hiobs viele Gesichter, 13-35 [see #1617]. W.'s essay offers a compact but wide-ranging survey of research on the Book of Job during the last three centuries taking the 1712 commentary on the book of the learned Benedictine monk A. Calmet as its starting point. W. organizes his presentation of this multifaceted research under five headings, the translated titles of which read as follows: (1) The Language of Job and the Text of the Book of Job; (2) The Form of the Book of Job and Its Component Forms; (3) From Composition-history to Redaction-history; (4) Job the Idumaean and the Near Eastern Tradition of the Suffering Righteous Person; and (5) From Inner-Biblical Reception to the History of Reception as Part of Exegesis. In each instance, W. highlights the key figures and tendencies in the given area of research on Job over the course of the period in question. His essay concludes with a summary reflection on the research history presented by him in which he directs particular attention to three perduring avenues of inquiry throughout the above period that will also doubtless continue to occupy future researchers on Job: the book's text, its literary history, and its reception-history. 1387. [Job 2; 42:7-10] Paul K.-K. Cho, "Job 2 and 42:7–10 as Narrative Bridge and Theological Pivot," JBL 136 (2017) 857-77. C. reexamines the literary relationship between the prose frame (Job 1–2; 42:7–17) and the poetic core (3:1–42:6) of the Book of Job. Building on previous work that identifies Job 1; 42:11–17 as an older and independent composition, C. argues that the author of the poetic core composed Job 2; 42:7–10 as a narrative bridge and a theological pivot from the prose frame to the poetic core as authored by him. Job 2; 42:7–10 narratively connects the prose frame to the poetic dialogue, principally through the introduction of Job's friends, and adumbrates pivotal theological themes so as to prepare for the contentious dialogue to come. [Adapted from published abstract] 1388...

Fifty shades of obey

Stanley Milgram, a 26-year-old assistant professor at Yale University was riveted on the trial of Adolf Eichmann for war crimes in which he insisted that he was merely following orders. This gave Milgram an idea for a research project that would become one of the most controversial experiments in the history of psychology. Milgram's exploration into the limits of obedience to authority captured the public imagination, not least because of his chilling conclusion: that the majority of us could become torturers with just a few words of encouragement from a single authority figure. Milgram fashioned a powerful tale of saints and sinners, a morality play cloaked in the language of science that captured a particular view of humankind at a specific time and place in history. But in reconstructing Eichmann in his lab and ignoring evidence that didn't fit his narrative, Milgram deprived us of a richer, more hopeful story. The archives offer a portrait of people not as one-dimensional followers of orders, but as active searchers-for-meaning who make sometimes clumsy, sometimes clever and largely successful attempts to resist the cruel demands of an unyielding and enigmatic authority figure. Humans are built to obey? Don't buy it

From the individual, to the relational and communal: the Kirk’s influence on three Scottish thinkers: Ronald Fairbairn, John Macmurray and Ian Suttie

ABSTRACTThere has been growing interest in recent years around Scottish intellectual history, especially those ideas associated with the Scottish Enlightenment. There has been less attention given to the possible influence of the established church, the Church of Scotland, in this history. Indeed, ‘the Kirk’, when it is mentioned, can be assumed to have imposed a narrow and repressive influence on Scottish life and culture. This article seeks to introduce some nuance to this view. It takes as its starting point, the fact that significant Scottish thinkers have grown up in and have been deeply influenced by their religious upbringings. It begins to explore some of the similarities in the thinking of three Scottish thinkers, the psychoanalyst Ronald Fairbairn, the philosopher John Macmurray and the psychotherapist Ian Suttie, whose lives were contemporaneous. Their ideas all evince a view of humankind, perhaps drawing on their religious beliefs, not as disparate individuals but as members of a community with intentions to carry out good acts.

Phenomenology, Psychotherapy and the Quest for Intersubjectivity

Intersubjectivity is a key concept in phenomenology as well as in psychology and especially in psychotherapy, given the reliance of the therapeutic process on its location in relationship. While psychotherapy encompasses a range of what Owen (2006) terms “talking therapies”, this paper focuses mainly on the Freudian model of psychoanalysis and its connection with Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology respectively. Freud’s recognition that symptoms have meaning, and that the methodical disclosing of their meaning needs to be guided by the experience of the patient, accords with the emphasis of phenomenology on empathic attunement to the lived experience of the other. Insofar as the orientation of psychoanalysis towards methodically disclosing meaning gives it a hermeneutic dimension, it is also compatible methodologically with the interpretative mode of phenomenology. While Karlsson (2010, p. 13) identifies seven centrally significant “points of connection” between psychoanalysis and phenomenology, Thompson (2005, p. 40) suggests that “psychoanalysis is already phenomenological in its latency … . Indeed, Freud’s principles of technique make little sense outside a phenomenological context”.Can it thus be claimed that, in the quest for intersubjectivity, sufficient common ground exists for meaningful dialogue between psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and phenomenology in general, and between Sigmund Freud, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in particular? That is what this paper seeks to explore.The paper proceeds from pointing to the ambiguity of the Freudian mode as simultaneously natural scientific and hermeneutic to exploring the fundamental points of difference and commonality between psychoanalysis and phenomenology, and in particular the significance of the role of the unconscious and intentionality in psychoanalysis and phenomenology respectively, as well as the orientation of both towards greater understanding of one’s being in the world. Ultimately, however, the authors conclude that, while the points of commonality would seem conducive to dialogue between the Freudian and the phenomenological in the psychotherapeutic domain, their differences in aims and approach, each shaped by a different view of humankind, continue to obstruct it. The quest for it nevertheless remains ongoing, as demonstrated not only by the academic endeavours of theoreticians such as Owen and Karlsson, but by the contemporary urge of second century psychoanalysis for a theoretically coherent turn away from the Cartesian and towards the authentically intersubjectively relational.

An islamic perspective for strengths-based social work with muslim clients

This paper examines the Islamic concept of fiṭra or ‘original purity’ in relation to the strengths perspective in social work as a basis to guide religious and culturally appropriate services to Muslim clients. Both fiṭra and the strengths perspective presuppose a positive view of humankind; people are viewed as resilient and capable of growth and development, albeit in respective Islamic and secular systems, these outcomes are towards different ends. In Islam, growth and development links to the self but, ultimately, also to one's relationship with God. In secular social work systems, individual effort and the ability to overcome adversity and become whole are key and need not necessarily be linked to a God. This paper assesses the concept of fiṭra in relation to the strengths perspective to determine a religious and culturally appropriate equivalent for working with Muslim clients within the broader context of multicultural practice.

HUMANKIND AS BEING CREATED IN THE "IMAGE OF GOD" IN THE OLD TESTAMENT: POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE THEOLOGICAL DEBATE ON HUMAN DIGNITY

This contribution provides a survey of existing scholarship on the nature and extent of the image of God/imago Dei' according to the Old Testament. Some of the aspects that will be discussed are: Image in the physical sense with the focus on selem in Genesis 1 - humankind as representing the divine. Image in a spiritualized sense with the focus on demut in Genesis 1 - humankind as resembling the divine. Image as attribute or relationship - in conversation with Barth and Bonhoeffer. A few concluding remarks will be made about human dignity and Old Testament anthropology as a theological synthesis between the Egyptian emphasis on humankind as a royal being and the Mesopotamian (Assyrian and Babylonian) view of humankind as a slave to do the most menial of work.

Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America (Allison P. Coudert)

<i>Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America</i> (Allison P. Coudert)

Job and Deutero Isaiah: The Use and Abuse of Traditions

he similarities between Job and Deutero Isaiah have been used to argue for a relative chronology. These kinds of arguments are problematic; nevertheless, noting quotations and allusions when they do occur is of great value in interpreting the quoting or alluding text. For example, Fishbane's explication of the allusion to Ps. 8:4-6 in Job 7:17-18 sheds light on Job's attitude toward the psalmist's view of humankind's status in the created order. Literary theorists have noted similar kinds of allusions, called “reflexive” or “dialectic” allusions, in which one text alludes to another such that the alluding text “smears” the source text and the value systems of the two texts compete with one another. Allusions fitting this description have been noted with regard to Job, both in individual texts and in the genre of the book as a whole. I argue for two further allusions of this kind to Deutero Isaiah (Job 9:4, 8 and 12:9). In both cases, the author of Job uses words to describe God that are the same as or similar to those used by Deutero Isaiah, but with a profoundly different effect on the reader. He effectively sets up a competing way to interpret the same picture that Deutero Isaiah paints of God and God's action in creation. Henceforth, readers who note the similarities experience the Deutero Isaiah texts as “smeared” by the texts in Job. Recognizing the allusions fills out our picture of the elusive author(s) of Job and his attitudes toward familiar traditions and texts.

The Equality of Women and Men as an Independent Fundamental Right

The equality of women and men is included in the Treaty of Lisbon as an independent fundamental right for good reason. Women are not a minority and participate fully in the Christian Democratic view of humankind. It is high time to translate this principle into policy, as an aim to be actively pursued. Equality is not a goal in itself. When women's talents get a chance to blossom, this will not only benefit the economy but also strengthen political decision-making. Thus, it is not only jurists and politicians, but also—and indeed, especially—our theologians and philosophers, who should immerse themselves in what Christian Democratic tradition has to say about the equality of women and men.

Cities Not Built to Last

The City and the Stars . Arthur C. Clarke . Frederick Muller, London, 1956, 256 pp. Despite its shortcomings, Arthur C. Clarke's first novel conveys his "sweeping vistas, grand ideas, and ultimately optimistic view of humankind's future in the cosmos."

Alexander the Great's Relation to Sophistry and Greek Oratory and Their Contribution to Alexander's Image by Alexandrian Hellenistic Culture

As a cultural term Hellenism also refers to the large cultural movement that expanded in this empire. This epoch produced a new view of humankind because of the esteem of education. One of the educational aspects is the Greek sophistry, which expanded from Greece over the Mediterranean up to Alexandria. Using extant sources and non-extant sources on Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic sophistry and philosophy in Alexandria we will focus in this article on the cultural efforts introduced in the time of Alexander's conquest of Egypt and later Hellenistic time especially in terms of sophistic knowledge. We will focus on the institutionalization of sophists under the reign of Alexander explaining how Alexander employed them as court writers, counselors, diplomats, and historians and the relationship between the emperor and this kind of educated men. As a special feature we will discuss the surviving names of historical works on Alexandria and Alexander, a topic of writing initiated by the emperor himself as assignments for the sophists around the emperor. We will see that the sophists around Alexander had a different position compared with the contemporary Greek orators that -as the case of Demosthenes exemplifies- were controversially opposed to Alexander's politics. Most research done considers the sophists a group of educators. But the sophists we investigate in show clearly that sophistry was a skill associated with different professions. We can clearly claim that the sophists were in terms of their function not bound to teach writing and speaking, but held public positions.

Malthus vs. Wordsworth: Perspectives on humankind, nature and economy. A contribution to the history and the foundations of ecological economics

In this paper, the view of humankind and nature upon which the thinking of Malthus is founded will be reflected on and contrasted with the opposed understanding of his contemporary Wordsworth. We show that the economic considerations of both are based decidedly on the premise of these views, and that their alternative interpretations of the contemporary economy and the relationship between economy and nature may thus be explained. From the comparison of Malthus and Wordsworth, we draw conclusions for modern ecological economics, identifying its Malthusian understanding of nature and reflecting on the capacities and limits implied for further research. We ascribe a central role in the conceptual history of ecological economics to Wordsworth and present his philosophical presumptions as a fruitful alternative for ecological economics. Finally, attention will be drawn to the principle importance of the philosophical foundations underpinning this field of research.

“Genes Я us” – Of juis nie? Oor determinisme en voluntarisme by die mens met verwysing na homoseksualiteit

“Genes Я us” – or not? About human determinism and voluntarism, with reference to homosexualityThis article has as its departure point the conviction of some that human genome mapping predisposes human beings genetically and as a consequence, the homosexual person becomes a mere victim of circumstances. Biological determinism and social construc-tionism are not mutually exclusive and although a person is orientated within a web of boundary matters, the depiction of a human being as imago Dei still prevails. A person has the freedom to choose and the responsibility to do so. One’s understanding of reality provides a frame of reference from which a definition of morality is derived. The suggestion of Nancey Murphey to understand reality as a “nonreductive physicalism” is followed. Reductionism in any form is subsequently avoided. A holistic view of humankind in terms of which religious experience is seen as more than some brain functions and people are embedded in a “sacred canopy”, is therefore advocated.

FLESH IN THE AGE OF REASON * Roy Porter * 2003. Allen Lane * Price 25.00. ISBN 0713-99149-6

‘What became of soul, I wonder?’? (Title is taken from Robert Browning's poem ‘A Toccata of Galuppi’s’) By the late 18th century, the clergyman at the bedside of the dying was largely replaced by the doctor; death was considered less of a portal to life eternal, as it had previously been, than as a ‘framing device to life’. This is the thesis put forward by the late Roy Porter, formerly Professor in the Social History of Medicine at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College, London, and editor of the Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine. Porter is the historian of the mind, especially the treatment of the insane, and of body–mind relations or, as we call it, the self. He earned a worldwide reputation for his massive erudition, light touch and learned wit. This brilliant book charts the change from a view of humankind as ‘a little lower than the angels’ in a vast hierarchical ‘chain of being’ down to pond life, to being seen as the passive recipient of impressions which determined a person's character, and made him a victim of chance. Porter shows how the zeitgeist interacted with medical practice. Discarded metaphysics, considered obvious or ‘common sense’ until the next extraneous theory came along, for a long while underlay treatment. Shakespeare is full of allusions to obsolete medical and psychological doctrines. Lady Macbeth describes memory as ‘warder of the brain’, which can be disabled by drink to become a ‘fume’. When Shakespeare writes ‘Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts, Keep his brain fuming’ he alludes to the theory of digestion current in his day; that food and wine sent up ‘fumes’ to the head, causing intoxication. These expressions present no obvious difficulty, but rest on a substratum of obsolete medical …

The postmodern subject--between multiphrenia and self concern

As opposed to scientific psychiatry, social psychiatry draws its resources from sociological sources and must continuously adapt its self-image and concept of action to changes in society. Sociological analysis of the present describes dramatic changes in society, which also have consequences for the subject's mastering of everyday routines and formation of identity. As opposed to neo-liberal promises of sheer limitless new opportunities, respectable interpretations of current times describe an ambivalent process that by far does not positively effect all groups in society, and in fact increases the danger of social exclusion. Exclusionary processes particularly affect persons, who do not fulfill the new requirements of hyper flexibility, mobility and allround fitness. Justifiably the question arises whether these requirements themselves induce the destruction of personality. This brings up the question if there is an alternative to the neoliberal view of humankind. This paper picks up the idea of a civil society centered on an individual and recalcitrant subject.

The “New Environmental Paradigm” in a Mexican Community

A sample of 422 Mexicans from a medium-sized city responded to the New Environmental Paradigm-Human Exception Paradigm (NEP-HEP) scale, which assesses peoples' beliefs about human-environment relations. The NEP scale contains questions referring to the need for a “natural balance” and “limits to human impact on nature.” In contrast, implicit in the HEP scale is a view of humankind as different from and with control over nature. The responses of the interviewees revealed higher levels of adherence to the NEP than to the HEP. However, confirmatory factor analysis showed the covariances between pro-NEP and pro-HEP factors to be high and significant, indicating that the participants did not see the two paradigms as mutually exclusive, as do members of some industrialized societies. The results point to a more holistic view of human relations with the environment, in contrast to the dualistic vision of some western countries.

In defense of joy: C. S. Lewis and psychoanalysis.

The imaginative experience of Joy, as he calls it, was central to the career of C. S. Lewis: it informed his work as literary scholar, writer, and religious thinker. Cognizant that psychoanalytic concepts held implications for the meaning of this experience, Lewis offers a critical commentary on these implications and their presuppositions with regard to literary imagery. His commentary suggests possible conflicts between a view of humankind that is psychoanalytically-derived and one which is aesthetically informed.

A Balanced View of Humankind

A Balanced View of Humankind

Paradox and Promise: A Theological and Psychological View of Humankind

Uses literary examples and case materials to illustrate themes of (1) the power of existential roots, (2) the avoidance of personal responsibility, (3) the denial of reality, (4) the terror of individuation, (5) the fear of intimacy, and (6) the quest for unmingled pleasure. Offers therapeutic strategies for dealing with each of these themes and in doing so draws especially on the theories of leading family therapists.