Psychosocial aspects on the treatment of HIV-infection

Psychological and social factors have a deep impact on the treatment of HIV-infection, from the readiness to start antiretroviral therapy to treatment adherence over time. Among psychological factors, anxiety may affect HIV-infected persons in all stages of disease, from the disclosure of HIV diagnosis to the decision to start and maintain treatment. This is a lifelong challenge for both patients and doctors. Psychiatric comorbidities (depression, addiction) may enhance negative psychological effects of HIV. Among social factors, stigma and discrimination may occur in families and at work, leading to a loss of social support resulting in isolation and poverty. This may prevent HIV-positive individuals from seeking medical care. These aspects are particularly important in some groups of patients as injecting drug users and migrants. Acknowledgment and consideration of psychosocial factors are therefore essential for the long term success of antiretroviral therapy.

Collingwood on religious atonement

R. G. Collingwood���s philosophical analysis of religious atonement as a dialectical process of mortal repentance and divine forgiveness is explained and criticized. Collingwood���s Christian concept of atonement, in which Christ TeX the Atonement (and also TeX the Incarnation), is subject in turn to another kind of dialectic, in which some of Collingwood���s leading ideas are first surveyed, and then tested against objections in a philosophical evaluation of their virtues and defects, strengths and weaknesses. Collingwood���s efforts to synthesize objective and subjective aspects of atonement, and his proposal to solve the soteriological problem as to why God becomes flesh, as a dogma of some Christian belief systems, is finally exposed in adversarial exposition as inadequately supported by one of his main arguments, designated here as Collingwood���s Dilemma. The dilemma is that sin is either forgiven or unforgiven by God. If God forgives sin, then God���s justice is lax, whereas if God does not forgive sin, then, also contrary to divine nature, God lacks perfect loving compassion. The dilemma is supposed to drive philosophy toward a concept of atonement in which the sacrifice of Christ is required in order to absolve God of the lax judgment objection. God forgives sin only when the price of sin is paid, in this case, by the suffering and crucifixion of God���s avatar. The dilemma can be resolved in another way than Collingwood considers, undermining his motivation for synthesizing objective and subjective facets of the concept of atonement for the sake of avoiding inconsistency. Collingwood is philosophically important because he asks all the right questions about religious atonement, and points toward reasonable answers, even if he does not always deliver original philosophically satisfactory solutions.

���Idolatry��� and Religious Diversity: Thinking about the Other in Early Modern Europe

Idolatry is a key concept in the history of Western thinking about religion, as an all-encompassing category in which all religions more or less alien to the Christian tradition could be subsumed. From Late Antiquity to the Modern period, we can follow how the notion was put to work within Christian discourse to think about the religious ���other. ��� In fact, the word is almost ubiquitous in pre-modern debates on religion and the origins of religion. Theories on the nature and causes of ���idolatry��� framed much of the issue of ���Religion��� vs. the ���religions,��� and largely provided the conceptual space, in early modern Europe, in which religious anthropology would emerge. The present paper will investigate some aspects of the early modern discourse on idolatry, and its place in early modern discussions on the ���diversity��� of religions.

The Psychological Outcome of Religious Coping with Stressful Life Events in a Swiss Sample of Church Attendees

Background: Recent research suggested thatreligious coping, based on dispositional religiousness and spirituality (R/S), is an important modulating factor in the process of dealing with adversity. In contrast to the United States, the effect of R/S on psychological adjustment to stress is a widely unexplored area in Europe. Methods: We examined a Swiss sample of 328 church attendees in the aftermath of stressful life events to explore associations of positive or negative religious coping with the psychological outcome. Applying a cross-sectional design, we used Huber���s Centrality Scale to specify religiousness and Pargament���s measure of religious coping (RCOPE) for the assessment of positive and negative religious coping. Depressive symptoms and anxiety as outcome variables were examined by the Brief Symptom Inventory. The Stress-Related Growth Scale and the Marburg questionnaire for the assessment of well-being were used to assess positive outcome aspects. We conducted Mann-Whitney tests for group comparisons and cumulative logit analysis for the assessmentof associations of religious coping with our outcome variables. Results: Both forms of religious coping were positively associated with stress-related growth (p < 0.01). However, negative religious coping additionally reduced well-being (p = 0.05, �� = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.27���0.99) and increased anxiety (p = 0.02, �� = 1.94, 95% CI = 1.10���3.39) and depressive symptoms (p = 0.01, �� = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.27���4.06). Conclusions: The effects of religious coping on the psychological adjustment to stressful life events seem relevant. These findings should be confirmed in prospective studies.

Renewal of Religious Leadership According to an Ancient Model. Bishop Joseph Hubert Reinkens and Bishop Martin of Tours

Im Jahr 1866 verfasste der damals in Breslau lehrende r��misch-katholische Kirchenhistoriker Joseph Hubert Reinkens eine der ersten historisch-kritischen Studien in deutscher Sprache ��ber Martin von Tours, in der er sich u.a. mit Martins bisch��flichem Leitungsdienst befasste. Nach dem Ersten Vatikanischen Konzil (1870) wurde Reinkens 1873 der erste Bischof f��r die Alt-Katholiken im Deutschen Reich. Der Beitrag beschreibt den Einfluss, den Reinkens' Martin-Rezeption auf sein theologisches und praktisches Verst��ndnis des Bischofsamts hatte.