Theology and politics in Richard Hooker's thought

Although Richard Hooker’s private attitudes were clericalist and authoritarian, his constitutional theory subordinated clergymen to laymen and monarchy to parliamentary statute. This article explains why his political ideas were nonetheless appropriate to his presumed religious purposes. It notes a very intimate connection between his teleological conception of a law and his hostility towards conventional high Calvinist ideas about predestination. The most significant anomaly within his broadly Aristotelian world-view was his belief that politics is nothing but a means to cope with sin. This too can be linked to his religious ends, but it creates an ambiguity that made his doctrines usable by Locke.

Cleverer than we thought: the change in discourse of the Georgian Orthodox Church

This paper will focus on three episodes of contemporary church-state relations in Georgia, in particular, the conflicting interaction between law and religion in the public space. The first episode will be an open confrontation between the church and the state over the law on Registration of Religious Minority organizations (2011) which allowed the religious minorities to freely register; second: the Law on Self-governance (2013) which Georgian Orthodox Church considered “a threat to territorial integrity of Georgia”; and lastly: the Law on Anti-discrimination (2014) which was deemed “legitimization of Sodomic sin”. By reflecting on the three examples where for the first time after the collapse of Soviet Union, the Georgian state openly confronted the church and made a decision notwithstanding its position, I will attempt to argue that the role of the Orthodox Church in influencing the law making process is in gradual decline. However, on the other hand, by presenting the results of an ethnographic study conducted in 23 eparchies and perishes in 7 regions of Georgia in 2014, I will also show that church has adapted to its declining role over policy making, and to regain its political influence it gradually started to employ a civic rather than ethno nationalist discourse on matters of religious freedom while engaging with government. The paper will suggest that both unilateral decision-making of the state and civic shift in the discourse of the church constitute an important change in understanding church-state dynamics in the post-communist Orthodox Christianity dominated society.

Religious pamphlets

A collection of miscellaneous pamphlets on religion.

Music and faith: The religious scene in the Brazilian phonographic market

This text discusses the phonographic segment of religious music in Brazil in its two main manifestations, linked respectively to the Catholic and Protestant traditions. The text offers a brief history of both traditions, as well as a description of their main recording companies and artists of greatest prominence. In its final part. the text presents the strategies that bring together recording companies and independent artists, as well as ponders over Brazil`s independent musical production as a whole.

Religious Information Poverty in Australian State Schools

This paper introduces the concept of religious information poverty in Australian state schools from an information science perspective. Information scientists have been theorising about the global information society for some time, along with its increased provision of vital information for the good of the world. Australian state schools see themselves as preparing children for effective participation in the information society, yet Australian children are currently suffering a religious illiteracy that undermines this goal. Some reasons and theories are offered to explain the existence of religious information poverty in state schools, and suggestions for professional stakeholders are offered for its alleviation.

Religions and cultures: Religious dynamics in Latin America

The author seeks to analyse the relationships between religion and culture in Latin America, especially in Brazil, highlighting the fact that the different religions enjoy diverse relationships with culture in a single location. He also addresses the fact that religions interpret culture in different ways and these interpretations help define their conversion strategies and how best to confront opposing religions. For the sake of discussion, the author considers, hypothetically, a not-so-distant future in which Latin America becomes predominantly evangelical, and asks what will happen to Latin America`s supposed Catholic culture if the evangelical religions do indeed take over.

Reductionism and the human duplication thought-experiment

The human duplication thought-experiment is examined, and basic positions concerning the possible outcomes of the experiment are spelled out. A first position sustains supervenience, either from a reductionist or an emergentist perspective, and such views are contrasted. Certain moral aspects of the thought-experiment are then considered, especially in relation to the idea of death. Taking reductionism as a working hypothesis, two possibilities are suggested for investigating the hard problem of qualia: the postulation of some novel sort of physical interaction, and the postulation of a counter-intuitive law of scaling. One possibility for the latter would lead to a violation of supervenience.

Thought and picture in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

When an elementary proposition is instituted, the pictorial relations establish a contact between the proposition and the fact. This seems to commit the Tractarian project with a psychological view, but this is not the case because the point of view of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is concerned with the conditions of possibility of the representation. In this paper my objective is twofold. First, I show that the thought plays a basic function in the institution of a picture. Second, I show that the fact that the thought plays an important role in the institution of a picture does not commit the Tractarian project with an inquiry of psychological nature.

A Randomized Clinical Trial to Examine Enhancing Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Motivational Interviewing and Thought Mapping

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by repeated and persistent attempts to control thoughts and actions with rituals. These rituals are used in order to prevent feared or personally distressing outcomes. Cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) has been reported to be effective for treating OCD patients. However, about one-third (30%) of patients do not benefit from CBGT. Some of these patients do not show significant improvement and continue to use rituals following CBGT, partially because they fail to complete the exposure and ritual prevention (ERP) exercises. Consequently, it is important to motivate patients to fully engage in CBGT treatment and complete the ERP exercises. Aims: A randomized behavioral trial examined 12 weeks of manual directed CBGT, with the addition of individual sessions of Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Thought Mapping (TM), and compared treatment outcome to the effectiveness of CBGT group alone. Method: Subjects were randomized (n = 93) into a CBGT group or a CBGT group with MI+TM. Results: When the two groups were compared, both groups reduced OCD symptoms. However, symptom reduction and remission were significantly higher in the MI+TM CBGT group. Positive outcomes were also maintained, with additional symptom reduction at the 3-month follow-up for the MI TM CBGT group. Conclusions: Adding two individual sessions of MI and TM before CBGT successfully reduced OCD symptoms and was more effective than using CBGT group alone.