Iliff School of Theology

What is the significance of a theological education for non-congregational and non-faith vocational contexts and roles? This question was the focus of a study to better understand the range of knowledges, skills, and dispositions—often called competencies—imparted by a theological education that are relevant to these vocational contexts, in which half of all alumni are employed. Ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of experts regarding competencies gained and needed in theological education for diverse vocational paths. Additional questions related to the kinds of roles and contexts emerging and present beyond the congregation and opportunities for how theological education might build upon its present offerings. Interviewee responses detailed the range of roles and contexts of graduates and the competencies both gained and needed in theological education, as well as four general opportunities suggested for theological schools to consider. While additional qualitative research is needed, this study contributes to an understanding of today’s vocational landscape and how theological schools might build upon the value of a theological education to more holistically prepare students beyond graduation.

This article will examine the surprisingly prolific advocacy for the use of characters from the Star Wars franchise (1977-2024) to teach neurodivergence. While Star Wars is a specific example, it is utilized here as a focus for the larger issue within academia of the uncritical use of popular culture media for diagnostic pedagogy (defined here as the use of teaching methods designed to help students understand the processes of diagnoses). Responsible diagnostic pedagogy must be reflective of the immense power medical professionals have over their patients’ lives, avoid dehumanizing dis/ability, and incorporate the voices of people with dis/abilities. While Star Wars is a popular media franchise that students may engage with, its use in diagnostic pedagogy ignores dis/abled lived experience, intersectionality, and often relies on a gross misunderstanding of the text. This article will therefore explore how pedagogy utilizing the Star Wars franchise acts as a problematic example of the medical model that also ignores basic media theory. The case of bipolar Zelda (a pop culture phenomenon arising after the release of The Great Gatsby [2013]) will be analyzed as a far more productive counterexample. Specifically, this essay will argue that ‘bipolar Zelda’ succeeds where Star Wars fails because it invites intersectional discussions centering around issues of power and oppression.

Abstract The aim of this study was to further characterize the relationship between small group social experiences and individual behaviour in a pair bonding fish and to explore hormonal factors possibly relating to previous evidence that prior social experience affects pair formation. Behavioural profiles of groups containing one sex differed from those containing both sexes; aggression was heightened in same-sex groups. Dominance, as quantified by aggression, was easily identifiable. Plasma levels of 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) and 13,14-dihydro-15-keto prostaglandin F 2 α (PGF 2 α metabolite) and whole-brain follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured after group treatment. 11-KT varied across males and differed according to dominance status but not same-sex or mixed-sex social experience. PGF 2 α metabolite also did not differ among females as a function of social experience. FSH was elevated in subordinate males and females. We did not find clear evidence of a reproductive priming mechanism but did find evidence that social experience can impact hormonal pathways relevant for reproduction, a factor worth considering when using this species for such studies.

Freedom of thought and speech is one of the basic democratic freedoms and is recognized by Russian law as a fundamental freedom of the individual. The Constitution of the Russian Federation establishes the duty of the state to guarantee everyone freedom of thought and speech. Freedom of speech is the sovereign right of a person to freely and voluntarily express their beliefs, the right to accessible information and its free dissemination by any legal means. From all the diversity of its manifestations, including personal and political rights, the plurality of derivative rights, it follows that freedom of speech is a self-sufficient institution of law. Meanwhile, in modern conditions, the implementation of freedom of speech faces a number of restrictions. The authors of the article examine the problematic issues of the implementation of constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, which today gives rise to disputes and discussions.

Environmental philosophy – broadly conceived as using philosophical tools to develop ideas related to environmental issues – is conducted and practised in highly diverse ways in different contexts and traditions in Asia. ‘Asian environmental philosophy’ can be understood to include Asian traditions of thought as well as grassroots perspectives on environmental issues in Asia. Environmental issues have sensitive political facets tied to who has the legitimacy to decide about how natural resources are used. Because of this, the works, practices, and researchers in Asian environmental philosophy are exposed to being (mis)used by diverse stakeholders and actors to support political ends not related to environmental sustainability. Two processes are at play at the nexus of the construction of identities in relation to conceptualisations of nature: eco-orientalism and ecological nationalisms. This paper analyzes and exemplifies these dynamics through a conceptual framework that distinguishes ideological and socio-technical explanations of environmental degradation. Finally, to minimise the risks of political misuse, five pathways are presented to carefully help curate environmental, philosophical statements: contextualise, quantify uncertainty and ‘uniqueness’, downscale, confront claims with local realities and literature, and collaborate with researchers from other disciplines. Conjointly, these pathways aim at favouring intercultural collaboration while valuing diversity, thus supporting the development and exchanges in environmental philosophy in Asia and beyond.

Abstract The category of race is typically used to designate a group of people distinguished by certain heritable physical characteristics, and to associate a set of behavioral and mental characteristics with that group. Those behavioral and mental characteristics fall into the category of what we think of as “culture.” Schleiermacher is a useful thinking partner on race in our contemporary world because he plays a significant role in constructing the way we think about culture. Furthermore, Schleiermacher is an early proponent for values many of us still see as important: diversity, pluralism, the non-coercive development of one’s individuality, and of the equality and expression of different cultural groups. The fact that some of Schleiermacher’s judgments strike us as biased or racist can be an occasion to analyze the way our own values might entail social consequences that we do not affirm.

This year’s AoIR gathering calls us to consider how "new colonizing forces” are “re-fashioning the world in their own image,” and how we might resist such persistent narratives of destructive domination. Our panel examines various modes of online participatory culture and community building through three different frameworks: undetected semiotic affiliation on YouTube, the participatory religious storytelling of QAnon, and the neoliberal self-colonization of MLMs. Our collective aim is to expose existing colonial structures in online spaces (as well as their offline roots) and break them down in order to offer something new. We offer three interdisciplinary approaches that weave together a story about the desire for community and connection. Persistent narratives of individualism compete with the desire for welcoming spaces and shared values, but a long history of colonized internet threatens to reinforce linguistic and narrative hegemony within these online communities. These papers dive deep into the complex problem of finding kinship through destructive worldviews and alternative histories. Unless we find sustainable ways of recognizing and dispelling these pockets of fringe communities, they will inevitably continue to grow and draw in more participants. In a climate of rising individualism and distrust in institutions, communal spaces will continue to be a place of important contestation. People will inevitably gravitate toward (online) communities, but there is a growing concern about what sorts of communities gain the most traction and participants. This panel asks: How can we create more robust safeguards, more compelling stories, and less profit-driven modes of existing in community?

A new complexity building photoinduced cascade which amounts to an unprecedented formal [4+2+2+2] cycloaddition topology is developed to access complex nitrogen polyheterocycles. This photocascade is initiated by the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) in aromatic amino ketones with tethered dual unsaturated pendants, i.e. pyrrole and alkenic moieties, resulting in the formation of four σ-bonds and setting six new stereogenic centers in a single experimentally simple photochemical step with up to 220 mcbit complexity increases.

No abstract available.