United Theological Seminary

Within this research, the author considers the borrowing of decorative elements in the design of the first coins of the “European” type and their supposed foreign prototypes. From 1698 to 1704, Peter the Great carried out a large-scale reform, which radically modified the money circulation and coin production in Russia. This reform also changed the appearance of Russian coins. “New style” Russian coins had appearance of European ones (round form, denomination, date, a state emblem), but they did not copy the corresponding parameters and representational details of the foreign cointypes as a whole. All of the above, this reform allows us to raise some questions on particular borrowing from European coinage, namely: what details of coin design were adopted? Which countries were they borrowed from? The comprehensive study of the details of coin design led to the conclusion that Peter I borrowed from European coin design, along with their classic round shape and even the word “coin” itself, in addition to a number of key image details. However, when the tsar was choosing design details out of a huge number of options, he was guided by his personal preferences.

Book review

Luke represents Jesus’ death as the martyrdom of a prophet. M. Dibelius has noted this in 1919. C.H. Talbert adds in 1982 that Jesus’ death “is not an atoning sacrifice.” Such an assessment of Jesus and his death, for the “Christ” who “atones for sins,” is anemic to some scholars. F. Bovon, prefers to say, “[T]he attitude of the people . . . testifies not only to the exemplary character but also to the redemptive nature of the passion.” The question is thus joined for this paper. Was Jesus’ passion in Luke “redemptive”? The answer is found in Luke’s divine call of Jesus. Luke finds that Jesus is informed progressively of God’s plans for him on five occasions, evidently from time at prayer. The first, after his baptism (3:21b-22), reveals to him divine approval in royal and servant terminology. Next, after a night of prayer (6:12) he selects twelve as apostles and proclaims new teaching, the “Sermon on the Plain.” Then come two times of prayer (9:18, 29), the first prior to and the second on the occasion of visible transformation on a mountain, the “transfiguration,” regarding Jesus’ prophetic role and his coming suffering. After declaring at his final meal the beginning of a new covenant, but without reference to sacrifice for sins, he prays for guidance a final time on the Mount of Olives (22:41-44), preparing for anticipated suffering and vindication. We conclude that Jesus’ death for Luke is the martyrdom of a prophet that does not atone for sins but does seal a new covenant (22:20). The study will be published in two parts, the first extending through the four occasions above and the subsequent one in the issue to follow beginning with the fifth and final instance.

Chaplains, pastoral counselors, and Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) educators and supervisors are surveyed regarding their knowledge about religious freedom to discriminate laws, their advocacy for the oppressed, and their curricula regarding religious freedom law. The chaplain at Boston Medical Center (BMC) is interviewed about how she educates CPE interns about spiritual care for transgender patients, and BMC’s Medical Director for the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery is interviewed about her work with transgender patients, as well as her work with chaplaincy. Theologically educated political scientist, professor, and television host Melissa Harris-Perry’s work is explicated as womanist public practical theology.

African-American same-sex loving women in the Insight Meditation tradition are experiencing Remarkable Relational Resilience through mindfulness, regular meditation, meditation retreats, sangha leadership, and understanding no self as interdependence, yet some of these women may seek out pastoral or spiritual or Buddhist counseling from a Buddhist teacher, pastoral or spiritual counselor, psychotherapist or a Buddhist teacher who is also a counselor or psychotherapist. The counselor should consider 12 points in counseling these women including: not totalizing, sequence of identity formation, joining through conscientization, practicing compassion, validation, cultivating “beginner’s mind,” cultivating unconditional love, assessing self-love, finding supportive communities, adopting a womanist attitude or posture, asking about challenges, and forming multiple conjoining identities.

Womanism is a word coined by Buddhist practitioner and sexually fluid writer Alice Walker. Ironically, womanist theology evolved over the decades without reliance on Buddhist thought and without reliance on African-American lesbian epistemologies. Consequently, Walker’s four-part womanist definition was split off from her original coinage in her short story “Coming Apart.” The consequence of this split led to a womanist theology that was overwhelmingly Christian and virtually heterosexual. Womanism suffered, ironically, from a split while simultaneously espousing a commitment to “the survival and wholeness of entire people.”

Lovingkindness meditation is a practice that can de-intensify the Persecutory Object and consequently promote intrapsychic wholeness. Mary, Deborah, Alicia, Norene, and Marcella speak of their lived experiences and understanding of wholeness. Buddhist nun Ayya Khema’s teachings on lovingkindness meditation is offered as a guidance on how to experience or re-experience the pristine ego through lovingkindness meditation. Contemporary Object Relations theorists Tsigounis, Schaff, Muzika, Engler, and McDargh contribute their thoughts on unhealthy ego functioning.