One blood

This article addresses the question of how the community of faith (the church, etc.) should respond to the world in crisis. It provides a spiritual perspective on this crisis rather than a full description of the problems and how to solve them. It draws upon the life and teaching of Jesus to discern how to respond to our troubled world, noting that Jesus too lived in a world in crisis. The article underlines that Jesus fully lived the “more excellent way” described by Paul in First Corinthians. The community of faith responds with a thoughtful faith, hope grounded in salvation history (i.e., the entrance of God into human affairs, from Abraham to the present), and unconditional love, following the example of Jesus. In these ways, the community of faith helps mitigate “a world in crisis” and empowers faithful followers to flourish.

<p>This article aims to introduce transpersonal psychology approach, especially its meeting point with the world of Sufism in Islam. The article tries to answer the following questions, are: 1) what is the difference between transpersonal psychology and other psycho-logical theories, and; 2) in what aspect transpersonal psychology shares a common ground with Sufism? The writer finds that there is a significant difference between transpersonal psychology and other psychological theories, especially psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Psychoanalysis emphasizes the deepest meaning of human behavior with a tendency to override the meaning of physical aspect. Behaviorism has been strongly influenced by pure science. In fact, research on the human psyche aspect cannot be done simply by applying pure science. Meanwhile, transpersonal psychology tries to fundamentally reinforce and develop human potential, both physical and mental aspects. Moreover, this approach reaches supernatural and spiritual aspects of human beings. The writer tends to argue that the common ground shared by the mystical aspects of the Western world, in the perspective of transpersonal psychology, and Sufism in Islam lays in the fact that each entity puts great emphasis on managing and increasing the spiritual aspect of human.</p><p class="Standard"><strong>Keywords</strong>: transpersonal psychology, tasawuf, common ground.</p>

My reflection mission, gender, and power is in memory of two women who dedicated their lives to the proclamation of liberating gospel and theological education. Despite their different national, social, Christian, and theological backgrounds, they both envisioned the church and its mission in a similar way: as an inclusive community, as a round table, as a place of love, care, respect and sacrifice. I refer to Elizabeth Behr-Sigel, the well-known French orthodox theologian, and to Letty Russell, the famous scholar, teacher, theologian. Elizabeth Behr Sigel describes her vision: My desire is that the Church become what it is in the supreme reality of the mind of God: a community of faith, hope and love, of men and women, of mysterious human persons, unutterably equal yet different, made in the image and reflecting the glory of God, the Three in One. That is the great Orthodox vision of the Church. It remains for it to be translated into concrete historical terms. (1) And Letty Russell in her article with the title Hot-house Ecclesiology points out, I have entitled this article feminist interpretation of the church Hot-house ecclesiology because it seems to me that the vision women have for the Church is that it could be a sanctuary, a place of safety for all who enter, and especially for those who are the most marginal, weak and despised of any community ... and the welcome extends to those of all races, ages, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, all creatures and creation itself as the Church becomes a place where there is intent to heal and to live out God's justice rather than to harm and to promote the privilege of the few. (2) Both visions, according to my understanding, are of biblical origin. The early church developed its ecclesiology, and in turn its missionary practice, a radical eschatological teaching of the historical Jesus about the kingdom of God (which, as modern biblical research has shown, moves dialectically between the already and the yet; in other words, it has begun in the present but will be completed in its final authentic form in the eschaton). From the writings of Paul, John, and Luke, in addition to other works, we see this teaching reflected in images of the church as the body of Christ, as vine, and especially as unity. Paul in particular was absolutely convinced that all share in the kingdom through baptism, completing with the eucharist their incorporation into the one people of God. The fourth gospel develops this radical eschatological teaching even further in regard to the unity of people of God around Christ and their incorporation into Christ's body--above all, through the eucharist. The main contribution early Christian theology made to the development of this messianic eschatology was the common belief of almost all theologians of the early church, emphasized and underlined most sharply by St Luke, that with Christ's resurrection and especially with Pentecost the eschaton had entered history and that the messianic eschatological community becomes a reality each time the church, the new Israel, the dispersed people of God, gathers epi to auto. This development is undoubtedly the starting point of Christian mission, the springboard of the church's witnessing exodus to the world, which in the fact interpreted the imminent expectation of the parousia in a dynamic and radical way. (3) For Orthodox, mission is not realized in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; but mainly, it is a participation in the life of the Holy Trinity, an expression of this love with all the power of existence. Mission is an essential expression of Orthodox self-conscience, a cry in action for the fulfillment of God's will on earth as it is in heaven. For Anastasios Yannoulatos, [O]rthodox mission, internal or external, is through its nature ecclesiastic. …

Sometimes more is less, even within scholarly writing, known for its all too frequent verbosity. This paper follows approaches that sparingly used words, even to the point of using no words at all. One example of this strategy is a renowned psychology article describing its author’s unsuccessful self-treatment of his own writer’s block, which led to a blank paper (Upper, 1974). Another, in the area of interventions, which are commonly seen as demanding empirical support to evaluate risk-benefit analyses, involved a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of parachutes in preventing deaths. This research was presented, but never conducted—as no controlled trials containing a non-parachute condition could be identified, which again led to a blank paper (Gordon & Pell, 2003). Both of these papers, which used fewer than the minimum number possible for a word count, illustrate the value of research that went less-far than presenting results about null hypotheses to being themselves completely null. Throughout a long career in transpersonal psychology, this paper’s author has similarly called for silence as the only proper response as a scientist toward considering anything labeled as non-dual—and has characterized all attempts to articulate conceptualizations directly about this topic as futile (e.g., Author, 1983, 2002, 2015). This does not mean that all transpersonal notions within psychology are incoherent or worthless, but those that attempt to pontificate directly about ultimate states, such as alleged states (or non-states) of the non-dual (or similar supernatural conjectures that defy empirical efforts required for falsification), reside outside of science’s limits. However, speculations about such notions continue unabashedly within transpersonal psychology. Consequently, in this paper the author painstakingly exhausts every possible good scientific conceptualization about the non-dual from a psychological perspective, but finds none to explicate. This does not discount the value of speculation from non-scientific vantages, such as the legitimate uses of poetry and art to describe and depict the non-dual in imaginative ways not to be taken literally and concretely. It also does not limit psychology as a science from pointing to the possibility of the non-dual, including studying people’s claims—and their concomitants about such a possibility, but psychology as a science has not yet meaningfully engaged directly in exploring this topic, and it appears thoroughly outside of any cogent scientific framework to entertain. Although this paper is written as succinctly as possible, readers are encouraged to take in the vast scope of this inquiry’s unstated implications in order to arrive at their own conclusions, and to consider deeply whether there might be any value in continuing efforts within transpersonal psychology, as Watts (1972) proudly proclaimed, “to say what cannot be said, to eff the ineffable, and to unscrew the inscrutable” (p. xiii). Perhaps it would be desirable to conclude that this paper constitutes the last word on this troubled subject, but not a word is offered, as even one word would be too much—so there is no last word. Alas, only silence suffices for conceptualizing the non-dual from the limited framework of science.

I want to start this article by stating that what I have to say is both provisional and contextually limited. It is provisional because it has to do with my own spiritual and psychological processes, and these are constantly in a state of flux. I am offering these suggestions as a way forward for Christianity, and as a link with Transpersonal Psychology, not because I think they will meet everybody's needs, or even be welcome by a good many people, but because it reflects something of my journey. If what I say has any resonance with you the reader, helps in any way to make sense of the Christian story in the 21st century, then I am happy that this is the case. If, on the other hand, it has no resonance, if it helps neither those who are Christian nor those who come from a more ‘secular’ psychological perspective, then it should simply be disregarded. As both a priest and a psychologist I struggle with models and metaphors to help give meaning to and make sense out of my life. I am not trying to espouse some new doctrine to be written in stone, heaven forbid, both theology and psychology have more than enough of those already. My criteria is simple and utilitarian, if it is useful us it, if not, discard it.

Despite major scientific and technological developments and a growing environmental awareness the magnitude of the environmental decline continues to grow and no consensus on the most adequate responses has been achieved. To understanding this complex scenario, the study of human behaviour and the social and psychological factors influencing the relationship between people and the environment is paramount. A view supported by studies that have shown that the omission of these factors limits the impact of environmental strategies. In the case of climate change, this was acknowledged by the IPCC (2013) in its last report where the need of more psychological, social and cultural research was highlighted. I commenced this study with the strong belief that the failure to develop more effective pro-environmental approaches reflects the lack of understanding or consideration of such psychological and social processes from the scientific community and those who seek to communicate the problem to society. In such a context, I decided to explore how the inclusion of psychological and social considerations can improve people’s responses to controversial environmental problems. Firstly, exploring how people interact with the natural environment, for instance through analyzing the importance attributed to environmental issues and the type of responses favored when addressing these challenges. Secondly, testing strategies that might increase support for pro-environmental actions integrating psychological and social considerations in the particular context where the research is conducted. This dissertation reports a study aimed at exploring the complex interaction between people and the environment from a psychological perspective, considering the social influences and the need for integration between disciplines. Using mixed methods I studied how people perceive and respond to environmental problems, how important they are deemed, the type of actions favoured and the critical factors influencing those processes, including the role of science as driver of pro-environmental changes. People’s perceptions and responses to climate change were the starting point for this analysis, which was then extended to the place attributed to the environment in society. Accordingly, the main goal of this research was exploring psychological processes and social factors involve in the development of pro environmental behaviours, considering individual and social facilitators and constraints, in a frame of growing global environmental awareness in the specific context of Queensland, Australia, in order to improve pro-environmental strategies. This thesis is submitted partly by publications. It includes a review and new analyses of the survey “Attitudes to Climate Change” conducted in Australia, showing strong associations between climate change beliefs and people’s perceptions (levels of concern, importance, experienced effects, harm perceived) and responses to the problem (as demonstrated by pro-environmental behaviour scores), and the strong ideological component involved in the climate change debate in this context. The qualitative research that followed the survey re-analysis is presented through four papers. They identify and characterize the main narratives associated with the climate change debate in this context, clarifying conflicting positions, their internal tensions and the behavioural implications. New psychological insights were produced to understand the internal tension between maintaining non-sustainable practices and expressing environmental concern. The psychological mechanism of dissociation was used to evaluate its heuristic value in the contemporary Australian context not only explaining the type of responses to environmental problems but also how people internally deal with such a conflict. The findings demonstrated an adaptive mechanism that allows people to justify a non-sustainable lifestyle through low impact actions that reduce internal tension, mitigating the impact of cultural contradictory messages (e.g. overconsumption and sustainability) with generally poor environmental outcomes. At the same time this prevalence of low impact, isolated and individual responses were interpreted as an expression of the psychologization of environmental problems, reflecting the rejection or the minimum consideration of the social and especially political component of climate change or any other environmental problem. People’s discourses showed the perception of pro-environmental actions as optional, non-integrated to lifestyle changes, and not associated with community participation or political action. Overall, people perceived minor and individual responsibility rather than a social or cultural change in progress or a collective environmental commitment. The final experiment integrated those findings in the design of alternative frames to overcome the limitations associated with traditional climate change communication. Results showed the influence of place identity in increasing the support for climate change-related actions. The integration of the environment as part of people’s social identity overcomes in-group/out-group separations that are critical in the polarised climate change debate. Moreover, the frame seems to evoke self-transcendent and non-materialistic values that reflect the importance of the environment for people’s wellbeing avoiding the separation environmental-social issues described when explaining the dissociation phenomenon. The place identity frame had a positive impact despite belief type. Using the findings from the previous sections, these psychological and social factors are integrated into a communication model that favors people’s participation in environmental problem-solving using a psychological learning perspective.

Given their stability, their ability to influence public attitudes and capacity to mobilise human resources, it seems likely that many faith communities can have a significant impact on the wellbeing of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their carers, who may be dependent on the commitment of informal communities of support over months or years. This paper reports on a pre–post cohort study undertaken in an Anglican (Church of England) diocese in the UK. Representatives (N = 61) of 11 church communities completed the Dementia Awareness Scale immediately before and 12 months after an intervention to promote ‘Dementia-Friendly Church’ in their congregation. Results showed a robust improvement in scores on both the ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Comfort’ subscales, with the largest effect size in the latter. Within each subscale, improvements were evenly distributed across the individual items. These findings indicate that such an intervention is likely to significantly improve the environment for people living with dementia and their companions who are members of or engage with the Church community. They also suggest that a similar programme could be extended to other intentional communities, whether in faith-based organisations or societies with shared interests.

Bu çalışma, N. Mustafa Merter'in transpersonel psikoloji perspekti-finden yazdığı "Psikolojinin Üçüncü Boyutu: Nefs Psikolojisi ve Rüyaların Dili" adlı eserinin analizini sunmaktadır. Bu eser, modern psikoloji tarihine henüz yeni adım atan transpersonel psikolojiye İs-lam sufizmi bağlamında bir giriş yapmakla kalmayıp, aynı zamanda ben-ötesi psikolojinin bireyi anlama ve tanıma açısından taşıdığı ye-rel önemi vurgulamaktadır

In this article I will examine the changing nature of faith-based community action in England and consider what evidence we have about the extent and diversity of such forms of community action. I will also analyse the current government policy toward faith-based community action and the continuum of policy initiatives from community cohesion to prevention of terrorism. Having done this I will look specifically at what we know about the role of youth civic engagement in relationship to faith identity and faith-based community politics. This will be seen in the context of a shift from encouraging youth volunteering, which followed from the Russell Commission Report, to the new emphasis on youth civic engagement and various proposals for a youth National Civic Service. Finally, in conclusion I will consider models of social capital being utilized in this policy development concerning faith communities and youth civic engagement.

Spirituality, ethics, and morality have increasingly gained prominence as interpretative keys for understanding human development and rethinking integral education in educational contexts. This chapter aims to examine, from a psychological perspective, how spirituality, morality, and ethics are articulated and how they can underpin projects of integral education oriented toward humanization, the critical exercise of consciousness, and openness to transcendence. It begins with a conceptual clarification in which spirituality is understood as the search for meaning and self-transcendence, morality as a system of sociocultural norms and practices, and ethics as critical reflection on human action, highlighting its structuring role in the constitution of subjectivity. Subsequently, a theoretical-reflective literature review with a qualitative approach is developed, encompassing different psychological traditions: Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy; contributions from Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology; existential and phenomenological approaches; the Psychology of Religion; psychoanalytic contributions; cultural and systemic perspectives; Positive Psychology and neuroscientific investigations of spirituality; studies in moral and developmental psychology; Historical-Cultural Psychology; and Liberation Psychology. The analysis indicates that, despite being grounded in diverse epistemological matrices, these approaches converge in recognizing spirituality as a dimension that organizes the experience of meaning, guides moral judgment, and qualifies ethical action, transcending the confessional sphere and assuming psychological, pedagogical, and social relevance. Finally, it is argued that integrating spirituality, ethics, and morality into integral education— in dialogue with Ken Wilber’s Integral Psychology and with proposals that incorporate spiritual resources and practices—fosters self-knowledge, the cultivation of values, and the capacity to attribute meaning to existence, contributing to the formation of more critical, responsible, and internally integrated subjects.

This article explores the integration of positive psychology within the framework of Christian psychology, assessing fundamental similarities and differences from a spiritual perspective. Positive psychology, emerged in the late 20th century, focuses on promoting emotional well-being and happiness through the study of human strengths and positive emotions. Despite criticism for its focus on subjective happiness, it has demonstrated significant benefits in mental health and quality of life. Spirituality, on the other hand, is viewed from both theological and psychological perspectives, encompassing the search for the divine and transcendent experiences that provide meaning and purpose in life. Christian spirituality emphasizes the personal relationship with God and the transformative impact of forgiveness, gratitude, optimism, and hope in individuals' lives. The article explores how positive psychology can complement biblical principles by focusing on positive emotions such as savoring the present, flow in meaningful activities, forgiveness, and gratitude for the past, and optimism and hope for the future. It identifies areas of convergence and divergence between positive psychology and Christian spirituality, proposing an ethical integration that respects biblical principles while promoting the comprehensive well-being of individuals.

Globally, over 20.4 million people need palliative care services annually. The majority of these people (19 million) are adults, with 34% of them being patients diagnosed with cancer. With the current increase in the aging population, especially in developed countries, the number of adults requiring palliative care is expected to rise. Furthermore, how palliative care is offered and received continues to be shaped by culture and ethnicity. Likewise, culture and ethnicity influence how palliative care patients experience diseases like cancer, and seek and utilize palliative care services. Also, healthcare providers sometimes find it challenging to address the palliative care needs of patients from different ethnocultural groups. Sometimes these challenges are believed to be due to cultural incompetence of the care provider. When palliative care patients and their providers differ in their perception of care needs and how to address them, negative palliative care experiences are likely to ensue. Therefore, as the demand for palliative care increases, and ethnocultural factors continue to affect palliation, it is important to gain a better understanding of palliative care experiences of patients from different ethnocultural groups.The terms culture and ethnicity have been defined and used differently in literature which sometimes lead to confusion. Ethnicity has been defined as distinctive shared origins or social backgrounds and traditions of a group of people that are maintained between generations and bring about a sense of identity that may encompass a common language and religion. Ethnicity is fluid and should not be confused with nationality or migration or race. In this review, we define ethnicity in relation to the self-identification of participants in studies that will be included in the review.Culture refers to patterns of explanatory models, beliefs, values and customs. These patterns may be informed and expressed in things like diet, clothing or rituals, or in the form of language and social or political systems. Culture may be fluid because of developments in people's lives. In light of the aforementioned definitions, and recognizing the inconsistency in how these terms are sometimes used, the authors of this review define ethnocultural patients, as described in papers to be reviewed, as those who belong to an ethnic group by way of involvement, attachment, self-labelling or attitude towards the group, and who share cultural traditions, ancestry, language, nationality or country of origin.Palliative care in the context of cancer focuses on the improvement of the quality of life of patients by addressing their physical, emotional and spiritual needs, and by supporting their families. Palliative care is often associated with supportive and hospice care. Supportive care emphasizes meeting patients' needs such as physical, mental, social, psychological, emotional and material needs from the period before diagnosis, during diagnosis, treatment to the follow-up period in the cancer trajectory. Hospice care in the context of cancer aims to relieve patients' pain and suffering, and improve their quality of life. Hospice care includes palliative care services and other services such as case management, respite care and bereavement care. Hospice care focuses on patients with terminal illness (i.e. with expected survival of less than six months) and their families. Moreover, hospice care is facilitated by a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, home health aides and volunteers.Palliative care needs for cancer patients are numerous and may include needs related to activities of daily living, communication, sexuality, physical needs, psychological needs, fear, spiritual wellbeing, socioeconomic aspects and insufficiency of information. Cancer patients often report of suffering, pain and being in constant need of support. In dealing with their suffering, some patients seek internal motivation by looking at the disease as a life challenge. Other patients turn to external sources of motivation like religion, or peer and family support groups.Patients from different ethnocultural groups report similar as well as dissimilar palliative care needs and experiences. With respect to similarities, a study from the United States found that African American and Caucasian patients alike valued practical assistance from social groups. Participants from both ethnocultural groups valued friends and families that listened to their cancer-related concerns. Similarly, Turkish and Moroccan patients in a study conducted in Netherlands valued friends and family members that were there for them. Additionally, participants particularly of African American descent treasured positive attitudes from people around them and valued support from religion and faith communities. These sentiments are echoed in a palliative care study conducted in the United Kingdom. In the UK study, Caribbean Blacks and British White patients appreciated the significance of social networks and partner or spousal support in their cancer trajectory.In regards to unsupportive palliative care experiences, authors of the United States study report that African Americans and Caucasians had more similarities than differences. Firstly, both ethnocultural groups shared experiences of losing association with family and close friends after they learnt of the patients' diagnosis. These sentiments were also reported by Danish-born and immigrant patients in a study by Kristiansen and colleagues. Secondly, both African American and Caucasian patients felt responsible for the emotional wellbeing of their loved ones.When it comes to differences in palliative care needs and experiences, Grange and colleagues report that African American and Caucasian participants valued provision of housing which included daily patient care. Participants treasured the opportunity to either move or have family members move in and live with them. However, more African American than Caucasian participants had experiences of moving in with a family member. Important differences in unsupportive palliative care were also reported. Although both African Americans and Caucasians lost friends and family members following knowledge of the cancer diagnoses, more African Americans than Caucasians were likely to report losing friendship. Additionally, African Americans experienced diminished independence mainly because of overprotection from family and friends. Diminishing independence is echoed in the Dutch study involving Turkish and Moroccan patients. However, in the Dutch study, healthcare providers appeared to advocate for patients' independence which contradicted with the value placed by family members in protecting their loved one.In another American study, Latina women desired health-related information more often than their Caucasian American counterparts. The need for information by Latina women was irrespective of their socio-demographic factors, including level of education.The aforementioned similarities and differences in palliative care experiences call for further exploration of ethnocultural palliative care patients' experiences. A better understanding of their experiences will create avenues for finding better ways of providing palliative care, preventing psychological distress and improving quality of life and death.Understanding ethnocultural issues is important because the unique characteristics of ethnocultural groups often inform approaches to palliative care. Ethnocultural meanings of illness, suffering and dying define the theoretical underpinnings that patients and healthcare providers draw upon in their relations. Furthermore, Baker suggests that the provision and receipt of palliative care is more related to culture or ethnicity than to age, education, socioeconomic status or other variables. Moreover, culture affects communication, decision-making, response to symptoms, treatment choices and emotional expression at the end of life.Palliative care patients often regard recommendations from healthcare providers as very useful. Similarly, healthcare providers may find ethnocultural knowledge beneficial in the provision of palliative care. When ethnocultural knowledge is lacking, healthcare providers, especially those with minimal training on ethnocultural issues, may provide unsatisfactory palliative care. Similarly, when ethnocultural differences are overlooked or inadequately addressed, inferior care often occurs. Inferior care which may involve inequality in utilization of and access to palliative care services, pain and symptom management and location of death, is especially disturbing when adequate palliative care resources exist in some health institutions.Although qualitative and quantitative research has been conducted in this area, no systematic review compiling findings on ethnocultural patients' experiences of palliative care has been conducted or is underway as per the Joanna Briggs Institute Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews or PROSPERO. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize findings of qualitative studies that focus on ethnocultural patients' experience of palliative care. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)

Members of Levite Family and Ideal Marriages in Aramaic Levi Document, Visions of Amram, and Jubilees

This article addresses the persistent issue of xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals in South Africa. It offers a biblical framework for understanding and responding to such violence and explores practical solutions to this deeply troubling social phenomenon. Xenophobia remains a pressing public concern in South Africa, frequently reflected in newspapers, broadcast media and social media platforms, suggesting a troubling normalisation of anti-foreigner sentiment. The hostile attitudes and actions displayed by some South Africans towards their fellow Africans demand urgent and sustained intervention. As a theological and ethical point of departure, this article draws on Leviticus 19:33–34, which commands just and compassionate treatment of foreigners. This scriptural principle serves as a foundation for envisioning a more inclusive and humane society. The biblical imperative to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ is also applied, aligning closely with the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which emphasises shared humanity, mutual respect and communal harmony. By integrating these moral and cultural principles, the article advocates for the cultivation of a non-xenophobic community in South Africa, across the African continent and globally. Contribution: This study will begin by examining the historical relationship between the Israelites and surrounding nations, as depicted in the biblical narrative. It will then shift focus to contemporary xenophobic behaviour in South Africa, highlighting its social and ethical implications. Finally, the study will explore the application of the biblical ‘law of love’ and consider the role of the faith community in addressing and combating xenophobia, both within South Africa and globally.

The only book that explores the vaccination issue from political, ethical, psychological, aesthetic, and spiritual perspectives. Using principles of general semantics to recognize propaganda, particularly medical propaganda, it points to the power of the media to create our reality. James suggests an unusual consciousness-raising plan of action to insure freedom of choice and non-harrassment of persons who choose to stay off the vaccine bandwagon. The author's controversial position is supported throughout the book by the scientific discoveries of researchers who have received little recognition in orthodox medical literature. This new, completely revised edition shows: how vaccinations damage the immune and nervous systems, the vaccine-drug-AIDS connection, how to become propaganda-proof, and how to develop new paradigms of health and preventive medicine.