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Entertainment and Not Only in Jonathan Franzen’s “Crossroads”
This article is aiming at demonstrating that Jonathan Franzen’s sixth novel “Crossroads”, while essentially being a realist depiction of an American family’s way of living in the early seventies, is primarily meant to entertain the reader. It endeavors to give an answer to the question of what makes Franzen’s fiction enjoyable by focusing on plot, characters, and multiple points of view. In doing so, the final take is that the author unfolds a tale of morality, humaneness, and kindness. Apart from masterfully depicting the American realities, this long fictional work does not only entertain the readers, but it also changes them.
Journal Article
Breaking the silos: Decolonial theological education beyond the church-academy divide in Africa
This article interrogates the enduring bifurcation between theology and ministry in Southern African theological education, a divide historically reinforced by colonial epistemologies that separated intellectual inquiry from pastoral praxis. It argues that addressing this cleavage requires a decolonial reimagining of theological formation that resists Eurocentric paradigms, values local epistemologies, and integrates scholarship with embodied, communal, and contextual engagement. Drawing on Farley’s Athens model of theologia, Kelsey’s curricular dialectic, and Naidoo’s conceptualisation of integrative theological education, the article highlights the necessity of framing theology as praxis rather than abstract speculation. It critiques Eurocentric models such as Hiestand and Wilson’s pastor-theologian typology for their limited applicability in African contexts and advances “mission from the margins” as a decolonial pedagogical stance that centres the lived struggles, wisdom, and aspirations of African communities. The article envisions theological education as a transformative, integrative enterprise.
Journal Article
A conceptual framework for the neurobiological study of resilience
The well-replicated observation that many people maintain mental health despite exposure to severe psychological or physical adversity has ignited interest in the mechanisms that protect against stress-related mental illness. Focusing on resilience rather than pathophysiology in many ways represents a paradigm shift in clinical-psychological and psychiatric research that has great potential for the development of new prevention and treatment strategies. More recently, research into resilience also arrived in the neurobiological community, posing nontrivial questions about ecological validity and translatability. Drawing on concepts and findings from transdiagnostic psychiatry, emotion research, and behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, we propose a unified theoretical framework for the neuroscientific study of general resilience mechanisms. The framework is applicable to both animal and human research and supports the design and interpretation of translational studies. The theory emphasizes the causal role of stimulus appraisal (evaluation) processes in the generation of emotional responses, including responses to potential stressors. On this basis, it posits that a positive (non-negative) appraisal style is the key mechanism that protects against the detrimental effects of stress and mediates the effects of other known resilience factors. Appraisal style is shaped by three classes of cognitive processes – positive situation classification, reappraisal, and interference inhibition – that can be investigated at the neural level. Prospects for the future development of resilience research are discussed.
Journal Article
CARE OF SOULS AND THE LOGIC OF TRENT AS A PASTORAL COUNCIL
The Council of Trent (1545-1563) is often depicted as being primarily concerned with the promulgations and reaffirmations of traditional doctrines. It is equally perceived to have churned out dogmas and the enunciations of anathemas on those whose Christian beliefs and practices were considered deviations from orthodox teachings and practices of the faith. This article is a departure from such straitjacketing about Trent. Its overall objective is to shed light on Trent as predominantly a pastoral council.
Journal Article
Judge Deborah and Pastor/Teacher Priscilla: Templates for Contemporary Biblical Women’s Leadership
Based on the examples of Judge Deborah from the Old Testament and Pastor/Teacher Priscilla from the New Testament, this paper contends that women have a biblical responsibility to lead in any vocation for which God has called and anointed them, and the Christian church has a biblical responsibility to accept and encourage them. Women leaders offer valuable leadership qualities, as illustrated by Deborah, the prophetic judicial/governmental/military leader of a nation, and Priscilla, the theologian, educator, missionary, and pastor in the nascent church. This paper further argues that leadership structures are not complete or fully effective without feminine inclusion and participation. The church and the world have historically deprived themselves of rich resources by curtailing women’s leadership roles. The need for rediscovering and recovering women’s leadership gifts and styles has never been more urgent or appropriate in the current cultural atmosphere requiring an emphasis on collaboration and cooperation (relationality), emotional intelligence that seeks transformation rather than transaction, and servant leadership, as manifested in Deborah and Priscilla as leaders. The church would be wise to embrace the Deborahs and Priscillas, as well as other types of women leaders whomGod has placed in her midst, thus creating strong, responsive, and nurturing communities that reflect Jesus to the world.
Journal Article
The Role of the Church in Postcolonial African Burial Rituals in Collins Chabane Municipality: A Pastoral Perspective
Death is a painful reality that strikes and affects all human beings. Death knows no boundaries, race, age, gender, belief system or status. It affects the family; the social, political and economic networks of the deceased and the community at large. Death comes with different challenges that require coping mechanisms. While Africans from all walks of life use different approaches to help the bereaved deal with death and loss, the church has become the biggest role player in attending to this crisis. Although the church is a latecomer in the lives of African people in general, for the people of Collins Chabane Municipality in particular, it is given priority when death strikes. This article seeks to articulate how the church has become central to the death and burial rituals in that municipality. To that end, the researcher conducted a review of data collected through individual and focus group interviews carried out with traditional community leaders (local chiefs) in the municipality on the theme: The erosion of postcolonial African funeral traditions in rural South Africa (Limpopo).
Journal Article
Synthesis, Characterization, and Preliminary In Vitro Anticancer Activity of Zinc Complexes Containing Amino Acid-Derived Imidazolium-Based Dicarboxylate Ligands
Coordination polymers containing zinc and imidazolium-based dicarboxylate ligands, [LR]−, were synthesized by reacting zinc acetate with HLR compounds, 1. The resulting complexes were characterized and structurally identified using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, revealing polymeric structures for the complexes [Zn(LR)2]n (R = Gly, 2a; βAla, 2b) and [Zn(LLeu)2(H2O)2]n (2c). In these structures, the [LR]− ligands adopt a bridging monodentate μ-κ1-O1,κ1-O3 coordination mode, resulting in distorted tetrahedral (2a, 2b) or octahedral (2c) geometries around the zinc center. When the synthesis was carried out in the presence of amino acids, mixed ligand complexes [Zn(LR)(aa)(H2O)]n (R = aa = Val, 2d, and R = aa = Ile, 2e) were formed. Complexes 2d–2e were also structurally characterized using single-crystal X-ray crystallography, revealing that the ligand [LR]− maintained the same coordination mode, while the zinc center adopted a five-coordinated geometry. The cytotoxic activity of complexes 2a–2e was evaluated against three cancer cell lines and one non-cancerous cell line. Remarkably, these complexes exhibited higher toxicity against cancer cells than against the non-cancerous cell line, and they showed greater selectivity than carboplatin, a commonly used chemotherapy drug. Although, in general, these complexes did not surpass the selectivity of gemcitabine, complex 2c stood out for exhibiting a selectivity index value similar to that of gemcitabine against melanoma cells. Among the series, compounds 2a–2c demonstrated the highest activity, with 2a being the only complex with some selective activity against lung cancer. Complex 2b was the most active, though with low selectivity, while complex 2c exhibited the highest selectivity for melanoma and bladder cancer (selectivity index of 3.0).
Journal Article
Rev. Dr. Muriel M. Spurgeon Carder (1922–2023): A Canadian Baptist Renaissance Woman
“Renaissance Woman” is a colloquial expression for someone who excels above and beyond normal in a wide variety of tasks, and Rev. Dr. Muriel Spurgeon Carder (1922–2023) deserves that title, for she was an ordained Canadian Baptist missionary who worked in churches, schools, and hospitals in India and Canada, as well as served as a professor, New Testament scholar, Bible translator (into Telegu), and hospital chaplain. She also published academic articles on textual issues related to New Testament manuscripts, on a biblical theology of sin, as well as on issues surrounding physical and mental challenges. Her personal accomplishments are striking among Baptists in India but also her Canadian denomination, the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec (BCOQ). Carder recently passed away at the age of 100, and this research is an introduction to her life and legacy. There is much more to be explored regarding Carder, and my hope is that this brief article provides some impetus for more detailed and comprehensive research on such an iconic figure in the BCOQ. That said, this article does more than merely provide a summary of her life and legacy. It also aims at using the experience of Carder to explore some common assumptions about Canadian women in ministry, identifying when she reinforces some and undermines others. In other words, the example of Carder complexifies what can be assumed about the experience of women in the church and warns against universal generalizations surrounding their experience. In 2008, the denomination changed its name to Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ), and for the sake of simplicity and clarity, CBOQ will be used throughout this article.
Journal Article
Factors associated with psychological distress of workers in the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church
Background
The work of church employees contains many elements causing symptoms of stress and anxiety. They can lead into psychological distress and possibly indicate the beginning of a more serious psychological state. Women seem to be more disposed to psychological stress than men. We investigated factors contributing to psychological distress among women and men in four professions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF).
Methods
A link to an electronic survey was sent to the members of respective trade unions of four professions of the ELCF, and we got responses from pastors (
n
= 241), church musicians (
n
= 92), diaconal workers (
n
= 85) and youth workers (
n
= 56). Psychological distress was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5; cut-off value ≤ 52 indicating severe distress). We used logistic regression to examine sociodemographic, health-related, and work-related factors that could potentially be associated with psychological distress.
Results
We found severe psychological distress in all profession groups. Gender differences were scarce. Loneliness was the most important factor associated with psychological distress in both men and women (OR 14.01; 95% CI 2.68–73.25 and OR 7.84; 3.44–17.88, respectively), and among pastors and church musicians (OR 8.10; 2.83–23.16 and OR 24.36; 2.78–213.72, respectively). High mental strain of work was associated with distress in women (OR 2.45; 1.01–5.97). Good work satisfaction was a protective factor for men and women (OR 0.06; 95% CI 0.01–0.40 and OR 0.61; 0.18–0.40, respectively) and for pastors and church musicians (OR 0.22; 0.08–0.73 and OR 0.06; 0.01–0.43, respectively). For women, additional protective factors were being a pastor (OR 0.26; 0.07–0.95), or youth worker (OR 0.08; 0.01–0.48), and good self-reported health (OR 0.38; 0.18–0.82).
Conclusion
Even though we found some protective factors, the share of workers with severe distress was higher in all profession groups of the ELCF than in the general population. Loneliness was the strongest stressor among both genders and high mental strain among women. The result may reflect unconscious mental strain or subordination to the prevailing working conditions. More attention should be paid to the mental wellbeing and work conditions of church employees.
Journal Article