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The authors address the questions of whether and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) relates to firm performance and, in so doing, identify four mechanisms pertaining to this relationship: (1 ) slack resources lead to CSR (i. e., slack resources mechanism) (2) CSR improves performance (i. e., good management mechanism), (3) CSR makes amends for past corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) (i.e., penance mechanism), and (4) CSR insures against subsequent CSI (i.e., insurance mechanism). Using an integrative approach, the authors incorporate the four mechanisms in their empirical model specification. Specifically, to model the interplay among CSR, CSI, and firm performance and to test the four mechanisms simultaneously, they propose a structural panel vector autoregression specification. In support of the good management mechanism, results from an unbalanced panel data set of more than 4,500 firms and up to 19 years suggest that firms that engage in CSR are likely to benefit financially from their CSR investments. Moreover, the authors do not find support for the slack resources or the insurance mechanism. In contrast, and in support of the penance mechanism, often firms' CSR seems to trail their CSI. However, the results also suggest that the penance mechanism is ineffective in offsetting negative performance effects due to CSI.

EDITOR'S NOTE MY TAKE A recently pardoned Arkansas politician has a role model in Steve Clark. The story of Steve Clark is a beautiful lesson about human nature and a great demonstration of something I wrote here a few weeks ago about another young Arkansas politician who found himself in trouble with the law - man has the capacity to change. Compare this to the politician I mentioned earlier who was recently released from federal prison thanks to a presidential pardon.

The political circumstances surrounding Queen Christina of Sweden’s abdication and her conversion to the Catholic faith in 1654 and 1655 largely dictated the artistic and cultural projects enacted for the celebration of her conversion and arrival in Rome in 1655. This article examines particular strategies in portraying the Queen’s reception in Rome and her conversion within the allegorical plot of the opera La vita humana (written by Giulio Rospigliosi and Marco Marazzoli), performed in 1656 in Rome in the Queen’s honor, and offers a new interpretation of the allegory and possible parallels to her visit. In this sense, the opera’s character Intendimento can be seen as a possible personification of the Jesuit discourse responsible for her conversion.

The penitence congruity effect observed in adults suggests that people may assess wrongdoers more leniently when they exhibit guilt and deontological beliefs. It means that judgments about one’s morality are influenced not only by their actions but also by their expressed moral emotions and beliefs. To determine whether children also exhibit this effect, we studied N  = 250 children aged 10 and 11. We presented them with six vignettes: four depicting morally questionable actions (cheating on an exam, lying about homework, fighting with another student, stealing money found in a school hallway) and two displaying socially undesirable behaviors (attending school in pajamas, being late to school). Children also received information about the wrongdoer’s emotions (presence or absence of guilt) and beliefs (deontological stance or its absence) or were provided with no additional information on emotions or beliefs. Participants were then asked to assess a wrongdoer’s morality for each story. Our findings not only confirm the presence of the penitence congruity effect in children but also demonstrate its applicability to non-conventional behaviors. Specifically, when a wrongdoer expresses guilt and acknowledges wrongdoing, children are more lenient in their evaluations than in the control condition when no insights into the wrongdoer’s emotions or beliefs are provided. The results align with the person-centered theory, which posits that individuals assess overall character rather than isolated actions, considering all available information about the person in question. The findings hold potential applications, e.g., in moral education.

In this essay, I analyze the extent to which repetition can be considered creative in the context of penitential poetry, and what the ramifications are of that pairing for our own understandings of that poetry. When sin is inherited and confessions were guided by eminently repeatable formulae, how does penitential poetry come into being for the first time and enter penitential discourse as a “makyng” that is created or made yet already received, already repeated and circulating at the moment of its birth? The carol, I argue, presents a good place to address that question: its idiosyncratic formal components present a site of creativity and repetition between text and audience, a conjunction which anticipates the dynamics of filmic montage as conceived by Sergei Eisenstein. This aspect of the carol also invites us to explore how authority is created and received in the present moment, bereft of the difference from the present moment so often involved in constructing auctoritas. In conversation with Eisenstein, the medieval penitential carol ultimately becomes a site to reconsider how poetic form can simultaneously uphold and dismantle hierarchical relationships between creators and audiences. In so doing, the penitential carol invites us to re-approach our own critical “makyngs,” which effectively channel the work of medieval poetic form from centuries past.

This article examines a single figure from Christian history, the reformed sinner known as Musa of Rome (d.c. 593). Tracing the evolution of Musa from Gregory the Great’s Dialogues to early modern pastoral texts, this study explores processes of condemnation, recalibration, and negotiation regarding dance in premodern Christianity. The first section analyzes medieval portrayals of Musa as expressions of “choreophobia,” a term borrowed from dance studies scholar Anthony Shay that denotes cultural anxiety surrounding dance. Here, I argue that choreophobic renditions of Musa sedimented medieval misogyny and conceptualized sin. The second section turns to late medieval sources that assess dance differently vis-à-vis dance studies scholar André Lepecki’s concept of “choreopolice” or “choreopolicing”. For this study, choreopolicing highlights how ecclesiastical authorities refashioned Musa as a moralizing vehicle to articulate and implement clerical agendas. The third and final section explores Musa’s inspiring aura as a sacred muse. In this vein, her kinesthetic afterlives helped Christian laity apprehend Marian piety, visualize the resurrected body, and communicate hope for redemption. Methodologically, this study embraces the frameworks of religious studies, medieval studies, and dance studies. However fictional and embellished retellings of the Musa story were, this article—the first in-depth scholarly study dedicated to Musa of Rome—demonstrates how the medieval dancing body manifested a site of political contestation, ecclesiastical control, and individual redemption.

Mina hyvitan teille ne vuodet, jolloin sadon soivat sirkat ja niiden toukat, vaeltajasirkat ja kalvajasirkat... Minun kansaani ei enaa koskaan pilkata. Te tulette tietamaan, etta mina olen Israelin keskella ja etta vain mina, Herra, olen teidan Jumalanne, muuta Jumalaa ei ole. Koskaan enaa ei minun kansaani pilkata. Joel 2: 25-27On aika pysytt ne asiat, jotka haluavat pysytt sinut. On Jumalan tahto pysytt jokainen, joka haluaa pilata Hnen suunnitelmansa elmllesi. Ja sinhn jo tiedt, ett Hn suunnittelee elmllesi parhainta iloa, rauhaa, vaurautta, siunausta, hyv terveytt ja ett saat silytt kaiken omaisuutesi. Vaikka joutuisit Hnen tuomitsemakseen, voit pysytt sen tnn ja alkaa uida hnen armossaan. Luemme mys muiden kokemuksista ja nykyisen Israelin sloganista Ei en koskaan . Miksi he ottivat tmn sloganin kyttn, ja miten he ovat valvoneet sen kytt?Totta, Israelista on nykyaikana tullut yksi maailman vahvimpia valtioita (Sill on kytssn paras tiedustelupalvelu - Mossad, ja maailman kolmanneksi vahvin armeija), ei vain siksi, ett Jumala on heidn kanssaan, vaan siksi ett he ovat vannoneet suojelevansa juutalaisia niilt ihmisarvoa loukkaavilta teoilta, kivuilta, suruilta ja kuolemilta, joita he kokivat viime vuosisadalla. Nm kokemukset olivat eponnisia ja ne olisivat olleet estettviss. Nykyn Israel ei ole pelkstn vahva puolustuksessa, vaan mys maantaloudessa, ICT:ss, tieteess ja lketieteess. Kyll, voimme nykynkin sanoa nin, ei en koskaan!Tmn kirjan lukeminen tulee varmasti olemaan kiinnostavaa.

\"Minä hyvitän teille ne vuodet, jolloin sadon söivät sirkat ja niiden toukat, vaeltajasirkat ja kalvajasirkat...Minun kansaani ei enää koskaan pilkata.Te tulette tietämään, että minä olen Israelin keskellä ja että vain minä, Herra, olen teidän Jumalanne, muuta Jumalaa ei ole.  Koskaan enää ei minun kansaani pilkata.   Joel 2: 25-27 On aika.

The Sacrament of Penance and Religious Life in Golden Age Spain explores the practice of sacramental confession in Spain between roughly 1500 and 1700. One of the most significant points of contact between the laity and ecclesiastical hierarchy, confession lay at the heart of attempts to bring religious reformation to bear upon the lives of early modern Spaniards. Rigid episcopal legislation, royal decrees, and a barrage of prescriptive literature lead many scholars to construct the sacrament fundamentally as an instrument of social control foisted upon powerless laypeople. Drawing upon a wide range of early printed and archival materials, this book considers confession as both a top-down and a bottom-up phenomenon. Rather than relying solely upon prescriptive and didactic literature, it considers evidence that describes how the people of early modern Spain experienced confession, offering a rich portrayal of a critical and remarkably popular component of early modern religiosity.