Holy Things: Foundations for Liturgical Theology

(Excerpt) Christian corporate worship has biblical foundations. This is so, of course, in the most obvious ways: at the heart of the meeting the book called the Bible is read and then interpreted as having to do with us. Sometimes, as ceremonial preface to that reading, the book is carried about, even enthroned. Furthermore, the text of the Bible provides the source of the imagery and, often, the very form and quality of the language in prayers, chants, hymn texts, and sermons. Psalms are sung as if that ancient collection were for our singing. Snatches of old biblical letters are scattered throughout the service, as if we were addressed. Frequently images and texts drawn from the Bible adorn the room which provides a place for the meeting. The very actions of the gathering may seem like the Bible alive: an assembly gathers, as the people gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai; arms are upraised in prayer or blessing, as Moses raised his arms; the holy books are read, as Ezra read to the listening people; the people hold a meal, as the disciples did gathered together after the death of Jesus. To come into the meeting seems like coming into a world determined by the language of the Bible

Perceptions of Violence against Women among College Students in the United States, Japan, India, Vietnam and China

Violence against women is a global health issue that threatens the health and human rights of women. Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence are the most common forms of violence against women. While previous studies examined incidence of IPV and other forms of violence against women in the United States (US), little is known about variations in the perceptions of violence against women among college students in other countries. This study explored differences in perceptions of violence against women among college students in the US, Japan, India, Vietnam and China. A total of 1,136 college students from these countries participated in a self-administered survey in 2012-2013. The students’ perceptions about the prevalence of domestic violence is in their country varied across countries. Furthermore, more than half of the students across the countries perceived alcoholism and drug addiction to be causes of domestic violence against women. It was also found that the levels of knowledge about laws on domestic violence in their country varied among the students. These findings show the importance of understanding country level variations that may affect violence against women. The results of this study provide important insights by documenting cross country variations in students’ perceptions about violence against women that can provide helpful inputs in framing country-specific programs and policies to prevent violence against women. Keywords: Violence against women, perceptions, college students, the United States, Japan, India, Vietnam, Chin

Bringing the Global to the Local: Using Participatory Research to Address Sexual Violence with Immigrant Communities in NYC

This report reveals, in their own voices, the experiences New York City immigrant women have with sexual violence and their thoughts on ending this victimization. Many of the women who participated in this pilot study talked about the situations they faced and the barriers they experienced in seeking help for sexual violence. Systematic changes are impossible without active community involvement. Our research seeks innovative partnerships with New York City communities, both to prevent violence before it happens and to intervene when it occurs. This report highlights the scope of sexual violence as experienced by immigrant women, the barriers that immigrant women face when seeking help, and the issues involved in preventing such violence in their communities

Issues in father-daughter incest intervention in Taiwan

This thesis centres on the perceptions of social work professionals involved in incest intervention in Taiwan. It is based on 39 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with respondents from three categories: social workers, social work supervisors and counsellors/therapists, from different regions of Taiwan, working in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Centres. The gender distribution of the interviewees, 35 women and 4 men, reflects the numerical dominance of women in social work.This study shows that the majority of the respondents were assigned child protection work without consultation, reflecting the hierarchical decision-making process in Taiwanese social work, overriding staff autonomy, personal preferences and training background. Child protection work creates high pressure and necessitates joint decision making involving all related disciplines. Almost every worker interviewed felt a high level of stress and a need for support in dealing with incest/child sexual cases, perhaps due to insufficient knowledge and inadequate training. The shorter the time frame they face, the more mistakes they may make. I utilized two theoretical viewpoints, including family systems theory associated with pathological behaviours and feminist theory, to elucidate how interactions between gender and power contribute to gender inequality in intervention outcomes.My findings suggest that the current child protection procedure in Taiwan raises significant concerns. These include time-constraints in intervention and psychotherapy, the sequencing of the procedure, and lack of gender-awareness. It seems the hierarchical organisational structure directly and indirectly encourages social workers to be overreliant on their supervisors in decision-making. The relationship between the supervisor and supervisee is often inadequate, leading to many supervisees feeling undermined and discouraged from growing personally in confidence. My study found that no one particular intervention fits all cases and the therapeutic approach chosen will depend on the circumstances of the case, based on the therapist's training background, individual personality variations and experience. However, practitioners identified 'sensitivity: 'accompaniment' and 'empowerment' as effective and important. Radical changes in attitude, an incorporation of a feminist approach, a gender understanding work culture and a clear resolve to make positive changes in the fields of education, practice and reforms in legal and hierarchical structures may resolve some of thedifficulties the present system of social work practice in incest faces

Christianity, masculinity and gender violence in Papua New Guinea

"In this paper, I consider some of the alternative ways of being a man that have emerged in Papua New Guinea. Specifically, I discuss the ways that some forms of Christianity are promoting more caring, responsible and non-violent forms of masculinity in Papua New Guinea. Considering Christianity’s huge influence there, together with the need to ground interventions in the local context, a good understanding of the nature of Papua New Guinean forms of Christianity, and how they impact on gender, is necessary for designing effective primary prevention initiatives. Though my focus here is on the specific case of Papua New Guinea, which I know best, many of my observations are almost certainly applicable to other countries in Melanesia and the wider Pacific, where Christianity is also highly influential..." - page 3AusAI

Daughter Zion's trauma: reading Lamentations with insights from trauma studies

Awareness of trauma’s potential effects sheds light on many of the book of Lamentations’ complexities and suggests new interpretive possibilities. Growing numbers of scholars have analyzed intersections between biblical scholarship and trauma studies; and trauma-oriented readings of biblical texts yield fruitful, often provocative, insights. Because their reading strategies are not without pitfalls, including a tendency to ignore historical questions, trauma readings can be enriched by more nuanced applications, including attention to history. This study argues that social, political, cultural, and religious contexts are key for understanding how individuals and collectivities construe, respond to, work through, and create trauma. Three characteristic features of traumatic experiences make this concept useful for a critical reading of Lamentations: 1) survivors’ testimonies often convey a history that is not straightforwardly referential; 2) trauma causes rupture in life; and 3) the trauma process includes rhetorical dimensions; individuals and communities work through and construct trauma in different ways in order to reconstitute themselves and ensure their survival in the aftermath of extreme violence. Following an overview of trauma studies and its application to biblical studies, this study outlines the traumatic matrix of Lamentations. Structural analysis of the Book demonstrates and mirrors the debilitating realities of caesura in life often associated with experiences of trauma. The concept of non-referential history functions as a heuristic lens through which to view the “historical” significance of the Book’s tropic and stereotypical uses of language. Utilizing insights from study of the rhetorical dimensions of the trauma process in cultural trauma, this study asserts that Lamentations strategically adapts certain religious traditions to ensure the survival of those whose voices it echoes. Lamentations' contents and structure highlight the sheer enormity of Daughter Zion’s trauma, which overshadows and undermines acknowledgements of her culpability. Further, protest, ambiguity and ambivalent hope form the foundation for resilience and survival in the Book. One of this study’s major implications is that trauma-oriented readings of biblical literature that utilize an historically-informed, synchronic approach enable biblical scholars to pursue the interpretive possibilities of trauma studies without bracketing historical questions

Gender Violence & Human Rights: Seeking Justice in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu

The postcolonial states of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu operate today in a global arena in which human rights are widely accepted. As ratifiers of UN treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, these Pacific Island countries have committed to promoting women’s and girls’ rights, including the right to a life free of violence. Yet local, national and regional gender values are not always consistent with the principles of gender equality and women’s rights that undergird these globalising conventions. This volume critically interrogates the relation between gender violence and human rights as these three countries and their communities and citizens engage with, appropriate, modify and at times resist human rights principles and their implications for gender violence. Grounded in extensive anthropological, historical and legal research, the volume should prove a crucial resource for the many scholars, policymakers and activists who are concerned about the urgent and ubiquitous problem of gender violence in the western Pacific

Kate 2007 Spring

Each year, kate seeks to: explore ideas about normative gender, sex, and sexuality work against oppression and hierarchies of power in any and all forms serve as a voice for race and gender equity as well as queer positivity encourage the silent to speak and feel less afraid build a zine and community that we care about and trusthttps://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/kate/1006/thumbnail.jp