THE CHRISTIAN DEBATE ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND TAYLOR’S IMMANENT AND TRANSCENDENT GOODS: LESSONS FROM ADVENTIST APPROACHES

Arguments made for and against affirming same-sex marriage in Christian communities rely on typical moral background preconceptions about immanent and transcendent goods identified by Charles Taylor in A Secular Age. Arguments made only in terms of marriage’s immanent goods have the potential to diminish the plausibility of a uniquely Adventist way of imagining the transcendent good: apocalyptic consciousness focused on the imminent-immanent restoration of Eden by Jesus Christ following the second coming. Comparing marriage to divergent sets of Sabbath-keeping practices—those that provide benefits exclusive to this world and those that aim at goods beyond this world—foregrounds the availability of a moral background for Seventh-day Adventist ethics that is closed to transcendent goods. However, practices that entail giving up immanent goods for the transcendent good of Eden-restored can be authentically sustained through communal recognition. Adventism should develop such practices of recognition both to alleviate losses incurred by gay, lesbian, and bisexual Adventists who make sacrifices for traditional marriage as a transcendent good and to reinforce the fuller sense of meaning found in self-denial for the sake of the soon-coming Savior

The common good of the company and the theory of organization

The concept of common good occupies a prominent place in political and social philosophy, yet it has had little impact on the theory of the firm. This is despite some recent attempts to resituate the theory of the firm on broader and therefore more fruitful anthropological and social foundations than those of traditional economic theory. The present study connects with other discussions of organization theory based on the ideas of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas and is an attempt to explain how the concept of common good may be used to broaden the foundations of organization theory.Catholic social teaching; Common good; Company; Goods; Organization; Organization theory;

Receptivity to Mystery: Cultivation, Loss, and Scientism

The cultivation of receptivity to the mystery of reality is a central feature of many religious and philosophical traditions, both Western and Asian. This paper considers two contemporary accounts of receptivity to mystery – those of David E. Cooper and John Cottingham – and considers them in light of the problem of loss of receptivity. I argue that a person may lose their receptivity to mystery by embracing what I call a scientistic stance, and the paper concludes by offering two possible responses to combating that stance and restoring the receptivity to mystery that it occludes

Book Review: The Ethics of Attention in an Age of Distraction: Why You Need to Get Out of Your Own Head

The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction by Matthew Crawford. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 2015. Most of us think of distraction as a mere annoyance— a mild humming in the background while you work, a fly landing on your book while you read. We do not usually think of it carrying the weight of a serious moral problem. In his new book, The World Beyond Your Head, Matthew Crawford argues that our inability to pay attention does carry such moral weight, and he argues this precisely because it dissolves our individuality and our freedom

Book Review: Transcendent in America: Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion

A review of Transcendent in America: Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion by Lola Williamson

Bowling Together: Congregations and the American Civic Order

Arizona State University Annual Religion Lecture: 199

Shadows along the spiritual pathway

Contemporary spirituality discourses tend to assume that a canopy of light and love overarches all spiritual pathways. Unfortunately, the dark side of humanity cannot be spirited away so easily, and aberrations of personal spiritual development, interpersonal spiritual relationships and new spiritual movements can often be traced to the denial, repression and return of our dark side. Transpersonal psychology offers a way of approaching, reframing and redeeming the unconscious depths of our psyche, with its metaphors of shadows and daimons on the one hand, and its therapeutic practices for symbolically containing and transcending polarities on the other. In its absence, any spirituality which eulogises holistic growth is likely to engender the reverse effect

Millennial cultural consumers : Co-creating value through brand communities

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise millennial cultural consumers (MCCs) to bring together strands of consumer theory with branding theory to consider how to attract and retain younger audiences in arts organisations. With that the authors single out for attention how 'brand community' theory might apply.This paper contributes to the knowledge development of such concepts as value and brand communities. It also provides an explanation of these concepts connecting academic thought on value with pressing management challenges for arts organisations, suggesting ways to apply brand community thinking to innovatively conceptualised MCCs.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio