Relevance Theory as an approach to interpreting the Bible for children: The Lucan version of the Lord�s Prayer as a test case

<p>Recent research has demonstrated that children are sensitive to the underlying causal structureof the world and seek to form new causal representations at a much earlier age than hadpreviously been supposed. Modern scientific understanding of the evolution of life conflictswith the biblical representation of earth as the centre of the world, and of human beings as theimago Dei. Consequently, young children frequently experience cognitive dissonance whenexposed to biblical texts. Two previous pilot studies utilising specifically designed illustratedbooklets demonstrated that children respond more readily to a text that is relevant to their owncultural context. This article tests the possibility of presenting a universally relevant biblicaltext (Lk 11:2b�4) to young children in a form that does not conflict with modern science andtakes aspects of recent research on child psychology into account.</p><p><strong>Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications:</strong> In our postmodern culturalcontext children tend to experience cognitive dissonance when exposed to biblical texts,and consequently lose interest. This article proposes that by presenting the biblical contentin accordance with Relevance Theory, and in coherence with recent scientific explanatorytheories, the interest of the children may be sustained.</p

A semantic comparison of the conclusion of LXX Tobit and Semitic 4QTobit

At the beginning of the 20th century, the shorter Greek version of the book of Tobit, GI, which is included in the Catholic Bible, was thought to be the oldest version. It was defined as ‘a lesson on almsgiving and its redeeming powers’. As the discoveries of the Semitic copies of Tobit at Qumran, GI is recognised to be a reworking of the longer version GII, most probably originally written in Aramaic, between 225 and 175 BCE. In all versions of Tobit, the theme of almsgiving is introduced as specifically directed to Jewish kinsmen, but towards the end, is to be directed to all poor, suggesting that it may have been written by a Hellenistic Jew. Although the surface context of the narrative of Tobit is the Jewish tradition of proper observation of mitzvot and sacrifice and eventual reward, the various versions contain varying degrees of ancient Near Eastern wisdom, and an ironic, subversive reflection of hypocritical righteousness. This article questioned why the endings differ markedly in different versions. To try to find answers, a semantic comparison was made between GI and the most complete Aramaic version 4Q196. Contribution:&nbsp;This article considered the implications of source criticism in the reception of the various versions of Tobit. The possibility was examined that the pre-Christian, Aramaic version 4Q196Tobit does not confirm the excessive focus on almsgiving as righteousness apparent in the GI version of LXX Tobit

From swamps to swamping: The usage and perceptions of swamps by African-Americans in Antebellum and Postbellum Arkansas and Louisiana

This project is a landscape study that examines how different members of the antebellum and postbellum community in Arkansas and Louisiana perceived and used the swamplands, and how this changed over time. This project suggests that the swamps played an absolutely crucial role for individual slaves and free blacks both before and after the Civil War. Unlike Europeans and the white community who viewed the swamps as static, physical spaces on the plantation without value, African-Americans viewed them as fluid places filled with value. Religious practices were often performed near swamps, and even so-called aberrant religions practices, like voodoo, happened in the swamps. Slaves and free African-Americans contributed to a small slave-based economy by trading and selling items from the swamps, such as moss, hides, and nuts. After the Civil War, freed African-Americans garnered more economic stability by buying swamplands and exploiting their rich, fertile nature and planting crops. The swamps offered slaves spaces to perform small, everyday acts of resistance, which did not completely undermine planter control, but helped to did help to contribute to an African American culture and enabled them to enrich their everyday lives, despite their status as enslaved

Herbal Wisdom: memory and migration

Within contemporary Western herbal medicine, traditional knowledge and modern science are combined to provide a unique meeting of patient, practitioner and plant. In the Australian context, herbalists have based their practice on knowledge which originates from the traditions of Europe, and has more recently been influenced by traditional medicine from Asia. The combination of these diverse ways of knowing—traditional and modern, Eastern and Western—means herbal practitioners are influenced by ancient philosophy alongside phytochemistry and biomedical sciences. The challenge for herbal medicine today is that faced by all living (as opposed to ossified) traditions: how is a practice forged which retains what is valuable from the past while establishing relevance to the 21st century? We illustrate these issues in the context of the conference theme of ‘food for thought’ and consider medicinal plants which are used for the improvement of cognition. We focus on the therapeutic use of common herbs from the Eastern and Western traditions and present the scientific research which shows their ability to facilitate cognitive function and the laying down of memory. We also tell their traditional stories which indicate that these actions have been recognised and utilised for centuries. We go on to demonstrate, via case studies, the clinical application of this knowledge and in particular the importance of ancient practice of synergistic prescribing which occurs when a number of herbs are prescribed together in a formula. Scientific understanding of the basis of this practice is being developed which further complements and validates traditional herbal wisdom

Almsgiving as a rhetorical device in 4QTobit?

This article is a sequel to an earlier exploration of the possibility of a shift in the Book of Tobit from the Deuteronomistic theological perspective in the beginning to a more nuanced concept of theodicy in the end. The Semitic versions of Tobit found at Qumran are regarded as the earliest witnesses to the story of Tobit, dating from ca. 100 BCE to the early part of the 1st century CE. They are very fragmentary, but the theme of almsgiving recurs at regular intervals in the narrative. In the beginning the Deuteronomistic theological perspective is expressed in terms of Tobit’s belief that God will reward with prosperity those who give alms to their own kinsmen, but towards the end the ideology appears to shift from the rather self-centred ‘prosperity cult’ orientation to a different motivation for almsgiving. The aim of this article is to test the possibility that the almsgiving references are rhetorical hinges that mark the movement of the narrative into a different ideological viewpoint. The complexity of the manuscript transmission of the story of Tobit in the larger matrix of diachronic cultural and religious trends in the ancient Near East is kept in mind when text-critical problems are encountered

Exploring the relationship between pre service school counselor\u27s academic training and reported levels of multicultural competence as predictors of attitudes toward inclusion

The principal aim of this study was to explore the relationships between preservice school counselors\u27 academic training and their self-reported levels of multicultural competence as predictors of attitudes toward inclusion. Variances in demographic data also were examined as predictors of attitudes regarding inclusion. A nonexperimental, correlational research design was used. Pearson product moment correlations were used to test the relationships between preservice school counselors\u27 level of academic training and their attitudes toward inclusions. No statistically significant correlations were obtained on these analyses, indicating that academic training does not predict attitudes toward inclusion. . Pearson product moment correlations were used to test the relationships between preservice school counselors\u27 perceived level of multicultural competence and their attitudes toward inclusions. The results of these analyses were not statistically significant, Preservice school counselors self-reported level of multicultural competence could not be used to predict their attitudes toward inclusion. Selected demographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity, having a disability, having a family member with a disability, higher degree, counseling major, type of credential or endorsement, and consider students with disabilities as a distinct culture) were used as the independent variables in these analyses. None of the independent variables entered the stepwise multiple linear regression equations, indicating they were not statistically significant predictors of the four subscales (physical, academic, behavioral, social) or the total score for attitudes toward inclusion. In addition to the research questions, Pearson product moment correlations were used to determine the strength and direction of the relationships between practical experiences with students with disabilities and their attitudes toward inclusion and multicultural competencies. Three statistically significant correlations were obtained on these analyses. Students who reported they felt better prepared to provide services to students with disabilities were more likely to have higher scores for the academic subscale measuring attitudes toward inclusion. In addition, the knowledge subscale on multicultural competence was significantly related to having a greater number of practical experiences with students with disabilities and practical experiences with students from diverse cultures. The remaining correlations were not statistically significant. Recommendations for future research were offered

How best to mobilise social support to improve children and young people’s loneliness

Social support is a well-recognised protective factor for children’s mental health. Whilst many interventions exist that seek to mobilise social support to improve children’s mental health, not much is known about how to best do this. Annette Bauer, Madeleine Stevens, Martin Knapp, and Sara Evans-Lacko report key findings of a systematic review of the literature on approaches for preventing and reducing mental health problems among children and young adults

Impact of childhood health and household experiences on educational attainment: Analysis using administrative data

Inequalities in health and educational attainment continue to be observed in UK school children. The aim of this thesis was to address gaps in our knowledge about health and social factors that may impact on education in childhood. This thesis investigated the effects of unplanned hospital admissions, severity of a chronic condition (asthma) and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on children’s educational attainment. A total population birth cohort of children born 1998-2005 in Wales was record-linked to administrative health and education data. Over 40,000 children were analysed using multilevel logistic regression and time-to-event analyses allowing adjustment for multiple socio-demographic, birth, neighbourhood, pupil mobility and school-level factors. This thesis found emergency inpatient hospital admission during childhood was associated with an increased risk for lower education attainment at Key Stage 1 (KS1; age 6-7 years), particularly in the pre-school period or for injuries or external causes. Children with an asthma (or wheeze) hospital admission rather than chronic asthma severity (or wheeze; using primary care prescriptions data) experienced increased risk of not attaining KS1. In addition, primary care consultations for lower respiratory tract infection were an independent predictor for children’s education failure. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were also associated with increased risk for not attaining KS1 and Key Stage 2 (age 10-11 years): living with household members with common mental disorder or an alcohol problem, childhood victimisation, death of a household member and low family income. These effects were substantially greater for children with multiple ACEs. Further, ACEs increased the risk for recurrent emergency hospital admission for asthma or all-causes in children. A first asthma or all-cause admission in childhood was not an important mediator between ACEs and KS1. This thesis provides new evidence about these risk factors on educational attainment, where intervention could help children achieve their academic potential