The Way of Salvation and the Methodist Ethos Beyond John Wesley: A Study in Formal Consensus and Popular Reception

It has been well documented that the way of salvation was central to John Wesley\u27s thought. But how did Methodists in the nineteenth century express a theology and spirituality of the way of salvation? This article examines formal doctrinal materials from Methodist churches (including catechisms, doctrinal statements, and hymnals) and the testimonies of Methodist men and women to discern how teachings about the way of salvation were transmitted after the time of John and Charles Wesley. Based on these doctrinal works and personal testimonies, the article shows a consistent pattern in Methodist teaching and experience involving a) conviction of sin, b) conversion, c) struggles of the soul following conversion, and then d) entire sanctification

Perspectives of Pedagogical Change within a Broadcast STEM Course

As calls for pedagogical transformation of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction intensify, the pace of change remains slow. The literature shows that research-based instructional strategies transfer only sporadically into STEM instructional practice. Difficulties associated with implementation and sustainment of instructional change may appear daunting— if not insurmountable—to many STEM change agents and teaching faculty. Subsequently, the path towards systematic and lasting pedagogical transformation in post-secondary STEM stands largely uncharted. To understand how challenges faced by STEM educators engaged in pedagogical change may be overcome, this paper uses qualitative inquiry to explore an emergent process of teacher change. The change process took place during implementation of an online innovation within an undergraduate engineering calculus course taught via synchronous broadcast at a mid-size, Western, public university. The instructional innovation required first year calculus students to participate in an asynchronous, online discussion forum for graded credit. Data, consisting of written reflections and transcribed interviews, were gathered from three STEM faculty members who each played a different role in the change process: a mathematics instructor implementing the online forum within his course; an engineering faculty peer-mentor assisting with the implementation of the online forum; and a STEM education faculty member evaluating the implementation and observing the process of change. Situated within the interpretive research paradigm, this study uses exploratory thematic analysis of narrative data to understand the ways in which contextual factors may influence pedagogical change

The Communication Patterns Questionnaire-Short Form: A Review and Assessment

The Communication Patterns Questionnaire-Short Form (CPQ-SF) is an 11-item self-assessment of spouses’ perceptions of marital interactions. A cited reference review of the CPQ-SF literature revealed no formal assessment of its psychometric properties and that researchers are imprecise in their use, reporting, and referencing of the assessment. Toward improving the use of the CPQ-SF in research and practice, the factor structure and psychometric properties of this scale were examined with data collected from a diverse sample of married individuals. Three latent constructs were identified: criticize/defend, discuss/avoid, and positive interaction patterns. Support for the original two-factor structure, demand/withdrawal and positive interaction, was also found. Suggestions for a more precise use of the CPQ-SF in research and practice conclude the paper

Should We Stay or Should We Go: The Shale Revolution and American Involvement in the Middle East

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once railed against the United States’ addiction to foreign oil: “We have to do something about the energy problem. I can tell you that nothing has really taken me aback more… than the way that the politics of energy is… ‘warping’ diplomacy around the world.” Such statements are nothing new. Indeed, every president since Richard Nixon has labeled America’s overreliance on foreign oil as a strategic liability and promised to put America on the path towards energy independence. Unfortunately, the history of presidential energy security policy is riddled with failure. Despite several presidential initiatives, American imports of crude oil rose steadily from 1.93 billion barrels in 1970 to a peak of 3.69 billion in 2005.2 A 2011 CBS News story summarized the trend with the damning headline: “Fuelish Dreams: Every President Tries to Break U.S. Oil Addiction; Every President Fails.” Today, however, the headlines read differently. The United States is in the midst of a “Shale Revolution” in which domestic sources of shale oil and natural gas are rapidly transforming the nation’s energy outlook. Soaring U.S. shale oil and gas production is sharply curbing U.S.’s net energy exports to the point that America will be a net energy exporter by 2050. Suddenly, the U.S.’s energy security seems to be on rather sound footing

Should We Stay or Should We Go: The Shale Revolution and American Involvement in the Middle East

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once railed against the United States’ addiction to foreign oil: “We have to do something about the energy problem. I can tell you that nothing has really taken me aback more… than the way that the politics of energy is… ‘warping’ diplomacy around the world.” Such statements are nothing new. Indeed, every president since Richard Nixon has labeled America’s overreliance on foreign oil as a strategic liability and promised to put America on the path towards energy independence. Unfortunately, the history of presidential energy security policy is riddled with failure. Despite several presidential initiatives, American imports of crude oil rose steadily from 1.93 billion barrels in 1970 to a peak of 3.69 billion in 2005.2 A 2011 CBS News story summarized the trend with the damning headline: “Fuelish Dreams: Every President Tries to Break U.S. Oil Addiction; Every President Fails.” Today, however, the headlines read differently. The United States is in the midst of a “Shale Revolution” in which domestic sources of shale oil and natural gas are rapidly transforming the nation’s energy outlook. Soaring U.S. shale oil and gas production is sharply curbing U.S.’s net energy exports to the point that America will be a net energy exporter by 2050. Suddenly, the U.S.’s energy security seems to be on rather sound footing