P-05 How Will They Hear If We Do Not Listen?: Theological Method and Engaging the Secular

The poster examines several themes related to theological methodology for contemporary secular society: how to do Christian theology in contemporary western society which is influenced by the effects of modernity, especially in this period considered to be post-modernity. The poster will highlight that it is important for theological methodology to be sensitive and responsive to society’s self-perception, while remaining true to the fundamental principle that the Bible is Christian theology’s first, final and sufficient rule of faith and practice

God, Power, and Gospel in a Postmodern World–A Critique of Griffin’s Postmodern God

The paper is primarily concerned with an exploration of divine power as proffered by David Griffin’s “constructive” model vis-à-vis a biblical Seventh-day Adventist perspective. As part of the process it implies the importance of a wholistic and systematic biblical perspective of God to the understanding and reception of the gospel and broadly suggests a strategy for missions in contemporary society. Of primary importance in this paper is the potential tension as it relates to the issue of the gospel of salvation and an understanding of God’s power: can a God who is less than omnipotent save? Conversely, does a God who consistently exercises unilateral power actually save

Toward Engaging the Secular: Charles Taylor\u27s Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, and Theological Method

Increasing secularization seems to fly in the face of Christian proposals for a Scripture-only principle for theology. The question that this dissertation explores is How will Christian theology tackle the resulting church-society impasse in a way that is both faithful to Scripture and intelligible contemporaneously without appearing to privilege one aspect over the other? That is, What form should theological method take to efficaciously engage the secular? This study suggests that the answer might lie in an innovative fusion of Scripture with borrowed concepts from secular culture. Thus, this dissertation responds to the problem of the need for robust, multidimensional theological methodology that seeks to enhance engagement with secular philosophy and culture. In the wake of cultural shifts and secular dynamics, this dissertation draws from Charles Taylor\u27s articulation of modern social imaginaries and the accompanying theses of secularity. This study shows how, in Taylor\u27s view, secularists have derived their self-understanding and ethos of economic human flourishing by way of continual shifts and interactions in perceptions of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and theology (PAST). From this perspective, the dissertation demonstrates how the secular identity is entangled in economics (οἰκονόμος)—material aspects of human activity (wealth production). Methodologically, utilizing a four-pronged approach, this dissertation examines these important concepts: first, by reading through lenses of selected genealogical dynamics of modern social imaginaries; secondly, via the contours of Charles Taylor\u27s articulation of secularity; thirdly, via scriptural analyses of social imaginaries and human flourishing; and fourthly, by expanding their horizon of meaning by redeploying lessons, implications, and rereadings derived from applying a Spirit-directed Scripture-principle to propose a sketch of a multidimensional model toward secular engagement. The chapters of this dissertation extend secular considerations beyond a social science perspective to the biblical canon allowing the new biblical lens to broaden the term human flourishing from economics to a more wholistic conception and producing new understandings of PAST and οἰκονόμος. Connecting the conversation about secularity, social imaginaries, and human flourishing with ongoing discussions about theological method, and articulating for rereadings, the dissertation concludes by proposing a three-dimensional model—secular, canonical, and stewardship (οἰκονόμος)—that appears as a potentially powerful response toward secular engagement. These tentative findings enhance the study\u27s contributions: interdisciplinary, explicit multidimensionality, explicit application of human flourishing as key to secular engagement, and an explicitly practical aspect in the form of a reoriented theology of stewardship as one\u27s way of living in the world. By focusing on these complementary dimensions, the study seeks to create a sense of how they work together and how they produce a rich interdisciplinary reservoir which is key to a multidimensional strategy toward secular engagement

Measuring bank efficiency: Tradition or sophistication? – a note

The recent literature on measuring bank performance indicates a preference for sophisticated techniques over simple accounting ratios. We explore the results and relationships between bank efficiency estimates using accounting ratios and Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) with bootstrap among Jamaican banks between 1998 and 2007. The results indicate different outcomes for the traditional accounting ratios and the sophisticated DEA methodology in the measurement of bank efficiency. GLS random effects two-variable regression tests for superiority using a risk index for insolvency suggest an advantage in favour of the DEA

Competitive conditions in the Jamaican banking market 1998-2009

This paper presents an empirical assessment of the degree of competition within the Jamaican banking sector during the period 1998 to 2009. We employ a dynamic version of the Panzar - Rosse Model to estimate market power among the sample of banks that constitute over 90 percent of the banking market. Using the conventional statistical tests, we are unable to reject monopoly/perfect collusion for the merchant banking sector in Jamaica but find competitive conditions in the commercial banking sector. This contrasts with earlier findings using alternative estimators that find monopolistic competition in the market as a whole

Measuring post-crisis productivity for Jamaican banks

The study examines the changes to total factor productivity of Jamaican banks between 1998 and 2007. Using Data Envelopment Analysis with bootstrap to construct a Malmquist index, bank productivity is measured and decomposed into technical progress and efficiency. The results suggest an inconsistent growth pattern for banks between 1998 and 2007 driven mainly by efficiency gains in the immediate post-crisis period to 2002, and by technological progress towards the end of the sample period. The second largest banks along with merchant and locally-owned banks showed significant productivity growth in some models, with modest growth for commercial and foreign-owned banks

Post-crisis cost efficiency of Jamaican banks

Deregulation, re-regulation and continuing globalisation embody an imperative that banks increase efficiency in order to survive. We employ the Simar-Wilson (2007) two-step double bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis method to measure whether cost efficiency among Jamaican banks has improved between 1999 and 2009 following a number of post-crisis responses aimed at strengthening and improving the sector. Efficiency is extracted from a meta-frontier construction for the full sample period. In addition we conduct tests for unconditional beta- and sigma-convergence and overall, the results suggest that there has been a tendency towards improvement in bank efficiency levels for the industry as a whole but there is also evidence that foreign banks show a higher trend improvement in efficiency

Out of many, dominance by a few? Market power in the Jamaican banking sector

Abstract This paper presents an empirical assessment of the degree of competition within the Jamaican banking sector during the period 1998 to 2007. The popular H-statistic by Panzar and Rosse is utilised to estimate market power among the sample of banks. Using usual statistical tests, we are unable to reject monopoly/perfect collusion for the banking market in Jamaica. This contrasts with earlier findings using alternative estimators. Therefore, the use of a dynamic reformulation of the model with a dynamic estimator highlights some collusive behaviour among banks

Out of many, dominance by a few? Market power in the Jamaican banking sector

This paper presents an empirical assessment of the degree of competition within the Jamaican banking sector during the period 1998 to 2007. The popular H-statistic by Panzar and Rosse is utilised to estimate market power among the sample of banks. Using usual statistical tests, we are unable to reject monopoly/perfect collusion for the banking market in Jamaica. This contrasts with earlier findings using alternative estimators. Therefore, the use of a dynamic reformulation of the model with a dynamic estimator highlights some collusive behaviour among banks