The Environmental Theology of Aimee Semple McPherson (Chapter 4 of Blood Cries Out : Pentecostals, Ecology, and the Groans of Creation)

Excerpt: My initial investigation into Aimee Semple McPherson—founder of The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel—and ecology was bleak: every word search returned a spiritual metaphor. “Garbage” came back as “garbage can of Satan,” “pollution” came back as “pollution of the soul,” “plants” came back as “plants of faith,” and “dumping” came back as “dumping ground for gossip.” But eventually, persistence paid off. Popular pastor and author Rick McKinley writes, “Margins are those clear spaces along the edge of a page that keep the words from spilling off. Every book has them. You might jot notes in the margins, but for the most part they go unnoticed. They don’t represent the book, and they don’t define its message. They’re simply there.”McKinley’s analogy describes McPherson’s engagement with nature. McPherson made comments, not commentaries, about nature. She had strong opinions—some radical by today’s standards—yet most remained underdeveloped. Moreover, her theology was largely anthropocentric. People, not the environment, occupied the center of her doctrine.While nature, theologically, occupied the margins for McPherson, politically, it took center stage, especially during her anti-war expositions. Thus, environmental concern ultimately found expression in her patriotism

Theorizing in Design Research: Methodological reflections on developing and connecting theory elements for language-responsive mathematics classrooms

Topic-specific Didactical Design Research is a research methodology with two aims, 1) designing and improving teaching-learning arrangements and 2) generating theoretical contributions for understanding the initiated teaching-learning processes for a certain topic. The article provides methodological reflections and examples for elaborating the meaning of theorizing within this methodology. Starting from a distinction of categorial, descriptive, explanatory, normative and predictive theory elements with their functions and logical structures, the examples show that theorizing in Design Research studies can be conceived as a process of successively developing and connecting theory elements, for the how-questions (the rationales for the arrangements) and the what-questions (the structuring of the learning content). The considerations are illustrated for the case of topic specific Didactical Design Research for language-responsive classrooms, particularly in relation to language learners’ conceptual understanding of fractions, variables, and percentages

How does income inequality affect cooperation and punishment in public good settings?

In the frame of decentralization reforms in Namibia, local water point associations evolved that have to collect water fees from community members to cover maintenance costs. Enforcement, however, is weak and water point associations have to rely on moral pleas. Partly as a consequence, several users refuse to pay. I test the impact of informal sanction mechanisms on cooperation among water point users in groups with equal and unequal incomes. Interestingly, and in contrast to the vast majority of related studies, cooperation does not increase under the threat of punishment, though the punishment option was frequently used. At individual level I show that while punishments do not affect cooperative behaviour, they provoke counter-punishment. This suggests that peer-sanctioning mechanisms as a means to enforce norm-compliance are not accepted among water point association members. Contribution levels were higher in heterogeneous groups compared with homogenous ones, and both pro-social and anti-social punishments occurred more frequently in homogenous groups. A comparison between different income types further reveals that the poor contribute larger shares of their income than those endowed with higher incomes and that they use punishment as frequently and as vehemently as the better-off, despite higher opportunity costs

Saving creation: nature and faith in the life of Holmes Rolston III [Review]

Preston engagingly tells the story of Rolston, from his childhood in the Shenandoah Mountains, to his long and distinguished career as a philosopher at Colorado State University. As the story of a human life, it is an interesting read, but along the way, Preston also adroitly interweaves the story of the rise and development of environmental ethics as an academic discipline. This is an impressive work overall. If you are interested in natural science and Christian theology, this is a book for you. If you are interested in environmental ethics, this is a book for you. Or, if you are just interested in a fascinating human story, well told, this is a book for you

Europe's migration 'partnerships' with Africa need a new direction in 2017

2016 was the deadliest year for migrants crossing the Mediterranean; more than 4,800 people died on their way to Europe, despite the fact that fewer attempted the journey than in previous years. While European migration policies tend to be fragmented, there has been a shift to stepping up a "Fortress Europe" approach. But closing borders won't work in the long run. Curbing illegal migration and sealing borders will not stop migration from occurring, but rather improve the business of traffickers and make migrants' journeys more dangerous. A year ago, more than 60 heads of states and government met in Malta for the first summit between the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) solely dedicated to the topic of migration. Contrary to initial hopes, the Action Plan and Political Declaration that were agreed upon did not make a significant difference to previous EU policies on migration, which tend to be broad and vague. The EU approach does not take account of the reality of migration, as we have recently pointed out. Nine out of ten international refugees remain in the Global South. And the main burden of the refugee crisis is not in Europe, but among the poorest countries in the world

Microcredit and business-training programs: effective strategies for micro- and small enterprise growth?

The World Bank’s most recent Global Financial Development Report (World Bank 2013) has once again stressed lack of both financial capital and business-related knowledge as key impediments to firm growth in developing countries. Yet, the most popular instruments to relax these constraints are largely unsuccessful in spurring firm growth. Most people in developing countries are employed in micro- and small enterprises. Therefore, promoting these firms by providing access to financial capital and basic managerial skills through microcredit and business-training programs has been considered a matter of common sense among experts. However, recent empirical results unambiguously show that these programs are no panacea for poor enterprise development and growth. Many firms have limited access to financial capital, and many owners lack basic managerial skills. These deficits have been frequently assumed to be major impediments to firm growth in developing countries. Microcredit and business-training programs are the most widely used strategies to promote enterprise development. Findings from recent empirical impact evaluation studies suggest that these programs are insufficient to trigger firm growth or job creation. The empirical studies have some limitations, and it remains largely unclear what types of entrepreneurs these programs work best for and why these programs seem to have largely failed to improve business performance. Amendments in key design features of these programs and the development of screening tools to identify and target high-potential entrepreneurs might help improve their effectiveness. Yet, the results show that microcredit and business-training courses are no panacea for stagnant enterprise development everywhere and call for a stronger emphasis on a holistic strategy mix that takes into account context-specific interrelations among different binding constraints

Low entrance or reaching the goals? Mathematics teachers’ categories for differentiating with open-ended tasks in inclusive classrooms

International audienceOpen-ended inquiry tasks are considered a powerful approach for addressing the diversity of inclusive mathematics classrooms due to their potential for natural differentiation. However, this potential can only unfold when the teachers know how to work with the tasks. This article investigates teachers’ personal categories for differentiating with an open-ended task, especially with respect to providing support for students with special needs. In a qualitative case study, a category-eliciting activity was conducted within a professional development session. Data gathering comprised 14 secondary mathematics teachers’ and special needs teachers’ video-taped group discussions and written answers, which were analyzed qualitatively. The results show that most teachers’ ideas for support provided for the students with mathematical learning disabilities only addressed the low entrance, but not the core learning goals and the required basic conceptual knowledge