托马斯·阿奎那论宗教与政治

作为神学家和西方教会的代言人,阿奎那深入讨论了宗教与政治的关系问题,包括如何协调教权与王权的关系、如何对待异教徒、如何对待叛教者等。针对不同情况,他的政策也不相同,但其目的只有一个:在保持基督教国家内部稳定的前提下,打击异教力量和异端分子,维护和加强教会的势力。     

A Significant Shift: A Pentadic Analysis of the Two Rhetorics of the Post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church Regarding Homosexuality

This paper argues that, since the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), there has been a significant shift in the rhetorical stance of the Roman Catholic Church toward homosexuality in which the pre-council rhetoric, which condemned both act (i.e., homosexual behavior) and actor (i.e., the homosexual) has been replaced by two distinctly different rhetorics: a moral rhetoric, which continues the Church's long-standing condemnation of homosexual acts as sins, and a pastoral rhetoric, which argues that homosexuals should be ministered to and embraced. A Burkean pentadic analysis is used to define how the two rhetorics differ from each other and from the earlier rhetoric. The three major influences (i.e., Scripture, Tradition, and Catholic theology/philosophy) that have shaped, and continue to shape, the Church's position regarding homosexuality are described. Some of the socio-political implications of this shift are emphasized.     

The Roman Catholic Church: A Centuries Old History of Awareness of Clerical Child Sexual Abuse (from the First to the 19th Century)

Debates in international forums and in mainstream media on the role, responsibility, liability, and response of ecclesiastical authorities of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) toward clerical child sexual abuse (cCSA) fail to take into account the historical roots and awareness of the problem. Reports also fail to mention the historic organizational laws RCC developed over centuries. In contrast, RCC documents evidence that the Catholic Church not only carried century’s old history of cCSA, but also repeatedly condemned cCSA by successive papal authorities, organizational laws, and institutional management mechanisms. During the first millennium, however, church laws remained confined to the bookshelves and were not converted into appropriate management policies and infrastructural models. This was largely due to the absence of a central administrative organizational structure, which developed later in the 12th century, following the Second Council of Lateran (1139) when the Papacy asserted its authority to establish administrative control over the organizational church. It was only then that management policies started to be framed and institutional structures enacted to deal more appropriately with cCSA from the 14th to 20th centuries. Despite this, RCC developed a culture of secrecy using clandestine organizational management models and institutional laws prescribed in 1568, 1622, 1741, 1866, 1922, and 1962 which aimed to manage cCSA. The current study traces reported cCSA as far back as the first century and critically examines the organizational laws, and institutional policies developed by RCC to address clerical sexual misconduct up to the end of the 19th century.     

俄国政教关系的历史嬗变

政教关系即指国家政权同教会之间的关系。俄罗斯从拜占庭接受基督教以后,基督教作为一种文化现象一直伴随着整个俄罗斯社会历史发展的进程。教权与皇权之间的关系在不同时期也经历着不同的变化,政教关系的问题一直是国家与教会所关心的问题,但总体上保持着政教合一的局面。由于俄国的地缘政治,必然要求内部思想的高度统一,要求政教合一的一元化政治,但它对东正教自身的发展有着消极的影响。     

Assessing reporting patterns of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church using discontinuities in model parameter timeseries

Prior to 2002, little was known about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. After the Boston Globe broke the story about John Geoghan - a priest in the Boston Archdiocese who was accused of abusing numerous children, convicted of one count of indecent assault, and eventually murdered in prison - the Church had many questions to answer. To this end, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) commissioned John Jay College of Criminal Justice to research the nature and scope, as well as the causes and context of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.This research analyzes the data from the John Jay studies using a new quantitative technique, capable of adjusting for distortions introduced by delays in abuse reporting. By isolating discontinuities in model parameter timeseries, we determine changes in reporting patterns occurred during the period 1982-1988. A posteriori to the analysis, we provide some possible explanations for the changes in abuse reporting associated with the change-point. While the scope of this paper is limited to presenting a new methodological approach within the frame of a particular case study, the techniques are more broadly applicable in settings where reporting lag is manifested.     

天主教会与西欧中世纪经济的复兴

因罗马帝国后期的内乱、日耳曼人大迁徙带来的长期战乱,致使西欧进入中世纪出现了土地荒芜、技术落后、经济发展长期停滞的局面,是天主教会组织带头进行农业垦殖、传播生产技术、建设公共设施,促进了经济的复兴。     

The Orthodox Church in revolutionary Cheliabinsk: reform,counter-reform,and popular revolution in 1917

In 1917 the Cheliabinsk Vicariate, like the Church in most areas in the Russian empire, declined to support the autocracy, welcomed the February Revolution, endorsed the Provisional Government, and envisioned a broad set of reforms that even included a greater role for the laity in Church governance. The key agent for reform in Cheliabinsk – as in other dioceses – was the Assembly of Clergy and Laity, the focus of this study. Although the Assembly did adopt a radical and ostensibly popular social and administrative program, the vicariate encountered growing lay disenchantment – because of its support for an unpopular war, because of a caveat deferring social reform, but also because of the Church’s reluctance to give parishioners full power over the parish. The intensifying crises of 1917 heightened expectations for reform, and the disintegration of authority in Cheliabinsk and within the Church itself widened the chasm between the Church and parishioners. In response, diocesan authorities supported conservative measures, which deferred reform, in an attempt to re-establish order, while parishioners – frustrated by the pace of reform and the Church’s wavering support of it – led a revolution against diocesan authority aimed at making the Church subservient to their own agendas.     

Intermarriage and the demography of secularization

One way of measuring religious affiliation is to look at rites of initiation such as baptism. English statistics show that for the first time since the Church of England was founded, less than half the nation is Anglican on this criterion. The pattern of formal religious transmission changed during the Second World War. Previously christening was quasi-universal, and the Church of England was the preferred provider. By the end of the war baptism was evidently optional, and chosen principally by parents whose religious identities matched. Further analysis suggests that affiliation now tends to be lost following marriage to someone from a different religious background, though the USA differs from Europe in this respect. A demographic theory of advanced secularization is outlined that specifies a proximal cause for declining religious affiliation, and provides tools for predicting the changes to be expected over future decades. The theory also helps to explain why affiliation may fall most quickly where there is most religious diversity.     

Good works well publicized? Understanding L. Ron Hubbard’s interpretation of Effective Public Relations

Scientology’s public relations function is based on research and writing by L. Ron Hubbard, who studied public relations and drafted documents directing Church communication strategies. Hubbard annotated the textbook Effective Public Relations, which was reprinted for Church practitioners. Textual analysis shows Hubbard was particularly interested in redefining key concepts, emphasizing interpersonal communication strategies, and selectively adopting media relations strategies. The findings suggest that he used the annotations to appropriate the text and position himself as a communications expert. Evidence suggests Church communication practitioners continue to follow Hubbard’s recommendations.     

试析英国民族教会建立的特点

近代民族国家形成时期,英国顺应时代发展的需要进行了宗教改革,建立了民族教会,即国教安立甘宗,彻底摆脱了罗马教廷的控制。民族教会在建立过程中形成了相应的特点:有统一王权的领导;与民族国家利益相结合;所建国教表现为新旧教的折中与融合。