scholarly journals Forming “Mediators and Instruments of Grace”: The Emerging Role of Monastics in Teaching Contemplative Ambiguity and Practice to the Laity

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 405
Author(s):  
Paula Pryce

Drawing from long-term ethnographic research with a global network of contemplative Christians, this paper discusses an emerging teaching role for North American monasteries as the numbers of avowed religious decline. Since the Trappist community of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, first developed the Christian meditation technique called Centering Prayer in the 1970s, monks and nuns have increasingly become teachers, models, and stabilizers of non-monastic practitioners who attempt to transform their ways of being and thinking towards monastic-inspired sensibilities. Their guidance includes the use of face-to-face, literary, and virtual means to teach methods of contemplative intersubjectivity and a commitment to lives based on service, hospitality, and humility, as well as on study and formalized rites. The paper focuses on non-monastics’ strong attraction to monastic teachings on ambiguity as a source of creativity and wonder in uncertain times, as practiced through a combination of cataphatic and apophatic ritual, including Centering Prayer. The number of monastic postulants continues to falter, yet a much larger, “non-gathered” community of non-monastic oblates and neo-monastic contemplatives has grown increasingly reliant on monastics to help provide alternatives. The rising interdependence of monastics and non-monastics may become the basis of a transformation of Christian monasticism and a new concept of religious community.

2012 ◽  
Vol 09 (01) ◽  
pp. 1250008 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL GALLIS ◽  
EMILY LORANCE RALL

In the past three decades, there has been a rise in neo-Schumpeterian approaches for understanding the role of innovation in technological development cycles. However, a literature review reveals two important factors are missing: first, an understanding of the role of the Global Network, defined as the connective network by which people, goods, and information move around the world, and second, a more holistic view of innovation cycles that is based on hierarchies of technologies and encompasses the influence of sociopolitical interactions and market integration worldwide. This paper presents a new conceptual framework for understanding the development of technology, taking these factors into account through the grouping of innovations into Global Development Cycles. With increasing globalization and radical technological development, the attempt to understand predictable, long-term pattern changes has never been more important if we are to effectively manage global development. The implications of this more comprehensive global perspective are discussed.


ECONOMICS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-137
Author(s):  
Dijana Medenica Mitrović ◽  
Olivera Simović ◽  
Milica Raičević

Abstract Trends in marketing are changing and adopting new technologies, but what always remains is good content and relevant data. New knowledge, information and use of new tools are often crucial for the success of a company. Modern business in the domain of personal marketing can no longer be efficiently implemented without the use of new e-technologies. The application of Internet technology implies radical changes in marketing (strategies, plans, programs, communication) that have contributed to the development of personal marketing, and thus improved “face to face” communication between bidders and consumers. The theoretical part of the paper refers to defining the role and importance of personalized marketing in the function of improving the business, especially from the aspect of approaching each customer or customer segment individually, as well as the importance of applying social networks to marketing, as well as the specificities and benefits of this type of marketing. The practical part in the focus has the research of the importance and role of social networks in the implementation of personalized marketing, as well as in the process of selecting a tourist destination. The practical part of the paper includes research through a specially designed questionnaire, conducted on the territory of Montenegro, and provides information on how important social networks are for selecting the tourist destination and the offer that a particular destination. The aim of the paper is to draw attention to the importance of a good e-market strategy, also, to the approach that gives the best results in advertising and the achievement of the results of the tourist destination and its offer, sales, communication with consumers, establishment of long-term relationships with consumers, which also affects improvement of the business of every tourist company in general.


2018 ◽  
pp. 144-189
Author(s):  
Susannah Crowder

Two male monasteries – and their roles in the religious observances of laywomen – illuminate another facet of the relationship among gender, devotion, and performance in Metz. This chapter first revisits the Celestine community, deepening the findings of the third chapter by examining the institution that housed the family chapel of the Gronnaix and the burial place of Catherine Baudoche. Its spaces reveal a culture of performance that was grounded in women’s material contributions and spiritual needs; contemporary institutional histories construct a performance “edifice” that depicts the partnership of laywomen and the Celestine brothers. A second Messine religious community documents an alternative perspective on the role of women in long-term history-making and performance practice. Through liturgical performance, the monastery of St-Arnoul had claimed a past that tied Carolingian-era imperial identity to female sanctity and patronage. Catherine Gronnaix’s foundation of masses at St-Arnoul took place during the decline of this institutional narrative, however, when the preservation and appropriation of older traditions of female performance had lost appeal. In distinct eras, the cloistered spaces of St-Martin and St-Arnoul – both permeated by the presence and remains of laywomen and their devotions – sheltered collaborative performances that intertwined monastic and familial aspirations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kruse ◽  
Mark Slomiany ◽  
Rema Bitar ◽  
Sarah Jeffers ◽  
Mahmud Hassan

In recent years, the major research-intensive biopharmaceutical companies (big pharma) have come face to face with a perfect storm of eroding profit margins from blockbuster expiration and generic competition coupled with growing R&D expenses and declining advances in truly novel therapeutics. With long-term research divisions shed in favor of short-term outsourcing options and with public good will at historic lows, industry innovators have sought to reinvent the model of big pharma, its relationship in public-private partnerships, and the role of technology and technology policy in reform. In this paper, we highlight a number of the major alliances reshaping the industry and the role of government, research institutions, and other players in the public-private interface in these endeavors. In particular, this paper looks beyond traditional biotechnology parternships and focuses instead on the developing consortia between biopharmaceutical companies and with clinical research organizations and academic institutions. We examined each alternative model of alliance, identified specific hurdles and potentials for increased productivity.


Author(s):  
Maia Akhvlediani ◽  
Zurab Mushkudiani ◽  
Sophia Mikabadze ◽  
Irine Jgerenaia

This study tries to analyze the pandemic situation created by the COVID-19 that has changed the content and dynamics of work in almost all organizations, which is still an ongoing global health crisis. At the same time, its impact on the world economy, with short - and long-term difficulties for business, is growing exponentially. Significant tasks in almost all organizations have been suspended or postponed indefinitely. Managers have adapted to the role of a “virtual manager” and have come to terms with the fact that their colleagues work “elsewhere” and “independently.” COVID-19 reality has made it a priority for organizations to move work from office to home, take care of employee health and protect employees from the spread of the virus. E-mail, messengers, and video-conferencing platforms have replaced work and face-to-face communication with colleagues. Thus, in the context of the economic crisis and pandemic, modern management needs a study that takes into account the role and significance of specific emotions in managerial and socio-economic processes. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0851/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


Crisis ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Curran ◽  
Michael Fitzgerald ◽  
Vincent T Greene

There are few long-term follow-up studies of parasuicides incorporating face-to-face interviews. To date no study has evaluated the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity at long-term follow-up of parasuicides using diagnostic rating scales, nor has any study examined parental bonding issues in this population. We attempted a prospective follow-up of 85 parasuicide cases an average of 8½ years later. Psychiatric morbidity, social functioning, and recollections of the parenting style of their parents were assessed using the Clinical Interview Schedule, the Social Maladjustment Scale, and the Parental Bonding Instrument, respectively. Thirty-nine persons in total were interviewed, 19 of whom were well and 20 of whom had psychiatric morbidity. Five had died during the follow-up period, 3 by suicide. Migration, refusals, and untraceability were common. Parasuicide was associated with parental overprotection during childhood. Long-term outcome is poor, especially among those who engaged in repeated parasuicides.


Methodology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Gerich ◽  
Roland Lehner

Although ego-centered network data provide information that is limited in various ways as compared with full network data, an ego-centered design can be used without the need for a priori and researcher-defined network borders. Moreover, ego-centered network data can be obtained with traditional survey methods. However, due to the dynamic structure of the questionnaires involved, a great effort is required on the part of either respondents (with self-administration) or interviewers (with face-to-face interviews). As an alternative, we will show the advantages of using CASI (computer-assisted self-administered interview) methods for the collection of ego-centered network data as applied in a study on the role of social networks in substance use among college students.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Menegazzo ◽  
Melissa Rosa Rizzotto ◽  
Martina Bua ◽  
Luisa Pinello ◽  
Elisabetta Tono ◽  
...  

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