scholarly journals Den praktiska teologin som professionsteori

2021 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Borgehammar

The purpose of this article is to remind Practical Theology in Sweden of its historically given identity and to show that this identity derives from a well-defined encyclopedic context. The point of departure is that theology is a positive science, in the sense used by Friedrich Schleiermacher: a science directed towards a specific goal, which in theology's case is the well-informed government of the Church. Within theology thus understood, Practical Theology provides professional training by developing pastoral theory. It forms a bridge between on the one hand philosophical and historical theology, and on the other the praxis that theology ultimately serves. Based on this understanding, the article treats four areas of responsibility of Practical Theology: students, churches, research, and theological faculties. Its task in relation to students is to teach them to combine various kinds of theological knowledge in theoretical reflection on ecclesial practices. Its task in relation to churches is to provide them with well-educated leaders and useful research. Its task in research is to further the well-being of churches without compromizing scholarly standards or curtailing academic freedom. Its task in relation to theological faculties, finally, is to contribute to cooperation between subjects by upholding the integrative character of Practical Theology. Methodologically, the article makes use of German Evangelical theology in order to refer Swedish Practical Theology back to its origin and counteract influences that have confused its identity, namely a positivist conception of theology as the scientific study of Christianity, prevalent in Sweden since the early 1970s, and, more recently, the appropriation of the name "Practical Theology" by theologians engaged in critical studies, practice theory, and social activism.

Horizons ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-255
Author(s):  
Christy Lang Hearlson

In an age of environmental crisis, ecological theologians call for the “ecological conversion” of humanity. This article, a work of practical theology, plays on the grammatical ambiguity of Mark 10:15, in which disciples are told to “receive the kingdom as a child,” to argue that ecological conversion is a twofold conversion to the child. One conversion is a turn to the well-being of children in an age of climate crisis, which involves an adult personal transformation into the role of caregiver—and thus greater maturity. The other conversion is a recovery of certain childlike capacities, including presence in the moment, interdependence in relationship, urgency, animism, and love of the small. The article draws on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, discussions of childhood by the nineteenth-century Protestant theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, and contemporary explorations of children and childhood, including the author's own experience of caregiving with children.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Bond

<p class="p1"><span class="s2"><strong>Abstract </strong></span>| The challenge of interdisciplinary intellectual and strategic work in the extractive industries is particularly acute at the interface of research and social activism. Numerous social movements which are dedicated to sustainability fail to ‘connect the dots’ between their campaigns and broader political-economic and political-ecological visions<span class="s3"><strong>. </strong></span>This is becoming a critical challenge in Africa, where the extreme damage done by mining and fossil fuels has generated impressive resistance<span class="s3"><strong>.</strong></span>However, the one obvious place to link these critiques from African activists was the Alternative Mining Indaba in Cape Town in February 2015, and a survey of narratives at that event leads to pessimism about interdisciplinary politics. The potential for much greater impact and deeper critiques of unsustainable extractivism lies in greater attention to combining social reproduction and production (as do eco-feminists), and to tackling social, economic, political and ecological factors with a more explicit structuralist critique and practical toolkit<span class="s3"><strong>. </strong></span>Areas such as energy, economics and climate are ripe for linkages<span class="s3"><strong>. </strong></span>One reason for optimism is a climate justice declaration made by leading civil society activists in Maputo in April 2015.<strong></strong></p>


Author(s):  
Fanie du Toit

Reconciliation emphasizes relationships as a crucial ingredient of political transition; this book argues for the importance of such a relational focus in crafting sustainable political transitions. Section I focuses on South Africa’s transition to democracy—how Mandela and De Klerk persuaded skeptical constituencies to commit to political reconciliation, how this proposal gained momentum, and how well the transition resulted in the goal of an inclusive and fair society. In developing a coherent theory of reconciliation to address questions such as these, I explain political reconciliation from three angles and thereby build a concept of reconciliation that corresponds largely with the South African experience. In Section II, these questions lead the discussion beyond South Africa into some of the prominent theoretical approaches to reconciliation in recent times. I develop typologies for three different reconciliation theories: forgiveness, agonism, and social restoration. I conclude in Section III that relationships created through political reconciliation, between leaders as well as between ordinary citizens, are illuminated when understood as an expression of a comprehensive “interdependence” that precedes any formal peace processes between enemies. I argue that linking reconciliation with the acknowledgment of interdependence emphasizes that there is no real alternative to reconciliation if the motivation is the long-term well-being of one’s own community. Without ensuring the conditions in which an enemy can flourish, one’s own community is unlikely to prosper sustainably. This theoretical approach locates the deepest motivation for reconciliation in choosing mutual well-being above the one-sided fight for exclusive survival at the other’s cost.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (S1) ◽  
pp. 47-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babette Rump ◽  
Aura Timen ◽  
Marlies Hulscher ◽  
Marcel Verweij

AbstractControl measures directed at carriers of multidrug-resistant organisms are traditionally approached as a trade-off between public interests on the one hand and individual autonomy on the other. We propose to reframe the ethical issue and consider control measures directed at carriers an issue of solidarity. Rather than asking “whether it is justified to impose strict measures”, we propose asking “how to best care for a person’s carriership and well-being in ways that do not imply an unacceptable risk for others?”. A solidarity approach could include elevating baseline levels of precaution measures and accepting certain risks in cases where there is exceptionally much at stake. A generous national compensation policy that also covers for costs related to dedicated care is essential in a solidarity approach. An additional benefit of reframing the questions is that it helps to better acknowledge that being subjected to control measures is a highly personal matter.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahid Irshad Younas ◽  
Mahvesh Khan ◽  
Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan

Purpose The purpose of the study is to explore the misconception that in developed countries, macroeconomic performance lead to sustainable firms or improves stakeholder well-being. The results may be the opposite or even worse. Design/methodology/approach This study examined this misconception using balanced panel data from 1,122 firms from different sectors of the US economy and data on macroeconomic performance from the World Bank. Findings The results of the one-step generalised method of moments indicate that most macroeconomic performance indicators had significant and negative impacts on firm sustainability and stakeholder well-being. Practical implications From a societal perspective, the results illustrate that the fruits of macroeconomic performance of the US economy do not reach stakeholders through firms’ sustainability. Thus, linking the economy’s macroeconomic performance with firm sustainability is vital for sustainably uplifting society and for stakeholder well-being. Originality/value From a policy perspective, this study reveals that the greater focus on macroeconomic performance in the USA over the past decades has resulted in lower firm sustainability because of the malfunctioning of social, economic, environmental and governance factors. This has negatively influenced stakeholder well-being in the country.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-225
Author(s):  
Lyudmila Belova

The article traces the impact of innovation on employment and workers income during industrial revolutions. The aim of the study is to identify the business model that contributes to improving the well-being and reducing negative impact of innovative transformations on employees. To achieve this goal, we analyze: the conceptions of industrial revolutions; the “Engels pause”, which arose during the First Industrial Revolution as a “surge” in inequality due to the contradiction between productivity growth and profit, on the one hand, and the stagnation of workers’ real incomes, on the other; the effect of replacing manual labor with automated one; the problems of technological unemployment; the digital business model of sharing economy. The findings report conclusions concerning the change in economic development paradigm as a result of the replacement of classical consumption models by sharing economy business model, on the prospects of the sharing economy business model in the context of its ability to solve employment problems, overcome technological unemployment and increase employees’ income. The achieved results can be useful for policymakers and corporate structures that design innovative development strategies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 2309-2319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciane Albuquerque Sá de Souza ◽  
Ana Raquel Rosas Torres ◽  
Genário Alves Barbosa ◽  
Tiago Jessé Souza de Lima ◽  
Luana Elayne Cunha de Souza

The objective of this study is to investigate the role of self-efficacy beliefs as a mediator of the relationship between the subjective well-being and general health of military cadets (police and firefighters). For this study, 228 cadets participated, the majority being Military Police officer candidates (65%), male (79%), between 17 and 34 years of age (99%), and unmarried (74%). They responded to questionnaires on general health (GHQ-12), perceived general self-efficacy, to the multiple scales that cover subjective well-being, and demographic questions. Initial regression analyses indicate the predictive power of subject well-being regarding general health. Subsequently, the mediation analyses provide satisfactory evidence for the role of perceived self-efficacy as a mediator of the relationship between the subjective well-being variables and the overall health of military cadets. The implications of these results for the professional training of the cadets are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana B. Navarro ◽  
Belén Bueno

<p>This paper assesses the strategies for coping with health problems in advanced old age and their contribution in terms of several performance results. 159 people aged 75 or over and living at home identified their most recent health problem, the strategies used to deal with it, their perception of self-efficacy in handling the problem and their degree of satisfaction with life. The results confirm the use of a range of strategies, with the active-behavioural approach to solving the problem being the one most widely used. In addition, together with active coping strategies of both a cognitive and behavioural nature, correlational analyses indicate that very old people resort to passive and avoidance coping methods. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses highlight the fact that the use of direct and rational actions for solving health problems predicts self-efficacy in dealing with the problem and protects satisfaction with life at this stage. These results confirm that very old people retain the ability to deal effectively with their health problems and, at the same time, uphold their well-being, providing evidence of the adaptive role of coping in very old age.</p>


Author(s):  
Alina Mihaela Dima

Many times, in the attempt to win or to maintain an advantageous position on the market, the economic agent will use a whole arsenal of practices (inclusively and mostly from the marketing field), most of them anticompetitive, with a negative impact on the business environment, which also affects the well-being of the consumer. The policy in the field of competition is the one that defines these types of behaviour and penalizes them depending on the importance of their negative impact, by creating a complex and coherent legislative and institutional mechanism. The right enforcement of the competition policy at the national level is the key in this process, but this should be coordinated with the regional and international objectives and regulations in this field. Romania is facing a double challenge: on the one side, it had to set up a competition policy, which was almost ignored before the90s, on the other side, it had to comply, recently, with high standards in the field, as an EU candidate. Now, as a member state, the promotion of a competition culture becomes a must, along with the design of an adequate system of information and knowledge dissemination for all of those involved. The paper is based on a original and qualitative research and aims at emphasising the increased necessity of the promotion of a competition culture for the competitiveness of the Romanian business environment on the European level in the new context of accession. This will help Romanian business to face the competition challenges within a more extended single European market, as an essential issue of the free market economy status recently granted, and accordingly to the most important EU objectives set up at Lisabon to become the most competitive economy in the world up to 2010.


Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Gladun ◽  
Soili Nysten-Haarala ◽  
Svetlana Tulaeva

There is a growing global interest in Arctic natural resources that have a strong influence on the local economies. The Arctic economy is a rather unique phenomenon encompassing Indigenous practices, local economic activities, and industrial development. Indigenous economies vary across the Arctic states and exhibit divergent economic mixtures. In globalizing societies and full market economies, traditional Indigenous economies are changing and perceived especially by the non-Indigenous to be a tribute to old customs rather than a way of life that is being followed by the young generation. However, certain groups of the contemporary Indigenous populations in the Arctic continue to preserve their culture and ensure the continuation of Indigenous ways of life. The development of Indigenous communities is closely linked to their economic well-being, on the one hand, and to their culture and traditions, on the other. Our article contributes to the discussion on the significance of Indigenous economies in providing sustainability in terms of Indigenous communities, their culture, and traditions. The research objective is to identify strategies and tools that sustain Indigenous economies as well as the goals of various stakeholders in encouraging and supporting the traditional economic activities of Indigenous peoples. We contrast three countries—Russia, Finland, and the United States (Alaska)—and discuss some governmental strategies that can be employed for preserving unique Indigenous economies. The research methods consist of a content analysis of state and regional legislation and strategies, social studies of stakeholders’ opinions, case studies describing market infrastructure, and economic activities as well as features of traditional lifestyles and Indigenous knowledge typical of these regions.


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