The return of truth: defending the correspondence theory after the liberal/postliberal divide

This article defends the correspondence theory of truth against criticisms of three theologians: Stephen Long, Kevin Hector, and Bruce Marshall. Long's criticisms arise from his metaphysical commitments, Hector's from his anti-metaphysical commitments, and Marshall's from his methodological commitments. I treat Long and Hector briefly, before giving a more extended treatment of Bruce Marshall's attack on the correspondence theory using the slingshot argument of Donald Davidson. I argue that correspondence theories withstand their criticisms. They therefore pose no obstacle to using them in theology.

On the social history of accounting: The Bank Audit by Bruce Marshall

The processes of social negotiation which sanction the elevated occupational authority of professions remain understudied. However, the conventionally ascribed complexity of professional services suggests the importance of more discursive mediums rather than objective evaluations of occupational competence. Thus, what might previously have been dismissed as mere professional ephemera may actually function as key signifiers in the development of image and status. It is within this context that Bruce Marshall's 1958 book The Bank Audit is reviewed. Authored by an accountant, this book is significant as a rare example of an “accounting novel” and for its often distinctive portrayal of accountants and their work. A call is made for accounting historians to enliven development of the social history of accounting by searching for and studying the expansive and eclectic range of texts and other sources which elucidate the often intriguing interface between this occupation and the broader society in which it is constituted.