I graduated from medical school in 1957. I first went into hospital practice for 3½; years, and then went to Africa for 5 years before returning to Holland to resume practicing as a Family Physician. I have also participated in the postgraduate training and education for family doctors in Amsterdam, Currently, there are approximately 2,300 patients in my practice, about average for a Dutch physi- cian. Ten percent of those patients are over the age of 65.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess the socio-economic challenges faced by CoG-Kenya in poverty alleviation in Emuhaya District, Western Kenya.Methodology: This study was a cross-sectional research that sought to give an examining and descriptive scrutiny of the CoG-K’s activities in Emuhaya District of Western Kenya. This study sampled a total of 312 respondents (1 Bishop, 1 General Secretary, 1 General Assembly Trustee, 1 General Assembly Treasurer, 16 Directors, 282 Pastors, and 10 Elders) through purposive sampling method. Oral (...) interviews, questionnaire methods and focus group discussion were used to collect data from the respondents. Observation method was used to validate the information obtained through oral interviews and questionnaires. Secondary data was sourced from published and unpublished literature. Data was analyzed using the theological method of induction (TMI).Results: The study concludes that as much as the CoG-K has made concerted attempts towards development in Emuhaya District by influencing the peoples thinking on legitimacy of wealth and education, and on the moral value of saving and investing. However some of its programs and ceremonial functions like ordination, baptism, marriage and weddings tend to retard these efforts of alleviating poverty. Although such programs and celebrations serve the poor at the grassroots level, they delay change in behavioural and institutional transformation capable of sustaining economic growth.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: There is a need to change cultural practises that tend to retard development among the adherents of the CoG-K in Emuhaya District. The study posits that cultural practices surrounding marriage and death that are repugnant and detrimental to change should be discarded if development is to take place. (shrink)

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the success of CoG-Kenya projects in poverty alleviation in Emuhaya District, Western KenyaMethodology: This study was a cross-sectional research that sought to give an examining and descriptive scrutiny of the CoG-K’s activities in Emuhaya District of Western Kenya. This study sampled a total of 312 respondents (1 Bishop, 1 General Secretary, 1 General Assembly Trustee, 1 General Assembly Treasurer, 16 Directors, 282 Pastors, and 10 Elders) through purposive sampling method. Oral interviews, (...) questionnaire methods and focus group discussion were used to collect data from the respondents. Observation method was used to validate the information obtained through oral interviews and questionnaires. Secondary data was sourced from published and unpublished literature. Data was analyzed using the theological method of induction (TMI).Results: The study proved that the CoG-K has a role to play through her programs like Sisi kwa Sisi, Child Development Centres, Health care Units and education, thus these institutions make a significant contribution to sustainable development in Emuhaya District and are useful instruments for spearheading alleviation of poverty in the said district. The CoG-K’s development is founded upon a spirituality of mutual sustenance and transformation through its concern for the adherents’ struggle with poverty. This study found out that faith activities and the related projects implicitly advance the poverty alleviation cause, thus all development revolves around spirituality. From this perspective the CoG-K has the responsibility to engage in all aspects of development within spirituality as the foundation of such engagement.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study recommends that development experts, theologians, policy makers and practitioners should cultivate long-term relationship with the church in general and the CoG-K in particular so as implement policy for development consequently alleviating poverty. (shrink)

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine the contribution of the CoG-K teachings to people’s participation in poverty alleviation in Emuhaya District, Western KenyaMethodology: This study was a cross-sectional research that sought to give an examining and descriptive scrutiny of the CoG-K’s activities in Emuhaya District of Western Kenya. This study sampled a total of 312 respondents (1 Bishop, 1 General Secretary, 1 General Assembly Trustee, 1 General Assembly Treasurer, 16 Directors, 282 Pastors, and 10 Elders) through purposive (...) sampling method. Oral interviews, questionnaire methods and focus group discussion were used to collect data from the respondents. Observation method was used to validate the information obtained through oral interviews and questionnaires. Secondary data was sourced from published and unpublished literature. Data was analyzed using the theological method of induction (TMI).Results: The findings of the study showed that the teachings of the CoG-K formed the basis by which social problems were viewed and addressed. This was revealed in the people’s participations in religious, social and economic activities in Emuhaya District. Consequently, the research established that the CoG-K’s teachings is a major force influencing efforts that promote religious values as an avenue for enhancing development at grassroots level where the majority of the poor live. Therefore, the contributions of the CoG-K’s teachings to people’s ideas about alleviation of poverty are closely connected to fundamental economic activities in Emuhaya District.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: It is recommended that if Emuhaya District is to develop, it has to place the CoG-K’s teachings and theology of the option for the poor at the top of the agenda and to consider it as is so often the case, as adjunct to core of the work that is development. (shrink)

Two methods have been used in the investigation of the stakes-sensitivity of knowledge as it occurs in ordinary language: (a) asking participants about the truth or acceptability of knowledge ascriptions and (b) asking participants how much evidence someone needs to gather before they know that something is the case. This second, “evidence-seeking”, method has reliably found effects of stakes-sensitivity while the method of asking about knowledge ascriptions has not. Consistent with this pattern, in Francis et al. (Ergo, 2019), we found (...) evidence of scalar stakes effects using an evidence-seeking approach. Whilst we found this evidence across several cases using both negative (“don’t know”) and positive (“know”) polarities, there remain questions about the directness of the relationship between stakes and knowledge ascriptions; it is possible that stakes are affecting knowledge by affecting the confidence of the attributor. For example, Bach (in: Peter & Preyer, 2005) has argued that knowledge attributions do not track truth attributions but rather thresholds for doxastic confidence. To investigate the role of confidence in knowledge ascriptions, we use our existing paradigm (Francis et al., 2019) but include measures of both participant and protagonist confidence. As far as we are aware, this is the first empirical investigation of the role of confidence in stakes effects on knowledge that incorporates an evidence-seeking approach using several scenarios. Overall, across both positive (“know”) and negative (“don’t know”) polarity conditions, we find further evidence of a stakes effect on knowledge using an evidence-seeking paradigm. However, and importantly, we do not find evidence that changes in participant confidence partially or fully mediate the stakes effect on knowledge. (shrink)

The data presented in the target article make a persuasive case for the notion that there is a fundamental limit on short term memory (STM) of about four items. Two possible means of further testing this claim are suggested and data regarding scene coherence and memory capacity for ordered information are reviewed.

The tendency to neglect base-rates in judgment under uncertainty may be as Barbey & Sloman (B&S) suggest, but it is neither inevitable (as they document; see also Koehler 1996) nor unique. Here we would like to point out another line of evidence connecting ecological rationality to dual processes, the failure of individuals to appropriately judge cumulative probability.

Page's target article presents an argument for the use of localist, connectionist models in future psychological theorising. The “manifesto” marshalls a set of arguments in favour of localist connectionism and against distributed connectionism, but in doing so misses a larger argument concerning the level of psychological explanation that is appropriate to a given domain.

The utility of an “ecologically rational” recognition‐based decision rule in multichoice decision problems is analyzed, varying the type of judgment required (greater or lesser). The maximum size and range of a counterintuitive advantage associated with recognition‐based judgment (the “less‐is‐more effect”) is identified for a range of cue validity values. Greater ranges of the less‐is‐more effect occur when participants are asked which is the greatest of m choices (m > 2) than which is the least. Less‐is‐more effects also have greater range (...) for larger values of m. This implies that the classic two‐alternative forced choice task, as studied by, may not be the most appropriate test case for less‐is‐more effects. (shrink)

We propose that institutions consider establishing a position of “Ombudsman for Research Practice”. This person would assume several roles: as asounding board to those needing confidential consultation about research issues — basic, applied or clinical; as afacilitator for those wishing to pursue a formal grievance process; and as aneducator to distribute guidelines and standards, to raise the consciousness regarding sloppy or irregular practices in order to prevent misconduct and to promote the responsible conduct of research. While there are compelling features (...) to this position, many complex issues need to be considered and resolved. We invite readers to respond to questions we raise in the text. (shrink)

In den USA haben sich im Wesentlichen drei verschiedene Organisationsformen klinischer Ethikberatung entwickelt: der einzelne Berater, das große Komitee und das Beratungsteam teilweise mit Rückbindung an ein größeres Komitee. Bislang gibt es jedoch weder empirische Daten noch ein Ergebnis der anfänglichen theoretischen Diskussion, ob es ein favorisiertes Modell für die klinische Ethikberatung geben sollte und welches dieses sei. Dieser Artikel argumentiert, dass die Vorzüge, Nachteile und die Erfolgsfaktoren der verschiedenen Organisationsformen in Abhängigkeit von der Zielsetzung klinischer Ethikdienste (KED) bewertet werden (...) müssen. Diese Zielsetzung kann auf einem Spektrum vom „Patientenanwalt“ bis zum „Gewissen der Institution“ angesiedelt sein. Die Zielsetzung bestimmt dabei Aufgabenschwerpunkte, Zusammensetzung, die favorisierte Organisationsform und wünschenswerte Standards. Die Untersuchung stützt sich zum einen auf die Analyse von Interviews mit fünf Vorsitzenden klinischer Ethikkomitees von Harvard Lehrkrankenhäusern in Boston, die jeweils etwa 20 Jahre Erfahrung in klinischer Ethikberatung mit den drei unterschiedlichen Modellen gemacht haben. Zum anderen basiert sie auf der Rezeption der Literatur und empirischen Studien zu KEDs in den USA und Deutschland. Insgesamt scheint das Konsilteam mit Rückbindung an ein Komitee am besten geeignet, die Behandlung einzelner Patienten und das ethische Bewusstsein einer ganzen Organisation zu verbessern. Es vereint die Vorteile der anderen beiden Modelle auf sich, ohne unter deren Schwächen zu leiden. (shrink)

This work highlights the faith of Jesus as a response to the affiliate relationship between the Father and the Son. This intimate union, characterized by the word Abba, reveals that the very existence of Jesus took place in the bosom of the Father and it was developed in the intimacy with Him. It is in thi.s loving bosom of the Father that, from the beginning, Jesus constitutes the consciousness of a God who is close, loving and able to hear the (...) cries of his people. The Lordship of God is crystallized in the actions of Jesus through the proclamation of the Kingdom. The force that makes Jesus embrace the plan of God is the Spirit, making Jesus desirous and able to carry out the will of the Father. (shrink)

O tema sobre a cultura da mesa de refeição quer refletir o aspecto teológico-religioso da cultura do antigo Israel e apontar a relação entre cultura e teologia, costumes e valores espirituais, como experiências que apontam para o Transcendente e para a unidade de um grupo. Com isso, o texto quer resgatar tal reflexão para o mundo pós-moderno, no qual a cultura sustenta-se por uma dimensão que transcende a vida prática dos homens, assinala valores impregnados de religiosidade e espiritualidade e, consequentemente, (...) de crenças instaladas no mais íntimo de um corpo social. O fim último é o respeito e o reconhecimento da vida que vem de Deus. (shrink)

The following paper, by Dr. Walter Jaeschke, of the Hegel-Archiv, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, was discussed during the course of the meeting of the Nineteenth Century Theology Group of the American Academy of Religion which was held in New York City, November 15–17, 1979. It has been translated by Peter C. Hodgson, Chairman, Graduate Department of Religion, Vanderbilt University. The concluding sections of Dr. Jaeschke’s study, along with a proposal by Professor Hodgson for the completion of an English study edition of Hegel’s (...) lectures on religion, will appear in the next issue of the OWL. (shrink)

According to a two-level criterion for combination tests in the field of ordinary language, moral 'ought'-sentences may be taken to imply 'I intend'-sentences partly semantically and partly pragmatically. If so, a trenchant linguistic analysis of the concept of moral obligation cannot do without a non-classical logic which allows to model these important kinds of ordinary-language implications by means of purely syntactical derivations. For this purpose, an integrated logic of conviction and intention has been tentatively devised by way of a doxastically, (...) buletically, and pragmatically extended calculus of natural deduction. This system of buletic logic cannot even be launched without one or two derivation rules of deductive closedness. However, these very closedness rules appear to be responsible for buletic paradoxes which are analogous to paradoxes long since known from other, less exotic branches of logic but at first sight look much more virulent. After having scrutinized two potential strategies for coping with the paradoxes of buletic logic, finally we can convince ourselves that these paradoxes, as well as their familiar non-buletic counterparts, are but apparent paradoxes, provided we consistently lean on C-CT and do not let pragmatical considerations intrude into purely logical ones. (shrink)