Storytelling is one of the favorite means the Apostle Paul frequently employs in his letters to enrich the spiritual formation of his converts. Philippians demonstrates this well. In this letter Paul presents not just stories of his own personal experiences–-whether in the past or present. He also talks about Christ Jesus, about his coworkers, about the Philippian brothers and sisters, and about the false teachers. The story of Christ in particular provides a theological foundation for all kinds of formation experiences (...) taking place in the individual, ecclesial, and societal contexts. In this paper, I attempt to demonstrate how Paul interweaves this metastory with other stories for the multilayered spiritual formation of Christ-believers in Philippi and suggest implications for pastoral ministry today. (shrink)

Victimhood is commonly deemed negative. The dominant account of victimhood argues that leveraging victimhood involves asserting the moral superiority of the weak, leading to an oversimplification of complex political matters into moral binaries of good versus evil. According to this perspective, victimhood traps victims in a perennial position of weakness, thereby diminishing their agency. This paper challenges this negative perspective and argues that victimhood can enhance agency, serving as a positive political resource. When victimhood involves the acknowledgment of inherent vulnerability (...) shared by all individuals, whether they are victims or non-victims, and concerns the unjust distributions of vulnerability experiences, it can empower individuals to overcome excessive self-doubt and transform their victimization into a political agenda. By examining the subway protests organized by Korean Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination activists, I demonstrate how recognizing the agency-enhancing potential of victimhood helps us better understand the political significance of these actions. (shrink)

Guanxi, or social networks common in Confucian cultures, has long been recognized as one of the major factors for success when doing business in China. However, insider networks in business are certainly not confined to Asian cultures, nor is the attendant possibility for corruption. This study obtained original data to investigate current Taiwanese perceptions of (1) how guanxi is established and cultivated; (2) how guanxi actually is practiced now and people’s acceptance of it; and (3) the effects of guanxi on (...) business operations, employment/promotion, and social justice and fairness. The researchers also hope to (4) verify some arguments made by pioneering researchers. The authors speculate on how these attitudes may affect behavior in business transactions in hopes of making readers more aware of differing cultural values that may create unexpected ethical dilemmas. They suggest that professional ethical codes should provide guidance on the practice of guanxi in a Confucian society and that special emphasis or training in interpreting those codes may be required. (shrink)

A new interpretation of the time-reversal invariance principle is given. As a result, it is shown that microscopic dynamic reversibility has no basis in physics. The existing contradiction between one-way time and two-way time is reconciled. It is also pointed out that the common notion that clocks run backwards when time is reversed is wrong.

We review the concepts and the physics behind electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and lasing without inversion (LWI) for various models of the V-type configurations.

Olwen Bedford and Kwang-Kuo Hwang, Guilt and Shame in Chinese Culture: A Cross-cultural Framework from the Perspective of Morality and Identity, pp. 127–144.This article formulates a cross-cultural framework for understanding guilt and shame based on a conceptualization of identity and morality in Western and Confucian cultures. First, identity is examined in each culture, and then the relation between identity and morality illuminated. The role of guilt and shame in upholding the boundaries of identity and enforcing the constraints of morality (...) is then discussed from the perspective of each culture. The developed framework is then applied the emotions of guilt and shame in Chinese culture drawing on previous field research. Implications for future research are discussed. (shrink)

This study explores company support for men's participation in child care in Sweden, where the government promotes gender equality. The authors investigate the influence of two ideologies about gender, the doctrine of separate spheres and masculine hegemony, on the responsiveness to fathers shown by Sweden's largest corporations. Father-friendly companies had adopted values associated with the private sphere and prioritized entrance of women into the public sphere. Companies with less masculine hegemony provided some informal but no formal support to fathers. Following (...) social justice theory, future research could focus on how fathers come to perceive the lack of corporate responsiveness as unfair. (shrink)

This article explores the unusually high levels of cosmetic surgery in South Korea – for both women and men. We argue that existing explanations, which draw on feminist and postcolonial positions, presenting cosmetic surgery as pertinent only to female and non-western bodies found lacking by patriarchal and racist/imperialist economies, miss important cultural influences. In particular, focus on western cultural hegemony misses the influence in Korea of national identity discourses and traditional Korean beliefs and practices such as physiognomy. We show how (...) these beliefs provide a more ‘gendered’ as opposed to feminist analysis, which allows space for discussion of men’s surgeries. Finally, we critique the accepted notion of the ‘western body’, especially its position in some literature as a more unobtainable ideal for non-western than for western women. We argue that this body has little in common with actual western women’s bodies, and more in common with a globalized image, embodying idealized elements from many different cultures. (shrink)

우리 논문의 목적은 시몽동의 기술철학에서 기술적 규범성의 단초를 발견하는 것이다. 시몽동은 자신의 기술철학에서 규범성을 명시적으로 논하지는 않으나 기술을 문화에 대립시키는 태도를 극복하고 기술문화를 확립하려는 그의 이상은 기술에 규범성을 도입하려는 시도를 정당화해 준다. 우리는 기술적 규범성을 두 차원에서 논할 수 있다. 하나는 기술적 대상들이 발생하고 진화하는 과정에서 나타나는 기술적 대상의 고유한 역량의 차원, 다른 하나는 사회역사적 과정 속에서 나타나는 기술의 가치함의적 차원이다. 우리 연구는 전자에 집중하고자 한다. 이 연구는 시몽동의 관점을 깡길렘의 생명철학과 베르그손의 창조 형이상학의 맥락으로부터 해명하지만 시몽동의 독창성은 창조적 사유를 (...) 기술철학으로 확대, 구현한다는 점이다. 시몽동이 보여주는 기술적 대상들의 발생과 진화는 생명적 본질이나 인간적 의도의 실현으로 환원되지 않는 내재적 필연성과 객관성을 갖는다. 오직 이 때에만 기술적 규범성은 유의미한 탐구 주제가 될 수 있다. (shrink)

This essay proposes an ethics of spirituality as a post-secular question by tracing the legacy of Schleiermacher in Charles Taylor’s account. Given the recent interest in spirituality as a matter of each individual’s perspective and orientation, it is important to explore whether spirituality involves an ethics of spirituality. This question resonates with the ethics of belief in James-Clifford debates and its recent discussions on the non-propositional aspect of belief and its ethical implications for oneself and others. The paper addresses how (...) Schleiermacher and Taylor suggest the ethics of spirituality that demands authentic spirituality and reciprocal communication and recognition, while revealing differences concerning interactions with the institutional church, civil religion, and the civic-cultural frame of rationality and utility. (shrink)

v. 1. Sŏngnihak pʻyŏn -- v. 2. Kyŏngse sasang pʻyŏn.