PERHAPS the most significant, yet perplexing, feature of the book of Hebrews is the so-called warning passages which dot its literary landscape (2:1-4; 3:7-4:13; 5:11-6:12; 10:19-39; 12:14, 29). While all of these warning passages have elicited a variety of commentary and discussion, Heb 6:4-6 has attracted most of the scholarly attention and remains one of the most puzzling and enigmatic for i...

Viewing traditional acculturation literature through a social constructionist lens, the present paper identifies a number of limitations with this research. A discourse analytic approach to acculturation is offered as a means of addressing some of these issues. Drawing on examples taken from British print media debate surrounding the issue of faith schooling in the UK, an analysis is presented ...

Sociologists of the 19th and the 20th centuries were tackling the relation between science and religion. A few models of these relations were offered, by which the monopoly over the truth by any one of those is crashed. Therefore, there are a few models but each is with lots of limitations. None is sufficient to explain the relation between the science and religion, but each contributes to cert...

The role of competition in healthcare is much debated. Despite a wealth of international experience in relation to competition, evidence is mixed and contested and the debate about the potential role for competition is often polarised. This paper considers briefly some of the reasons for this, focusing on what is meant by “competition in healthcare” and why it is more valuable to think about th...

the key of salvation; as we all know is faith. for this reason: 1) philosophers and theologians of any religion have tried to determine its essence and to explain its nature. 2) these debates have been very important in islam and christianity from the beginning. one of the issues that have close connection with concept as well as the formation of faith, is “act”. now the question that raises he...

1The influence of the Greek heritage (Hellenism) on human civilization is both indelible and undeniable. One major component of this heritage is the systematic employment of the mind in the pursuit of knowledge, both theoretical and practical –sometimes described as the “rational” or “rationalist” (as opposed to “mythical”) approach of trying to understand the world and to dealing with it. By t...

In general, I thought that the Boal and Willis “Note on the Armstrong/Mitroff Debate” 1 provided an interesting and fair discussion. 2 The summary of the consequences of the subjective versus objective approaches (Table 1 in their paper) was helpful. It clearly outlined the dilemma faced by scientists: “Should I strive for personal gain or for scientific contributions?” It also described what i...

A ‘doxastic venture’ model of faith – according to which having faith involves believing beyond what is rationally justifiable – can be defended only on condition that such venturesome believing is both possible and ethically acceptable. I show how a development of the position argued by William James in ‘The will to believe ’ can succeed in meeting these conditions. A Jamesian defence of doxas...

Many studies have documented the benefits of religious involvement. Indeed, highly religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being. While religious involvement offers clear benefits to many, in this paper we explore whether it may also be detrimental to some. Specifically, we examine in detail the relation between religious involvement and sub...

Background To build on current research involving faith-based interventions (FBIs) for addressing mental and physical health, this study a) reviewed the extent to which relevant publications integrate faith concepts with health and b) initiated analysis of the degree of FBI integration with intervention outcomes. Methods Derived from a systematic search of articles published between 2007 and ...