Volume 2017 No. 4

Zoroastrianism and Christianity: Standing Close to One Another

Lavonna L. Lovern, Associate Professor, Valdosta State University, and Sydney A. Beckmann, Student, University of Notre Dame, US

Who are You? Origen on the Development and Persistence of the Soul

Ben D. Craver, Professor, Wayland Baptist University, US

Alien-Nation: Defining India’s Refugee Policy

Swaha Sinha and Kavya Jain, Students, Symbiosis Law School, Symbiosis International University, India

The World in My Classroom: Post-Secondary Teachers’ Beliefs about International Students and Internationalization

Rebeca Heringer Lisboa de Castro, Student, University of Manitoba, Canada

Evaluating the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health after Abortion

Tina Tian, Student, University of Alabama at Birmingham, US

Unleashing the Potential of Women’s Education in Shaping the Demography Construct in India
Janu Anushree, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

COMMENTARY

The Question About God in View of the Evil

Winfried Schlotter, Independent Writer, Germany

Zoroastrianism and Christianity: Standing Close to One Another

Lavonna L. Lovern, Associate Professor, Valdosta State University, and Sydney A. Beckmann, Student, University of Notre Dame, US

This paper will examine the relationship between Zoroastrianism and Christianity. The paper will discuss the issue of Christianity’s colonization of Zoroastrian eschatological and theological traditions. It begins with a brief overview of Zoroastrianism and then moves to an examination of the theological and eschatological similarities between the two religions, including monotheism, ethical dualism, eschatology, savior/hero imagery, virgin birth narratives, and magi traditions. This paper concludes that there is ample evidence to show not only an influence of Zoroastrian knowledge on Christianity but also a colonization of that knowledge by Christianity as well as a continued postcolonial attitude of denial in the academy, all of which culminates in the suppression of Zoroastrianism
Lovern_Beckmann.pdf
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Who are You? Origen on the Development and Persistence of the Soul

Ben D. Craver, Professor, Wayland Baptist University, US

As a native Alexandrian, Origen encountered philosophy early in his life; his theology epitomizes a dialectical tension between Christian faith and philosophy. This tension is nowhere more evident than in his complex, and to some extent, rambling teaching on the soul and its relationship to the human body. In particular, using Origen’s theological-philosophical constructs, how is it that a resurrected body might be numerically identical to the corporeal body of the person who died? How will Origen be able to identify his beloved, martyred father, Leonides, in the afterlife?
The method in the paper fuses Origen’s thinking with the work of the philosopher Saul Kripke. Kripke’s concept of “rigid designators” identifies persons and tracks them across possible worlds, making it po
Craver_B.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [458.1 KB]

Alien-Nation: Defining India’s Refugee Policy

Swaha Sinha and Kavya Jain, Students, Symbiosis Law School, Symbiosis International University, India

The Indian subcontinent, pre-1947, was a melting pot of diverse cultures and beliefs before it was split into three separate nations by the partition. The subsequent physical demarcation into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh only sparked a steady stream of cross-border spillovers, encouraged by the familial and racial bonds that persist even today. An assortment of refugees, economic migrants, and illegal immigrants flood into present-day India, and receive identical treatment under the Foreigners Act, 1948, despite their varied status under international law. Extending not only to Bangladeshis but also to Sri Lankan Tamilians crossing the narrow Palk Strait to trade and live in Tamil Nadu, the phenomenon of migration is catalysed by the ease of integration into an ethnically similar Indian
Sinha_Jain .pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [524.6 KB]

The World in My Classroom: Post-Secondary Teachers’ Beliefs about International Students and Internationalization

Rebeca Heringer Lisboa de Castro, Student, University of Manitoba, Canada

The burgeoning and ubiquitous process of internationalization of higher education has greatly contributed to the increasing presence of international students in Canadian universities. In the midst of a transforming academic scenario, many benefits arise, but also challenges. While much has been written about teachers’ beliefs towards culturally diverse students, there is a paucity of studies on how postsecondary teachers perceive the booming population of international students and how internationalization has been affecting them. Based on Gloria Ladson-Billings’ theoretical framework, this critical phenomenological study aims to depict university teachers’ beliefs about international graduate students, how they experience internationalization and the impact of this process on t
Heringer Lisboa de Castro.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [440.6 KB]

Evaluating the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health after Abortion

Tina Tian, Student, University of Alabama at Birmingham, US

Despite the legalization of abortion in the United States over 40 years ago, the debate regarding the morality of abortion continues to this day. In more recent years, there has been a shift in focus in the anti-abortion movement that brings potentially detrimental mental health impacts to the forefront. Overwhelming evidence supports that abortion does not necessarily lead to poorer mental health and that if poorer mental health is observed, this is likely the result of prior sociocultural factors. Despite this overarching finding, the link between socioeconomic status and mental health after abortion has not been adequately studied. This review integrates the findings from critical research reviews and studies regarding abortion, mental health, healthcare inequities, and sexual educa
Tian_T.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [366.4 KB]

Unleashing the Potential of Women’s Education in Shaping the Demography Construct in India
Janu Anushree, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Education matters greatly for almost every aspect of progress in human development. The empowering function of education, especially for women, is considered a major goal in its own right (Wolfgang Lutz and Samir KC). This article presents a recent decadal overview (2003-2013) of the relationship between women’s education and changed demographic characteristics associated with lower fertility in India. Hence, population outlook depends greatly on further progress in education, particularly of young women. An attempt has been made to establish a relationship between TFR (Total Fertility Rate) and level of educational attainment among women in India. Considerable diversity exists in the magnitude of the gap between upper and lower education strata in the strength of association. Data has b
Anushree_J.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [608.7 KB]

The Question About God in View of the Evil

Winfried Schlotter, Independent Writer, Germany

This paper is a summary of my book Meine Weltsicht which gives a personal answer to the existential questions of man, taking into account today’s state of scientific knowledge. How the search for truth leads to a religious, especially Christian worldview is reasoned step by step.
Starting at the limitations of human knowledge, I argue that there is nevertheless a recognisable truth, and that derivable from the contradiction between truth and untruth, freedom (and on the level of conscious action) freedom of decision-making exist and subsequently also good and evil.
The lawfulness, which forms the basis of our world, is related to the principle of truth, and this principle of truth is brought into relation with the idea of God. By man’s belief in a providential, true and good God, the
Schlotter_W.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [387.9 KB]

Volume 2017 No. 4

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