Eells, Robert J. “Public Life and the Historical Imagination.” Fides Et Historia 37, no. 1 (Winter, 2005): 135-137.
Abstract: The article reviews the book “Public Life and the Historical Imagination,” edited by Wendy Gamber, Michael Grossberg, and Hendrik Hartog.
Jindra, Michael. “Christianity and the Proliferation of Ancestors: Changes in Heirarchy and Mortuary Ritual in the Cameroon Grassfields.” Africa (Pre-2011) 75, no. 3 (2005): 356-377.
Abstract: During the twentieth century, the ‘death celebration’ became arguably the most important cultural event throughout much of the Western Grassfields of Cameroon. The growth of this ritual festival occurred in the context of major political, economic and religious changes in the Grassfields. This article will focus on how religious changes, particularly the growth of Christianity, contributed to the rise of this event and how it has prompted significant changes in notions and practices concerning the pollution of death, personhood, burial rites and the ancestors. In the traditional hierarchical structure of Grassfields society, only certain titled individuals and chiefs were believed to live on after death and become ancestors. This was reflected in burial rituals. Individuals who became ancestors were buried in family compounds while ‘unimportant’ people were frequently disposed of in the ‘bush’, streams or hurriedly given unmarked burials. Christianity, because of its stress on individual personhood and its message of an afterlife for everyone, became an attractive alternative to established beliefs and practices, especially for young adults, women and those without titles, who were the most disenfranchised in the traditional system. With Christianity, burial rites became standardized and were extended to virtually everyone. Christianity also caused declines in notions of death ‘pollution’ and in beliefs about ‘bad deaths’. Because of continued beliefs in the power of ancestors, the egalitarian notions of personhood stimulated by Christianity have ironically created a ‘proliferation’ of ancestors for whom delayed mortuary rites such as ‘death celebrations’ are owed.
Bohus, Steve, Robert H., Jr. Woods, and K. Caleb Chan. “Psychological Sense of Community among Students on Religious Collegiate Campuses in the Christian Evangelical Tradition.” Christian Higher Education 4, no. 1 (January 1, 2005): 19-40.
Abstract: The current study sought to identify factors which contribute to Psychological Sense of Community (PSC) among students on religious collegiate campuses within the Christian Evangelical tradition. The researchers examined responses from 596 undergraduate students at 11 Christian colleges and universities nationwide. The results support the viability of a new PSC construct in the religious collegiate campus setting. More specifically, the results suggest the possibility of a religious PSC construct (PSCALL) that contains elements of Lounsbury and DeNeui’s (1995) 14-item PSC scale but also items contextualized to a religious collegiate setting. Significant PSCALL differences were identified in the following areas: spiritual well-being, religious commitment, minority/non-minority status, living arrangement, major, and class level. Contrary to previous studies in the secular college campus setting, PSCALL differences in gender could not be identified. This study extends previous research on PSC in general and the PSC construct in the Christian college campus setting specifically. Theoretically, the current investigation supports the notion that certain aspects of community change from setting to setting and that even the meaning of “community” changes depending on context.
Metts,Wallis C.,Jr. “Christianity and the Mass Media in America: Toward a Democratic Accommodation.” Christian Scholar’s Review 34, no. 1 (Fall, 2004): 155-156.
Abstract: In one corner, evangelicals hope to harness the immense power of the media to reach the world with the message of the Gospel. In the other corner, secular journalists fail to understand American religious thought and have excluded it from the public square. In between, we have Quentin Schultze’s new scholarly analysis, Christianity and the Mass Media in America.
Buratovich, Michael. “Perspectives on an Evolving Creation.” Christian Scholar’s Review 34, no. 1 (Fall, 2004): 136-138.
Abstract: …Kansas State paleontologist Keith Miller has assembled an impressive cadre of contributors who believe in both evolution and the orthodox Christian faith. The contributors to this book hail from Christian schools like Calvin, Messiah, and Wheaton to name a few, and secular universities like UCLA, University of Alabama, and Johns Hopkins University. The resulting volume is highly educational and informative even if it is a little uneven in places.
Woods, Robert, Jason D. Baker, and Dave Hopper. “Hybrid structures: Faculty use and perception of web-based courseware as a supplement to face-to-face instruction.” Internet & Higher Education 7, no. 4 (December 2004): 281-297. doi: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2004.09.002
Abstract: The researchers examined responses from 862 faculty members at 38 institutions nationwide using the blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) to supplement their face-to-face instruction. The four research questions addressed the primary uses that faculty make of blackboard, perceptions that faculty have of how certain blackboard features enhance or elevate (or might enhance or elevate) their assessment of student work and instructional capabilities, and how faculty use of blackboard might positively affect the psychosocial climate within the face-to-face classroom setting. Additional analysis sought to identify the factors that predict use and positive perception of blackboard as a supplement to face-to-face teaching activities. The results indicate that faculty primarily used blackboard as a course management/administration tool to make course documents available to students and manage course grades. Few faculty used blackboard for instructional or assessment purposes, and even fewer utilized blackboard to foster a more positive sense of community within their face-to-face classes. Faculty attitudes, on the whole, were positive when it came to the classroom management functions of blackboard, but neutral or otherwise undecided in terms of its instructional or psychosocial benefits. The main factor in determining blackboard usage—whether for course administration or instructional purposes—was experience with the tool. In addition, women had more positive attitudes than men did in terms of blackboard”s potential to enhance classroom management and foster a positive relational climate. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed before concluding.
White, Charles Edward. “Holiness Fire-Starter.”Christian History & Biography no. 82 (Spring 2004): 16-21.
Abstract: Presents a biography of Phoebe Palmer, the most influential woman in the mid-19th-century Methodism in America. Impact of the death of her child on the choice of life she choose to live; Theology developed and presented by Palmer in her testimony to one’s experience with God; Contributions of Palmer to Theology, revivalism, feminism and humanitarianism.
Buratovich, Michael and Thomas Buratovich. “Battle for the Beginning: Creation, Evolution and the Bible.” Christian Scholar’s Review 32, no. 4 (Summer, 2003): 455.
Abstract: Well-known pastor and radio preacher John MacArthur wrote The Battle for the Beginning to “examine what the biblical text teaches about creation” (29), but not to “get into in-depth scientific arguments related to the origin of our universe” (29). The Battle for the Beginning shows the problems that potentially surface when a gifted expositor writes an authoritative text outside his area of expertise.
Baldwin, Bruce W. “Manual Microscale Column Chromatography Pressurization Apparatus.” Journal Of Chemical Education 80, no. 10 (October 2003): 1182. doi:
Abstract: Pressurization of a Pasteur pipet for microscale chromatography is simplified by connecting a 20- or 30-mL syringe to the pipet using a length of Tygon tubing. This simple system allows the student to easily dry-pack a column using common chromatography packing materials. Results were uniformly good for introductory, organic, or upper-division research chemistry students.
Jindra, Michael. “Natural/supernatural conceptions in Western cultural contexts.” Anthropological Forum13, no. 2 (November 2003): 159-167. doi: 10.1080/0066467032000129824
Abstract: Focuses on the concept of natural and supernatural conceptions in Western culture. Description of the concept of ideals being natural or supernatural; Definitions of spirituality in the Western world; Relevance of supernatural and natural in the context of institutional faith.
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