Australian Seventh-day Adventism and World War One: A Different Path

The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church in Australia differed from most Christian churches in its response to World War One, openly condemning the war as an evil to be avoided while attempting to remain focused on its evangelistic mission. This article explores the philosophy of the SDAs that allowed them to stand apart from the bulk of the churches, and the evolving nuanced path forward negotiated between the ideals of the church and the needs of the government. The success of the SDA church in maintaining its spiritual focus broadens our understanding of the relationship between churches and state in Australia in World War One, and adds a level of subtlety in understanding the government's response to a church that had an ambivalent response to the state's war goals.     

Catholics,anglicans and puritans. Seventeenth century essays

The Fair Intellectual Club was the earliest female intellectual sociability on record in Britain in the eighteenth century. A study of the club provides insights into the motivations for founding such a society. The reading list of the club contains some twenty pamphlets on a variety of subjects including the education of both sexes, friendship and moral issues. The particular question in mind while assessing these materials will be, as far as this club is concerned, what kind of philosophical understanding of sociability inspired these ladies. The Fair Intellectual Club also provides a platform for discussion of questions about the identity, the responsibility, and the gender of learned persons, in addition to their role as active agents in the production of knowledge in the eighteenth century.     

雍乾时期天主教徒的宗教情结

教民信教有着多种原因及民间社会的因素。信仰缘由,一为深入了解教义,力图认识世界和人生奥秘,二系一般性地获知天主教对个人今生来世的影响,三是入教治病去灾,四是穷人为得到些许经济实惠,五为信仰成本低,六是神职人员传教士人品具有吸引力,这六个方面的一个或两个因素,就会使人产生对天主的崇拜,步入教门,然以第二种原因为多。中国民间社会恰有为天主教传播利用的条件,如家族意识和父家长制,人们的从众心态,佛道早已传播的地狱观念,都是促成教民信仰天主教的社会因素。信徒由于对教义的了解和人生的寄托,宗教生活的习惯,对教会的依附心理,形成深厚的宗教情结,相当执著,以致宁死不改变信仰,对官方禁教采取面革心非态度,甚而接引西洋传教士。由此可知,政治强力的禁教,不会达到预期的效果,只有改变、消除教徒从教的那些社会因素,才可能消解教民的宗教情怀,而这是清朝政府万难做到的,是以天主教传教活动和民间信教不会消失。     

Belonging without believing: Catholics in contemporary Italy

Abstract

This article seeks to illustrate some characteristics of the religiosity of Italians, focusing on Catholicism and interpreting the data in the light of the model of religious economy. The issue of belonging to the Catholic Church is addressed first, with an emphasis on problems of measurement and on the factors which underlie the differentiation of religious orientations in Italy. Next, the practice of Catholicism, primarily attendance at Mass, is examined as an indicator of the diffusion and vitality of the Catholic Church, and its course since the Second World War is described. Finally, the article deals with the issue of belief, showing Italians’ widely diffused propensity to ‘deviate’ from full Catholic orthodoxy. Our analysis shows that while the Catholic Church has maintained its pre‐eminent position in Italy's internal religious market, it has lost ground in recent decades and at present must contend with a considerable lack of both vitality and orthodoxy.     

Public Contest through the Popular Media: The Mining Industry's Advertising War against the Australian Labor Government

This article explores the ‘mining tax ad war of 2010’, which contributed to the removal of a first-term Labor prime minister and shaped Australia's Minerals Resource Rent Tax. In particular, it examines the uses, ethics and consequences of advocacy advertising, which is an under-explored aspect of communication power. The article identifies advocacy advertising as an increasingly prevalent technique used by corporations and lobby groups to influence public policy in Australia. In conclusion, the article focuses on the regulatory environment for such campaigns and the areas of future research that might help to safeguard democratic practices.

本文讨论了2010年的矿税广告战,该战把第一任期的工党领袖拉下了马,并造就了澳大利亚矿产资源租赁税。作者特别分析了广告宣传作为一种没太被研究的通讯权力的用途、伦理和结果。本文指出广告宣传日益成为公司和游说集团用以影响澳大利亚公共政策的流行工具。作者最后集中讨论了这类竞争的管制环境,以及有助于保护民主实践的未来研究领域。