Play and folklore

This issue of Play and Folklore has a special focus on children’s outdoor play. We hear many stories about the constraints placed on children’s play by adults – the growing number of ‘bannings’ include handstands, cartwheels, throwing things, playing with sticks, digging holes and rough-and-tumble play. Even simply touching each other is forbidden in some schools. In this issue we bring a more positive perspective on play by highlighting some of the ways in which children are being encouraged and assisted to explore, experiment, be adventurous and make their own fun

A 10-year strategy for the banana sector in Africa

The Banana 2008 Conference held in Mombasa, Kenya, provided the opportunity for developing a strategy to help propel the banana industry as an important engine of growth in Africa. It was attended by more than 300 participants from the research and development arena, the private sector, and the business development, production and processing, policymaking, and marketing sectors

Complementary Sensory and Associative Microcircuitry in Primary Olfactory Cortex

The three-layered primary olfactory (piriform) cortex is the largest component of the olfactory cortex. Sensory and intracortical inputs converge on principal cells in the anterior piriform cortex (aPC).Wecharacterize organization principles of the sensory and intracortical microcircuitry of layer II and III principal cells in acute slices of rat aPC using laser-scanning photostimulation and fast two-photon population Ca²⁺ imaging. Layer II and III principal cells are set up on a superficial-to-deep vertical axis. We found that the position on this axis correlates with input resistance and bursting behavior. These parameters scale with distinct patterns of incorporation into sensory and associative microcircuits, resulting in a converse gradient of sensory and intracortical inputs. In layer II, sensory circuits dominate superficial cells, whereas incorporation in intracortical circuits increases with depth. Layer III pyramidal cells receive more intracortical inputs than layer II pyramidal cells, but with an asymmetric dorsal offset. This microcircuit organization results in a diverse hybrid feedforward/recurrent network of neurons integrating varying ratios of intracortical and sensory input depending on a cell’s position on the superficial-to-deep vertical axis. Since burstiness of spiking correlates with both the cell’s location on this axis and its incorporation in intracortical microcircuitry, the neuronal output mode may encode a given cell’s involvement in sensory versus associative processing

Capitalism, Socialism, and Biblical Ethics

Capitalism versus socialism has raised its head again in biblical ethics. Debate has re-ignited among Christians on whether capitalism is compatible with Christianity. In the US, a majority view is that held by conservative evangelicals who are ready to maintain capitalism as it is. Conversely, a minority position is put by the Radical Orthodoxy School, more inclined to socialism. Other positions also exist, for example, that neither capitalism nor socialism is compatible with Christianity. This paper tries to pick its way through these contentions, emphasizing the arguments of contemporary Christian supporters of capitalism. It focuses on three Christian qualities the capitalist advocates stress. Capitalism and socialism are briefly defined. Ways by which reform might be undertaken inside capitalism are explored, taking the US as example. Some of the reforms proposed in this paper are sometimes labelled “socialist,” but the definitions of socialism and capitalism suggest that the reforms can be accommodated inside a transformed capitalism

A Postmodernist Theologian\u27s Critique of Capitalism

Radically Orthodox theologians believe they are developing an operative Christian economics qualitatively different from the economics with which Christian economists are familiar. Some use postmodernist concepts, relating to desire and power. This paper evaluates a leading exponent of this thesis, Daniel Bell Jr., in his 2012 Economy of Desire, a book so far overlooked in Christian economics discussion. This paper contends that Bell does not take the case for an alternative Christian economics further than where earlier Christian economists had reached, that postmodernist concepts do not illuminate the issues, and that his critique of capitalism does not lead to clear-cut alternatives. The case here is that capitalism is in process of being reformed incrementally on the road to the alternative or divine economy — the mustard seed notion. In the last section, instances are given of how this is being achieved

Using the Bible in Christian Ethics

Various Christian ethicists commented on a disconnection of Christian ethics from the Bible in the 1960s and 70s. Although this tendency is thought to have been remedied, this paper argues otherwise. The distance and detachment of Christian ethics from the Bible continues. The contention is demonstrated from examining Christian ethics’ books published from 2001-2011, plus two influential works from the 90s — Hays, and Peschke. Their separation from the Bible is indicated by their selective analysis of the biblical text, by their ‘plain reading’ interpretation, by their placing more weight on Christian tradition than the Bible, by not relying on the biblical text for developing ethics, and by not showing how biblical ethical guidelines relate to modern life. Exceptions to these generalizations are noted. Suggestions based on the Pontifical Biblical Commission are offered for how these limitations might be addressed