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Staging and questioning the sacred in video games.
Many video games are immersed in a world of magic which conjures up recurrent figures from the sacred realm : a pantheon of gods and demons, religious organisations of priests, wizards and knights, beliefs, myths, rites etc. The authors of this article explore the meanings behind a remarkable phenomenon where the young people and adults who play these games, coming from a disenchanted society, do not usually indicate their religious convictions. The first part of this article gives an inventory of figures through whom the sacred is staged in the most widespread video games : axiological oppositions, mythological tales and adventure experienced as a quest. The second part analyses the function of games in relation to the sacred : if the player is only pretending to believe in these figures, what is the meaning of this make-believe ?

This article reports on findings from a study of 989 fathers of school-going children aged 10 through 16 from intact families in rural and urban areas in Selangor, Malaysia. The study aims to explore the factors that affect father involvement among Malay Muslims. Results indicate that fathers' education, marital quality, and number of children are significantly related to their involvement in children's lives. Fathers' perceptions of their own fathers' involvement when they were young is also positively associated with their involvement with children, supporting the concept of intergenerational fathering in social learning theory. Muslim fathers see financial provisioning, moral teaching, praying, reciting the Quran, and fasting together with children as their religious duties that God entrusts to them to fulfill both world and after-life purposes. However, they cite lack of time and a common wish to be more involved in their children's life.

The Great War is not a historical episode that easily lends itself to studying the subtleties of religious belief systems. Believers on opposite sides claimed that they were engaged in a just war of defense against aggression. They argued that God was on their side, and they prayed for victory of their nation—even if that meant the destruction of their fellow believers who were now considered the enemy. Despite Catholic claims to internationalism and universalism, the overwhelming majority of Catholic bishops and prominent clerics in the public sphere devoted themselves to national causes. Clerical nationalism seemed to overwhelm Christian fellowship, and the clerical nationalist paradigm often served as scholarly shorthand for the experience of religion during the war, especially for long-term studies of Christianity and war. The implacable hostility between French and German Catholic bishops became a convenient symbol of European national enmity in an age of total war.

The results of the 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International indicate the seriousness of the worldwide corruption problem. Although recent decades have witnessed a global public awareness and an increase in attempts to eradicate corruption, it is an ongoing problem. It is evident that legislation is not an effective deterrent and it should therefore also be tackled at grass roots level by involving ordinary citizens, including Christians. On an individual level, it entails personal honesty and the living of exemplary lives. The golden rule of Jesus Christ can serve as a guiding principle for everyday life, namely do to others what you would have them do to you. On the public level, it requires the willingness to act as whistle-blowers. Christians are called and sanctioned by God to participate actively in society's transformation. They need to think ethically and to act with the proper attitude.

In 2011, Tunisia achieved a successful democratic transition, albeit not yet a consolidation of democracy. It did so while adhering to a relationship between religion and politics that follows the pattern of what I have called the "twin tolerations." The first toleration is that of religious citizens toward the state. It requires that they accord democratically elected officials the freedom to legislate and govern without having to confront denials of their authority based on religious claims—such as the claim that "Only God, not man, can make laws." The second toleration requires that laws and officials must permit religious citizens, as a matter of right, to freely express their views and values within civil society, and to freely take part in politics, as long as religious activists and organizations respect other citizens' constitutional rights and the law.

The results of the 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International indicate the seriousness of the worldwide corruption problem. Although recent decades have witnessed a global public awareness and an increase in attempts to eradicate corruption, it is an ongoing problem. It is evident that legislation is not an effective deterrent and it should therefore also be tackled at grass roots level by involving ordinary citizens, including Christians. On an individual level, it entails personal honesty and the living of exemplary lives. The golden rule of Jesus Christ can serve as a guiding principle for everyday life, namely do to others what you would have them do to you. On the public level, it requires the willingness to act as whistle-blowers. Christians are called and sanctioned by God to participate actively in society's transformation. They need to think ethically and to act with the proper attitude.

This article discusses the GKSA's (Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika) use of article 30 CO during the apartheid era. The central theoretical argument is that the GKSA Synods gave a Kuyperian content to the expression 'ecclesiastical affairs in an ecclesiastical manner' in article 30 CO, and this enabled them to evade sensitive political issues. The article states that the Kuyperian ecclesiology contains serious deficiencies and proposes that the relevant expression must rather be interpreted from the perspective of God's kingdom, because the church is a sign and instrument of God's kingdom on earth that anticipates the kingdom of God. 'Ecclesiastical affairs' ought to refer to all religious-ethical, social-ethical and spiritual issues that pertain to the principles of God's kingdom, while 'ecclesiastical manner' ought to depict the church's unique way of dealing with matters through witness, confession and proclamation

Omdømmebygging og "branding" er blitt stadig viktigere i offentlig sektor. Offentlige virksomheter skal nå utvikle egen identitet og være proaktive med hensyn til å påvirke omgivelsenes oppfatninger i positiv retning. De kappes om å score høyt på omdømmeindekser og om å være responsive i forhold til omgivelsenes krav og reaksjoner. Alle ansatte skal framstå som gode ambassadører for virksomhetens renommé. I artikkelen diskuteres bakgrunnen for denne oppskriftens ekspansjon, samtidig som det også stilles det spørsmål ved i hvilken grad den er tilpasset offentlig sektors særegne verdier og karakter. Det ligger i mandatet til offentlige institusjoner at de skal være upartiske og nøytrale og dermed ikke kan behandle klientgrupper ulikt slik omdømmmeoppskriften foreskriver. De skal også være både forutsigbare og ivareta lover og regler og være lojale i forhold til politiske føringer. Artikkelen avsluttes med en presentasjon av 10 paradokser i tilknytning til omdømmehåndtering i offentlig sektor.

Divine interventions. (Re)birth and creation narratives in Fra mand til kvinde - Lili Elbes bekendelserWith (re)birth and creation narratives being a prominent strand in biographically aligned writing especially of and about male to female transsexuals, looking at an early account like Fra Mand til Kvinde (1931) elucidates how the hierarchy between medicine and transsexual subject is inscribed into such texts. The article examines how (re)birth narratives serve as indicators for the various stages of Lili Elbe's transition while leaving her in a subordinate state and dependent on the moulding of her surroundings, especially her surgeon who is staged as a god-like persona and hence appears as the creating force behind Elbe's transformation. Engaging with those allegedly 'divine interventions', not only highlights the reception of a trans-medical relationship but also exposes the reproduction of power structures on a larger scale.

International audience ; During the French Revolution, French astronomy was both contested by the Parisian mob, when Cassini was housted from the Observatoire, and courted by political power. The establishment of the Bureau des Longitudes, the expeditions for determining the length of the meter as well as the reliance of Napoleon on observatory techniques on the battlefield show that astronomy was quickly becoming an important auxiliary to the modern State. In the decades that followed, astronomical research was completely restructured by the State. At the same time, atheist narratives about the origins of the Solar system were first suggested and slowly gained credence. In this talk, I would like to use the case of Paris to explore ways in which we can understand the rise of the observatory sciences in the nineteenth century as a cosmopolitical project designed for displacing the basis of political authority from God to the people without falling into anarchy.

International audience ; During the French Revolution, French astronomy was both contested by the Parisian mob, when Cassini was housted from the Observatoire, and courted by political power. The establishment of the Bureau des Longitudes, the expeditions for determining the length of the meter as well as the reliance of Napoleon on observatory techniques on the battlefield show that astronomy was quickly becoming an important auxiliary to the modern State. In the decades that followed, astronomical research was completely restructured by the State. At the same time, atheist narratives about the origins of the Solar system were first suggested and slowly gained credence. In this talk, I would like to use the case of Paris to explore ways in which we can understand the rise of the observatory sciences in the nineteenth century as a cosmopolitical project designed for displacing the basis of political authority from God to the people without falling into anarchy.

International audience ; During the French Revolution, French astronomy was both contested by the Parisian mob, when Cassini was housted from the Observatoire, and courted by political power. The establishment of the Bureau des Longitudes, the expeditions for determining the length of the meter as well as the reliance of Napoleon on observatory techniques on the battlefield show that astronomy was quickly becoming an important auxiliary to the modern State. In the decades that followed, astronomical research was completely restructured by the State. At the same time, atheist narratives about the origins of the Solar system were first suggested and slowly gained credence. In this talk, I would like to use the case of Paris to explore ways in which we can understand the rise of the observatory sciences in the nineteenth century as a cosmopolitical project designed for displacing the basis of political authority from God to the people without falling into anarchy.

International audience ; During the French Revolution, French astronomy was both contested by the Parisian mob, when Cassini was housted from the Observatoire, and courted by political power. The establishment of the Bureau des Longitudes, the expeditions for determining the length of the meter as well as the reliance of Napoleon on observatory techniques on the battlefield show that astronomy was quickly becoming an important auxiliary to the modern State. In the decades that followed, astronomical research was completely restructured by the State. At the same time, atheist narratives about the origins of the Solar system were first suggested and slowly gained credence. In this talk, I would like to use the case of Paris to explore ways in which we can understand the rise of the observatory sciences in the nineteenth century as a cosmopolitical project designed for displacing the basis of political authority from God to the people without falling into anarchy.