Biola University (/baɪˈoʊlə/) is a private Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. The university hosts the annual Missions Conference, the largest annual missions conference and the second largest missions conference in the world. It has also played a significant role in the development of intelligent design.
We explored whether major religious groups’ attitudes toward gene editing differ, as well as what specific religious and personal characteristics predict attitudes toward gene editing. We administered a survey to a sample of U.S. adults (N = 4939), including stratified samples of nine major religious and non-religious groups. We assessed participants’ religious affiliation, beliefs, and practices, and their attitudes (i.e., support and concerns) toward gene editing. Participants generally supported gene editing but also reported moderate levels of concerns. Atheist participants reported the highest support, while Mainline Protestants reported the lowest. Muslim participants reported the highest concerns, while atheist participants reported the lowest. Views on evolution and the healthcare values of their spiritual community predicted support, while views on evolution, beliefs that one’s body is a manifestation of God, and religious discrimination predicted concerns. The strongest predictors of attitudes were distrust and genetic knowledge, with higher genetic knowledge predicting lower support. While religious affiliation predicts attitudes toward gene editing, generalizations must be avoided given the range of attitudes within each group. Additionally, education alone is unlikely to increase support for gene editing. Fostering trust among religious groups is essential to ensuring that their decisions reflect their values and priorities, rather than being driven by distrust of the healthcare system. Better understanding religion’s impact on attitudes toward gene editing may facilitate appropriate genetic counseling and inform policymaking efforts.
I am pleased to introduce the fourth installment of the Clinical Integrative Practice (CIP) section, a special issue dedicated to the integration of psychology and Christianity through clinical practice and case study. In this section, Bland and Hoard present a Lacanian conceptualization of moral and spiritual perfectionism through the metaphor of the "Christian filter," drawing on a clinical case with Lucas to explore the tension between the ideal, the demands of evangelical culture, and "unknown." In their responses, Taylor, Allen-Peck, and Lin and Wang engage perfectionism from psychoanalytic, cultural-religious, clinical, and empirical perspectives.
This article explores Marva Dawn's contribution to the Spiritual Formation movement, focusing on her vision for the Church as a joyful, communal witness of God's kingdom. Drawing on Jacques Ellul's analysis of our "technological age" and the New Testament concept of "principalities and powers," Dawn diagnosed how cultural forces like efficiency, productivity, and utility distort the Christian life. She offered a deeply theological alternative: life together in the Trinity, nurtured through worship and Sabbath, which create space for the Church to be renewed by God's kingdom so that God's kingdom can reign through the Church. These practices are not quick fixes, but gifts that shape believers communally into Christlikeness. Dawn's teaching on worship and Sabbath remains a force in the Spiritual Formation movement, and are instructive for those seeking to embody the "hilarity" of community and the wholeness of life in God amid the pressures of a technological age.
While much has been written about the influence of Plato in MacDonald’s writing, scholars have overlooked his engagement with Stoicism, as mediated through the work of Epictetus. This paper argues that MacDonald’s thought draws significantly from Stoicism and that his many references to Epictetus are indicative of his engagement with the questions posed by Stoic philosophers about suffering, evil, freedom, and providence. MacDonald directly attributes two main themes to Epictetus that are also essential in his own thought: first, that of remaining steadfast in suffering, unmoved by evil circumstances as well as good, and second, that obedience to God brings freedom. Resting on the providential fatherhood of God, both teachers conclude that external things are not necessary to happiness and that a person can yield them fearlessly to him. However, in Christ, MacDonald gains joy and labours in love for his neighbour, features that are not present in Epictetus’s Stoicism.
