Academic publications involving JWs

by asleif_dufansdottir 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  asleif_dufansdottir

  In trying to explain to someone on another site how to do an academic publication search, I came across the following related to JWs. Thought y'all might be interested:

  Note: TI is title (of book, article), AB is abstract (short description of article)
  
  TI: Juggling law, ethics, and intuition: practical answers to awkward questions
  AU: Sommerville,-A
  PEI: Y
  JN: Journal-of-Medical-Ethics
  SO: Journal of Medical Ethics v 29 no5 Oct 2003. p. 281-6
  AB: The eclectic problem solving methodology used by the British Medical Association (BMA) is described in this paper. It has grown from the daily need to respond to doctors' practical queries and incorporates reference to law, traditional professional codes, and established BMA policies--all of which must be regularly assessed against the benchmark of contemporary societal expectations. The two Jehovah's Witness scenarios are analysed, using this methodology and in both cases the four principles solution is found to concur with that of the BMA's approach. The author's overall conclusion is that although the BMA resorts to a lengthier list of things to consider, the solutions that emerge are often likely to coincide with the four principles approach. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
  
  TI: Methods and principles in biomedical ethics
  AU: Beauchamp,-T.-L
  PEI: Y
  JN: Journal-of-Medical-Ethics
  SO: Journal of Medical Ethics v 29 no5 Oct 2003. p. 269-74
  AB: The four principles approach to medical ethics plus specification is used in this paper. Specification is defined as a process of reducing the indeterminateness of general norms to give them increased action guiding capacity, while retaining the moral commitments in the original norm. Since questions of method are central to the symposium, the paper begins with four observations about method in moral reasoning and case analysis. Three of the four scenarios are dealt with. It is concluded in the "standard" Jehovah's Witness case that having autonomously chosen the authority of his religious institution, a Jehovah's Witness has a reasonable basis on which to refuse a recommended blood transfusion. The author's view of the child of a Jehovah's Witness scenario is that it is morally required--not merely permitted--to overrule this parental refusal of treatment. It is argued in the selling kidneys for transplantation scenario that a fair system of regulating and monitoring would be better than the present system which the author believes to be a shameful failure. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Note: TI is title (of book, article), AB is abstract (short description of article)
  
  TI: Why some Jehovah's Witnesses accept blood and conscientiously reject official Watchtower Society blood policy
  OT: Augmented title: comment on D. Malyon and on D. T. Ridley
  AU: Elder,-Lee
  PEI: Y
  JN: Journal-of-Medical-Ethics
  SO: Journal of Medical Ethics v 26 no5 Oct 2000. p. 375-80
  AB: In their responses to Dr Osamu Muramoto (hereafter Muramoto) Watchtower Society (hereafter WTS) spokesmen David Malyon and Donald Ridley (hereafter Malyon and Ridley), deny many of the criticisms levelled against WTS by Muramoto. In this paper I argue as a Jehovah's Witness (hereafter JW) and on behalf of the members of AJWRB that there is no biblical basis for the WTS's partial ban on blood and that this dissenting theological view should be made clear to all JW patients who reject blood on religious grounds. Such patients should be guaranteed confidentiality should they accept whole blood or components that are banned by the WTS. I argue against Malyon's and Ridley's claim that WTS policy allows freedom of conscience to individual JWs and that it is non-coercive and non-punitive in dealing with conscientious dissent and I challenge the notion that there is monolithic support of the WTS blood policy among those who identify themselves as JWs and carry the WTS "advance directive".
  
  TI: When religion collides with medicine
  OT: Augmented title: clinical case conference
  AU: Stotland,-Nada-L
  PEI: Y
  JN: The-American-Journal-of-Psychiatry
  SO: The American Journal of Psychiatry v 156 no2 Feb 1999. p. 304-7
  AB: A clinical case conference is presented to discuss the psychological, sociological, and ethical repercussions that ensue when a patient's religious beliefs cause them to refuse life- or limb-saving medical treatment. A female Jehovah's Witness patient with an internal hemorrhage died because she and her family refused blood transfusions, which were prohibited by their religious beliefs.
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  asleif_dufansdottir

  TI: Transfusion-free treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses: respecting the autonomous patient's motives
  OT: Augmented title: comment on O. Muramoto
  AU: Malyon,-David
  PEI: Y
  JN: Journal-of-Medical-Ethics
  SO: Journal of Medical Ethics v 24 no6 Dec 1998. p. 376-81
  AB: What makes Jehovah's Witnesses tick? What motivates practitioners of medicine? How is benevolent human behaviour to be interpreted? The explanation that fear of censure, mind-control techniques or enlightened self-interest are the real motivators of human conduct is questioned. Those who believe that man was created in "God's image," hold that humanity has the potential to rise above selfishly driven attitudes and actions, and reflect the qualities of love, kindness and justice that separate us from the beasts. A comparison of general medical ethics and disciplines, and those of the Jehovah's Witness community, is made in this context. The easy charge that frequent deaths result from refusal of blood transfusions is examined. The central source of antipathy towards Jehovah's Witnesses, namely the alleged imposition of extreme and even harmful refusal of blood therapy on our children is addressed. Of course, ". . . few dilemmas are likely to be resolved wisely or satisfactorily by a blinkered adherence to abstract principles alone. Solutions to most cases will be dictated by a combination of factors." The support of medical ethics by Jehovah's Witnesses, and their willingness to share in reasoned and ethical debate, while at the same time holding firm to their religious and conscientious principles are emphasised.
  
  TI: My conscience, your moneyOT: Augmented title: case study
  JN: The-Hastings-Center-Report
  SO: The Hastings Center Report v 25 Sept/Oct 1995. p. 28-9
  AB: Two writers comment on the medical ethics of providing expensive treatment to a patient who refuses regular therapeutic options. A young Jehovah's Witness refused a blood transfusion on religious grounds and was subsequently treated in the ICU with expensive drugs at a total cost of nearly $100,000, which had to be absorbed by the hospital. One writer claims that an ordinary managed care system is under no obligation to pay for costly medical intervention that results from religious beliefs. The second writer queries whether allowing a death is religiously disrespectful if it flows from nontreatment due to religious beliefs. He also points out that the provision of costly treatment may cause other patients to suffer and concludes that there is no simple solution to the ethical dilemma. Both writers discuss the concept of an independent managed care organization for those placing conditions on their treatment for religious reasons.

  TI: Papa was a Jehovah's Witness
  OT: Augmented title: with excerpt from Father's touch
  AU: D'Haene,-Donald
  JN: Gay-and-Lesbian-Review
  SO: Gay and Lesbian Review v 9 no4 July/Aug 2002. p. 24-7
  AB: Part of a special issue on the crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church over gay priests and sexual abuse. The writer reflects on his experience of abuse as a child. He demonstrates how the abuser, his father, used the theology of the Jehovah's Witnesses to support his craving and justify his actions. He questions why victims of abuse are so slow at coming forward to report their experiences. He contends that, at least for boys, this is due to the culturally imposed shame that is attached to homosexual contact; while most victims are not gay, the fact that they were targeted for abuse somehow raises doubts about their masculinity. He concludes that, as the current crisis in the Catholic Church reveals, powerful institutions can stand as formidable barriers to the disclosure of sexual abuse.

  (I don't remember seeing the above article discussed here...sounds important!!)
  TI: Jehovah's Witnesses and the responsibility of religious freedom: the European experience
  AU: Wah,-Carolyn-R
  PEI: Y
  JN: Journal-of-Church-and-State
  SO: Journal of Church and State v 43 no3 Summer 2001. p. 579-601
  AB: The writer considers the treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses in Europe by mainstream religions, judicial systems, anti-cult movements, and media. She elucidates the organization, beliefs, and history of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Europe, highlighting their persecution by Nazi, fascist, and communist regimes. She details the birth and methodology of the European Parliamentary Enquete Commission, designed to examine sects and so-called psychology groups, and she discusses European legislation and administrative reactions to the Enquete Commission's reports. She focuses on child custody cases decided in favor of the Jehovah's Witness parent and attempts to explain why the findings of the best interests hearings are so often at odds with media reports and the conclusions of governmental administrative agencies.
  
  TI: Innocence, ignorance- and backlash
  AU: Williams,-Leslie
  JN: The-Humanist
  SO: The Humanist v 55 Mar/Apr 1995. p. 33-4
  AB: The battle lines over the separation of church and state in American schools are becoming increasingly polarized. In the last 40 years or so, substantial gains have been made in separating church and state, but those gains are now being attacked by the Christian right. Meanwhile, many Americans ignorantly believe that it is enough to simply allow students of non-Christian faiths to abstain from religious celebrations in schools. They fail to recognize that such policies can leave students feeling uneasy and ostracized. The writer discusses her experiences as an elementary school teacher in the late 1960s and the effect of the school's religious policies on Jewish and Jehovah's Witness students.
• 

  asleif_dufansdottir

  TI: When Festinger fails: prophecy and the Watch tower
  AU: Schmalz,-Mathew-N
  JN: Religion
  SO: Religion v 24 Oct 1994. p. 293-308
  AB: An examination of the responses of Jehovah's Witnesses to failed predictions regarding the date for the coming of Christ's millennial reign. Within its history, the Watch Tower--a millenarian movement within the Jehovah's Witness Church--has often set dates for Armageddon, which have subsequently been disconfirmed. Leon Festinger has argued that such disconfirmations of prophecy lead only to deepened conviction and increased proselytism to convince others that the original belief was correct. Applying Festinger's hypotheses to the prophetic speculation of the Watch Tower, the writer contends that his model fails to recognize how complex organizations and systems of belief shape responses to disconfirmed prophecy. He concludes that it is the very power of the Watch Tower as a millenarian movement that allows not only the rationalization of disconfirmation but the retrospective denial of the prophecy itself.

  These web sites:

  You Can Live Forever on a Paradise Earth
  The Visual Rhetoric of Jehovah's Witness Iconography
  by Joel Elliott
  
  NOTE: This essay is based on a slide-show presentation delivered in November, 1995, at the joint annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion / Religious Research Association, in St. Louis, MO.
  
  http://www.unc.edu/~elliott/icon.html
  
  The Jehovah's Witnesses
  and the Theocratic Subversion of Ethnicity
  A Paper Presented to the American Academy of Religion
  Washington, DC, November 21, 1993
  © 1993
  Joel Elliott
  http://www.unc.edu/~elliott/aar_dc.html
  
  
  LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY AT THE KINGDOM HALL:
  THE DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES OF THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY
  © 1993
  Joel Elliott
  http://www.unc.edu/~elliott/langid.html
  
  
  1998 Article on JWs (PDF format) from the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society (ed. Wm. Swatos).
  http://www.unc.edu/~elliott/docs/jws_article.pdf
  
  (...this guy is really well published for a PhD candidate...)

  ...and a book chapter

  Author: Cooper, Lee R.
  
  Chapter Title: "Publish" or perish: Negro Jehovah's Witness adaptation in the ghetto.
  
  In(book title): Religious movements in contemporary America.
  -- Princeton : Princeton University Press, c1974. p. 700-721.

  Just thought somebody here might be interested...besides, I'm an academic goob...(some of these are cited at other places like Watchtower information service, but I included them here anyway)
• 

  somebodylovesme

  I am presenting an academic paper that involves the WTS at a conference in April. I will post if/when it is actually published.
• 

  asleif_dufansdottir

  Please do!

  It would be so cool to have an exhaustive, comprehensive list of academic publications (of all disciplines) involving JWs...of course, a message board is not the ideal place to keep a list. Does anybody know if some of the long-time stable XJW sites try to keep one?

  Edited because I forgot to say

  Wow! How cool is that! Congratulations on the pub. I'm doing my first big poster presentation this month and I know how important it is...
• 

  larc

  Here is one: Stark, R. and Iannaccone, L.R. (1997) Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 12, #2, pp. 133-157, Why the Jehovah's Witnesses Grow so Rapidly: A Theoretical Application. This was researched before the decline in growth began. I e-mailed Stark, to see if he would be interested in a follow up article. He as engaged in a large project, and did not want to take time to persue a folow up.