Search results for "Faith"

Keep the faith in banking : New evidence for the effects of negative interest rates based on the case of Finnish cooperative banks

2021

This paper analyses the profitability of Finnish cooperative banks during the period of negative nominal interest rates. Contrary to expectations, the continuous decline in money market interest rates between 2009 and 2014, and the following negative rate era, did not have adverse effects on the profitability of banks at the beginning of negative interest rate period. Based on especially using a risk-adjusted measure for bank profitability, these results contrast with previous findings. In our findings, the increasing wholesale funding (WSF) ratio seems to be an important factor. However, after 2017 the banks have not been able to improve especially their risk-adjusted profitability so stro…

Introductory commentary : Lived experiences of qur’anic schooling in Scandinavia

2019

Reading the contributions to this special issue, it is striking how little research has hitherto been conducted on qur’anic schooling and Qur’an faith literacy practices in Scandinavia, despite it being well-known that the Qur’an schools constitute important religious and social meeting points for many Muslim faith members (e.g., Risenfors, Gurdal, & Sorbring 2011). In all of the Scandinavian countries, numerous children and adolescents regularly attend qur’anic schooling from a very young age. As argued by Day and Rogaly (2014), shared Islamic faith literacy practices and participation in qur’anic schooling thus contribute to creating a sense of social belonging and coherence for many fait…

The Meeting of the Comission on Faith and Order at the Monastery of Caraiman, Busteni, Romania, 17-24 June 2015

2016

Jaspers’ Concept of Philosophical Faith: A New Synthesis?

2011

Philosophy begins where science ends. Philosophy has ceased to be a science. It is a source of its own. The limits of science make obvious that faith belongs to being human. Faith is either religious or philosophical. Faith is a main phenomenon of being human. It consists in the simple fact that persons have ultimate convictions. Philosophical faith is existential faith. Its certainty is tied to the individual. Philosophical faith cannot be achieved without personal effort, without acts of actual freedom, and without realizations of Existenz. Jaspers’ concept of philosophical faith turns out to be a new synthesis of historical conditions and philosophical requirements.

Faith and Worldview Communities and Their Leaders–Inward or Outward Looking?

2017

This chapter analyzes some of the ways that the faith and worldview communities deal with the growing religious diversity. The first part outlines the development of the “interfaith infrastructures” during the past decades. There has been a growth of interfaith bodies and religious umbrella organizations in all the five countries. These bodies are stronger at the national level in Norway and Finland, while local bodies are important in Sweden. The second part analyzes interview data of Norwegian national religious leaders, which show that most of them have an outward orientation and participate in bridgebuilding activities. The growth in the interfaith infrastructure has contributed to a de…

Thomas MacGreevy and Samuel Beckett. Affinity and Controversy

2012

Acquainted with Beckett in (1928) Parisian Ecole Normale, Thomas MacGreevy soon became his confidant and a literary mentor introducing him to James Joyce and Richard Aldington. Their artistic interests took form, among others, of the common declaration “Manifesto. Poetry is Vertical” (1932), signed by them and several other poets associated with Jolas’s transition. However, the intellectual attraction between the two was, at the same time, disturbed, or, so to say, spiced, by the tension between Beckett’s agnosticism and MacGreevy’s Catholicism. Sean Kennedy’s illuminating article (“Beckett Reviewing MacGreevy: A Reconsideration,” in; The Irish University Review, September 2005, pp. 273–288…

Finding faith in foreign policy: religion and American diplomacy in a postsecular world

2021

In recent decades, research into the growing entanglement of faith groups and US foreign policy has added significantly to our understanding that the country’s much-vaunted separation of church and...

The Lutheran and Roman Catholic Churches in Latvia

2021

Before World War II Latvia had several strong traditional religious communities: Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Russian Old Believers and Orthodox. After the war, the Soviet regime extended the persecution of these communities eliminating the most disobedient clergymen and church members. The property of religious groups was nationalized, and many parishes were abolished. Even after the repressions, religious communities continued to be active. However, to preserve their faith, they had to seek compromises with the Soviet regime, including with the KGB. The chapter focuses on the two main Christian churches in Latvia, the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, explai…

Modular representation theory and pi-algebras

1988

(1988). Modular representation theory and pi-algebras. Communications in Algebra: Vol. 16, No. 10, pp. 2043-2067.

Companies’ Selection Methods for Inclusion in Sustainable Indices: A Fuzzy Approach

2017

Sustainability indices handle concepts which are both, of numerical and non-numerical nature. In this context, the use of Fuzzy Logic is highly useful as allows a more faithful representation of reality. Usually these indices follow a three-step process to define sustainable investment universes. First step consists of sustainability assessment. In the second step, assets are rated based on the previously assessed sustainability scores and finally, best assets are selected. This last step relies on the construction of a global score reflecting the performance of the assets in main sustainability dimensions. In this Chapter we are concerned with the third step of the selection process. We re…