While the term midrash--from the Hebrew darash, searched or interpreted--can refer to both legal and extralegal scriptural exegesis, it most commonly refers to symbolic legends, stories, and parables used to make moral or ethical concepts accessible to the layman
The Calvinist view that man is predestined to be among the elect or the damned has profoundly influenced not only our views of criminals and deviants, but also the theoretical basis of correctional methods and psychotherapeutic techniques
Judaism openly recognizes, as an integral part of human nature, the enigmatic relationship between yetzer, or physical desire, and yetzirah, or spiritual creativity
Jewish Scriptural interpretation entails a potential therapeutic bridge between the rational-material and the irrational-mystic in the world of psychotherapy
Interest in the impact of ethical systems and social or religious ideologies on socio-behavioral patterns is a longstanding theme in social science research