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Displaying: 1-14 of 14 documents


1. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Marc Champagne

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Descartes holds that the tell-tale sign of a solid proof is that its entailments appear clearly and distinctly. Yet, since there is a limit to what a subject can consciously fathom at any given moment, a mnemonic shortcoming threatens to render complex geometrical reasoning impossible. Thus, what enables us to recall earlier proofs, according to Descartes, is God’s benevolence: He is too good to pull a deceptive switch on us. Accordingly, Descartes concludes that geometry and belief in God must go hand in hand. However, I argue that, while theism adds a layer of psychological reassurance, the mind-independent reality of God would ensure the preservation of past demonstrations for atheists as well.

2. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Scott R. Paeth

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This article examines the relationship between Schleiermacher’s conception of religious self-consciousness and morality. It argues that Schleiermacher’s theological approach to morality provides a possible alternative to Kant’s philosophical attempt to ground religious belief in practical reason. Schleiermacher grounds morality in religious faith rather than the other way around. After tracing Kant’s approach to the question of religious faith and ethical thought through its development in the work of Fichte and Schelling, the article considers in more detail Schleiermacher’s approach to this issue.

3. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Edwin El-Mahassni

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Hans Küng was the first theologian to systematically apply Thomas Kuhn’s ideas to the study of the Christian faith when he wrote Theology for the Third Millenium. In 1991, along with other theologians, Paradigm Change in Theology was published. Terms like paradigms, anomalies, crisis and revolutions have been shown to correspond to distinct epochs throughout history to characterise Christian thought. However, there are also limitations to how far these analogies can go. These limitations, alongside the work of other philosophers of science, in particular Larry Laudan, are here discussed to aid in understanding the development of Christian doctrine.

4. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Ryan G. Duns, SJ

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Building on Peter Fritz’s work, this essay contributes to the dialogue between Jean-Luc Marion and Karl Rahner. Often assumed to be incompatible, I argue that there are sufficient points of contact to merit a consideration of how each conceives the relationship between philosophy and theology. Drawing on Hearer of the Word, my Rahnerian rejoinder challenges Marion to be more explicit about the role faith plays in his phenomenology. Ultimately, their work does not fit readily into philosophy or theology, allowing me to suggest that they are better understood as mystagogical thinkers who draw us more deeply into God’s Infinite Mystery.

5. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Gregory C. Lendvay

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Learning with the Heart is a process in which images from memory conflate with imagination and sensation to generate transpersonal awareness. Highlights of the occidental understanding of learning with the heart, embedded in poetic images, religious metaphors, ritualistic gestures, and biological insights as explained by Gerald Edelman, provide a background to examine learning with the heart. Henri Corbin’s metaphor of imaginal perception, the conflation of diverse awarenesses held together and valued through the energy of the heart, can be a focus for examining learning with the heart embedded in ordinary experiences such as in the classroom, in meditation, or in conversation. Corbin’s work invites us to understand the status sui generis of the procreative heart. It has evolutionary implications through generating an unprecedented valuation of the immediate conflation of embodied memory, sensation, and imagination.

6. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
James B. Gould

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In this paper I argue two things. First, taking my cue from the process of Rawlsian reflective equilibrium, I outline a theological method in which rational perspectives not grounded in Scripture play a controlling role in interpreting the Bible. Some reason-revelation conflicts should be resolved by taking philosophical or scientific thinking as the correct starting point, and adjusting our understanding of Scripture accordingly. Second, I apply this approach to the dilemma of partnered homosexuality. Moral reasoning clearly permits committed same-sex relationships, and so the Bible must be understood to not forbid them.

7. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Jennifer M. Buck

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This article seeks to explore the theology of grace and specifically the nature-grace relationship in the works of theologians Jürgen Moltmann and Karl Rahner. Both attempt to liberate nature and grace from the framework that limits its expanse while still respecting its thought and ontology. Moltmann and Rahner share very similar conclusions on a theology of grace, with differing methodologies and ontological assumptions. Rahner’s ‘economy of grace’ is the means by which God as an infinite being gives the reality of inner, divine, Trinitarian life to humanity through grace. Moltmann attempts to ‘radicalize’ this notion of grace by introducing eschatology and abandoning previous frameworks. Within contemporary theology, Moltmann expands and constructs a truer theology of the mystery of God and of grace. Moltmann successfully expands on Rahner’s conception of grace while still demonstrating the means by which Rahner’s theology still stands.

8. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Joshua Farris

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Lynne Rudder Baker makes a significant contribution to theological anthropology by constructively drawing from her constitutional view of human persons (hereafter CV). In a recent article, “Persons and the Natural Order”, Baker defends CV and argues that it more satisfactorily accounts for the philosophical and theological desiderata. I am especially interested in the theological desiderata given by Baker, which at its core seems to depend upon personal agency. I argue that substance dualism offers a superior accounting for the psychology persons have of themselves as personal agents. In fact, Baker’s CV encounters a significant problem concerning the ability to pick out definite content regarding the ‘I’ that entails other problematic theological ramifications.

9. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
J. August Higgins

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This article examines Hans-Georg Gadamer’s seminal work Truth and Method and the central notion of the “fusion of horizons” as it relates to several central concerns within the contemporary study of Christian spirituality. In particular, the nature of human experience in general and religious experience in particular play a significant role in Gadamer’s work and spirituality respectively. Ultimately, this article concludes that Gadamer’s fusion of horizons opens up the possibility of integrating the experience of God via the Holy Spirit into a critical hermeneutics of spirituality that is socially-communally oriented within the interpretive community of believers.

10. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
James B. South Orcid-ID

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rahner papers

11. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Howard Ebert

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This paper argues that Rahner’s approach lays the foundation for a serious analysis of the social dynamics at work in the reality of the sensus fidei. Theologically, Rahner’s view of the Church as communal, sacramental, and spirit-filled is dynamic and relational. This view coupled with his acknowledgement of the new social reality of the World Church living in diaspora creates a conceptual space in which a socially informed notion of the sensus fidei can be articulated. Suggestive in nature, Rahner’s appreciation of the significant role of practical theology’s inductive and self-reflective nature provides a method to analyze and express a socially nuanced, theologically grounded understanding of the sensus fidei. This understanding enriches the life of the Church and is a model for the incorporation of the social sciences in theological discourse.
12. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Mark F. Fischer

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Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar differed in their approaches to Christian soteriology, especially in their understandings of redemption and the cross. These differences stem in part from Rahner’s emphasis on the Trinity in history (the economic Trinity) and Balthasar’s focus on the Trinity’s inner life (the immanent Trinity). While Balthasar’s soteriology better reflects the Church’s official descending Christology, Rahner’s ascending Christology (with its view of Jesus as the fullness of God united to human nature) is the more profound.
13. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Ashley Logsdon

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How are religiously-devout scientists and scientifically-minded theologians to address, both professionally and personally, the perceived conflict between their disciplines? This paper brings Stephen Jay Gould’s principle of “Non-Overlapping Magisteria” (NOMA) into dialogue with Karl Rahner’s notion of gnoseological concupiscence in order to elucidate strategies for interdisciplinary dialogue and everyday living amidst chronic “conflict.” NOMA helpfully articulates a pragmatic mindset that is widespread among scientists but is ultimately too simplistic to account for scientists’ daily experiences of tension. In contrast, Rahner’s understanding of gnoseological concupiscence takes seriously both human nature and experience, paving the way for productive interdisciplinary dialogue that is attentive to the “human factor” within each discipline. Furthermore, Rahner provides pastoral guidance for scientists experiencing inner conflict between their professional work and profession of faith. Rahner encourages conflicted scientists to surrender their struggles to divine mystery as part of their asymptotic striving for integration between science and faith.
14. Philosophy and Theology: Volume > 28 > Issue: 2
Richard Penaskovic

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