bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Feminist or Functional Cosmology? Ecofeminist Musings on Thomas Berry's Functional Cosmology
Authors: Eaton Heather
Published: March 2015

Over the course of several decades, Thomas Berry developed notions of functional and dysfunctional cosmologies. These are complex concepts containing constellations of ideas and meanings gleaned over a lifetime of experiences and reflection. Berry’s work, since the early 1970s, has been motivated by the assessment and resolution of the ecological crisis, for which a functional cosmology is central. The pre-sent discussion is on Berry’s notion of a functional cosmology, followed by some implications from an ecofeminist perspective. Although he is cited frequently, there has been very little exposition or evaluation of Berry’s proposal; therefore I will describe first some core aspects of his meaning behind a functional cosmology.
Resolving the Third World Debt Crisis
Authors: McDonagh Sean
Published: March 2015

Let me begin by saying how delighted I was to be invited to this beautiful city of Adelaide to take part in this consultation on religion and the environment sponsored by the Charles Strong Trust and the Adelaide College of Divinity. The range of topics and the competence of the various speakers guarantees us all an exciting and most informative weekend. The topic which I will address tonight, ‘The Third World Debt Crisis: A Challenge for Ecojustice’, has been central to my life and ministry for the past 20 years.
Theological Postcards from the Ecological Edge
Authors: Pearson Clive
Published: March 2015

One of the everyday myths of pakeha in Aotearoa-New Zealand is that we live in a ‘clean, green and beautiful land’. Tucked away at the ends of the earth we inhabit a slice of theological geography that we regularly tell ourselves both in cartoon form and everyday conversation is ‘Godzone’. The arrivals’ lounge at our international airports, and the sea cruises advertised every Saturday morning in the Sydney Morning Herald, testify to the popular appeal of majestic mountains, deep fjords, glaciers on which you can land a small plane, gorges into which you might bungy-plummet, spouting geysers, smoking volca-noes, porridge-like pools of boiling mud, the occasional earthquake ( . . . is Wellington still with us?), fields of green, seldom seen flightless birds, and that great favourite, the performing sheep at the Rotorua Agrodome: ‘Welcome to our world’. Cameras/videos at the ready . . . start shooting . . . picture perfect.
Eschatological Hope and Ecological Justice
Authors: Barns Ian
Published: March 2015

Ever since the publication of Lynn White’s essay criticizing Christianity as a primary source of the current environmental crisis there has been much theological debate about the ‘green credentials’ of Christianity. Within this rich and varied literature I believe that the most fruitful orthodox response has been to recover the doctrine of creation as an integral part of the story of salvation. That is to say, the doc-trine of creation is not just as an account of origins antecedent to the drama of sin and redemption, of a beginning which is subsequently disfigured, such that the present creation is doomed to be destroyed at the final coming of the heavenly kingdom. In an orthodox theology of creation, the created order is understood instead as having an eschatological openness towards its ultimate perfection in the kingdom of God. In the accounts of creation developed by Moltmann, Gunton, Zizioulas et al., the being and purpose of the created order is grounded in the trinitarian love of God. Furthermore, the rich diversity, temporality and particularity we find in creation represents not mere ‘noise’ but an expression of God’s fecundity and generosity in the economy of eschatological hope.
Inequality, Ecojustice and Ecological Rationality
Authors: Plumwood Val
Published: March 2015

The Rationality of the EcoRepublic I invite you to join me in imagining a future ecological and global version of Plato’s great rationalist utopia, the EcoRepublic. A global scientist leader, notable for his rationality and brilliant scientific knowledge, establishes a major decision-making discipline of Eco-Guardianship (called THE WAY) designed to generate a global bureaucratic-military class of rational decision-makers. Their skills, like those of Roman consuls, will be employed in the various national provinces, coordinating across world society to deal with the massive ecological problems a global capitalist economy has fathered on an injured and captive nature. The leader chooses the initial group of EcoGuardians, who go on to specify a perfectly objective, recursive process that will select their replacements and train them from infancy in every field of relevant knowledge, to become finally deci-sion-makers in THE WAY. For this reproductive purpose they employ not the Platonic method of selecting promising young rationalists from among the subordinated and devalued non-Guardian population, but the more rationally appealing method of cloning themselves. This method, which they believe offers a higher degree of control over the chaotic and troublesome sphere of nature and the body, eliminates the need for any immediate affective community other than the EcoGuardians themselves. The EcoGuardians don’t mix with the rest of the population, so as not to compromise by attachment their judgment, which often has to be harsh and punitive. They take a pledge to lead austere, Spartan lives, and always to put species’ survival and planetary health before every human desire.
Gandhi's Spirituality in Today's Ecological Crisis
Authors: Mason Simon
Published: March 2015

We are sitting in an enormous cathedral. Light is shining in, there is much light. From high up in the middle of the cathedral a green leaf floats down, slowly, slowly floating down. If carbon dioxide emissions were maintained at today’s levels (an optimistic assumption), they would lead to a nearly constant rate of increase in atmospheric concentrations for at least two centuries, reaching about 500 ppmv (approaching twice the pre-industrial concentration) by the end of the 21st century . . . the increase in global average surface temperature at equilibrium resulting from a doubling of CO2 would be likely to be between 1.5 and 4.5 ºC (IPCC).
The Seven Bowls of Wrath
Authors: Woods Richard
Published: March 2015

When preparing an address a decade ago for a conference on the future of the church in America, I chanced upon an unexpected resonance between the harrowing predictions of a panel of distinguished international scientists concerning the devastating consequences of global environmental deterioration and accounts in the book of Revelation of the eschatological plagues inflicted on the earth because of human greed, oppression and idolatry. Over the years, I found myself guided by the surprising congruence into a deeper study of Revelation, which in turn increased my interest in the theological and spiritual implications of ecological destruction. In the end, I came to see the accounts of global catastrophe in Revelation as an ecological parable for our times, one that strikes true both in terms of our particular situation today and also in terms of the essential message of Revelation.
Groundswell
Authors: Betcher Sharon V.
Published: March 2015

Given the metaphoric registration of Spirit as bird, earth, wind and water, conspiring with Spirit would seem among the most obvious ways in which Christians could remember the biocentric scope of sacred interests. Consequently, as theology has gotten grounded, what has been emerging—after a near 1500-year absence in Western Christian theology—is pneumatology. Spirit, a term borrowed into theology from the natural sciences—that is, Stoicism—draws Christianity back outdoors, beyond human referents, in order to view life from within its ecological field. And conversely, then, while recognizing that our speech about Spirit is always metaphoric, thinking Spirit would also seem to require of us this ‘return to nature’.
The End of Matter
Authors: Reid Duncan
Published: March 2015

At the end of the nineteenth century there was fascination abroad among Russian intellectuals for all things Western, including Western European religious thought. A recent commentator, David Bethea, gives this reason for the fascination. In reference to the ascendant ultramontane Roman Catholicism of the day, he writes: ‘The ascetic, flesh-despising aspects of Catholicism were bound to appeal—by their very novelty—to an Orthodox tradition that viewed matter as spirit-bearing.’
Christianity and the Irish Landscape in Lady Augusta Gregory's A Book of Saints and Wonders
Authors: Bratton Susan Power
Published: March 2015

As the heavily industrialized cultures reassess their environmental ethics in the face of a new millennium, many of their religious responses to environmental degradation have sought to renew ancient religious traditions of earth care. This is not a recent trend, but is deeply rooted in Romanticism and Euro-American thought. Almost invariably, modern admirers restructure the older religious traditions, adapting Iron Age or medieval myths and artistic motifs to current social concerns. The revival of Celtic Christianity in the last two decades has a better scholarly foundation than many similar experi-ments with pre-Christian European religions. Twentieth-century interpretation of religious rituals and literature, however, has different emphases than that of pre-modern Celts.
Ecofeminist Ethics
Authors: Eaton Heather
Published: March 2015

Within and underlying the spectrum of ecofeminist discourses, there are assumptions about ethical aims and moral norms which propel the critique and undergird the visions for an alternative future. Ecofeminists are situated in the crevasse between the ‘is’ and the ‘ought’. Some seek to glean ethics from the ‘is’, at times in the form of case studies. One purpose for this is to deduce ethical systems and worldviews from the specific conditions of ‘what works’, which then allows for a connection across the crevasse. Nonetheless, the bulk of ecofeminist efforts is, customarily, perched on the ridge of the ‘ought’—critiquing, exploring, denouncing, affirming and creating ethical possibilities and opportunities—developing transformative and emancipatory paradigms.
The Case for God
Authors: McIntosh Alastair
Published: March 2015

In 1999 a bizarre series of special sittings of Stirling Sheriff Court were convened under feudal law in order to bring eviction proceedings against up to 90 low income or unemployed Glasgow families. Each of these owned a holiday hut on the Carbeth Estate in Stirlingshire. They rented their tiny plots from the landlord, Allan Barns-Graham, whose grandfather had allowed ex-servicemen to have ‘an affordable place in the country’.
A Jewish Response
Authors: Cohn-Sherbok Dan
Published: March 2015

Bret Stephenson and Susan Power Bratton’s discussion is a fascinating study of Luther’s anti-Jewish views. While it is widely recognized that Luther condemned the Jews and sought to expel them from German lands, little has been written about the ecotheological implications of his attitudes. Stephenson and Bratton’s exploration of the theological model adopted by Luther adds an important dimension to the discussion of Luther’s critique of the Jewish people.
Come to the Banquet
Authors: Deane-Drummond Celia
Published: March 2015

Many scientists will claim that there is a sense in which we become what we eat. But an analysis of eating and drinking as an exchange of energy is just one approach. In many religions, including Christianity, sharing in a communal meal has profound religious significance. How, then, might we approach the very rapid changes that are taking place in the genetic engineering of food? Does this impinge on our religious sensitivities in this area? I will argue in this paper that we must first of all become much more aware of the details of the kind of genetic engineering of food that is taking place. Secondly, we need to become much more conscious of the way food functions in a religious understanding of reality in order to come to an adequate assessment. While there are many dimensions of the latter that I could explore, I have chosen to focus on the biblical invitations to eat and drink, most particularly the invitation of Wisdom to the banquet in Proverbs 9, as a lens through which to approach this issue from a theological perspective.
Feasting on Life
Authors: Adams Carol J.
Published: March 2015

Many vegetarians say they do not have a spiritual practice. Many with a spiritual practice have no interest in vegetarianism. What is to be gained by this dialogue? Let us ask instead, what is lost when there is no exchange? Many vegetarians do not realize they have a spiritual practice when, in fact, they do have one. Many with a spiritual practice have not cultivated their ability to adopt vegetarianism. Vegetari-anism is like any other spiritual practice. It begins with attention and discipline and evolves into a habit that feels natural. We bring attention to the process of choosing food; we remember; we do not just react. We make connections; we do not just consume. Vegetarianism enacts the insights that arise during meditation: all beings are interconnected. Vegetarianism is meditation in action.
Buddhist Food Practices and Attitudes among Contemporary Western Practitioners
Authors: Steele Kristin , Kaza Stephanie
Published: March 2015

This paper delves into the subject of food as an emerging aspect of the Buddhism and ecology connection. Although often overshadowed by the ecological impacts of gas-guzzling automobiles and dumping of toxic waste, food is an environmental issue of primary importance. The raising of livestock, swine and poultry for food occupies over 60 percent of the land in the United States. This industry produces large quantities of runoff from fertilizers, pesticides, animal wastes and erosion which affect water quality; methane emissions and energy derived from fossil fuels contribute to air pollution and the greenhouse effect. Conventional, industrial agriculture contributes to toxic and common water pollution, uses fossil fuel and water for irrigation and depletes the natural diversity of the landscape. Plastic, glass, metal, paper and cardboard from food packaging create veritable mountains of garbage. Even the processing of food accounts for 16 percent of the greenhouse gases produced related to the cultivation, transportation and sale of food.
Disputed Waters
Authors: Lein Yehezkel
Published: March 2015

Water is the most basic resource for human existence. It is vital for human life itself and for personal health and hygiene. Israel’s citizens, like those of other developed countries, benefit year-round from running water in unlimited quantities to meet their household needs. For Israelis, running tap water is taken for granted.
Arctic Ecotheology
Authors: Kristiansen Roald E.
Published: March 2015

At the end of the seventeenth century, the poet-priest Peter Dass at Alstahaug, son of a Scottish emigrant, characterized life in Northern Norway as living ‘at the edge of the world’. Even today, people in the North understand and appreciate his words. For three centuries the Reverend Dass has been a symbol of Northern identity. His hymns and poetry display a deeply religious understanding of the relationship between the land and its people. Like few other parsons, he managed to capture and express the common and down-to-earth sense of religious identity that characterizes the life of many Northerners who live at the edge of the world.
Martin Luther's Understanding of Sin's Impact on Nature and the Unlanding of the Jews
Authors: Stephenson Bret , Bratton Susan Power
Published: March 2015

Often cited as a precursor to the Holocaust, Martin Luther’s anti-Jewish polemic proposed complete exclusion of the Jewish people from German society. Histories of anti-Semitism and social critiques of the Reformation usually credit Luther’s antagonism to Jewish unwillingness to become Protestant or to his christological interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures. Dan Cohn-Sherbok quotes passages in Luther’s writings condemning the Jewish people as foreigners who are in league with the devil. Luther’s rejection of Jewish residency in the ‘Christian’ landscape, however, suggests that the reformer’s view may be linked to his creation theology. Further, Gerhard Falk points out that Luther objected to Jewish claims to Canaan and Jerusalem, which Luther treats as an actual landscape, as well as to Jewish claims to descent from the Patriarchs, election by God, and possession of a God-given law. The purpose of this study is to investigate Luther’s views about the relationship of sin or religious apostasy to nature and residence in fertile landscapes, and to compare his beliefs about Judaism to those concerning the natural order. By investigating the doctrine and hermeneutics of an influential Protestant reformer, this analysis identifies historic ecotheological concepts that may encourage environmental racism.
Archetypes, Angels and Gaia
Authors: Osborn Lawrence
Published: March 2015

Since its formulation in the 1960s by James Lovelock, the Gaia hypothesis has, as Lawrence Joseph’s comprehensive summary indicates, fulfilled a wide variety of needs among environmentalists, feminists and New Agers. This very variety is a source of confusion and even conflict, with New Agers and self-proclaimed Gaian philosophers criticizing Lovelock for the conservatism of his interpretation.
Creation and Salvation in Orthodox Worship
Authors: Theodritoff Elizabeth
Published: March 2015

At the Vigil services for Easter, Christmas and Theophany—the three great feasts of our salvation—the series of Old Testament readings begins in the same way: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ God’s works of creation and salvation are inextricably connected; His work of salvation consists in rescuing the created world, human and non-human, from a dead end, so that it is able to fulfil the purpose for which it is made. So before we can begin to comprehend and appropriate God’s work of salvation, we must comprehend something of His work of creation. This involves perceiving the created world as a work of God’s mercy and wisdom, ceaselessly bearing witness to Him and given to us as an indispensable means of approach to our common Creator. My intent here is to look at some of the ways in which the connections between God’s creative work, His created world and the process of salvation are manifested in the worship of the Orthodox Church.
The Significance of the Incarnation for Ecological Theology
Authors: Vanin Cristina
Published: March 2015

In this paper I will examine James Nelson’s work in sexual ethics, particularly his attention to the significance of the incarnation for human thinking about the body (James Nelson is Professor of Christian Ethics at United Theological Semi-nary of the Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA). Nelson argues that what the incarnation implies for an adequate understanding of human sexuality, in fact, extends beyond human beings to include the whole of the created order. I will indicate briefly that his work on the experience of embodiment is in keeping with work done on the body by other Christian writers, such as Sallie McFague. While Nelson’s work is situated within the larger conversation on the meaning of the body, I argue that his methodological insights offer a unique way to develop a theology that responds to the contemporary ecological crisis. Because it attends to the immediate and personal experience of alienation from the body, it can provide strong roots for the growth of an extensive ecological world view. Each of us reflects, in our attitudes toward our body and the bodies of other planetary creatures and plants, our inner attitude toward the planet. And, as we believe, so we act. Within me even the most metaphysical problem takes on a warm physical body which smells of sea, soil, and human sweat. The Word, in order to touch me, must become warm flesh. Only then do I understand—when I can smell, see, and touch.
A Ecological Faith for the Global Era
Authors: Geering Lloyd
Published: March 2015

This article first sketches the secular, global and ecological era that humankind is now entering and shows why conventional Christianity is losing its relevance. It then discusses Christianity as a fluid cultural stream (rather than something with an unchangeable essence) that has the capacity to meet the needs of the emerging global culture. It explores, albeit tentatively and sketchily, the way in which such basic Christian concepts as God and Jesus Christ may continue to be drawn upon to refer to and nurture the religious experience of awe, wonder, gratitude and obligation in today’s cultural and ecological context. It suggests ways in which the traditional religious rituals and festivals may be redirected to the celebration of the planetary conditions of life. It ends with an outline of spirituality in the global era.
Living on the Land
Authors: McPhail Robyn
Published: March 2015

Do we, in the churches in New Zealand, have any ecotheology? The presenter draws on experience in rural church and community, noting changes since the mid twentieth century and exploring issues of theory versus practice and secular versus religious. Some anecdotal evidence for incipient ecotheology is offered, with reference to perceptions of relationship with the land, and popular theology in Bible texts and hymns. The aim is to counter claims that New Zealand agriculture is devoid of ecotheological foundation, but also to affirm the positive in actual thought and practice of rural people and raise questions about what is still missing. Case studies—sustainable logging, the dairy mega-merger and genetic modification—set the scene for a gospel commission for Church and academy to spread our ecotheological vision. The presentation culminates with the point and purpose of all faith and practice—indeed the crown of creation itself—the sabbath.
Ecotheology in Search of a Context
Authors: Lilburne Geoffrey
Published: March 2015

This article reflects the ways in which contexts can be rendered for ecotheological work, on the assumption that ecotheology and contextual theology are inextricably linked. To be taken up into theological reflection, contexts require both mapping and creation. The dialectic of artistic images is explored in a popular religious song and Patrick White’s novel, Voss in such a way as to propose methodological directions for ecotheological work in Australia and beyond.
Seeing through God
Authors: Grimshaw Michael
Published: March 2015

Although often viewed as an aberration in theology, the application of deconstructionist thought provides a way of approaching the theological task that enables issues of context to be debated in a new way. By applying notions of inter-textuality to the basis provided by the liminal / of Mark C. Taylor’s a/theology, it is possible to trace a path from land/scape to in/scape to a theo/scape. By in turn deconstructing Taylor’s a/theology, an eco a/theology is proposed that raises the possibility of framing god as presence in absence. As such, God is that which holds together and frames the views through which we perceive and create the world. Theology becomes eco a/theology not in a universalist, globalistic narrative, but rather that which takes seriously the contested claims of contextual theologies and hints at a knowledge and experience of ‘God’ that is located in an experience of the local context.
Wilderness as the Kingdom of God
Authors: Morrison Keith
Published: March 2015

The Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition has a spirituality that gives rise to ecotheological reflections. The reflections are couched in existential terminology describing mystical experience as well as historical and ecological praxis. The reflections have a realist theology of the Body of Christ considered to comprise of the heavenly or uncreated, and the earthly or created. The ecotheology developed in this paper interprets a realist theology of the Body of Christ through phenomenology and systems theory in an attempt to face the contemporary concrete issues of institutionalized materialism and severe environmental and social crises. Cross-traditional insights with Mahayana Buddhist traditions are commented upon in exploration of the challenges and opportunities of interculturalism and religious pluralism. The central thread in the paper is the contemporary symbol wilderness, exploring how it is very effective in providing an image of community that to some speaks louder than kingdom. Further, the inherent relationships between the derivatives ‘wild’, ‘wildness’ and ‘wilderness’ are shown to reflect the paradoxical dynamics of the realist ecotheology developed. Paradoxical links are teased out between the material and spiritual, and also between the individual body and the cosmic body.
At the Intersection of Ecofeminism and Religion
Authors: Eaton Heather
Published: March 2015

Ecological feminism has developed from many directions and locations, and with differentiated links between feminism and ecology and between women and nature. Religious discourses are taking ecofeminist analyses into their folds. As a whole, however, religious ecofeminist perspectives are uneven. In this article, I suggest seven hermeneutics that might strengthen religious ecofeminist discourses as well as develop connections among the various viewpoints towards larger horizons, and specifically ones that link theory with concrete and material life-conditions.
Weaving Perspectives
Authors: Jones Eileen Kerwin
Published: March 2015

In this article, I underline the relevance of economic analysis in Christian social ethical deliberations on issues of justice. I show how connections are made between theological ethics, economics and ecology when Beverly Wildung Harrison, a Christian social feminist ethicist, and Marilyn Waring, a feminist economist, are in dialogue. I demonstrate how War-ing’s approach meets the four criteria of Harrison’s adequate social theory, and then suggest that Waring’s economic insights provide critical data for theological reflection. Central to this article is the idea that conventional economic emphasis on the market presents only a partial analysis of the economy; it omits significant data, such as the work performed in the informal sector (work done mostly by women), and any costs due to environmental damage. This partial analysis poses both an economic and a moral problem. By weaving the perspectives of Harrison and Waring, the injustice is clearly detailed. This is seen as furthering a theological commitment to justice, not only for women, but also for all human beings and the natural world upon which we depend.
Creation Spirituality and the Environment Debate
Authors: Keen David
Published: March 2015

Matthew Fox’s Original Blessing, published in 1983, remains one of the best selling books in the field of Christian environmentalism. In it, Fox expounds his ‘Creation Spirituality’ as a solution to the global environment crisis, along with several other major world issues of the late 20th century. Fox’s work (over 20 books, and countless tapes, videos and lecture tours) is devoured at a popular level, but routinely dismissed by many ‘green’ theologians. This paper seeks to evaluate Creation Spirituality as an environmental theology.
Construction of Death among Gay Men Living with HIV/AIDS
Authors: Sollis David
Published: March 2015

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Richard L. Fern, Nature, God and Humanity: Envisioning an Ethics of Nature
Authors: Deane-Drummond Celia
Published: March 2015

Richard L. Fern, Nature, God and Humanity: Envisioning an Ethics of Nature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. xvi, 267. Paperback, £15.95, ISBN 0-521-00970-7.
Thirsty for Water—Thirsty for Life
Authors: Grey Mary
Published: March 2015

In the last twenty years Ecotheology has developed steadily: in all areas of theology it has related the human and non-human, insisting that our well-being and flourishing belong together. All key concepts of theology, for example, redemption and grace, have been re-imaged to include earth and all her creatures (McDaniel 1995). My approach here takes a more grass-roots method. For fifteen years I have been involved with the villages of Rajasthan and this experience has transformed my theological method and raised new questions. I now ask, in the interwoven suffering of poor communities, trees, plants and animals and their mutual struggle for survival, in the struggle to attain the most basic realities of life, do we glimpse the presence of the sacred? Is God revealed in a new revaluing of these very realities?
Willem B. Drees, Creation: From Nothing until Now
Authors: Clarke Chris
Published: March 2015

Willem B. Drees, Creation: From Nothing until Now (New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. vi + 115. Paperback, ISBN 0-4152-5653-4, £9.99. Hardback, ISBN 0-4152-5652-6, £45.00.
Nigel Dower, An Introduction to Global Citizenship
Authors: Crook Seth
Published: March 2015

Nigel Dower, An Introduction to Global Citizenship (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), pp. 224. Paperback, ISBN 0-7486-1470-2, £12.99. Hardback, ISBN 0-7486-1469-9, £45.00.
Peter Manley Scott, A Political Theology of Nature
Authors: Deane-Drummond Celia
Published: March 2015

Peter Manley Scott, A Political Theology of Nature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 270. Paperback, ISBN 0-5215-2717-1, £17.99. Hardback, ISBN 0-5216-4165-9, £47.50.
HUME’S PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
Authors: Finch Robert D.
Published: March 2015

An essay arguing that Hume is important to Humanism for a number of reasons.He was a naturalist and an empiricist. He realized the importance of emotion in human understanding and psychology and it was important in his theory of morality. But perhaps the most important element in his formulation was the role of habit or custom in the process of our recognizing cause-and-effect relationships.
NOTES ON MORAL EDUCATION
Authors: Radest Howard B.
Published: March 2015

An earlier version of this essay was presented at the Annual Retreat (February 2005) of the Ethics Committee of the South Carolina Medical Association. The subject was moral education in medical schools. A brief selection, “Creating An Effective Pedagogy for Moral Education” was published in the Journal of the S.C. Medical Association. The present paper examines the state of 'moral education' in contemporary education and other public institutions.
THE VANQUISHED SOUL
Authors: Hill Richard
Published: March 2015

This article develops a critical appraisal of John Carroll’s Terror – A Meditation on the Meaning of September 11. In locating the book in the context of a broader set of narratives concerning the origins and meaning of “9-11,” the article highlights many of the erroneous assumptions that permeate works like Carroll’s that, in essence, attempt to explain fundamentalist Islamic terrorism by reference to the moral decadence and spiritual vacuity of “the West.” It is argued that Carroll’s thesis slips too readily into a reductivist and essentializing view of the consequences of secular humanism in the West and further, that it relies on highly questionable assumptions about the social architecture of “Western culture.” Carroll’s brand of “cultural conservatism” fails to do justice to the complex geopolitical, cultural and ideological reasons for the attacks on America in 2001, and a far more rigorous analysis involving an appreciation of the effects and consequences of global socio-economic, military and other inequalities would set the foundations of a more coherent understanding of terrorism in the current era. Though Carroll’s thesis constitutes a significant intervention in the field of terrorism studies, it marks an important starting point for considered debate rather than adequate explanation of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF FUNDAMENTALIST INDOCTRINATION
Authors: Cuevas Joshua A.
Published: March 2015

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THE THIRD CULTURE AND THE PROBLEM OF THE HUMAN
Authors: Carbonell Curtis D.
Published: March 2015

This article explores the implications of a particular view of neo-humanism, as represented by John Brockman in his two books The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution and The New Humanists: Science at the Edge, and calls for greater care by Brockman in utilizing the concept. This article argues against the idea that the “new” humanists, as Brockman implies, are primarily found within the domain of empirical minded thinkers in the natural and life sciences.
MYTH-BUSTING THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT
Authors: Murray Terri
Published: March 2015

The aim of this commentary is to identify and assess two central myths promulgated by America’s Christian right. For the purposes of this piece, the “Christian right” is defined as a group of socially conservative, politically active organizations within fundamentalist Christianity who share the objective of implementing conservative changes to American culture and law. The movement generally rejects any modern method of Biblical interpretation and many of its adherents place far less emphasis on the Gospels than on Pauline doctrine. Its adherents are generally anti-intellectual, and hostile to science, pluralism, tolerance, and the separation of church and state. Amongst its central aims are downsizing the government, and "restoring" America as a Christian nation by imposing religion through the mechanisms of the state.1 Much of the movement's ideological strength has come from its expertise in circulating and reaffirming two powerful myths central to its image. These are: (1) That the Christian right have a monopoly on moral realism, (2) That they have a monopoly on respect for the “sanctity of life,” and The Christian right’s pundits present this set of abstract concepts – moral “values” and “sanctity of life” – as core values. Over and over again they have successfully framed complex issues as oppositions between these core values and their opponent’s position. This has worked partly because, instead of engaging in an analysis of these concepts, they equate them with a set of public policies that are assumed to meet the conditions that define them. Thus it would appear that if you do not support their policies, you cannot support moral values at all, nor can you respect the sanctity of life. A closer examination of the fallacious reasoning underpinning these two core values is long overdue.
A NEW HUMANISM Naturalism, Democracy, and the Principle of Humanity
Authors: Seidman Barry F.
Published: March 2015

If humanism is not equal to scientific naturalism, atheism, skepticism, or secularism, what then is humanism?
CHARTING THE COURSE FOR A TRULY HUMANISTIC SCIENCE
Authors: Lightbody Brian
Published: March 2015

Edmund Husserl questions the so-called “objectivity” and focus of modern science in The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. Husserl claims that the sciences as presently practiced and understood rest upon a “ground” that goes unnoticed and unacknowledged. Husserl calls this ground the life-world; the everyday horizon and environment that provide the sciences with the consistent structures of the objects they investigate. By extrapolating on what the life-world means for us as beings-in-the-world, Husserl hopes to resolve what he terms the “crisis of the European sciences.” In the following paper, I examine precisely what this “crisis” entails, how Husserl believes the crisis originated, and evaluate Husserl’s proposed solution to resolving this crisis.
HUMANIST ETHOLOGY
Authors: Finch Robert D.
Published: March 2015

Ethology is the study of animal behavior and consequently includes the morals and ethics of the human animal. This essay concerns the question of how we might optimize our ethology in the broadest sense in order to live in the best possible way. Assuming we are nontheists then the question becomes how we might construct an ethology based on human reason and serving our human motivations or, in other words, a humanist ethology.
“MAN IS THE MASTER OF EVERYTHING AND DECIDES EVERYTHING”
Authors: David-West Alzo
Published: March 2015

This essay undertakes a critical deconstruction of the core axiomatic principle of the North Korean Juche ideology: “Man is the master of everything and decides everything.” The author examines the axiom as an epistemic construction that structures human perception of objective reality, identifying fundamental philosophical problems in its binary opposition of “man” and “everything.” Despite official North Korean claims that Juche is an “original revolutionary philosophy” and a “man-centered philosophy,” critical analysis reveals that the axiom is nonsensical, that it has no genuine or real philosophical content, and that the Juche ideology is neither humanist nor materialist nor rationalist.
BY WHAT AUTHORITY? ON WHAT GROUNDS DOES HUMANISM DISAVOW THE SUPERNATURAL?
Authors: F. John
Published: March 2015

The authority of humanism is emphatically not an authority based on intuition, spiritual awakening, personal revelation or epiphanies, scriptural witness of whatever faith, pseudo science, astrology, consensus, endorsements, testimony of enlightened gurus, swamis, pastors, priests, ayatollahs, Buddhist monks, or even justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. The central thesis of this essay is to identify the specific authority underlying the humanist claim which states that “Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.” (Humanist Manifesto III, Washington, DC: American Humanist Association, 2003, italics added.) This essay addresses the question: By what authority do humanists make this claim? The answer is based on consideration of the impossibility of a-priori premises and assumptions except for mathematics and logic. Rather than a priori assumptions and premises, the authority underlying humanism is based on the legitimacy of the a-posteriori, in short, empirical and scientific processes and methodologies.
THE NEED TO COMPLETE THE SECULARIZATION OF SOCIETY
Authors: Sinclair Alistair J.
Published: March 2015

It is argued here that our future depends on our completing the secularization of society. This means addressing the problem of authoritarian religions that suppress freedom of belief and opinion. We must promote a post-religious humanism to deal with this problem. This is no more than reviving the humanist consensus which all the major religions acknowledged at least till the 1970s. Until then a comparative religion movement sought to construct a world religion but its endeavours have come to nothing. Secularization means that religious sentiments belong to individuals who work them out for themselves. These sentiments are no longer the prerogative of organizations that impose them on individuals. It is for everyone to develop their own creed on humanist principles. This humanist message contributes to a world monoculture which is now being established everywhere and on which the world’s future peace and security depends.
ACTIVE NON-VIOLENCE AS CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Authors: Giesecke Susan
Published: March 2015

Science has developed technology to the point that computers are networked, “talking” to each other and artificial intelligence is a real possibility in the future. In a parallel development, nanotechnology examines interaction on a subparticle level, too small to be seen. Yet, humankind is lagging in development of social co-operation and communication. Violence is still the “weapon of choice” on a personal level as well as a national level. Two major developments seek to address conflict resolution. On a personal level, Marshall B. Rosenburg’s study of Nonviolent Communication seeks to facilitate individual interaction. And on the macro level, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr’s work in Passive Resistance has had great success in social change without loss of life. This article, in an effort to promote civil discourse asks the questions: How do these two movements relate to each other? Is there a point of connection which may offer a window through which individuals and groups might resolve conflict successfully?
THE UNMAKING OF WISDOM
Authors: Norman Andy
Published: March 2015

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FORGIVENESS, RESENTMENT, AND INTENTIONAL AGENCY
Authors: Williams Anthony Marc
Published: March 2015

Forgiveness is a highly personal act. Only a moral agent can forgive and the only proper object of forgiveness is a moral agent. One trait that is particularly characteristic of moral agents is selfevaluation. It is precisely this activity that is involved in a genuine act of forgiveness. According to Bishop Butler and several other contemporary philosophers, forgiveness involves foreswearing one’s resentment towards another person. Successful forgiveness, for these accounts, essentially involves overcoming oneself. An important part of this self-overcoming involves dissolving resentment. I argue that disowning resentment is a key step along the way towards successful forgiveness. In order to dissolve resentment, an individual must engage in self-reflection and selfevaluation. Frankfurt’s hierarchical theory of intentional agency provides a helpful conceptual apparatus for analyzing the act of forgiveness.
NIETZSCHE’S CHALLENGE TO HUMANISM
Authors: Thomas Brian
Published: March 2015

This essay reconsiders the question of humanism in Nietzsche’s philosophy. The author argues that established readings of Nietzsche’s critique of humanism fail to consider the conceptual history of humanism; a genealogy which Nietzsche, as a classical philologist, knew well. The result is a more nuanced, historically and anthropologically textured idea of the human in Nietzsche’s thought than has often been understood. This representation of human nature extends important rational and moral values about what it means to be human by re-calling Cicero, Petrarch, Erasmus, and other key-figures in the humanist tradition. In doing so Nietzsche’s thought doesn’t mark an end of humanism, or construct a sign-post towards a post-humanistic age, but expresses a radical, rhetorically-driven challenge to conceiving of the human being as a rational animal (animal rationale). Only after we have corrected in such an essential point the historical way of thinking that the Enlightenment brought with it, may we once again carry onward the banner of the Enlightenment, the banner with the three names: Petrarch, Erasmus, Voltaire.— Human, All Too Human, 26.
DUALISM AND HUMANISM
Authors: Sinclair Alistair J.
Published: March 2015

It is argued in this paper that a greater understanding of dualism is needed to secure the future of humanism and of humanity. Its study consists in understanding the extremes of opinion and attitude to which we are all prone and which pervade every aspect of our society. These extremes are even today impeding our future and threatening to plunge the world into internecine struggles between factions competing for power and pre-eminence. The fruitless conflicts, wars and divisions caused by extremism will only be avoided when a dualist view is adopted that makes the ‘either-for-us-or-against-us’ mentality universally unacceptable. The dualist view also helps us to deal with situations that demand insight more than logic. A distinction is made here between naïve and systematic dualism in which the former refers to confused and muddled thinking whereas the latter involves organized and purposeful thinking to deal systematically with confusing and conflicting situations. There is a spectrum between naïve dualism at one extreme and absolute monism at the other extreme. Most of us, most of the time, are systematic dualists subsisting somewhere in the middle. Our future is constantly threatened by those few people who have one answer to everything and are intolerant of other views. If the dualist view becomes prevalent they may learn to think differently. Humanism is distinct from religion in being essentially dualist in its outlook and in being prepared to countenance alternative views. The further development of the dualist view therefore strengthens humanism against its monist enemies who are looking for certainty and easy solutions.
RELIGION, MARXISM AND ETHICAL HUMANISM
Authors: Leiman Melvin
Published: March 2015

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JÜRGEN HABERMAS
Authors: Hillar Marian
Published: March 2015

This paper is a short introduction to Habermas’s life and philosophy. It outlines his views on society, religion, morality and politics. It begins with his ‘methodological pragmatism’ which emphasizes the performative and intersubjective role of language. This rejects the “philosophy of consciousness” and sees society as a medium in which we live. Society is not an aggregate of individuals or a unity but a complex, multifarious, intersubjective structure with many different overlapping spheres. Habermas is essentially a social scientist and his concern about society refers to the problem of how a social order and integrity can be maintained in a modern democratic and secular society. He believes that religion will survive a long time and is unsure whether philosophy will ever triumph over religion but is convinced that it can deal with our religious heritage with more sensitivity than hitherto. Habermas proposes a moral discourse theory based on the universalizability of social norms. In his political system, he combines the ideal of liberal democracy based on human rights with the ideal of republicanism based on popular sovereignty. He is nevertheless critical of some aspects of liberalism. Overall, Habermas foresees the danger to modern society to social groups that feel themselves to be alienated and marginalized from the mainstream.
WORLD WAR ONE AND THE LOSS OF THE HUMANIST CONSENSUS
Authors: Sinclair Alistair J.
Published: March 2015

European civilization largely lost its sense of direction after World War One when its humanist consensus, that promoted human betterment, collapsed into a fruitless political opposition between left and right wing extremism. This collapse is here exemplified by the breakdown in relationship between left winger Bertrand Russell and right winger D.H. Lawrence during WW1. However, the real causes of the loss of the humanist consensus are more deep-rooted, as that consensus has its roots in the Renaissance andn Enlightenment movements when the influence of humanist views was at its height. By the late 19th century imperialism and militarism threatened the consensus, and the senseless slaughter of WW1 brought it to an end. The humanist consensus re-emerged post-WW2, largely through American influence, but it has declined since. To restore the consensus, it is argued here that humanism can be strengthened by dualist theory and by a process of contextualization that brings humanity to the fore. By using ‘connecting contexts’ we can open our minds to larger perspectives. In that way, we are collectively more inclined to be optimistic about our prospects. The future of humanity seems to depend on such developments in our critical thinking about ourselves.
IMAGES OF NATURE AND MEANINGS OF LIFE IN THE FACE OF DEATH
Authors: Anbeek Christa
Published: March 2015

This article will explore different images of nature and their implications for the meaning of life in the face of death. First we will elaborate on life as creation, as expressed by Francis of Assisi in his Canticle of the Sun, and see how the imaginative power of this story gives meaning to life and death. Then we will go into the evolutionary approach of life by Richard Dawkins. In his work a totally different significance of finitude becomes visible: death as a necessary segment in the development of life. The philosopher Leo Apostel states that an intellectual/scientific understanding of death is not enough; we need to explore our emotional response to the universe in order to be able to create meaning and value. The work of the biologist Ursula Goodenough and the philosopher Ton Lemaire are discussed as examples of such an affective admiration of life and death based on scientific knowledge. In the end I will conclude that scientific insights give us a lot of information about human beings as concerns their nature and the inevitability of death. But how we can affectively value and give meaning to life in the face of death is still an open question which cannot be answered by science alone.