bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Divine Immutability in Process Philosophy and Contemporary Thomism
Authors: Whitney Barry L. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractProcess philosophers and theologians have long been critical of the traditional (Thomist) doctrine of divine immutability (Section I); yet until quite recently their protests had been largely ignored in Roman Catholic circles. The purpose of this present article is to draw attention to the fact that a number of contemporary Roman Catholic theologians have begun to take the Whiteheadian-Hartshornean challenge seriously, indeed to the extent that they have felt pressed, in response, to seek and exploit implicit, latent resources within Thomas' texts in order to explicate a more adequate Thomist conception of God's interrelationship with his creatures (Section II). Process metaphysics is defended versus several criticisms raised by Roman Catholic writers (Section III).
The Guru: Perceptions of American Devotees of the Divine Light Mission
Authors: Saliba John A. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractA common feature of many Eastern religious groups which have found a foothold in Western society is the presence of a charismatic guru around whom belief and devotion can be centered. This study examines one such religious leader, Guru Maharaj Ji of the Divine Light Mission. Attention is directed towards the nature of the guru in the eyes of his followers, the task and mission both assumed by him and attributed to him, and the devotional or worshipful aspect exhibited by the devotees. The ambivalent figure of this guru and the possible crises of the Mission, namely, the question of the sucession of the guru and the youthful age of Maharaj Ji, are deemed important enough to influence the future course of the Divine Light Mission and the role the guru will play in its life.
Devotion in the Bhāgavata Purāna and Christian Love: Bhakti, Agape, Eros
Authors: Sheridan Daniel P. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe Bhāgavata Purāna, a ninth century encyclopedic Hindu text, combines Vedantic non-dualism and Vaiṣṇava devotionalism or love of God. Its non-dualism accommodates the reality of the universe with its individual selves in the all-encompassing reality of God. The BhP has two forms of devotion: one is a meditation which absorbs the devotee within the unity of God's reality; the other is an ecstasy which glories in separation from God in order to love God more. The Eros-Agape motif is used to compare this tradition of the love of God with those of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Like them, the BhP stresses the personhood of God; unlike them, it stresses an ontological, not a mystical or spiritual, union of Deity and devotee.
The Church and Catholic Higher Education
Authors: O'Brien David J. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractRecurrent debates about the church and higher education in the United States involve differing understandings of the nature and purpose of the church as well as differing understandings of the university. Catholic colleges and universities remain important but underutilized resources for the American church as it pursues its mission. Institutional, communitarian and servant models of the church must be examined more rigorously before they are used to prescribe changes in higher education. None is without problems. In a pluralistic and free society, a public church,” self-consciously mediating the tensions between Christian integrity, Catholic unity, and civic responsibility, provides an altogether appropriate stance for Catholic colleges and universities as well. It points not to a neat resolution of outstanding difficulties but to ongoing dialogue among the publics to which both church and higher education must address themselves.
Psychology as a Resource for Christian Spirituality
Authors: Ruffing Janet 
Published: August 2016

AbstractPsychology is a valuable resource for spirituality when researchers incorporate mutually critical correlations in their use of this discipline. It can be used to identify pathological elements in religious practice, uncover unconscious motivation, provide developmental schemas, and describe responses to meditative experiences. Researchers in spirituality will most likely draw on different schools of psychology in relationship to the particular phenomenon under investigation. Their critical perspective will uncover the presuppositions of psychologies that are either hostile to religion or neglect relationship to transcendence within their theories. Researchers in spirituality will want to retain a religious vocabulary and theological perspective.
The Use of Virtue and Character in Applied Ethics
Authors: Donahue James A. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis article explores the criticism made against “virtue ethics” that it is insufficiently normative and thus is unable to assist decision makers in making practical moral choices. By assessing the claims, strengths, and weaknesses of contemporary proposals for “character ethics,” the article contends that a virtue approach to ethics does yield some central moral norms. An ethical perspective that combines these norms with the insights offered by the idea of virtue itself provides a compelling framework for moral choice. A case study illustrates the claims.
A Peircean Approach to Trinity as Community: A Response to Some Responses
Authors: Gelpi Donald L. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIn this article, the author responds to several recent scholarly criticisms of his book The Divine Mother: A Trinitarian Theology of the Holy Spirit. In responding to these objections, he argues that, by invoking the logic and metaphysics of Charles Sanders Peirce in rethinking the foundations of trinitarian theology, he has formulated a theological construct of the trinity as community, which differs substantively from the efforts of other contemporary theologians to do the same, while at the same time avoiding inadequacies present in their constructs.
Poetry as Yoga: The Spiritual Ascent of Sri Aurobindo
Authors: Cappadona Diane Apostolos 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis essay examines the relationship of aesthetic and religious experience as evidenced by the poetry and yoga of Sri Aurobindo. The fundamental thesis is that the poetic process is transformative and as such is analogous to yoga. Governed by imagination, the poetic experience reveals itself in the categories of symbol and image. Aesthesis being directed by imagination involves not merely the cognitive but also the affective and volitional aspects of the human: a key moment of integration and therefore, of transformation. The development of Aurobindo's work and the transformation of his consciousness by imagination provides the opportunity to examine the relationship between imagination and myth. Two principal insights emerge. First, the goal of the yogic and poetic processes is the transformation of consciousness. Second, the individual's act of aspiration and surrender is neither unconscious nor a giving up of consciousness. Rather, the action of aspiration and surrender as the conscious and voluntary acceptance of the operation of imagination grounds the entire process: poetic, philosophic and yogic.
A Multi-Faceted Look at the Unseen City
Authors: O'Brien Maureen , McNeill Donald 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis article describes an interdisciplinary, team-taught introduction to the urban situation, called “The Unseen City.” The course began two years ago, as a three-credit follow-up to a popular Notre Dame program called “Urban Plunge,” through which undergraduates visit inner cities across the United States and experience urban problems firsthand. The aim of “The Unseen City” is to foster greater understanding of the complexities of the city, primarily through economic, political, and theological perspectives; and to allow students the opportunity to pursue their own particular interests in this field. To accomplish this, the course includes three major components: “experiential,” of which the Urban Plunge is the main element; “academic”—the class sessions, readings, assignments, and exams; and “specialized,” primarily accomplished through an open-ended student research activity. Each of these components is separately discussed, and the final section comments on some of the advantages and disadvantages of the unusual structures of the course, especially the team-teaching format and the expectations placed on students. A syllabus, with a partial reading list, is also included.
The Ongoing Christology of Wolfhart Pannenberg
Authors: Johnson Elizabeth A. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe ongoing Chrislology of Wolfhart Pannenberg is a rich locus for discerning several major currents in the field of contemporary Christology, for not only does it reflect certain prevalent emphases but it has in fact initiated them. It is the purpose of this article to examine how that is in fact the case.First it is shown how Christology played a major role in the early Pannenberg's overall theological synthesis, forming the key source of his original perception of the structure of reality and of reality's relationship to God. Next, Christology itself is focused upon. Three aspects of Pannenberg'sJesus— God and Manare highlighted as having been widely influential, viz., the method of proceeding “from below” with the history of Jesus providing the starting point; the emphasis on the resurrection; and the stress on Jesus' dedication to the Father (rather than to the Logos) as the basis for understanding his unity with God. The third section of the article traces Pannenberg's recent development in Christology, particularly as reflected in a series of (untranslated) essays in the last decade. Advances in his understanding of method and the growing role of anthropology and Trinitarian doctrine are noted. The article closes with a look to the future, including Pannenberg's own projection of the direction he will be taking in Christology.
From Angst to Encounter: Nathan Scott's Journey in Theology and Literature
Authors: Apostolos-Cappadona Diane 
Published: August 2016

AbstractNathan A. Scott, Jr. is identified as a leading figure in the development of the interdisciplinary field of theology and literature. This essay presents an interpretation of his methodology and scholarly development over a thirty-year period (1952-1981). Paul Tillich's theology of culture is understood as the major methodological and theological influence on Scott's early work. Martin Heidegger's philosophy (preeminently the essays on aesthetics) is the major influence in the development of Scott's mature scholarship. Scott's methodology has a seven-step structure and the textual analysis of his works is presented in a chronological manner. The central foci in the shift in Scott's inquiry are the type of literature he analyzes and his understanding of the role of the poet. The essay concludes with an evaluation of Scott's contribution to this field of study and suggestions for its future development.
Socrates and Jesus on Non-Retaliation and Love of Enemies
Authors: Gill David 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis essay is a comparison of the teachings of Socrates and Jesus on non-retaliation and love of enemies as they appear in Crito 47c-49d and Republic I, 331e-336a, and in Matthew 5:38-48 and Luke 6:27-36. It asks in each case precisely what the authors meant and how they grounded their conclusions.Socrates held that one must never do harm to another even in return for harm received. His arguments were based on his general theory of virtue and on certain ambiguities in Greek ethical language. Ultimately the arguments are based on a form of self-interest; retaliation is a form of injustice and hence harmful to the one who practices it. He does not propose a doctrine of general non-violence, nor does he ever say that one must actually love one's enemy.The gospel texts go beyond simple non-retaliation and make positive love of all enemies, inside and outside the community, an absolute command of Jesus. It is a positive attitude and is not based on hope of love in return. God will reward it, but the primary motive is imitation of the Heavenly Father, whose daughters and sons the disciples are. Enemy love does not give them this status; rather it flows from the fact of discipleship.
Reformed Epistemology in a Jamesian Perspective
Authors: Tilley Terrence W. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis essay argues that the reformed epistemologists (William Alston, Alvin Plantinga) have not (yet) sustained claims in religious epistemology significantly more extensive than William James did in the Varieties. It argues that even if reformed epistemologists show that religious belief can have a positive epistemic status, their approach may finally lead to relativism (given that religious traditions generate contradictory religious beliefs) because it offers no method for finding which, if any, concrete religious beliefs might be preferable to hold or in which religious practices one should engage, if any, and because it fails to distinguish between original and derived religious belief. I suggest that more attention must be paid to “social epistemology” if religious epistemology is to go significantly beyond James's accomplishments.
Commitment, Theology, and the Dilemma of Religious Studies at the State University
Authors: Hann Robert R. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe dominant practice among scholars in Religious Studies has been to exclude committed religious belief from the teaching of religion. Theology was once the center of the academic study of religion, but its present-day exclusion has deprived Religious Studies of a methodological center characteristic of a true academic discipline, and thus Religious Studies appears to be merely a marginal interdisciplinary program rather than a discipline in its own right. Theology was once taught in a denominational way that is inappropriate to the pluralism of a secular university. Another understanding of theology, however, is as a distinctive worldview offering a unifying perspective on life, a worldview which has the same rights on the campus as any other contemporary worldview. The presence of theology so understood would restore the methodological center to the discipline of Religious Studies and would enhance that intellectual pluralism to which the modern university is committed.
The “Catholic Tradition” of Christianity and the “Religion of the Republic”
Authors: Wentz Richard E. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis essay explores the theology of the Religion of the Republic (what Robert N. Bellah called civil religion in America) in order to compare it with elements in the catholic tradition of Christianity. The assumption is that the Religion of the Republic has much in common with the consensual religiosity of American evangelicalism.Using John Williamson Nevin's “Catholicism” of the Mercersburg theology, the author provides a critique of the theology of the Republic and suggests a principle of radical catholicity which offers a profound role for the church in the destiny of the American Republic.
The Struggle to Name Women's Experience: Assessment and Implications for Theological Construction
Authors: Graff Ann O'Hara 
Published: August 2016

AbstractFeminist theologians claim that women's experience is the key to both their critical and constructive theological endeavors. This article is first an effort to sort out the ways women's experience has been named and used for theological reflection particularly through the lens of gender constructs as these have been called to our attention in relation to social location, language, and the quest for human wholeness. Second, it explores the implications of this work on women's experience for constructive feminist theology.
Mapping the Sacred Landscape: Spirituality and the Contemporary Literature of Nature
Authors: Burton-Christie Douglas 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis essay is an attempt to sketch a preliminary map of the emerging dialogue between spirituality and the contemporary literature of nature. This includes: (1) a consideration of their distinctive approaches to the mapping of the sacred landscape; (2) an exploration of some of the ambiguities and tensions within the literature of nature toward matters of religion; (3) an outline of recent developments within the discipline of spirituality that enable scholars in that field to respond more thoughtfully to questions raised by nature writers; (4) a description of the genres found in the burgeoning literature of nature writing and the themes that make it a useful resource and conversation partner for spirituality; (5) an evaluation of three prominent themes of contemporary nature writing—relationship, mystery, and moral responsibility—of particular importance for developing a contemporary spirituality of nature.
“Rights of the Earth” and “Care for the Earth”: Two Paradigms for a Buddhist-Christian Ecological Ethic
Authors: May John D'Arcy 
Published: August 2016

AbstractEcology has become a religious concern, but its religious significance remains ambivalent, and politically it is open to exploitation by the right and the left. An ecological ethic needs to be related to the justice tradition with its correlative concepts of rights and responsibilities as these apply to “nature,” but it also needs an interreligious foundation. Buddhism and Christianity are able to make complementary contributions toward formulating an ecological ethic. “Justice” in the West has both biblical and Roman origins, but the Western concept ofiusmay also be correlated with the Indian concept ofdharmaas universal harmony and order. Justice may also be placed in the larger context of an ethic of care based on disinterested love of all beings and the transcendence of conflict. The concept of responsibility, however, remains central to the formulation of an ecological ethic and poses specific, though complementary, challenges to both Buddhist and Christian traditions.
The Anthropic Principle in Cosmology and Theology
Authors: Mooney Christopher F. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe “anthropic principle” has grown from scientific and philosophical reflection on the unlikely combination of circumstances needed, from the moment of the Big Bang through evolutionary history, to produce human life as we know it. This article describes the anthropic principle, in its “strong” and “weak” forms. It concludes with some thoughts on the possible theological implications of the anthropic discussion. From a theological perspective, the anthropic principle can be seen as part of the ongoing human effort to employ myth in the construction of a cosmology. It suggests both a sense of the design of the universe as well a the possible need for a Designer with some purpose and overall plan.
Friedrich Von Hügel's Spirituality of Empowerment
Authors: Leonard Ellen M. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractAs a Catholic lay person Friedrich von Hügel developed a spirituality which sought to integrate scholarship, including the critical study of religion, with a full religious life, one which holds the institutional, the intellectual, and the mystical elements in a creative tension. He did this during and after the period known as “Roman Catholic Modernism,” a difficult time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church as it responded to perceived threats with severe restrictions. This essay explores how von Hiigel's spirituality was one of empowerment by considering him as advocate and networker, writer, and spiritual director. He not only developed a lay approach to spirituality but a spirituality of scholarship which can still inspire contemporary Christians.
Seeking Full Dignity: Catholic Social Teaching and Women in the Third World
Authors: DeFerrari Patricia 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis article explores the key factors conditioning the position of women in developing countries and then searches official Catholic social teaching for a response. The first major section of the article explores gender bias as it shapes development efforts in the third world. Findings indicate that substantial progress in developing nations depends on including women in decision-making processes at all levels. Such inclusion requires improved access to resources as a significant element in the elimination of gender bias.The second section of the article addresses official Catholic social teaching as it pertains to the status of women in society. This section concludes by identifying two significant affirmations in the tradition and three limitations.A final section challenges the tradition of Catholic social teaching by calling for both the development and adoption of an anthropology that realizes the radical equality and fundamental difference between women and men and a fuller inclusion of women in the very process of developing Catholic social teaching.
Teaching Merton to Undergraduates
Authors: Rausch Thomas P. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThomas Merton is one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century Catholicism. His books are still to be found in almost any bookstore with a section devoted to religion. Yet today, just over twenty-five years after his death, both Merton himself and the monastic life he represented are virtually unknown to most Roman Catholic undergraduates. This article describes a seminar on Merton offered for undergraduates. It outlines the books and articles used, the way the seminar was structured, and the reactions of the students, to Merton himself and to the issues he raises in his works.
Newman on Human Faith and Divine Faith: Clarifying Some Ambiguities
Authors: Connolly John R. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe primary objective of this investigation will be to examine Newman's distinction between human faith and divine faith with the hope of arriving at some insights which will help clarify the ambiguities found in Newman's writings on this subject. Based upon a critical analysis of Newman's writings, this article will examine how Newman understands the relationship between human faith and divine faith in terms of their different material and formal objects. The interpretation presented in this article also has significance for the contemporary analysis of other aspects of Newman's notion of faith, for instance, the nature of the affirmations, the role of the will, and the role of grace in both human and divine faith.
The Virtual Classroom: Using an Electronic Discussion Group to Teach Theology
Authors: O'Keefe John J. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe growth of the Internet in recent years has been truly remarkable. The World Wide Web and electronic mail have changed the way the world does business, but does it have any impact on the way theologians teach? This article argues that electronic discussion groups (lists) can enhance theology classes by increasing the possibilities for student interaction with course material and with each other. An electronic discussion can be particularly helpful in theology courses that emphasize personal reflection. Free from the pressures associated with the classroom, students often find the electronic medium more conducive to thoughtful participation.