In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:St. Thomas Aquinas's Appeal to St. John the Baptist as a Benchmark of Spiritual GreatnessJohn Baptist Ku, O.P.When we think of sources of St. Thomas Aquinas's speculative theology, we rightly recall teachings given in Scripture—such as that sin came into the world through one man (Rom 5:12) or that all that the Father has belongs also to the Son (John 16:15)—as well as teachings, based (...) on Scripture, imparted by Church councils or Fathers, such as that Christ is one person with two natures1 or that the human nature of Christ is an instrument of his divinity.2 In the project of faith seeking understanding, these teachings lead expeditiously to distinctions and clarifications concerning person and nature, habit and action, primary and instrumental causality, intellect and will, faith and reason, and the like. However, the saints themselves too serve as a source for Aquinas's speculative theological reflection. Though they admittedly constitute a less abundant source than scriptural, conciliar, or patristic teaching, the saints' contribution to Aquinas's theology merits our attention.For instance, in "Jean-Baptiste: figure du prêcheur chez Thomas d'Aquin," Jean-Pierre Torrell observes that Aquinas's research into the Fathers of the Church for the Catena aurea bore considerable influence on his subsequent works, and Torrell documents how Aquinas's treatment of John the Baptist is a precise case that shows this influence.3 More recent [End Page 1119] scholarship has, fortunately, taken note of the saints' contribution to Aquinas's theology—in the figures of St. Benedict and the virgin martyrs.4This article will therefore examine St. John the Baptist as just such a source of Aquinas's speculative theology. Aquinas appeals to St. John as a benchmark of spiritual greatness against which to situate other figures: Christ, angels, Mary, apostles, prophets, evangelists, priests, and the people of God. By examining these cases, we will not only observe the Angelic Doctor's appreciation of the saints as our teachers, as examples to be imitated, and as proofs of God's love in transformative grace; we will also witness aspects of the Dominican master's theological method, that is, in his manner of interpreting Scripture and his application of reason to scriptural data to make arguments and draw conclusions.5 For instance, in his treatment of the least in the kingdom of heaven, Scripture will definitively confirm what theological reasoning can determine concerning the knowledge of those with the beatific vision. Furthermore, his exposition on the Blessed Virgin will reveal that he reads the Bible as a whole with one divine author, in support of traditional interpretations.6 However, he is not naive about diverse human authorship and the literal versus the spiritual senses [End Page 1120] of Scripture,7 and his methodology unveils his explicit conviction that Scripture must be the basis of theological claims.8My presentation will unfold in five sections. After (1) a glance at some of Aquinas's comments on the authority of various sources of theology so as to situate our conversation about the saints as a source of theology, I will review Aquinas's enlistment of John the Baptist as a standard by which to establish: (2) three simple points about Christians and Christ—that all of the articles of faith must be accepted, that prepubescent children can enter religious life, and that Christ's baptism manifests divine power—(3) the superiority of angels to wayfarers, among whom John the Baptist is the greatest, followed by apostles, prophets, and evangelists; (4) the eminence of John the Baptist and a ranking, in order, of God, angels, John the Baptist, prophets, priests, and then God's people; and (5) the holiness of Mary the Mother of God.The Authority of Various Sources of TheologyIn just a few lines in the Summa theologiae, Aquinas identifies the roles of reason and authority in theology. On one hand, "it is most proper" to theology to offer "proofs from authority," since theology's "principles are known through revelation"—making theological arguments dependent on "the authority of those making the revelation." But on the other hand, theology "also uses human reason, not to... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Afterword to the Polish Edition of Thomistic EvolutionA Catholic Approach to Understanding Evolution in the Light of Faith by Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., James Brent, O.P., Thomas Davenport, O.P., and John Baptist Ku, O.P.*Mariusz Tabaczek O.P.Translated by Monika Metlerska-Colerick[End Page 225]Thomistic Evolution: A Catholic Approach to Understanding Evolution in the Light of Faith, by Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., James Brent, O.P., Thomas Davenport, O.P., and (...) John Baptist Ku, O.P., is an intriguing attempt at a comprehensive approach to the question of theistic evolutionism from the perspective of Thomistic tradition. The breadth of the approach offered by the authors, starting with the problem of the relationship between reason and faith and subsequently reaching to the foundations of the philosophy of nature, natural theology, and theology of creation, as well as biblical exegesis, provides an appropriate introduction and background for the analysis of a thesis suggesting that it is possible for God to create new species of living organisms (including the Homo sapiens sapiens species) through the processes of evolution. The comprehensible manner in which the discussed questions are presented renders the book accessible to a wide audience.Although one should agree with the main thesis formulated by the authors of Thomistic Evolution regarding the possibility of God expressing his creative power through the emergence of new species of living beings by way of evolution, it also has to be noticed that the arguments they present do not always take fully into consideration certain significant difficulties that arise along the way and the resulting necessity to broaden and adjust the ideas of the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition to present-day standards in order for it to engage in a dialogue with contemporary science. In the absence of such broadening and adjusting, one might arrive at an overly simplified view of things in which St. Thomas himself would easily come to agree with the main assumptions of theistic evolutionism. Our aim, thus, is to reveal a more profound level of the complexity of the debate regarding the Thomistic view of creation and evolution.St. Thomas and EvolutionismOn the one hand, Brent's intuition seems justified that the Thomistic definition of creation as being dependent on God in existence (depicted in chapter 7) is compatible with both the image of the world in which various kinds of species are immutable and the image of the world in which they are subject to change. On the other hand, we cannot forget that St. Thomas himself perceived forms of species as permanently fixed in the moment of the first member of a given species coming into existence and—consequently—not being subject to any future alterations. Hence, reproduction, according to Aquinas, serves as a continuation of species without the introduction of any significant variations: "Nature produces like from like. Now the thing generated is like its generator in [End Page 226] species and form. Therefore the form is produced by the action of the generator and not by creation" (De pot., q. 3, a. 8, sc 4).This quotation from Questiones disputatae de potentia points us towards the theological question of creation. Here, we must emphasize that, according to St. Thomas, at its origin, the world was perfect as to the number of created species. Hence, "something can be added every day to the perfection of the universe, as to the number of individuals, but not as to the number of species" (ST I, q. 118, a. 3, ad 2).1 It is true that Aquinas allowed for the arising of new animal species through putrefaction caused by the power of the sun, as well as through the crossbreeding of already existing species (see ST I, q. 73, a. 1, ad 3, a portion of which is quoted by Austriaco in chapter 24). However, the emergence of new forms of animal organisms in this way by no means implies or anticipates the theory of their descent from a common ancestor by way of evolutionary transformation. Nor is it a manifestation or expression of the most basic rules governing nature, but rather an exception and a departure from their regularity... (shrink)

Street food vendors (SFVs) play a crucial role in feeding billions of people daily, contributing to employment and the informal economy globally. However, their potential is hindered by challenges related to unwholesome packaging, storage, preparation, and handling practices, posing unsafe food to consumers due to low compliance with recommended food safety practices. It was imperative to understand the factors influencing SFVs extent of compliance with food safety practices especially in Urban Ghana, since their services have become part of urban social (...) life. We employed a multistage sampling approach to close this gap by drawing data from 720 SFVs in Greater Accra, Bono, and the Northern regions of Ghana. We analyzed the data using a compliance score calculator and ordered probit regression. We found that, years of education, business location, business registration, vending experience, food handlers’ certificates, inspection frequency, vendor association, and credit access were significant predictors of SFVs extent of compliance with food safety practices. This study therefore recommends that government strengthens existing institutional frameworks to ensure effective coordination among stakeholders in carrying out their roles. Effective collaboration among key bodies such as the Food and Drugs Authority, local governments (MDAs and MMDAs), and public health units is essential for effective monitoring, supervision, training, and public awareness of food safety practices. Strengthening these efforts will enhance compliance while allowing policymakers to determine the appropriate leadership and implementation approach. Notwithstanding, future research could look at how compliance with food safety practices among SFVs improves profitability. (shrink)

Morality seems important, in the sense that there are practical reasons — at least for most of us, most of the time — to be moral. A central theoretical motivation for consequentialism is that it appears clear that there are practical reasons to promote good outcomes, but mysterious why we should care about non-consequentialist moral considerations or how they could be genuine reasons to act. In this paper we argue that this theoretical motivation is mistaken, and that because many arguments (...) for consequentialism rely upon it, the mistake substantially weakens the overall case for consequentialism. We argue that there is indeed a theoretical connection between good states and reasons to act, because good states are those it is fitting to desire and there is a conceptual connection between the fittingness of a motive and reasons to perform the acts it motivates. But while some of our motives are directed at states, others are directed at acts themselves. We contend that just as the fittingness of desires for states generates reasons to promote the good, the fittingness of these act-directed motives generates reasons to do other things. Moreover, we argue that an act’s moral status consists in the fittingness of act-directed feelings of obligation to perform or avoid performing it, so the connection between fitting motives and reasons to act explains reasons to be moral whether or not morality directs us to promote the good. This, we contend, de-mystifies how there could be non-consequentialist reasons that are both moral and practical. (shrink)

Although the last decade has seen a proliferation of ontological approaches to arguments, many of them employ ad hoc solutions to representing arguments, lack interoperability with other ontologies, or cover arguments only as part of a broader approach to evidence. To provide a better ontological representation of arguments, we present the Arguments Ontology (ArgO), a small ontology for arguments that is designed to be imported and easily extended by researchers who work in different upper-level ontology frameworks, different logics, and different (...) approaches to argument evaluation. Unlike most ontological approaches to arguments, ArgO utilizes Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) as an upper-level ontology, and may be used alongside other commonly used ontologies in the BFO framework, including boththe Information Artifact Ontology (IAO), and the Information Entity Ontology (INFO). Critically, our proposal is principled, based on rigorous definitions and formal axioms out of which characterizations of arguments naturally fall. It is our hope that ArgO may assist researchers in many projects, including: integrating heterogeneous sources of evidence, structuring the content of semantic wikis, and enhancing semantic reasoning. (shrink)

Conspiracy beliefs have been linked to perceptions of collective victimhood. We adopt an individual perspective on victimhood by investigating the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and the individual disposition to perceive and react to injustice as a victim, i.e., victim justice sensitivity (VJS). Data from two German samples (Ns = 370, 373) indicated a positive association between VJS and conspiracy mentality beyond conceptually related covariates (e.g., mistrust). In a multinational sample from 15 countries (N = 14,978), VJS was positively associated with (...) both general and specific conspiracy beliefs (about vaccines and climate change) within countries, though these associations varied across countries. However, economic, sociopolitical and cultural country-level factors that might explain the cross-country variability (e.g., GDP, Human Freedom Index, individualism–collectivism), including indices of collective exposure to direct violence, did not moderate the studied associations. Future research should investigate the relationship between victimhood and conspiracy beliefs, considering both intraindividual and intergroup perspectives. (shrink)

Sur une suggestion de David Halperin, John Winkler, professeur à Yale puis à Stanford, rassembla, l’année de sa mort (1990), des études datées de 1981/1989, pour la plupart inédites. Leur convergence autorisait un livre sur l’éthique sexuelle grecque dans une approche sémiotique et anthropologique des pratiques sociales, se démarquant de l’histoire intellectuelle, comme de celles des idées et des mentalités, et du New Historicism des années 1980. À partir d’« observations informelles du compo...

L’objet du livre est, comme son titre l’indique, une analyse de la notion d’« art de vivre » dans la philosophie stoïcienne. Selon l’auteur, la philosophie stoïcienne est conçue par les stoïciens comme un « art de vivre », « appuyé sur des principes rationnels (logoi) qui s’expriment dans le comportement (erga, bios) de quelqu’un après une période d’entraînement pratique (askesis) » (p. 118), ou « exercices spirituels ». L’ouvrage propose donc une interprétation de la philosophie stoïcienne d...

It is known today that Hegel's philosophy was at the center of the development of pragmatism. In particular, the relation of Dewey's philosophy to Hegel's has recently been studied with great attention1. Many studies have revealed that the German philosopher had a fundamental influence on the young John Dewey, particularly with regard to his theory of culture, for his logic, as well as for his psychology. These new readings propose a profoundly original view of Dewey and explain why he (...) thought of his philosophy as a "permanent Hegelian deposit".Our work aims to... (shrink)

Defining the concept of “proselytism” from a Biblical viewpoint, the author attempts to distinguish between witnessing through life-style evangelism and the introduction of the word of God, and overt attempts to draw others away from their historic beliefs, sometimes through questionable methodologies and/or unethical inducements. He points out that when renewal and revival within a body of believers bring about a spontaneous desire to follow Biblical principles, and a different approach toward worship, individuals should have the freedom to make that (...) choice. (shrink)

In August 2006, after twenty years of armed conflict, the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army came to a ceasefire agreement. While the LRA has moved its activity into neighboring countries, there has been peace—or at least the absence of overt conflict—in Uganda. The ecumenical Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative was critical in mediating between the two parties in the months leading up to the talks. Archbishop John Baptist Odama has been Chairperson of ARLPI since 2002. (...) Previous interviews with him have been short and focused on only his external actions—the negotiations with the LRA, the acts of solidarity with displaced people, children in particular. In the present interview, however, Archbishop Odama discusses the spiritual formation, the devotional practices, and the deep theology that inform his actions on behalf of peace and justice. (shrink)

In regard of the global phenomena of an atomistic isolation of individuals and dwindling solidarity, the paper discusses current approaches in political philosophy and theory of justice that seek to challenge these “social pathologies” by recurring to elements of Hegel’s concept of “ethical life”. Part 1 focuses on Charles Taylor’s theory of the communal constitution of individual identity. Part 2 explains John Rawls’ thesis that Hegel’s crucial achievement was to present the modern state, and the institutions it comprises, as (...) constitutive for “real freedom”. Part 3 discusses Axel Honneth’s claim to re-formulate Hegel’s philosophy of right in terms of today’s social spheres. Part 4 contends that the recent debate has widely ignored the importance of Hegel’s concept of the religious community. (shrink)

Within the holdings of The University of Manchesters John Rylands Library is a remarkable collection of 337 letters to and from Baptist ministers and laypersons written between 1741 and 1907. Nearly half can be found among the autograph collections of Thomas Raffles, Liverpool Congregationalist minister and educator, with another 103 letters belonging to the collections of the Methodist Archives. John Sutcliff, Baptist minister at Olney and an early leader within the Baptist Missionary Society, was the (...) recipient of more than seventy of these,letters. Among the correspondents are the leading Baptist and Congregationalist ministers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Although largely unknown today, these letters provide important insights into British Baptist history between 1740 and 1900, establishing the John Rylands Library,as a valuable resource for Baptist historians. (shrink)

The first stop on our tour of the service provision landscape in Welfare America is rural Mississippi. In many respects, Mississippi is an ideal state in which to begin our investigation. Mississippi has long been known for its inordinately high Poverty rate and its large proportion of female-headed families. Mississippi, sometimes referred to as the buckle of the Bible Belt, is also one of the most religious states in the country. The dominant faith traditions in Mississippi are those of the (...) conservative Protestant variety, including denominations often described as fundamentalist such as Baptists. Pentecostals such as Church of God in Christ are also well represented. United Methodists, the primary mainline Protestant Denomination in the state, enjoy a significant share of the religious market as well, although Mississippi Methodists are generally more conservative than their methodists in other parts of the country. (shrink)

Mohandas K. Gandhi was influential on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence. This chapter analyzes King’s 1959 “Palm Sunday Sermon on Mohandas K. Gandhi,” where King justified his incorporation of Gandhian nonviolence into his Christian framework. In addressing the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, King legitimized the philosophy of nonviolence as a Christian practice that has been embodied by Gandhi and other Indians in their independence movement. King offered a Christian framework for understanding Gandhi’s teachings on love (...) and nonviolence and encouraged his audience to apply Gandhi’s lessons to the Black Freedom Movement in the United States. Through the sermon, King has left a map for future Christians to participate in interreligious dialogue and to co-struggle with others against oppressive systems. (shrink)

I'll say first why I write. It intrigues me, I wonder why I write. How it is that I write and why it's so important. I take this as an act of life. One thing that scares me as a writer is a Lari song “ndombi ku ndombi sadidi mukanda komanda diandi Matsoua Ndele.” That can be translated as “even a black can write, hey, things are progressing. “ In the beginning going to school was considered an enormous act, it (...) was civilization, it was the very center of civilization, and writing a letter for a black person, a poor black, was a grandiose thing. It was in Matsoua's time, in the forties, that people sang this song in the pool to make rubber. (shrink)

V članku skušam opredeliti vlogo pojma protislovnosti v zgodovini metafizike. Podrobnejši vpogled v Aristotelovo mišljenje o tem pojmu pokaže, v kolikšni meri je načelo neprotislovnosti zakoreninjeno v metafiziki. V nadaljevanju se osredotočam na Kantovo razvijanje transcendentalne logike in Heglovo izenačenje logike z metafiziko. V zaključku razmišljam o možnosti drugačne logike – logike preobilja – onkraj heglovske afirmacije protislovnosti, ki razkriva mejo principa protislovnosti znotraj določenih struktur ali elementov.This paper traces the role that the concept of contradiction plays in the history (...) of metaphysics. By investigating the way that this concept was taken up by Aristotle, it shows how thoroughly the principle of non-contradiction belongs to metaphysics. The paper then traces Kant's development of a transcendental logic and Hegel's identification of logic and metaphysics. The paper explores, finally, the possibility that even beyond Hegelian affirmation of contradiction another logic--an exorbitant logic--can be conceived that exposes the limits of the principle of non-contradiction and accordingly affirms contradiction whithin certain domains of structures or elements. (shrink)

No one interested in the history of optics, the history of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century physics, or the general phenomenon of theory change in science can afford to ignore Jed Buchwald's well-structured, highly detailed, and scrupulously researched book. The focus is Augustin Jean Fresnel's epoch-making work on the diffraction and polarization of light in the period from 1815 to 1826. The account of this work (in Part 2) is sandwiched between an account of the intellectual background and particularly of the "selectionist" (...) ideas that Buchwald sees as informing the approach to optics dis- placed by Fresnel (Part 1) and an account (in Part 3) of the reception of Fresnel's work, the controversies with Simeon Denis Poisson and especially with Jean Baptiste Biot, and the "emerging dominance" of the wave theory. No fewer than twenty-five appendixes absorb some-though by no means all-of the more detailed points and technicalities. (shrink)

Vikentios Damodos (1700–1754) was a private teacher of philosophy and theology in Cephalonia (Kephallênia), Ionian Islands (Greece), when they were under Venetian rule. He had studied in Venice and Padua and elaborated a Greek Concise Metaphysics, which forms a part of his hefty Philosophy. Concise Metaphysics is a selective translation or adaptation of passages from the respective parts of Institutiones philosophicæ by Edmond Pourchot, a Scholastico-Cartesian professor of philosophy (1651–1734); namely from Metaphysics of Vol. I (Logic and Metaphysics); as well (...) as from the respective parts(Compendium Metaphysicæ; Exercitationes scholasticæ) of Vol. V (Exercitationes scholasticæ… sive Series disputationum ontologicarum or Exercitationes ontologicæ) of Pourchot’s textbook. Damodos’ work is enriched by an Appendix, which includes some Metaphysical Questions. Like Damodos’ Concise Ethics, where the respective parts of the same textbook were plagiarized, the main body (Part I: “Ontology”; Part II: “Pneumatology”, sc. on spiritual beings) of the Concise Metaphysics testifies to his good apprehension of the content of the Latin original. Yet too, it shows no traces of philosophical thought on the part of the plagiarist. Damodos modified the content of the Latin text only with regard to Filioque and Trinitarian terminology, which was not acceptable to himself and his fellow Orthodox addressees. Damodos seems further to have been aware of the issue of whether theological topics (such as those regarding angels, which, as ‘spiritualbeings’, fall under the subject matter of metaphysics) should be admitted into metaphysical handbooks. He shares Pourchot’s view that this is in principle forbidden, although it can be accepted for practical reasons, just as another Scholastico-Cartesian, Jean-Baptiste du Hamel (1624–1706) had done in his own Metaphysics. Du Hamel, in his turn, had been a latent yet basic source of Pourchot’s Institutiones philosophicæ. Damodos enriched his own handbook by means of some additional material (e.g., on the various sorts of metaphysical ‘distinctions’), which he drew from du Hamel’s Logic and Metaphysics (from the Philosophia vetus et nova) and, probably, from the metaphysical part of the handbook of Thomistic philosophy by Antonius Goudinus (1639–1695). (shrink)

Jean-Baptiste Say is largely forgotten in modern economics; if he is remembered and studied, it is for Say’s Law, which was misinterpreted by John Maynard Keynes, and ended up providing the basis for the General Theory. In this chapter, we review Say’s Law and a more correct interpretation. We then use this to highlight the contributions of Say to modern macroeconomics, the microfoundations of macroeconomics, and entrepreneurship theory. Say was an influential French thinker – modern classical liberalism owes much (...) to him, and would be enriched by a rediscovery of his writings. (shrink)

No single text could be considered more important in the history of philosophy than Descartes' Meditations. This unique collection of background material to this magisterial philosophical text has been translated from the original French and Latin. The texts gathered here illustrate the kinds of principles, assumptions, and philosophical methods that were commonplace when Descartes was growing up. The selections are from: Francisco Sanches, Christopher Clavius, Pierre de la Ramee, Francisco Suárez, Pierre Charron, Eustachius a Sancto Paulo, Scipion Dupleix, Marin Mersenne, (...) Pierre Gassendi, Jean de Silhon, François de la Mothe le Vayer, Charles Sorel, and Jean-Baptiste Morin. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS 365 an unattainable historical goal seems to offer not hope but only frustration for those who pursue it. Hodgson's suggestion that humans find momentary satisfaction in the partial attainment of the goal (128) can only be reminiscent of the consolation a Sisyphus might find in the partial achievement of his ultimately hopeless task. In effect, Hodgson's eschatology is hardly a human affair at all. Human action in (...) history has no connection with or effect upon its realization (197). Whether personal human identity is preserved in " the ultimate consummation of all things in God " remains at best an ambiguous question in Hodg· son's thought (129, 250-1). The consummation itself concerns God rather than humanity: "The final comedy is the divine comedy, not a human comedy " (129). Hodgson presents a meticulously researched and carefully written argument. He is to be congratulated for so clearly and forcefully formulating the challenge that faces theology in these last years of the twen· tieth century. Yet the very clarity with which his conclusions-themselves so foreign to the Christian tradition-proceed from his premises invites the reader to question whether the philosophy of Hegel can ac· tually provide an adequate or appropriate starting point for the work of Christian theology. Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, California MICHAEL J. DODDS, 0.P. Patience and Power: Grace for the First World. By JEAN-MARC LAPORTE, S.J. New York: Paulist Press, 1988. Pp. iv + 297. $14.95. Jean-Marc Laporte, professor of systematic theology at Regis College in the Toronto School of Theology has previously published Les strztctures dynamiques de la grace: grace medicinale et grace elevante d'apres Thomas d'Aquin (Montreal: Editions Bellarmin, 1974), a work based on his doctoral dissertation at the University of Strasbourg. Patience and Power draws on his earlier study of Aquinas but ranges more widely in the theological tradition and in contemporary analyses of modern society to provide a thought-provoking interpretation of the doctrine of grace for 20th century Western culture. The book is replete with diagrams, designed to demonstrate structural affinities among various factors relevant to theological reflection on grace. BOOK REVIEWS Opening chapters offer an initial account of the current separation of the human race into First (Western European; North American), Second (Eastern European), and Third (Southern) Worlds and suggest a structural affinity between these contemporary cultural and economic divisions and the historical development of Western, Eastern, and Southern Churches. With an eye toward constructing a theology of grace attuned to the problems and needs of the First World, especially Canada and the United States, Laporte then provides a capsule analysis of the history of Christian thought on grace. A line of thought running from Paul through Augustine stresses the healing function of grace as forgiveness of sin and accents the incompleteness of the gift already received. In contrast to this approach, which became typical of Western theology, a trajectory extending from John through the Eastern Fathers emphasized the elevating function of grace as conferral, even in this world, of participation in the life of God. Thomas Aquinas, more familiar with Aristotle and more adept systematically than his predecessors, sought with considerable success to integrate Eastern and Western perspective on grace into a comprehensive theological vision. Underappreciated in its own day, the Thomistic synthesis proved short-lived. In the late Middle Ages, movements in the direction of voluntarism and nominalism reified and quantified the understanding of grace and thus unwittingly paved the way for the 16th breakdown in the unity of Western Christendom and for the sterile debates on grace characteristic of the following centuries. Only in our own time has the rich heritage of the authentic Western tradition begun to he retrieved, as historical spadework has prepared the ground for new and deeper theological conceptions. Recognition of Christianity's need for personal categories, for concepts drawn from specifically human existence, is essential if this undertaking is to hear fruit; the anthropocentric (as.distinguished from cosmocentric) thought-form which Johann Baptist Metz has rightly identified in Aquinas must become a more explicit element of contemporary Western Christian thought. This analysis of the history of the doctrine of... (shrink)

According to Mark 6:14–29, John the Baptist was beheaded by the order of Herod Antipas. This dramatic event became inevitable after a cunning interplay between Herodias and her daughter, who remains nameless in the New Testament. According to Flavius Josephus, she was called Salome ( Jewish Antiquities XVIII, 5.4 § 136–137), and under that name, she went down in history. For the sake of convenience, I also call her ‘Salome’ in this article. Salome is the Greek form of (...) the Hebrew name Shlomith, which was very popular in early Judaic times and means ‘she who brings peace and tranquillity’. Unlike the faithful women elsewhere in Mark’s gospel (5:21–43; 7:24–30; 14:3–9), Herodias and her daughter are not exactly models of virtue. Yet, it is questionable as to whether they are both thoroughly bad and whether they are both equally responsible for the murder of John. This article does not provide a historical reconstruction of what exactly happened at the court of Herod Antipas, but it contains a narrative analysis of what happened in the court of Herod Antipas. This narrative analysis is followed by an intertextual approach in the second part of this article. Firstly, I will compare Mark’s story with what Flavius Josephus tells about the beheading of John. Thereafter, I will highlight the roles of Herodias and Salome in the play Salome by Oscar Wilde from 1894, which, in turn, forms the basis of the libretto for the opera Salome by Richard Strauss from 1905. Do we encounter in these modern artistic recreations (Neuschöpfungen) only transformations of Mark’s story, or also transgressions in which Wilde and Strauss have largely replaced the original meaning of the story with new meaning? (shrink)

This edited book explores examples of different ways in which societies and individuals have dealt with the concepts of religious diversity, toleration and peace-making in politics and law, and how these examples can inform educators and learners in (in- and non-)formal education today. Chapters introduce and analyse nine key documents: the Capitulations of Granada (1492), the Confederation of Warsaw (1573), the Peace of Westphalia (1648), the Royal Charter of Rhode Island (1663), the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of (...) the Citizen (1789), the European Convention of Human Rights (1950), the Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement (1998), the Ohrid Framework Agreement (2001) and the Mardin Declaration (2010). In addition to explaining how each document manages toleration and peace, the authors also provide 'clippings', short visual and textual excerpts relating to the document under discussion. These aim to challenge thinking about the historical document and its potential significance for the present. The book's contributors consider the past as a source of inspiration for learning in formal and informal educational contexts such as classrooms, museums and youth work. It will be of interest to teachers and scholars in history, citizenship, philosophy, ethics and religious education in schools and beyond. Karel Van Nieuwenhuyse is Professor in the History Research Unit, KU Leuven, Belgium. John Maiden is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at The Open University, UK. Stefanie Sinclair is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at The Open University, UK. (shrink)

I'll say first why I write. It intrigues me, I wonder why I write. How it is that I write and why it's so important. I take this as an act of life. One thing that scares me as a writer is a Lari song “ndombi ku ndombi sadidi mukanda komanda diandi Matsoua Ndele.” That can be translated as “even a black can write, hey, things are progressing. “ In the beginning going to school was considered an enormous act, it (...) was civilization, it was the very center of civilization, and writing a letter for a black person, a poor black, was a grandiose thing. It was in Matsoua's time, in the forties, that people sang this song in the pool to make rubber. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Report on the Tenth European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies Conference:History as a Challenge to Buddhism and ChristianityJohn O’Grady, Elizabeth J. Harris, and Jonathan A. SeitzThe Tenth Conference of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies (ENBCS) brought together between sixty and seventy people at the Oude Abdij, Drongen, Belgium, between 27 June and 1 July 2013, to examine the theme “History as a Challenge to Buddhism and Christianity.” It was (...) a collaborative effort between the ENBCS and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The 2011 ENBCS conference had focused on whether hope was a relevant concept for Buddhists and Christians. The choice of history as a theme complemented this. It also resonated with a research concern of both KU Leuven and the Network.Five key themes were chosen for examination: the traditional Christian and Buddhist conceptions of history; Jesus and the Buddha: fact and fiction; Buddhist and Christian historiography; dangerous memory in Christianity and Buddhism; and permitting historical consciousness in Buddhism and Christianity. Each was approached from a Buddhist and a Christian perspective. An opening lecture addressed the theme “Modern Historical Consciousness and the Challenge to Religion.” In addition, eighteen research papers on Buddhist-Christian relations were given in parallel sessions on Friday evening and Saturday morning. These covered topics as various as the writings of Edmund Pezet (Pierre Gillet), Paul Knitter’s understanding of Buddhist-Christian double belonging (Achim Riggert), Keiji Nishitani and the death of God (Jonatan Navarro Estrada), the encounter of Zen Buddhism and Christianity in the works of D. T. Suzuki (Mariusz Rucki), Buddhist-Christian encounters by Han Yong Woon (Seung Chul Kim), and “Liberating the Conflict from ‘History’ in Sri Lanka” (Jude Lal Fernando).Perry Schmidt-Leukel (Münster, Germany), in the opening lecture, discussed [End Page 189] seven challenges that modern historical consciousness was posing to religion: the challenge of falsification (when historical evidence, for example, showed some doctrines cherished by believers were not taught by the founder), the challenge of uncertainty or methodological doubt, the challenge of methodological naturalism (should a natural explanation be considered more probable than a supernatural one?), the challenge of the distance between past and present, the challenge of change (religions are not static), the challenge of demystification, and the challenge of relativity (the writing of history is perspectival, conditioned by context). He stressed that it would be a blessing to religion if these challenges were faced and, throughout the conference, encouraged other speakers to face them.The first theme was tackled by Mark Blum (Berkeley, USA) from a Buddhist perspective and Jan-Olav Henriksen (Norwegian School of Theology) from a Christian perspective. In a magisterial historical and geographical survey of the Buddhist tradition, Blum first noted that no one had unearthed a traditional notion of Buddhist history in the early texts. The theme of decline and reformation had been taken from Indian cosmology, but with a Buddhist twist and the conviction that it was pointless to talk about beginnings. And in the growth of the Mahāyāna tradition, a dehistoricization of the Buddha had occurred in the belief that the Buddha’s dharma-body was his only “real” body.Henriksen argued that Christian salvation history had its origin in the narrative of the Fall, an event for which there was no historical evidence, and developed into a history of God’s call (election) to all people that they should be brought together in community. It was a history that was linked with the divine logos, a force that Christian theology has seen as deeply interwoven into creation from the beginning of time and that was made human in Jesus.Terrence Merrigan (KU Leuven, Belgium), giving a Christian perspective on the second theme, distinguished three quests or attempts to reach the historical Jesus. The first, from 1774 to 1906, sought to uncover the Jesus that had been obscured by dogma. It imploded with the realization that separating “core” from “myth” was impossible, and conditioned a reactive “no-quest” in the first half of the twentieth century. A “new quest” arose in the 1950s, initiated by Käsemann’s reaction to the theologies of Barth and Bultmann. A further quest that appealed to archaeology and the... (shrink)

In the modern consideration of historical time, reason is the driving force of progress through a homogenous, linear and continuum time. In fact, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries humanity was witnessing a history of progress in which it appeared that history was progressing towards a better world. However, the tragedies of the twentieth century indicate the opposite. Western reason proved unable to stop the barbarism of war. At the heart of this panorama, according to Emmanuel Levinas and Johann (...) class='Hi'>Baptist Metz, was the idealism of the Greek logos presented in the philosophical and theological mode of thinking. Theology and philosophy would share in this way the same idealist vocation towards totality which, in Levinas’s categories, is the forgetting of singularity and their concrete situation in favour of universality. I will show how by resorting to the Jewish legacy, and particularly to the concepts of eschatology, apocalypse, and messianism, Levinas and Metz define a new relationship with historical time. In this way they not only oppose the mainstream consideration of history as a vector of continuous progress towards its own realization, but also introduce in history the contingency of individual experiences and particularly those of the victims of such history. (shrink)