Showing papers in "International journal of philosophy and theology in 2014"
TL;DR: The authors argue that these environmental problems did not exist prior to colonialism because traditional Africans had conservationist values, moral attitudes, practices, and ways of life, and many of these traditional conservationists values, way of life and moral attitudes were destroyed by the exploitative ethos of European colonialism and modernity.
Abstract: Concerns have been raised about environmental problems in Africa. I argue that these environmental problems did not exist prior to colonialism because traditional Africans had conservationist values, moral attitudes, practices, and ways of life. I articulate African thoughts on ontology, cosmology, traditional medicine and healing, and religious practices that supported their conservationist moral values and attitudes. Many of these traditional conservationist values, ways of life, and moral attitudes were destroyed by the exploitative ethos of European colonialism and modernity. I show how the colonial social structures left behind still continue to engender and contribute to the environmental problems in Africa today.
14 citations
TL;DR: Tindal, Thomas Morgan, and Thomas Amory as mentioned in this paper were three English deists who believed in miracles, revelation, prayer, and continuing direct divine inspiration, and they were neither conventional deists nor traditional Christians.
Abstract: In eighteenth century England, there were thinkers who said they were Christian deists and claimed pure, original Christianity was deism. Most scholars do not believe these thinkers were sincere about their religious beliefs, but there are many good reasons to believe they were. Three English deists have the best claim to be considered Christian deists because they alone called themselves Christian deists or called their ideas those of a Christian deist. These three thinkers, Matthew Tindal, Thomas Morgan, and Thomas Amory, developed a theology in which Christianity was deism and natural religion. The important point, though, was that their version of natural religion included supernatural elements as well as true religious piety. When read closely, these three thinkers believed in miracles, revelation, prayer, and continuing direct divine inspiration. The Christian deists were neither conventional deists nor traditional Christians. Nevertheless, it is not legitimate to exclude them from either category a...
11 citations
TL;DR: This paper made a case for the incoherence of Pseudo-Dionysius' first principle of hyperousios, which is not theistic by definition, and argued that it is not compatible with Trinitarianism.
Abstract: Pseudo-Dionysius’ first principle is hyperousios. By definition, that concept is not theistic. In his oeuvre, however, Pseudo-Dionysius promotes Trinitarianism. A majority of Pseudo-Dionysius’ interpreters have maintained that these concepts are compatible. This article makes a case for the incoherence of that position.
11 citations
TL;DR: The authors traced back the origin of strong evaluation in Taylor's earliest writings and laid out the different philosophical themes that revolve around it, and made the case for multiple tensions within Taylor's methods.
Abstract: This paper aims to come to grips with the rich philosophy of Charles Taylor by focusing on his concept of ‘strong evaluation’. I argue that a close examination of this term brings out more clearly the continuing tensions in his writings as a whole. I trace back the origin of strong evaluation in Taylor’s earliest writings, and continue by laying out the different philosophical themes that revolve around it. Next, the focus is on the separate arguments in which strong evaluation is central, uncovering several methodological conflicts in Taylor’s strategies. Arguing against most of his commentators, I suggest that a distinction should be drawn between the philosophical anthropological, moral, and ontological implications of strong evaluation. As a result, the contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it clarifies the issue of strong evaluation by distinguishing the different arguments in which Taylor employs the concept. Second, it makes the case for multiple tensions within Taylor’s methods. Third, a...
10 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that if the intermediate state obtains, then bodily resurrection is superfluous for those in the paradisiacal state, and they used the content and argument of a particular chapter in the Bible, namely, 1 Corinthians 15, to make the point.
Abstract: In the sixteenth century, Sir Thomas More criticized Martin Luther’s purported denial of a conscious intermediate state between bodily death and bodily resurrection. In the same century, William Tyndale penned a response in defense of Luther’s view. His argument essentially defended the proposition: If the Intermediate State obtains, then bodily resurrection is superfluous for those in the paradisiacal state. In this article, I enter the fray and argue for the truth of this conditional claim. And, like William Tyndale, I use the content and argument of a particular chapter in the Bible, namely, 1 Corinthians 15, to make the point.
9 citations
TL;DR: The style of weak thought associated with Gianni Vattimo involves positing that we are living after the death of God in an age of nihilism that is our "sole opportunity" as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The style of weak thought associated with Gianni Vattimo involves positing that we are living after the death of God in an age of nihilism that is our ‘sole opportunity’. Nihilism, the lack of highest values, frees one from the ‘violence’ of metaphysics that silences one by reducing everything back to first principles. This article focuses on Vattimo’s return to Christianity, analysing in particular his use of terms found in the New Testament, kenosis and caritas. Vattimo sees the history of the West as the secularisation of Christianity, reaching its culmination in the nihilism of late-modernity through the liberation of a plurality of interpretations from metaphysics. By analysing Vattimo’s notion of Being and use of Joachim of Fiore’s historical schema in relation to Paul’s distinction between the ‘spirit’ and the ‘letter’, it shall be argued that Vattimo’s understanding of Christianity does not involve the religion ‘superseding’ Judaism. However, this resolution comes at the cost of highlighting the l...
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Bultmann's contention that a ‘conscious atheist can find something transcendent in the world is interpreted through reflection on Ricoeur's claim that the atheisms of Nietzsche and Freud serve to mediate a transition to a purified faith.
Abstract: Philosophers of religion have distinguished between ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ atheism. This article considers further conceptions of atheism, especially the idea that atheism can facilitate a faith in God purified of idolatrous assumptions. After introducing Bultmann’s contention that a ‘conscious atheist’ can find something transcendent in the world, this contention is interpreted through reflection on Ricoeur’s claim that the atheisms of Nietzsche and Freud serve to mediate a transition to a purified faith – a faith involving heightened receptivity to agapeic love. The troubling question of what differentiates atheism from belief in God is then discussed in the light of Simone Weil’s meditations on God’s secret presence.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it is found that truth refers to the revelation of the divine relations in the Trinity, and these correspond with human relations when this revelation is apprehended by faith through participation.
Abstract: This article seeks to clarify and theorise three fundamental themes in the work of John Milbank: truth, faith and reason. In his work, Milbank often uses these terms in ambiguous ways, so the terminology requires clarity to facilitate further productive discussion. It is found that truth refers to the revelation of the divine relations in the Trinity, and these correspond with human relations when this revelation is apprehended by faith through participation. Faith means trust or persuasion, such that when the divine is graciously revealed, the mind is transformed and persuaded to participate in the divine relations. This faith is reconciled with reason, or logos, the divine word which is Christ and is the ultimate revelation of the Trinity through the Incarnation, which produces a reason that leads to peace based in faith.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a new interpretation of NDEs as private revelation, based on Thomas Aquinas' view on prophetic dreams, which can help to account for the specific circumstance of imminent death.
Abstract: Stories about near-death experiences (NDEs) draw much attention from the general public and are extensively discussed by medical doctors and neuroscientists. However, though eschatology belongs to their core business, only few theologians participate in the debate. This article proposes a theological interpretation of NDEs as ‘private revelations’. I first give a critical analysis of the development of the modern, allegedly ‘scientific’, concept of NDE. This concept changes concrete personal testimonies into statistical data that are used as scientific evidence for the existence of an immortal soul. Next, the main criticisms against this concept from neurosciences, study of mysticism and philosophy of mind are discussed. Finally, I argue that ‘private revelation’ is a useful model for a theological understanding of NDEs and that an analogy from Thomas Aquinas’ view on prophetic dreams can help to account for the specific circumstance of imminent death. The interpretation I propose can do justice to the im...
7 citations
TL;DR: In the first part of his Philosophie de la Volonte, Le volontaire et l'involontaire ([1950] 1966) Paul Ricoeur writes that the phenomenological or "pure description […] of the Voluntary and the Involuntary" is "constituted by bracketing" two things: first the fault, which is essentially a perversion of the pure nature or the essence of human willing; and second "transcendence which hides within it the ultimate origin of subjectivity" as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In the general introduction to the first part of his Philosophie de la Volonte, Le volontaire et l’involontaire ([1950] 1966) Paul Ricoeur writes that the phenomenological or ‘pure description […] of the Voluntary and the Involuntary’ is ‘constituted by bracketing’ two things: first the fault, which is essentially a perversion of the pure nature or the essence of human willing; and second ‘Transcendence which hides within it the ultimate origin of subjectivity’. Evil, the condition of brokenness or the reality of the fault, asks for an empirical description (and as Ricoeur will discover subsequently: a hermeneutics) of concrete myths and symbols. He will remove this first bracketing in the second part of his Philosophy of the Will and in the long ‘series of detours’ of his hermeneutical writings. The second bracketing, however, will turn out to be much more difficult to remove. It demands a ‘poetics’, which would threaten Ricoeur’s effort to separate his Christian faith from his ‘autonomous’ philosophizin...
7 citations
TL;DR: The Corpus Dionysiacum of the famous and mysterious fifth century author, who wrote under the pseudonym of Dionysius the Areopagite, is one of the most controversial characters in the history of philosophy as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The famous and mysterious fifth century author, who wrote his works known as the Corpus Dionysiacum under the pseudonym of Dionysius the Areopagite, is one of the most controversial characters in the history of philosophy. His thought is well known for the concepts of apophatic and cataphatic theologies and hierarchy (he actually coined the word), as well as for his understanding of eros, beauty, and deification, which all greatly influenced the Areopagite’s posterity. His system is a successful amalgam of ancient (chiefly Neoplatonic) philosophy and Christian doctrines. The aim of this article is to examine one of these concepts, namely beauty, which will help in understanding Dionysius’ aesthetics in its original terms, as well as in its connections to Neoplatonism. Concretely, the article focuses on the conception of the divine beauty, and is therefore articulated through two sections, which deal with beauty as an attribute (name) of God, and the famous pair of good and beautiful.
TL;DR: The Quest of the Absolute as mentioned in this paper is the third volume of a trilogy on the intellectual history of modernity, which follows Passage to Modernity (1993) and The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture (2004).
Abstract: The latest book by Louis Dupre, The Quest of the Absolute, is the third and final volume of a trilogy on the intellectual history of modernity. It follows Passage to Modernity (1993) and The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture (2004). Elegant writing and remarkable erudition go hand in hand with a deep insight into the objectives, achievements and deadlocks of the Romantic movement. It is not possible to look into the overwhelming variety of issues and figures that come to the fore in this book and the trilogy as a whole; instead, this article focuses on Dupre’s central claim as to the development and significance of modern Western culture, starting from a specific question that time and again recurs as a key motive throughout the three volumes of his trilogy: are we postmodern or late modern? Dupre’s answer that we are dwellers of a late modern era rather than inhabitants of a postmodern age is dependent on his definition of modernity as a still ongoing ‘event that has transf...
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the notion of neighbor love is not a good one, and that it runs the risk of undermining its own self-sacrifice and love for the enemy.
Abstract: Soren Kierkegaard advocates, in his Works of Love, a rigorous ideal of neighbor love. When one is confronted with this ideal of self-sacrifice and love for the enemy, one inevitably wonders whether such a life of neighbor love is livable. In this article, I ask (1) whether Kierkegaard indeed allows for limits on neighbor love, and (2) if neighbor love is limitless, whether there are, on his account, good reasons to live such a life. In elaborating these issues, I aim to show that Kierkegaard is unable to show that his conception of neighbor love is recognizably good, which implies, as I will make clear, that his ethic of neighbor love runs the risk of undermining itself.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that taking Wittgenstein and the need for moral modesty seriously does not make moral advice impossible, but rather asks for a notion of moral advice in which moral advice is not necessarily linked to the ideal of a moral judgment.
Abstract: Moral philosophy has traditionally aimed for correct or appropriate moral judgments. Consequently, when asked for moral advice, the moral philosopher first tries to develop a moral judgment and then informs the advisee. The focus is on what the advisee should do, not on whether any advice should be given. There may, however, be various kinds of reasons not to morally judge, to be ‘morally modest’. In the first part of this article, I give some reasons to be morally modest when moral advice is asked for. Second, I show how Wittgenstein radicalizes these reasons to such an extent that the very possibility of giving moral advice seems threatened. Third, I argue that taking Wittgenstein and the need for moral modesty seriously does not make moral advice impossible, but rather asks for a notion of moral advice in which moral advice is not necessarily linked to the ideal of a moral judgment. Fourth, I highlight some advantages of a Wittgensteinian notion of moral advice over traditional notions.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze De Martino's The Land of Remorse from a philosophical viewpoint, showing that the author interprets "ritual symbols" as useful "fictions" which permit to resolve the problem of "indeterminacy" (that refers to vague objects and unknown events), and rescue the human Self from psychological and existential crisis.
Abstract: This article analyses the Italian philosopher and anthropologist Ernesto De Martino’s The Land of Remorse from a philosophical viewpoint. After having presented the main Demartinian concepts (e.g. ‘presence’ and ‘crisis of presence’) and examined the phenomenon of ‘tarantism’ (that is a magical-religious ritual practiced in southern Italy), the author interprets ‘ritual symbols’ as useful ‘fictions,’ which permit to resolve the problem of ‘indeterminacy’ (that refers to vague objects and unknown events), and rescue the human Self from psychological and existential crisis.
TL;DR: The double hermeneutics of faith and suspicion as mentioned in this paper is a construct that carries forward the critical impulse which academic bureaucracies want to repress in answer to their corporate masters, while at the same recognizing the value of reformist impulses that will generate strategic alignments and substantive benefits.
Abstract: Ricoeur speaks to the unfolding ‘post-crisis’ period of the academic humanities through his dialectic between the hermeneutics of faith and suspicion, a construct that carries forward the critical impulse which academic bureaucracies want to repress in answer to their corporate masters, while at the same recognizing the value of reformist impulses that will generate strategic alignments and substantive benefits. This article identifies the tensions of the double hermeneutic, where it is successful and unsuccessful, and maps Ricoeur’s view of ethical responsibility in the academic politics of the 1960s onto the academic politics of today. The article concludes that Ricoeur’s particular value on this subject lies in the courage with which he dared to place unfashionable reformist possibilities in an honest and productive dialogue with the radical suspicion of hegemonic structures.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the existence of a distinct relationship among the two forms of ethics (secular and Christian) through the theoretical framework of cognitive-developmental theory, and support the fact that the course of Christian ethics growth presents similar characteristics to that of secular ethics.
Abstract: Ethics is a concept used by people in everyday life. Apart from ethics existing in the wider social environment (secular ethics), another form of ethics found in a specific environment has been supported, that of Christian Ethics. While secular ethics has been studied quite intensely through a variety of theories, the issue of Christian Ethics especially within the framework of Orthodox Church did not evoke strong interest. The aim of the present study was to investigate the existence of a distinct relationship among the two forms of ethics (secular and Christian). This relationship was studied through the theoretical framework of cognitive-developmental theory. The findings of the present study support the fact that the course of Christian ethics growth presents similar characteristics to that of secular ethics. Additionally, Christian ethics, via a proper preparation could constitute an evaluative measure for people.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that if God exists, He is not phenomenally conscious, at least in the sense that there is no "divine subjectivity" and that a consistent though weaker understanding of omnipresence is incompatible with a conscious point of view (POV).
Abstract: While nobody will ever know what it may be like to be God, there is a more basic question one may try to answer: does God have phenomenal consciousness, does He have experiences within a conscious point of view (POV)? Drawing on recent debates within philosophy of mind, I argue that He doesn’t: if God exists, ‘He’ is not phenomenally conscious, at least in the sense that there is no ‘divine subjectivity’. The article aims at displaying an incompatibility between God’s being truly omnipresent on the one hand, and God’s having a genuine conscious POV on the other. This is shown by introducing the concept of ‘experiential location’ to clarify what shall be meant by ‘conscious POV’, then by exposing an inconsistency in the traditional concept of omnipresence, and finally by arguing that a consistent though weaker understanding of omnipresence is incompatible with God’s having a conscious POV. This paves the way for a ‘processual’ or computational conception of God, which may have its own metaphysical benefit.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defend the thesis that Pascal's use of sentir offers an important entrance to his perception of the human being, while explaining Pascal's anthropology as an experience-oriented and love-focused understanding of human existence.
Abstract: The author defends the thesis that Pascal’s use of sentir offers an important entrance to his perception of the human being, while explaining Pascal’s anthropology as an experience-oriented and love-focused understanding of human existence. This understanding of Pascal is based on the reconstruction of an alternative context of interpretation. Not the early modern debates on rationality, but the medieval authors that inspired Port-Royal is taken as the main reference. Reading Pascal’s texts from the use of sentire by Bernard of Clairvaux, Bonaventure and Duns Scotus, offers a different perspective on the relation between body, will and knowledge in his thought. This alternative interpretation leads to a re-orientation on the relevance of his thought for actual debates on modernity.
TL;DR: In this article, the ontological and normative underpinnings of the concept of person or the individual within the context of African and Chinese traditions are examined in a cross-cultural exercise.
Abstract: What or who is a person in traditional African communalistic societies and in ancient Chinese Confucian thought system? In response to the question, the paper is a critical analysis of the concept of person/individual in African and Chinese philosophies. In particular, it examines the ontological and normative underpinnings of the concept of person or the individual within the context of African and Chinese traditions. As a cross-cultural exercise, the paper brings to focus some existential issues surrounding the varied perspectives of the human person in those traditions. It aims at establishing some theoretical premises or grounds on which one might appreciate the similarities and differences between African and Chinese traditional cultures. The paper adopts the analytic and expository method of philosophy.
TL;DR: For example, the Litla Hraun (Little Lava) high-security prison in Iceland as mentioned in this paper houses half of all all incarcerated Icelanders, and their conditions are similar to those of U.S. prisons.
Abstract: A 40 years of an inter-partisan tougher-on-crime-than-you arms race, sentencing reform (and a desire to reduce prison costs) is one issue that now brings Republicans and Democrats together. No other advanced democracy has locked up its citizens at the rate and resulting breadth of brutalizing negligence that we commonly see in the United States. In this moment, essays and articles comparing ours with benign and truly rehabilitative Nordic prisons regularly pose the question, Why can’t Americans become more humane in dealing with people who have offended?1 But even the will to reduce prison populations and DOC budgets by shortening sentences, diverting people away from lockup, or supporting reentry doesn’t suggest a will to make life inside a whit less degrading. Current conditions make that obvious. Northern European and U.S. prisons stand not only geographically but philosophically continents apart. After 13 years of teaching inside U.S. prisons, 11 years of collecting and archiving non-fiction essays by incarcerated people, and after walking through nearly identical hallways and laundry rooms, kitchens and work places inside 18 Swedish and Danish, Norwegian and Finnish prisons, I can attest to the difference in atmospheres: U.S. lockups are walled villages under military occupation; Nordic prisons are supervised communities—a contrast shaped by disparate histories, cultures and politics, and tangible again on a gray day here in Iceland. Officer Birgisson asks if we’d like to see the surveillance center. Close to retirement, years line his eyes as he exhales vape against a sky the color of granite. My wife Jennifer and I nod yes as we tramp across a wet gravel yard. Behind a double layer of green chain link, southern shore break meets volcanic rock. So far, we have toured the mess hall where staff and the confined eat together. We’ve spoken to an amiable thief who has racked up 23 years in short stints and now paints license plates for a nation boasting fewer citizens than Wichita. Under the glare of a man with a two-inch FUCK tattooed above a Guns N’ Roses collar, we walked through an echoing shop where men build picnic benches or wash the cars of the 569 surrounding citizens. Later today we will visit an open prison: Winding up through lush pastures, we’ll meet a road bar without adjoining fences and rouse a rooster and a flock of panicked hens as we park beside two men repainting the white rim around a small fountain. We will see this day nothing out of the norm for prisons throughout the Nordic countries, other than a scale so small as to make comparisons with the U.S. all the more laughable. With a clientele of 65, Litla Hraun (Little Lava) high-security prison houses half of all incarcerated Icelanders. Mounting pressures from immigration and violent gang activities threaten to bring ugly changes in Nordic penal practice. Non-natives who break the law in these countries are already being subjected to harsher treatment.2 For now, though, as political economist Nicola Lacey documents, consensus-based social democracies remain qualitatively less punitive than those whose criminal justice polices are driven by sensational headlines and mob-pleasing, winner-take-all politics.3 Some American professionals are now studying these differences and gleaning what lessons they can apply to incarceration in the U.S.4 But if we hope to use Northern European models not only to reform but fundamentally to transform American criminal justice, we need detailed measurement of the yawning gaps between continental practices. Officer Birgisson blows mist again before we enter the prison’s blue and white central building. Walking up a flight of metal stairs, we meet two bearded men at a narrow turn. Amused apologies fill the From the Editor 10
TL;DR: The authors argued that women within Christian fundamentalism are oppressed, because the very identity of "woman" is construed as subjected, thus obliterating the possibility of choosing a non-subjected identity.
Abstract: The article launches a conceptual argument against the suggestion that Christian fundamentalist women, having for religious reasons voluntarily chosen their subjugation, are not oppressed. The article also rebuts the related argument that Christian fundamentalism provides women with adequate means for subversive power. Instead, the article proposes that women within Christian fundamentalism are oppressed, because within Christian fundamentalism the very identity of ‘woman’ is construed as subjected, thus obliterating the possibility of choosing a non-subjected identity.
TL;DR: In this paper, Carlin Watson has recently challenged my Bayesian formulation of the evidential argument from evil, and argued that I am not entitled to those assumptions, and thus, why my argument survives his critique.
Abstract: Jamie Carlin Watson has recently challenged my Bayesian formulation of the evidential argument from evil. My approach depends upon certain critical assumptions, but Watson argues that I am not entitled to those assumptions. I reply briefly, showing why I am entitled to those assumptions, and thus, why my argument survives his critique.
TL;DR: The authors argued that Hick's search for a "criterion" of reincarnation is misguided, and that his distinction between factual and mythic forms of the doctrine is over-simplifying.
Abstract: Reincarnation has not been entirely neglected in the philosophy of religion but it has not always been taken seriously or carefully discussed in relation to its role in believers’ lives. John Hick is exceptional insofar as he gave sustained attention to the belief, at least as it features in the philosophies of Vedānta and Buddhism. While acknowledging the value of Hick’s recognition of the variety of reincarnation beliefs, this article critically engages with certain aspects of his approach. It argues that Hick’s search for a ‘criterion’ of reincarnation is misguided, and that his distinction between ‘factual’ and ‘mythic’ forms of the doctrine is over-simplifying.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the contributions of Alonto to the development of Islamic thought in the Philippines and it will clarify his Parliamentary struggle, his establishment of Islamic University of the Philippines, his views on Islamic education and also the main characteristics of his Islamic thought.
Abstract: This paper examines the contributions of Alonto to the development of Islamic thought in the Philippines, and it will clarify his Parliamentary struggle, his establishment of Islamic University of the Philippines, his views on Islamic education and also the main characteristics of his Islamic thought in the Philippine Islands.The tendency of giving priority to discuss the some major contributions of Alonto to the development of Islamic thought in the Philippines is to clarify and trace the hidden and explore the reality of Islamic thought in the Philippine Islands. To address this limitation, an analytical study is conceived to foreground of his some major contributions to the development of Islamic thought in the Philippines. The objectives of this study is to identify and trace the development of Islamic thought, to understand its reality, to summarize the views of Alonto’s Islamic thought, and to forward analytical framework of the reality of the development of Islamic thought in the Philippine Islands. Discourse Analysis will use in this study in order to identify the elements of the Alonto’s isla mic thought, contextualizing and examining the factors that shaped Alonto’s Islamic thought, synthesizing and understanding/confirming/clarifying the reality of his contributionto development of Islamic thought from the others, summarizing the views of the others, quoting/citing the statements of Muslim Scholars. The study singles out first that the Alonto’s Islamic thought no dichotomy to disconnect its teachings and understanding to each other and no contradictory between the Filipino Muslim Scholars about his Islamic thoughts. Alonto raised the level of his involvement by collaborating with international Islamic universities, institutions, and centers. His approach to spread and development of Islamic thought is primary a combination of his western educational background grounded based on the the Holy Qur ān, and the teachings of Prophet Mohammad peace be upon him. At the end, the study focused on Alonto’s contributions to the development of Islamic thought and gives a critical analysis.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors build on Gadamer's rehabilitation of the verbum-in-corde concept of inner word (verbum in corde) and show that the inner word does not show the potentialities of the Augustinian inner word, but rather the ineffectiveness of ontological hermeneutics.
Abstract: This article builds on Gadamer’s rehabilitation of the Augustinian concept of inner word (verbum in corde). Unlike most interpretations, the thesis is that the Augustinian inner word does not show the potentialities, but rather the ineffectiveness of ontological hermeneutics. In the first section, it is argued that for the later Augustine, the verbum in corde is the consequence of a Word- and Truth- event. In the second section, the author suggests that Gadamer has properly understood the verbum in corde as a matter of faith. In the third section, it is shown that Gadamer has found in the notion a paradigm for his philosophical and theological insights. Concerning the former, he has always been fascinated by the evenemential character of the ‘second’ Heidegger’s thought. Concerning the latter, Gadamer has explicitly accused Bultmann’s demythologization of being ‘human, all too human’, and he has implicitly praised Barth’s dialectical theology.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of observational learning in the area of children observational learning, adult observational learning and observational learning from nature and the law in the Christian Scriptures.
Abstract: The social theories about behavioral modification, social learning, modeling, mentoring, and such like have been of great interest to both physical and social scientist over the ages. Albert Bandura built on existing theories with his groundbreaking theory of observational learning. His theory suggests the existence of four cognitive-mediational sub-processes comprising of attention, retention, motor reproduction, and the incentive-motivational reinforcement. Bandura posits that an individual can observe a model, covertly learn the new behavior, and decide whether or not to exhibit the behavior depending on the consequences associated with that behavior (Bandura, 1974). This theory needs to be further examined to elucidate its biblical perspectives. This is the focus of this paper. The Christian Scriptures suggest Bandura’s theory’s relevance in the area of children observational learning, adult observational learning, and observational learning from nature and the law.
TL;DR: Gellman and Fales as mentioned in this paper argued that any naturalistic explanation would fail to account for the richness and variety of all mystical religious experiences, and that if there were a naturalistic account for each and every mystical religious experience across time then the list of naturalistic explanations would be so exhaustive that it would seem arbitrary that no theistic explanation is included.
Abstract: From the mid 1990s to the early 2000s there has been a debate between Jerome Gellman and Evan Fales regarding the epistemic status of mystical religious experience. Gellman argues that mystical religious experiences provide some justification for the belief that God exists when taken in conjunction with a variety of other experiential evidence. Fales takes a naturalistic approach and argues that instances of mystical theistic experiences are only tools by which the mystic attempts to gain greater social status. In this article I summarize the debate and go on to raise three objections to Fales’ naturalistic account: (1) that any naturalistic explanation would fail to account for the richness and variety of all mystical religious experiences; (2) that if there were a naturalistic account for each and every mystical religious experience across time then the list of naturalistic explanations would be so exhaustive that it would seem arbitrary that no theistic explanation is included; and (3) that the brand o...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that Smilansky's analysis is only applicable to those who do not believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly benevolent deity and take advantage of the theist's moral escape clause.
Abstract: Saul Smilansky has argued that, since acts of petitionary prayer are best understood as requests, not desires, there may be many more impermissible prayer acts than one might expect. I discuss Smilansky’s analysis and argue that his conclusion follows only for those who do not believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly benevolent deity and take advantage of what Smilansky calls the theist’s ‘moral escape clause’. However, I take my argument to lead us to a variant of the problems of evil and petitionary prayer instead of a problem with Smilansky’s reasoning, requirng us to either abandon at least one of three properties commonly assigned to God or else to abandon an intuitive account of prayer that makes it morally impermissible to pray for morally impermissible ends.