Kierkegaard's attitude toward the family of issues usually associated with the rubric 'nature and grace' has long been disputed by his interpreters. Some of have seen him as a proponent of the 'grace ...perfects nature' position while others have viewed him as a radical bifurcator of nature and grace. Actually, Kierkegaard's treatment of these issues is more nuanced. He does propose that human nature intrinsically possesses a yearning that can only be satisfied by God's grace (and therefore nature is oriented toward grace), but he suggests that the grace that God offers is utterly unanticipated, counter-intuitive, and potentially offensive (and therefore grace disrupts nature). The prospect of God's self-emptying love is something that nature did not know would fulfill its deepest longings, and which excites both attraction and repulsion.
This essay explores the concept of mentoring communities in the context of Christian higher education. It delves into the importance of forming mentoring communities for faculty, administrators, and ...students that embrace love, empathy, and a shared commitment to justice, particularly in light of systemic injustices within academia and in the broader society. Drawing from the perspectives of scholars, religious leaders, and personal experiences, the essay emphasizes the need for educators, administrators, and students to engage the college experience on a profound level-acknowledging their vulnerabilities and fostering a sense of unity grounded in a shared humanity. In an academic climate too often marked by isolation and individualism, the commitment to forming mentoring communities through the "art of loving" is seen as a countermeasure, fostering interdependence, relational action, dialogue, and reciprocity. The author underscores the significance of forming students, faculty, and institutional leaders with a focus on intellectual, spiritual, and emotional development-nurturing their capacity to recognize the divine love within themselves and in their neighbors. This dual goal of forming individuals and building a supportive community becomes the foundation for mentoring communities rooted in a Christian anthropology, wherein faculty, administrators, and students discover the fullness of their humanity in the love of God.
Plotinus is often accused of writing haphazardly, with little
concern for the integral unity of a treatise. By analyzing each
treatise as a whole, From the Alien to the Alone finds
much evidence that ...he constructed them skillfully, with the parts
working together in subtle ways. This insight was also key in
translating several central passages by considering the flow of the
argument as a whole to shed light on the difficulties in these
passages as well as reveal the structure often latent in particular
treatise. The volume also serves to clarify Plotinus' rich use of
images. Commentators, for instance, tend to take the images of
light and warmth to explain the relation of soul and body as in
conflict, with light casting out warmth. A close look at the text,
however, reveals that Plotinus uses each image to correct the
limitations of the other. Thus, since the soul is incorporeal, it
is actually more transcendent than light and as activating the body
is more completely present than warmth. Similarly, recent
commentators are quick to take the related impassibility of the
soul as implying a Cartesian gap between body and soul. The problem
Plotinus faces, however, is that his description of the soul's
pervasive presence in the body jeopardizes its impassibility as in
the intelligible. His effort then is actually to introduce a gap
that preserves the soul's nature, rather than overcome a gap that
would make the very existence of the body problematic. While this
work confirms much recent scholarly consensus on Plotinus, many of
Gurtler's interpretations and general conclusions give constructive
challenges to some existing modes of understanding Plotinus'
thought. The arguments and their textual evidence, with the
accompanying Greek, provide the reader with direct evidence for
testing these conclusions as well as appreciating the nature of
Plotinus' philosophizing.
Para conmemorar el cuarto centenario del fallecimiento de san Roberto Belarmino, prestamos atención a su significativa contribución a la controversia de auxiliis. Se indican los hitos principales de ...su intervención en esta polémica: la censura interna que Belarmino hizo de la Concordia de Molina para Aquaviva, así como algunos detalles de su relación con Clemente VIII. Compuso diversos opúsculos a propósito de estas discusiones que están en su mayoría ya publicados. Aquí transcribimos un manuscrito inédito redactado en los últimos años de las Congregaciones de auxiliis. Se trata de un informe para Paulo V sobre el conocimiento divino de los futuros condicionados. Esta cuestión proporciona a Belarmino una oportunidad más para criticar la doctrina de la predeterminación física. Dicha tesis era, para él, una doctrina más peligrosa que las afirmaciones erróneas que incluso el cardenal jesuita reconocía en la Concordia.
‘Participation’ or ‘partaking’ has featured in Christian theology since the New Testament, describing a relation of derivation, likeness, or communion. Theologians including Gregory of Nyssa, ...Augustine of Hippo, Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, and Thomas Aquinas made this theme an important aspect of their work. In marked but more limited ways, participation was also important for Martin Luther, John Calvin, and later Protestant writers. With themes of sharing and reception from a transcendent source, Christian theologians have found common ground with Platonism. A wide range of topics in Christian theology have been explored in these terms. While each can be set out in relative isolation, participation lends itself to an integrative view. As the backbone for a scheme of theological metaphysics, participation has come to renewed prominence in the second half of the twentieth century. Today it offers an area of considerable shared interest, across ecclesial traditions.
A Study of Character Casewell, Deborah
Theologica (Louvain-la-Neuve),
02/2022, Letnik:
6, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In the later, ethically oriented writings of the philosopher Simone Weil, she develops her concept of attention. This involves using the body to train the mind and thus the soul, into an open, ...receptive state. This state is the first condition for any ethical action to take place. This article explores how Weil’s account of attention can provide a new perspective in philosophical and theological engagement with psychology, first in terms of moral psychology and virtue ethics, and second in statements on the malleability or plasticity of human nature. As Weil sees that human nature’s stress on activity tends to lead to suffering rather than ethical action, she proposes not ethical action per se, but an ethical attitude of attention instead. Habit-formation and character development can thus be approached differently as cultivating a state of openness rather than of particular virtues. This article will therefore explore the relationship of theology and psychology in terms of human nature as irremediably situated but also psychologically receptive for restoration.
In Princeton theologian Van Huyssteen’s (2006) major interdisciplinary work, Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology, human uniqueness is rhetorically coupled with human ...aloneness. A comparison with a contemporary theological anthropology, namely Yale theologian Kelsey’s (2009) Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology, shows an alternative approach to the notion or concept of the imago Dei, namely a theological shift from viewing human beings as image(s) of God, to viewing human beings as images of Christ, or images of the image of God. This contribution responds to the invitation implied in Van Huyssteen’s book title – are we alone in the world? – by exploring some of the rhetorical implications of a Christological interpretation of the imago Dei. One such implication may imply a different answer to Van Huyssteen’s question – are we alone in the world?; not yes, but no. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s idea of Christ’s promeity illustrates how the rhetorical dynamics behind such a move in response – from yes to no – may potentially look, and that a rearticulation of human uniqueness could have direct consequences for how we imagine our human aloneness in the world.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications This article contributes to a specifically intradisciplinary conversation in Systematic Theology, on reading and interpreting the notion or theological idea of human beings being created in the image of God. This article does this through a close reading and comparison of two interdisciplinary projects on what it means to be human, namely Van Huyssteen’s Alone in the World? and Kelsey’s Eccentric Existence.
Engagement with artificial intelligence (AI) can be highly beneficial for theology. This article maps the landscape of the various ways such engagement can occur. It begins by outlining the ...opportunities and limitations of computational theology before diving into speculative territory by imagining how robot theologians might think of divine revelation. The topic of AI and imago Dei is then reviewed, illustrating several ways AI can inform theological anthropology. The article concludes with a more speculative take on the possible implications of AI for divine infinity, incarnation, theodicy, and demonic intelligence.
A view of human nature generally forms part of the assumptions that undergird psychological theories and psychotherapeutic approaches. In this book, Christian anthropology is articulated as a ...foundation for the theories, approaches and techniques applied in practice by its contributors. Various essays from European-based practitioners in the fields of psychology, psychotherapy and counselling are included here. These authors draw scientific knowledge from the fields of psychology and psychotherapy, focusing on intra-psychic aspects of human functioning, such as emotions, drives and cognitions, as well as interpersonal and eco-systemic functioning. In addition to this, the authors consider spirituality as an intrinsic part of humanity through which persons seek meaning and transcendence and that influences physical and mental health. Spiritual insight is gained from the field of theology with specific reference to the Christian faith tradition. As a wide range of topics, contexts and cultural and ecumenical backgrounds are covered in this book many practitioners in mental health care and counselling should benefit from the knowledge, ideas and practical experience shared here.
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