Frontiers Of Meaning

1957 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mcintyre

IT is an interesting commentary upon the place of theology in our Western culture and society to observe how many of the phrases we normally associate with it carry overtones of conflict and argument. ‘Science and religion’, ‘faith and reason’, ‘reason and revelation’, ‘history and the Gospels’, ‘proof and belief’—not all of them antithetic to one another, but all of them areas within which there has been in the last century in all cases and much longer in some, much violent discussion. So the picture has been built up of theology as contained within a ring of frontiers, across which it seeks to parley with those on the other side, to exchange meanings, to transfer information, if only to the extent of saying what each thought of the other.On one of these frontiers theology had a long conversation with science as to the understanding of the Genesis story of Creation in the light of evolutionary theories, or of the Christology of the two natures and the one Person in the light of modern psychological views of the unity of personality; across another frontier, with the historians as to what constituted the historically credible or possible and as to whether theological presuppositions distorted historical narrative; across another frontier with the sociologists, as to whether human responsibility could still be affirmed in the midst of the vast tissue of modern economic, social and political pressures; again with the moralists, over the reconciliation of grace and freedom and the imperative of morality with the indicative of faith; while time would fail to tell of the Gideons, the Baraks and the Samsons, who have broken swords with philosophers over the veridical nature of religious knowledge, over the proofs of Divine existence and the nature of Revelation.

2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-53
Author(s):  
Jeroen de Ridder

Much of Alvin Plantinga’s Where the Conflict Really Lies(2011) will contain few surprises for those who have been following his work over the past decades. This —I hasten to add — is nothing against the book. The fact alone that his ideas on various topics, which have appeared scattered throughout the literature, are now actualized, applied to the debate about the (alleged) conflict between science and religion, and organized into an overarching argument with a single focus makes this book worthwhile. Moreover, I see this book making significant progress on two opposite ends of the spectrum of views about science and religion. On the one end, we find the so-called new atheists and other conflict-mongers. Compared to the overheated rhetoric that oozes from their writings, this book is a breath of fresh air. Plantinga cuts right to the chase and soberly exposes the bare bones of the new atheists’ arguments. It immediately becomes clear how embarrassingly bare these bones really are. On the other end of the spectrum are theologians and scientists who envisage harmony and concord between science and religion.


1979 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constant Hames

In spite of the fact that Islam represents the second largest religious community in France, as a result of the African Muslim immigration, we do not know anything about its dif ferent national components, nor about the reactions or the transformations it undergoes in a foreign country. This article presents a few elements of a survey devoted to the case of the Mauritanian Soninké. The author emphasizes the relationship which exists between religion and a certain social category, the moodi, i.e. those who are depositaries of religious knowledge. Religious action is seen under two aspects : Muslim teaching as it is provided by the moodi, on the one hand, and certain magic practices which claim to be attached more or less to Islam, on the other. While the latter practices enjoy the possibility of being spread through im migration, the teaching nevertheless continues to be given in the context of the homes that are provided for the immigrants. As a result, Islam seems to be advancing amidst the soninké immigration, except for the practices of ramadân. This is due not only to the permanent character of the soninké social structures which are reproduced during immigration — the moodi continue to play their role, but also to a shift in Muslim values, which tend to identify themselves with the sociological essence of the community which confronts a French society perceived as a danger for the soninké identity.


Author(s):  
Tikhon V. Spirin ◽  

The article addresses the core anthropological concepts of Carl Du Prel’s philosophy and explores the significance of those concepts for the Russian spiritualism of the late 19th – early 20th century. The Du Prel’s theory built up upon the concept of Duality of the Human Being. Du Prel insisted on simultaneous co-existence of two subjects – one pertaining to the sensible world and the other related to the extrasensory (‘the transcendental subject’) – that are divided by the ‘perception threshold’. He argued that in dormant and somnambular state the threshold would shift and thus enable the Transcendental Subject to act in the Extrasensory World. Du Prel believed that the human evolution is not over yet. He suggested that one could estimate what the new form of the human life would be judging by the conditions in which the transcendental subject comes out. Like many other spiritualists, Du Prel foretold the upcoming dawn of a new era where the boundary between science and religion on the one part and the Sensible and Extrasensory World on the other part will vanish. Anthropological doctrine of Du Prel correlated well with the views on the future human being held by the Russian spiritualists, and therefore he became one of the most reputable authors for them


2021 ◽  
pp. 136-146
Author(s):  
Elena V. Barysheva ◽  
◽  
Dmitriy V. Morozov ◽  

The authors make an attempt to analyse on the basis of Hayden White’s theory of historical narrative historiosophical prerequisites for the formation of the cult of personality in the soviet biographies of V.I. Lenin published in 1924–1956. The basis of texts is a plot structure, implying, on the one hand, the existence of immutable laws of historical development, which humanity is forced to obey, and, on the other, a person who is able to learn them through the bitterness of defeats and put them at his service. The explanation of the facts of the historical narrative takes place by using two types of formal argument: Mechanism, which emphasizes the laws of historical development and the role of the masses in the historical process, and organicism, which gives high priority to V.I. Lenin himself and the party he created. The authors conclude that the articulation of the plot structure and types of formal argument embodied in the biographies becomes a prerequisite for the formation of the cult of personality. The latter implies the construction of an image of a person capable of transforming the reality, according to the concept of historical development that dominates in the party political historiography


2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 278-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Veldsman

AbstractThe more recently proposed epistemological models (cf Gregersen & Van Huyssteen, eds., Rethinking Theology and Science: Six Models for the Current Dialogue) within the context of the science and religion debate, have opened up galaxie,s of meanirzg on the interface of the debates which are inviting for exploralive, theological travelling. But how are we epistemologically to judge not only oui journets but also the rethinking of the implications of these epistemological models for our understanding of religious experience and our experience of transcendence? The interdisciplinary space that has been opened up in an exciting post-foundational manner zuithirz these very debates, leaves us as rational persons, embedded in a very specific social and historical context, with the haunting cognitive pluralist question on how to reach beyond the limits of our own epistemic traditions (Wentzel van Huyssteen). This question is pursued as an effort on the one hand to unmask epistemic arrogance and, on the other hand, not to take refuge in the insular comfort of internally closed language-systems. It is an effort to address relativism and a 'twentieth-century despair of any knozuledye of reality' (Polkinghorne). It is finally an effort to conceptually revisit the implications of tltese models for our understanding of our culturally embedded religious experience.


Sophia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Miguel Gómez Rincón

Abstract This paper traces the borders between presupposing, believing, and having faith. These three attitudes are often equated and confused in the contemporary image of the historically and culturally situated character of rationality. This confusion is problematic because, on the one hand, it prevents us from fully appreciating the way in which this image of rationality points towards a dissolving of the opposition between faith and reason; on the other hand, it leads to forms of fideism. After bringing this differentiation into sharper focus, a concept of faith in turn will come into view which challenges contemporary forms of fideism, to the extent that it embraces the possibility of examining and evaluating  our systems of beliefs and basic presuppositions. This examination has nothing to do with justification or verification but rather with a sort of confrontation and discernment of the trust we have in what we take for granted.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Faustino

AbstractThis paper examines Nietzsche’s relation to the therapeutic philosophical tradition paradigmatically represented by the Hellenistic schools. On the one hand, given his project of rehabilitating Western culture and his understanding of the philosopher as a “physician of culture”, Nietzsche seems also to hold a therapeutic understanding of philosophy; on the other hand, he is extremely critical of any (philosophical, moral or religious) attempt to heal mankind. This paper does not aim to solve this tension but rather characterizes Nietzsche’s endeavor in this respect as a therapy of therapy. Through analysis of a) the basic features of the Hellenistic conception of philosophy, b) Nietzsche’s development of the analogy of the “philosophical physician”, c) his diagnosis of culture, and d) his criticism of previous therapists, I show that Nietzsche can be formally included in this tradition of thought, even if this inclusion has implications for the tradition itself. As I suggest, given the self-referentiality of Nietzsche’s therapy, his inclusion in this tradition might in fact simultaneously entail its own self-suppression.


2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-185
Author(s):  
Karim Gillani

Ginan bolore nit nure bharea;Evo haide tamare harakh na maeji.Recite continually theginanswhich are filled with light;Boundless will be the joy in your heart.Ginansare devotional songs rooted in the musical and poetic matrix of Indian culture. The term “ginan” carries a double significance: on the one hand, it means “religious knowledge” or “wisdom,” analogous to the Sanskrit wordjnana(knowledge). On the other hand, it means “song” or “recitation,” suggesting a link to the Arabicghannaand the Urdu/Hindighana, both verbs meaning “to sing.” For the past seven hundred years, Ismailis from the Indian subcontinent (Satpanth Khoja Ismailis) have been recitingginansas a part of their daily religious devotions at the congregational hall (Jamat Khana).


Author(s):  
Franz Mathis

AbstractThere is no doubt that industrialization was the main cause of modern economic welfare. The reasons for more or less industrialization in various regions of the world have been discussed widely for decades. However, a closer examination reveals that none of the controversial arguments and explanations put forward stand the test of empirical scrutiny. What has previously been ignored is the central role of large cities in provoking industrialization. Given all the other preconditions necessary for industrialization, it was finally the mass markets of large cities that made industrial mass production profitable for potential entrepreneurs. Thus, wherever large cities and urban agglomerations emerged in the world, industrialization followed suit. In a global and comparative perspective, industrialization was not so much a matter of countries but rather a matter of regions dividing the world into highly urbanized, industrialized and more prosperous regions on the one side, and still primarily rural, preindustrial and poorer regions on the other..


1958 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul H. Nitze

In the context of government, what do we mean by the phrase “a learned man”?* I take it we can mean a variety of things. On the one hand, we can have in mind the specialist, the expert, the man with an intensive and specialized background in a particular field of knowledge. On the other hand, we can have in mind the man with general wisdom, with that feeling for the past and the future which enriches a sense for the present, and with that appreciation for wider loyalties which deepens patriotism to one's country and finds bonds between it and Western culture and links with the universal aspirations of mankind.


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