The Self Prior to Mimetic Desire: Rahner and Alison on Original Sin and Conversion

Horizons ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-31
Author(s):  
John P. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Karl Rahner ◽  
Mimetic Desire ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
Effective Instrument ◽  
Theological Task

ABSTRACTThis paper engages the theological anthropologies of Karl Rahner and James Alison in order to develop two mutually clarifying perspectives concerning original sin and the nature of conversion. It begins by considering the value and limitations of Alison's use of the Resurrection, as well as his Girardian reading of history, as lenses through which to understand the self, original sin, and conversion. Rahner's transcendental anthropology, because of its similar assumption regarding the priority of the Resurrection for understanding the self, provides an effective instrument for evaluating Alison's project. I conclude that Rahner's transcendental perspective from within the “order of being” represents a necessary compliment to the Alisonian viewpoint, which remains exclusively within the “order of discovery” and thereby limits rather than enhances persons' capacity to experience grace. I ultimately propose, however, that further investigation of Alison's work and its usefulness for illustrating the psychological, ethical, and socio-political aspects of conversion constitutes a worthy theological task within contemporary Christian culture.

scholarly journals Stylizations of Being: Attention as an Existential Hub in Heidegger and Christian Mysticism

Open Theology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 206-220
Author(s):  
Bernardo Manzoni Palmeirim
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Spiritual Practices ◽  
Karl Rahner ◽  
Existential Phenomenology ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Christian Mysticism ◽  
Philosophy And Religion ◽  
Simone Weil ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Philosophical Framework

AbstractThe assimilation of phenomenology by theology (namely of Heidegger by Karl Rahner) exemplifies how a pre-existing philosophical framework can be imported into a theological system by being suffused with belief. Although one would imagine that the incommensurability between philosophy and religion would thus be overcome, the two disciplines risk to remain, given the sequels of the ‘French debate’, worlds apart, separated by a leap of faith. In this paper I attempt to uncover what grammatical similitudes afforded Rahner formal transference in the first place. Uncovering analogous uses of contemplative attention, namely between Heidegger and Simone Weil, I hope to demonstrate the filial relationship between existential phenomenology and Christian mysticism. I propose that attention is a key factor in both systems of thought. Furthermore, I propose that: 1) attention, the existential hub between subject and phenomena, provides a base for investigating methodologies, as opposed to causal relations, in philosophy and religion; 2) that the two attentional disciplines of meditation and contemplation, spiritual practices designed to shape the self, also constitute styles of thinking; and 3) the ‘turn’ in the later Heidegger’s philosophy is a strategic point to inquire into this confluence of styles of thinking, evincing the constantly dynamic and intrinsically tight relation between philosophy and theology.

Karl Rahner on Childhood

2021 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
Jessie Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Trauma ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Transcendental Philosophy ◽  
Childhood Studies ◽  
Karl Rahner ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
And Task

Karl Rahner’s ‘Ideas for a Theology of Childhood’ has become increasingly influential in childhood studies. In this article I critically assess Rahner’s ideas in this seminal work to highlight the answer Rahner proposes to the question of the meaning and task of childhood. This is brought into brief conversation with writings of Jürgen Moltmann and Jerome Berryman. Rahner’s ideas of childhood can be critiqued for a lack of careful engagement with the details of Scripture and concrete life settings, and for underestimating the effects of childhood trauma. One can also ask whether transcendental philosophy provides an accessible language, particularly in an interdisciplinary context. Nevertheless, ‘mystery of the child’ language is now near-ubiquitous in contemporary Christian authors on childhood. Rahner’s insights into childhood can function like the reality of childhood itself, remaining as a life-giving root in a theology that unfolds as others take it further.

Christian Duty to Bury the Dead and its Contemporary Challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 233-248
Author(s):  
Tadeusz Zadorożny
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Christian Teaching ◽  
Imitation Of Christ ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Church

The custom of burying the dead is not merely commonly accepted by Christianity the way of disposal of the human body after the death. It is most deeply rooted and perfectly expressing Christian anthropology, revealed in the Holy Scriptures as a consequence of original sin, sign of hope in the Resurrection, and imitation of Christ, who was buried in the tomb. In Catholic view the burial is a corporal work of mercy, act of care for the dead and their loved ones. Gaining popularity the practice of cremation is accepted by the Church for the sake of hygiene, economy, or community. Human remains, also in the form of ashes, always must be buried or placed in the columbarium. Church does not allow the human body to be disposed via resomation or promession. Alternative forms of memorializing the deceased, though attractive esthetically and sentimentally, are not only outlandish in Christian culture, but also contrary to the Christian teaching on origins, nature, and destination of the human person.

Geoffrey Hill’s Poetic Incarnational Theology

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 110-131
Author(s):  
Jesse Russell
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Existential Choice ◽  
Incarnational Theology

Abstract Geoffrey Hill’s poems are saturated with the cluttered bleakness of the nihilistic view of the natural world, but in Hill’s own Christian incarnational theology it is precisely this filthy world into which Christ was incarnated in order to redeem humans from Original Sin. Fortified with but also rattled by the Incarnation and the doctrine of Original Sin, in his poems Hill is faced with the profound, agonizing existential choice to embrace Christ or reject Christianity as a farce, and it is this perilous pose that serves as the theological grounding of the oeuvre the man who now, sadly, was the greatest contemporary Christian poet.

scholarly journals “Prophets, Faust, and First-Years: Bonhoeffer and the language of charismatic experience”

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-56
Author(s):  
Patrick J Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Global South ◽  
The Self ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Theological Discourse

Across the Global South, contemporary Christian theology is grappling with the best way to understand and respond to the rise of neo-Pentecostalism and the associated emphasis on charismatic experience. Speaking from a vastly different contest, the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer nonetheless offers a way to critique the self-serving excesses of this phenomenon while engaging it seriously and graciously, on its own terms, in a productive ecumenical conversation. Bonhoeffer’s understanding of discipleship as the condition in which it is possible to speak truthfully challenges our normal expectations for theological discourse. It redirects our attention from speech that is merely semantically correct and towards the conformation of the act of our speaking with the intention of Christ.

scholarly journals Original Sin, the Fall, and Epistemic Self-Trust

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-94
Author(s):  
Jonathan C. Rutledge
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
Common Type ◽  
The Self ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Philosophical Methodology ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Formal Argument ◽  
Argument Proceeds

In this paper, I argue that no strong doctrine of the Fall can undermine the propriety of epistemic self-trust. My argument proceeds by introducing a common type of philosophical methodology, known as reflective equilibrium. After a brief exposition of the method, I introduce a puzzle for someone engaged in the project of self-reflection after gaining a reason to distrust their epistemic selves on the basis of a construal of a doctrine of the Fall. I close by introducing the worry as a formal argument and demonstrate the self-undermining nature of such an argument.

scholarly journals Theologies of the Land and State of Israel: The Role of the Secular in Jewish and Christian Understandings

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Langer
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Political Realities

Christians and Jews have tended to approach theological understandings of Israel through different categorizations of what constitutes appropriate topics for theology. Separation of religious and political realities has been an aspect of Christian culture since the fourth century, but it was never a native separation for Judaism. Thus, contemporary Christian theologians have attempted to develop understandings of Jewish relationship to the land that excludes its political aspects. From a Jewish perspective, this amounts to a recasting of Judaism according to a foreign set of values, one that devalues the potential (if not yet actualized) theological meanings inherent in contemporary Jewish sovereignty over its historical homeland. Progress in dialogue about Israel requires confronting this difference directly.

Personality‐descriptive verbs

1988 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boele De Raad ◽  
Erik Mulder ◽  
Klaas Kloosterman ◽  
Willem K. B. Hofstee
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
The Self ◽  
Factor Analyses ◽  
Effective Instrument ◽  
The Relationship

This article describes the derivation of a taxonomy of personality‐descriptive verbs. In the introduction the verb domain is delineated relative to other domains of the language of personality. It is argued that verbs are theoretically useful in bridging the gap between trait language and act language. The aim is to provide a representative and effective instrument for registering judgements on personality. In a first study the steps are described that were followed to arrive at a list of personality‐descriptive verbs. Both the present authors and layjudges (n=22) took part in this. Five hundred and forty‐three verbs resulted from this study. Study 2 (n=200) describes the determination of the internal structure of the domain of verbs through factor analysis of both self‐ and partner‐ratings. By applying a method of rotation to perfectly congruent weights the verb‐structure turned out to be invariant under the self‐ and partner‐conditions. The last part of the study investigates the relationship between personality‐descriptive verbs and adjectives. Regressions of verb‐ratings on the adjective‐ratings and of adjective‐ratings on the verb‐ratings were calculated and factor analyses were performed on the residual matrices. The results show the existence of additional verb‐dimensions above those already established in the adjective domain.

Constructing liberating identities: Power, resistance, and dignity in the Latino diaspora

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-402
Author(s):  
Horacio R. Da Valle
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Self ◽  
Contextual Approach ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Care Of The Self ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
Discrimination And Oppression ◽  
Theological Task

The Latino/a presence is increasingly visible in the United States, yet their rich cultural diversity is mostly ignored, and their identities are homogenized under names that are mostly not of their choosing. US Hispanics often suffer marginalization, discrimination, and oppression and, as the ultimate insult, the obliteration of their personal and collective identities. Latino/a theologians, in their contextual approach to the theological task, employ different theoretical tools to critically engage the context of the Latino/a experience and seek commonalities amid many differences to establish an identity. In this article, I argue that the conjunction of the notions of diaspora, empire, and praxis offers a valid portrayal of the lived experiences of Latino/a Christians in the United States. Using a Foucauldian approach to address the pervasive presence of power in that context, I suggest that Foucault’s notion of care of the self articulates a way of resistance that is liberating. Then, the Latino/a praxis of resistance and care of the self, analogous to that of Jesus, offers a theological construction of human beings, with concrete, historical, and personal lives of utmost value to God, and freedom to name who they are in the walk of those lives. In that process, identities are always provisional.

Self-Esteem in the Presence of God

1989 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric L. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Religious Orientation ◽  
Affective Response ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Self ◽  
Religious Influence ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Presence Of God ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
Christian Understanding ◽  
Self Knowledge

Many individuals living in our post-Christian culture have placed the self in the position most cultures reserve for their god(s). Present cultural interest in self-esteem flows from this religious orientation. Unfortunately, the Christian church has not been entirely impervious to this non-Christian religious influence. While acknowledging the psychological importance of self-esteem, the author suggests that self-esteem is an unavoidably religious experience. An attempt is made to outline a Christian understanding of proper self-esteem: an affective response to the self-knowledge and self-evaluation that results from knowing God. The evaluative context of the Christian and non-Christian are also contrasted. The article concludes with some implications of the material for personal life and professional practice.

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