Beyond Modernity


Book Description

Post-secularism is the fundamental evidence of the end of modernity. Modernity, as sleeping reason in Francisco Goya's painting, realizes that, although it thought that it was awake, it was producing monsters. We try to analyze post-secular philosophy from the point of view of Russian religious thought. We believe that such philosophers as Vladimir Soloviev, Pavel Florensky, Sergey Bulgakov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Georges Florovsky, and Semen Frank may be helpful for understanding and overcoming post-secular order. Their unique views on the relations between religion and philosophy, science, and social life are apparently missing in the current Western debates. It seems to us that Russian religious philosophy becomes surprisingly up-to-date and attractive in the contemporary world. We hope that the present volume will be a significant step forward in the inclusion of the heritage of Russian religious philosophy in contemporary debates.




Phenomenology and Existentialism in the Twentieth Century


Book Description

Phenomenology and existentialism transformed understanding and experience of the Twentieth Century to their core. They had strikingly different inspirations and yet the two waves of thought became merged as both movements flourished. The present collection of research devoted to these movements and their unfolding interaction is now especially revealing. The studies in this first volume to be followed by two succeeding ones, range from the predecessors of existentialism – Kierkegaard/Jean Wahl, Nietzsche, to the work of its adherents – Shestov, Berdyaev, Unamuno, Blondel, Blumenberg, Heidegger and Mamardashvili, Dufrenne and Merleau-Ponty to existentialism’s congruence with Christianity or with atheism. Among the leading Husserlian insights are treated essence and experience, the place of questioning, ethics and intentionality, temporality and passivity and the life world. The following book will uncover the perennial concerns guiding the wondrous interplay of these two inspirational sources.




Purification of Memory


Book Description

Although its various bodies boast a combined total of at least 300 million members, the Eastern Orthodox Church is widely perceived among members of other denominations to be an exotic branch of the faith, often shrouded in mysticism and misunderstandingthat has been exacerbated by the longstanding Eastern-Western split. In 'Purification of Memory', Ambrose Mong casts light on the true nature of Orthodox theology, illuminating the thinking of eight distinguished modern Orthodox theologians who have madeimportant contributions on topics as ecclesiology, ecumenism, Christology, and Mariology. Approaching the work of John Meyendorff, Nicholas Afanasiev, John Zizioulas, Georges Florovsky, Sergius Bulgakov, Vladimir Lossky, Nicolas Berdyaev, and Jaroslav Pelikan from an ecumenical standpoint, Mong deftly draws comparisons with the theology of their Roman Catholic counterparts to reveal points on which the two traditions have much more in common than either side will always admit. The author interweaves these comparisons with a fascinating exposition of the history of the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches to demonstrate decisively that in spite of the bitter mistrust dividing them, they share a common heritage which could, and should, serve as a basis for reunification. Before old wounds can mend, however, a healing process of forgetting, characterized by Pope John Paul II as a 'purification of memory', must take place to clear the path towards a long-awaited return to unity.




A Tale of Two Theologians


Book Description

In A Tale of Two Theologians, Ambrose Mong's observant new work, he examines the writings of the Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez and the Indian theologian Michael Amaladoss, and gives fresh attention to their main concerns regarding evangelisation and the poor. Why, he asks, is Gutierrez's liberation theology now accepted and celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church while Amaladoss's Asian theology with a liberation thrust is threatened with censorship? Mong argues that the dwindling threat of Communism has made the Marxist overtones of Latin American liberation theology more palatable to the Catholic hierarchy, while the challenge of religious pluralism in Asia is as complex and emotive as ever.How can the Church learn to balance the need for dialogue between religions with their duty to proclaim the Gospel? How can the Church inculturate itself in Asia while maintaining its identity? Ambrose Mong tackles these questions with the shrewd, clear-eyed view of an active priest and scholar, exploring the long, troubled relationship the Church has with liberation theology and offering guidance for the future.




Mechanisms and the Contingency of Social Causality


Book Description

Mechanisms are frequently brought up across the natural and social sciences as supplements to laws and empirical regularities. Recent decades have seen an explosion in mechanistic explanations in which philosophers of science, natural scientists, and social scientists have advocated, debated, and criticized the usage of mechanisms in their respective disciplines. As the intensity of these debates has increased, our understanding of the historical origin of mechanisms remains incomplete. Of the explanations that have been put forward, it has been argued that the roots of mechanisms are to be found in mechanical philosophy. This book demonstrates that an important set of factors have been overlooked in our understanding of the ontology of mechanisms. In shifting attention to a never-before-explored terrain in the etymological and semantic evolution of what arguably is the most commonly used scientific term, “the mechanism,” this text discovers that the origin of mechanisms is to be witnessed in ideas about social causality that arose within Ancient Greek tragedy and theater. It takes readers on a journey through socio-cultural settings and changes in Ancient Greece, early Christianity, the Roman Empire, and the Middle Ages, as well as the rise of science and modernity, and finishes in our current era of digital technology. As such, the book reveals how understandings of mechanisms have changed and evolved across time.




Theology Without Boundaries


Book Description

In this book, Carnegie Samuel Calian, who was baptized in the Eastern tradition and raised a Protestant, promotes greater dialogue and exchange among Christians of the East and West. He seeks to make Christians aware of the diversity of faith and offers suggestions and insight to this end.




Writers Directory


Book Description




Thinkers of the Twentieth Century


Book Description

Major thinkers in various intellectual disciplines are featured in Thinkers of the Twentieth Century. Your patrons will find this guide a perfect start to their studies on 450 intellectuals from philosophy, theology, literary criticism, aesthetics, history, social sciences, politics and the sciences. Entries are divided into two parts. "Part One" includes: a biography, complete bibliography and reading list of the major books and articles written about the entrant. "Part Two" consists of an extended 1,000 to 3,000 word essay on the entrant. These essays explain in clear, comprehensible language the work of the entrant and his/her influence on the intellectual of the 20th century.