The question is: what sense does it make to regard religions as languages? The first step is to explicitly state a theory of language. From Ferdinand de Saussure comes the importance of context, from Ludwig Wittgenstein the relation between context and Lebensform, and from Benjamin Whorf the constitutive effect of language on world. These three considerations are exemplified, respectively, by the paradigms "poem," "game," and "picture." The second step is to examine three different approaches to the question of language and religion: the "critical realism" of Ian Barbour, Janet Soskice, and Frederick Ferre, the "ordinary language" approach of D. Z. Phillips, and the "aesthetic object" approach of Norman Perrin. The threefold conclusion is that the three approaches are all concerned with language in religion rather than religion as language, that there is no one religious use of language, and that the relativist theory of language developed in step one can accommodate all three. / The third step is to explore the implications of religion as language, using the paradigms developed in step one. As poem, a religion is a context constituted by the counters of which it is composed, counters whose value is relative to their context and which may have a different value within that context than outside of it. As game, a religion is embedded in a particular form of life. As poem and game, a religion is a "participatory art form." As picture, a religion is a world-view concerned with what it is to be human in the world. As poem, game, participatory art form, and picture, a religion is a poem that one lives. As such, religions may be judged in the same way as works of art, according to their success in satisfying the criteria the satisfaction of which is the reason such experiences are sought. In conclusion the criterion of "vividness" is proposed and various religious phenomena are examined in terms of their success in satisfying that criterion. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2420. / Major Professor: Charles W. Swain. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

For almost two decades, Liberation theology has been in the forefront of Christian theological interpretations. Liberation theologians have opted for a theology that sides with the poor and which addresses matters relating to under-development, imperialism and revolution. / This dissertation examines the historical antecedents to Liberation theology and its crucial understanding of liberation, Christology and the Marxist analysis of social reality. It also studies the poetry and political praxis of Nicaraguan priest-poet Ernesto Cardenal. The relationship of Liberation theologians in Nicaragua with the Sandinista Front before and after the Sandinista victory is also examined. The dissertation ends with an assessment of the impact of the crisis of Marxism in Eastern Europe and of the Sandinista defeat in 1990 on the future of Liberation theology. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section: A, page: 3949. / Major Professor: Richard L. Rubenstein. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

<p> Conflicts in Mindanao can be caused by incidents such as adultery, land disputes, even jealousy within dominant clan groups. The incidents may emerge as an interpersonal conflict, but may result in wider aggression, escalating into interclan conflict when the victim&rsquo;s relatives or ethnic group get involved. Though the initial conflict is interpersonal, it might affect the inter-societal level and even the international level. </p><p> The central issue that directed this research was to discover the factors influencing Mindanao tribal students who seek <i>rido</i>, &ldquo;interclan revenge,&rdquo; and to revise &ldquo;Peace Generation&rdquo; from Indonesia in order to implement contextual methods of &ldquo;Training Tribal Students to Be Peacemakers&rdquo; that uses insiders to facilitate tribal students for conflict transformation in Mindanao. </p><p> As a missionary, I have attempted to equip mature Muslim-background believers associated with Yoido Full Gospel Mission in Mindanao to become facilitators of a program of training tribal people to be peacemakers and to mobilize some to become agents for peacemaking in Mindanao. </p><p> In order to implement sustainable peace among the entire Moro ethnic group, I adapted Lederach&rsquo;s conceptual framework to establish the foundation of trust or to restore trust among interclan or intertribal relationships. This process guided the research in light of historical perspectives recognizing colonial factors affecting the population in Mindanao. This research employs narrative interviews to listen to participants and develop deeper interaction regarding the issues that are verbalized in intergroup conflicts. </p><p> In order to train these Christian peace facilitators for the revised process, I chose <i>Tablig</i>: A Compilation of Resources for Understanding the Muslim Mindset. Over about a year and a half in three rounds of field research, I discovered factors in Peace Generation training that might be perceived differently from tribal students&rsquo; perspectives. All three of the facilitators agreed in Training Group interviews that love is always the main factor in conflict transformation. Furthermore, all three of the Tausug villagers affirmed love, justice, and God&rsquo;s guidance as factors in their marital conflict transformation. </p><p> After reflection on these three research periods, I chose to step back as an outsider facilitator and trainer and to empower &ldquo;voluntary insiders&rdquo; and &ldquo;insiders&rdquo; to facilitate tribal students in peacemaker training. I have clearly separated findings&mdash;peacebuilding facilitated by one of the insiders&mdash;that are significant from ones that are not. In my analysis, my leadership has not shifted appropriately in recognition of tribal people groups, which need indigenization. Hence, it is significant to note that transforming conflicts only through scriptural studies is not feasible; it should be conducted by an insider innovator/transformer, rather than by my entrepreneurship. </p><p> Indeed, if I did not step back from being a peace facilitator and did not train insider or voluntary peace facilitators, we would not have seen the remarkable result in the lifecycle of organizational leadership transition. The main factor influencing and equipping tribal students and adults to be peacemakers, as carried out by insider facilitators, is &ldquo;love and forgiveness,&rdquo; as Romans 13:10 says, &ldquo;therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.&rdquo; </p><p>

The most influential contribution to the philosophy of religion made by American pragmatism is A Common Faith (originally delivered as the Terry Lectures at Yale University), in which John Dewey calls our attention to the difference between religion and the religious. Dewey believed that traditional religions debilitate our experience of the religious in large part because they insist on a belief in the supernatural. His project calls for a new naturalistic faith based on a democratic community applying the methods of science. Dewey's American context was primarily Christian, as it still is today. It seems obvious that if Dewey's faith is to become truly 'common', then it must successfully engage the Christian majority. My thesis is that it is not possible for Dewey's common faith project to be established within a Christian majority context The development of Dewey's own philosophy of religion is considered, with a special focus on the dramatic change in religious worldview demonstrated in his own life. Dewey's common faith project is presented, along with the four major arguments that have been raised against it (that he misunderstood the nature of the supernatural that he misunderstood traditional religions, the he misunderstood the proper object of faith, and that he misunderstood basic human nature). An effort is made to provide Dewey's project with the philosophical foundation needed to successfully engage a Christian majority community by drawing on four key parallels identified between Dewey's philosophy and traditional Christian teachings: community and koinonia, sympathy and agape, God and logos, and growth and audzano. The conclusion is that Dewey's faith cannot successfully engage its intended context. The increased religious pluralism found in America today only magnifies the weaknesses in Dewey's common faith project Other than the thesis, the two most original contributions to the philosophic dialog found in this dissertation are a new analysis of the supernatural based on the notion of dimensions as developed in string theory, and demonstrating that Christians cannot be both sympathetic and tolerant. A brief exploration of how Dewey's common faith project might engage other contexts is included as well / acase@tulane.edu

Although Husserl's theory of intersubjectivity has been widely disparaged by phenomenological thinkers, this dissertation shows that; (1) the doctrine is absolutely essential to the integrity of Husserlian phenomenology; (2) Husserl's theory is adequate to account for the experience of another person; and (3) his theory, appropriately interpreted, withstands its critics The necessity for this doctrine results from the very method of phenomenology. In its early stages, Husserl's method requires a 'bracketing' of the ordinary experience of the world in favor of the experience of the world as a 'phenomenal' meaning for a transcendental subject. Through this move, Husserl hopes to achieve a descriptive certainty which will permit philosophy to realize itself as a rigorous science. The goal of such a science is reached, however, only when all experience can be analyzed as the intentional product of acts of consciousness One of our experiences, the experience of the Other, presents a difficulty for phenomenological method. 'Other' means outside of a unitary stream of consciousness; therefore, phenomenology must answer the question of how a single consciousness can constitute that which is other than itself Husserl's solution to the problem rests on his notion of 'pairing,' whereby two transcendental subjects unite in a single meaning by a process of spontaneous fusion of their egos. Two subjects may combine in a common meaning, owing to their reciprocal similarities. This very reciprocity prevents their identity. The intrinsic differences between the members of the pair serve to constitute the meaning, ego/alter ego The difficulty of accounting for transcendental experience, which all transcendental philosophies must face, is thereby resolved. The constitution of the Other makes available his world of immanent experiences which, when shared, becomes a transcendent world The results of this investigation are negative insofar as they cannot compel us to accept Husserlian phenomenology. Yet, these negative results are significant for evaluting the whole of Husserl's philosophy. If the doctrine of intersubjectivity is essential to Husserl's philosophy and it failed, then phenomenology must abandon its claim to be a rigorous science and accept an evaluation of itself as a compilation of interesting insights. Our conclusion indicates another outcome / acase@tulane.edu

Abstract not available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: John C. Pettegrew.

<p> This thesis explores Derrida&rsquo;s engagement with Plato, primarily in the texts &ldquo;How to Avoid Speaking: Denials&rdquo; and <i>On the Name.</i> The themes of participation and performance are focused on through an analysis of the concepts of <i>mystery</i> and <i> metaxy</i> (&mu;&epsi;&tau;&alpha;&xi;&nu;). The crucial performative aspects of Plato and Derrida&rsquo;s texts are often under appreciated. Neither author simply <i>says</i> what he means; rather their texts are meant to <i>do</i> something to the reader that surpasses what could be accomplished through straightforward reading comprehension. This enacted dimension of the text underscores a participatory worldview that is not just intellectually formulated, but performed by the text in a way that draws the reader into an event of participation&mdash;instead of its mere contemplation. On this basis, I propose a closer alliance between these authors&rsquo; projects than has been traditionally considered.</p>

This thesis seeks to evaluate the use of the concept "necessity" in the Christian doctrine of God. The concept is used frequently in discussions of God's existence. Traditional theism differentiates between God and the world with specific reference to this notion. God exists necessarily: the world, contingently. Not only is "necessity" used by classical theism in relation to the divine existence, but to God's nature as well. The doctrine of the immutability of God excludes all contingency from his nature. [...]

<p> This interdisciplinary, theoretical dissertation puts Meister Eckhart and psychoanalysis (in particular, the work of Jacques Lacan) in dialogue in order to examine the question of the self. It extends the success of recent Buddhist-psychoanalytic dialogues on the self into the neglected area of Christian mysticism. The author reviews the extant literature on psychoanalysis and mysticism, summarizes Freud and Lacan's psychoanalytic theories of subjectivity, and examines the existing literature on Meister Eckhart and the self. Then, the author undertakes a commentary of an especially significant passage in one of Eckhart's sermons using an interpretive method which brings together "radical hermeneutics," a form of hermeneutics developed by the American philosopher of religion John Caputo (1987, 2000) with <i>Lectio Divina</i> and centering prayer, two Christian contemplative practices. </p><p> Based on the commentary, the author presents a fresh understanding of Eckhart's view of the self which emphasizes the unity between the soul and God in the process of God's birth in the soul (<i>Gottesgeburt</i>). Then, some of the key themes of Eckhart's sermons are put in dialogue with key Lacanian concepts &ndash; e.g., properties (<i>eigenschaften</i>) with symptoms, detachment (<i>abegescheidenheit</i>) with castration, and living without why (<i>ohne Warum</i>) with jouissance &ndash; in order to explore the significance of Eckhart's view of the self for psychoanalytic theories of subjectivity. Additionally, the discussion includes clinical vignettes in order to suggest implications for the practice of psychotherapy. The dissertation concludes that psychoanalysis and mysticism are guided by a similar logic and structure, as they are both oriented around processes of change.</p>