This thesis proposes that Søren Kierkegaard's thought - in particular, his theological anthropology - is undergirded by an inchoate metaphysics of modality. It focuses on the concept of possibility (Danish: Mulighed), arguing that possibility is a primary ingredient of the Kierkegaardian self and serves as a kind of 'engine' for the development of the individual before God. Accordingly, viewing Kierkegaard's works through the lens of possibility is a fruitful way to gain new insights into his beliefs, and clarifies what he sought to express in his authorship. Kierkegaard, I argue, formulates a multilayered account of possibility that, while not abandoning metaphysics, re-frames possibility existentially, in terms of what the self may actually become, not only in and for itself but also in relation to God. One's selfhood and one's relation to God both require an ontology of possibility. His existential concerns arise from this metaphysical footing. This thesis then considers how possibility is integral to human selfhood. Genuine selfhood is an openness towards God's eternal possibility, rather than the self's attempting to create its own eternal possibilities via some other means of actualization. If the human person, by faith, becomes 'grounded in the absolute', then that person is becoming a self precisely because God is actualizing her possibilities. God is for Kierkegaard the source of all possibility. Theologically, Kierkegaard's conception of possibility presents us with ideas that may be fruitful in further discussion of God's attributes and the ways in which God is understood to relate to the created world. Anthropology, ontology, and theology are thus inextricably linked.

I trace the concept of nothingness in twentieth century philosophical theology from the work Paull Tillich through that of Martin Heidegger and Keiji Nishitani toward Robert Neville and Ray L. Hart all of whom have taken up the challenge of nothingness. As a specific metaphysical concept or category, these philosophers and theologians would undoubtedly disagree on a specific definition of nothingness; however, I argue they would agree on the vague function of nothingness, which is a relief or contrast to being. Tied up with existence contra nothingness are the possibilities of existence or meontic nothingness. At stake in the encounter with or exposure to nothingness is the ability to refund or redeem one’s ownmost potential and possibilities. How one responds to the specter of nothingness makes nothing matter (or not) in the way one turns from nothingness back to existence. In other words, the stakes are not merely the metaphysical (non)status of nothingness, but the desire to find meaning and value in human, finite existence in the face of radical contingency and the specter of nihilism.

No description available.

In this thesis, my purpose is to determine why Augustine’s theory of knowledge by illumination was rejected by Franciscan theologians at the end of the thirteenth century. My main methodological assumption is that Medieval accounts of divine illumination must be interpreted in a theological context, or with attention to a scholar’s underlying doctrines of God and of the human mind as the image of God, inasmuch as the latter doctrine determines one’s understanding of the nature of the mind’s cognitive work, and illumination illustrates cognition. In the first chapter, I show how Augustine’s understanding of illumination derives from his Trinitarian theology. In the second chapter, I use the same theological methods of inquiry to identify continuity of thought on illumination in Augustine and Anselm. The third chapter covers the events of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries that had an impact on the interpretation of illumination, including the Greek and Arabic translation movements and the founding of universities and mendicant orders. In this chapter, I explain how the first Franciscan scholars transformed St. Francis of Assisi’s spiritual ideals into a theological and philosophical system, appropriating the Trinitarian theology of Richard of St. Victor and the philosophy of the Arab scholar Avicenna in the process. Bonaventure is typically hailed the great synthesizer of early Franciscan thought and the last and best proponent of traditional Medieval Augustinian thought. In the fourth chapter, I demonstrate that Bonaventure’s Victorine doctrine of the Trinity both enabled and motivated him to assign originally Avicennian meanings to philosophical arguments of Augustine and Anselm that were incompatible with the original ones. In the name of Augustine, in other words, Bonaventure introduced a theory of knowledge that is not Augustinian. In the fifth chapter, my aim is to throw the non-Augustinian character of Bonaventure’s illumination theory into sharper relief through a discussion of knowledge and illumination in the thought of his Dominican contemporary Thomas Aquinas. Although Aquinas is usually supposed to reject illumination theory, I show that he only objects to the Franciscan interpretation of the account, even while he bolsters a genuinely Augustinian account of knowledge and illumination by updating it in the Aristotelian forms of philosophical argumentation that were current at the time. In the final chapter, I explain why late thirteenth-century Franciscans challenged illumination theory, even after Bonaventure had enthusiastically championed it. In this context, I explain that that they did not reject their predecessor’s standard of knowledge outright, but only sought to eradicate the intellectually offensive interference of illumination, as he had defined it, which they perceived as inconsistent with the standard, in the interest of promulgating it. In concluding, I reiterate the importance of interpreting illumination as a function of Trinitarian theology. This approach throws the function of illumination in Augustine’s thought into relief and facilitates the effort to identify continuity and discontinuity amongst Augustine and his Medieval readers, which in turn makes it possible to identify the reasons for the late Medieval decline of divine illumination theory and the rise of an altogether unprecedented epistemological standard.

This thesis proposes that Robert W. Jenson's identification of the triune God faithfully describes the persons and being of God. To support this I examine the most basic argument of Jenson's 'Systematic Theology',: that God is freely but truly identified by and with Jesus Christ. This includes discussion of Jenson's starting point, his formal description of the three persons of God, and the theological ontology that this entails. Throughout I argue that Jenson's trinitarian description and theological ontology is rightly controlled by an a posteriori logic of response to the triune God's actual life with and for his people. Central to this is the way that Jenson creatively and courageously uses Jesus Christ's life and person as the controlling criterion of all dogmatic statements about God. Finally, this thesis proposes that Jenson's basic insights are made more exact when Jesus Christ is recognized in his perfect relation with the Father and Spirit before, in and after created history. To elucidate this suggestion the nature of the triune God's election and self-determination is reconsidered in light of Jenson's critical insight that the persons are mutually, not identically, perfect in deity. This in turn leads to a brief description of the eternity and freedom of the triune conversation that begins and ends with the Word who is Jesus Christ.

Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / As most of the attentions as well as criticisms to Radical Orthodoxy are focused on the theology of John Milbank, the possible existence of alternative voice(s) within the school of Radical Orthodoxy has been ignored. This thesis attempts to suggest that the theology of Graham Ward, though sharing similar theological sensibility with Milbank and other theologians identified as advocates of Radical Orthodoxy, is different from Milbank's theology in various ways. In order to have a better understanding of the varieties within Radical Orthodoxy as a theological program or school, and for its future development in postmodern context, Ward's theology deserves to be further explored. / Through contrasting the theologies of Ward and Milbank, this thesis argues that Ward's theology can avoid most of the criticisms of Milbank's theology and offers a better alternative within the framework of Radical Orthodoxy. Furthermore, in terms of future development of Radical Orthodoxy, as Ward's theology is more open and compatible with other disciplines, including particularly Cultural Studies, and other religious worldviews, it may be able to provide as a more persuasive and competitive Christian narrative than that of Milbank when engaging in public discourses in a pluralistic society and non-western context. In comparison with the theology of John Milbank, the theology of Graham Ward is arguably a more promising alternative way for the better development of Radical Orthodoxy. / 本論文主要指出，對於激進正统的關注與評論，大部分皆集中於米爾班的激進正统神學，這明顯是無視於在激進正统的神學運動內，成員間在有著共同的感識下、也是有著多元的聲音。在這理解下，本文提倡以沃德的神學作為理解這神學運動內的多元聲音的起點，更重要是以此作為這神學運動在後現代處境中可進一步發展的方向。沃德的神學作為激進正统的殊途，不單提出一種非米爾班式的激進正统神學，更能避免種種對於米爾班式的激進正统神學的批判。 / 再者，就激進正统神學的未來發展而言，沃德的神學對於其他理論及宗教都較為開放並予以對話的空間，這尤令其作為一套走向公共領域，尤其在多元社會及非西方的文化處境中的故事，比米爾班式神學更有說服及競爭力。總結而言，本文討論並主張，作為激進正统神學內的殊途，沃德的神學是比米爾班式的激進正统神學會有更理想的發展。 / 李天鈞. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-181). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Li Tianjun. / 導論 --- p.1-11 / 論文的結構 / Chapter 第一章 --- 走出第三條路的後現代神學：「激進正統」的概論 --- p.12-49 / Chapter 1. --- 「激進正統」的發展背景及對其研究的進路 / Chapter 2. --- 「激進正統」神學所建構的宏大敘事 / Chapter 3. --- 學界對「激進正統」的評論 / 小結 / Chapter 第二章 --- 激進正統的殊途：沃德的神學 --- p.50-90 / Chapter 1. --- 沃德神學的發展 / Chapter 2. --- 沃德神學中的兩個主要關心的問題及當中相關的神學討論 / Chapter 3. --- 沃德的「激進正统」神學：以城市作起點 / Chapter 3.1 --- 從《上帝的諸城》作開始 / Chapter 3.2 --- 城市對神學研究的重要性 / Chapter 3.3 --- 沃德對城市的閱讀 / Chapter 3.4 --- 沃德對城市作出的回應 / Chapter 3.5 --- 沃德的城市神學對「激進正统」神學議程的論述 / Chapter 3.6 --- 沃德在《上帝的諸城》之後的神學發展 / 小結 / Chapter 第三章 --- 對沃德「激進正統」神學的延伸與發展的研究 --- p.91-135 / Chapter 1. --- 結合文化研究之路 / Chapter 1.1 --- 文化研究對文化理解的新觀點 / Chapter 1.2 --- 神學與文化研究結合發展的概況 / Chapter 1.3 --- 文化研究對神學研究的意義 / Chapter 1.4 --- 神學研究對文化研究的意義 / Chapter 2. --- 對處境神學的啟廸 / Chapter 2.1 --- 史卓德的本土神學 / Chapter 2.2 --- 史卓德本土神學中的處境分析 / Chapter 2.3 --- 沃德理論中可作補足的研究成果 / Chapter 3. --- 沃德神學發展中應考慮的方向：聖靈論 / Chapter 3.1 --- 文化視界中的聖靈 / Chapter 3.2 --- 聖靈的課題對神學與文化的互動上有何啟迪 / 小結 / Chapter 第四章 --- 沃德與米爾班作為「激進正统」神學上的殊途 --- p.136-160 / 小結 / 總結 --- p.161-163 / 參考書目 --- p.164-181

This dissertation brings a new philosophical perspective to an important topic in the contemporary theology and science dialogue, specifically the theological reception of multiverse thought in modern cosmology. In light of recent cosmological speculation about the plausibility of a 'multiverse,' a cosmic ensemble in which our own universe is just one of many, theological responses have largely focused on the question of whether such a multiverse might be an alternative to divine design (or might itself be compatible with divine design). However, this approach neglects the fundamental metaphysical issues entailed in the multiverse proposal, including its entanglement of the one and the many (a paradox which has itself been a central concern of theological reflection), as well as its intimations of cosmic multiplicity, diversity, and infinity. In this dissertation I provide the first systematic theological engagement with these metaphysical implications. My approach is to draw on ancient and medieval resources (neglected not only in multiverse discussions but also in the theology and science field more generally) to show that the concept of metaphysical participation provides a particularly fertile ground on which theology can engage constructively with multiverse thought. To that end, I focus specifically on the participatory thought of Plato, Aquinas, and Nicholas of Cusa, each of whom seek to understand how a physical cosmos of complexity and immensity might share in divine existence of unity and simplicity. I bring their insights into interaction with a diverse range of contemporary theological, philosophical, and scientific figures to demonstrate that a participatory account of the relationship between God and creation argues for greater continuity between theology and the multiverse proposal in modern cosmology.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [56]-68).

Until his untimely death in 1988, George Grant was considered the foremost political philosopher Canada had produced. He was a critic of technological globalization who perceived early on its destructive potentialities on all facets of life, public and private. His writing focused on how the development of technological globalization endangered national sovereignty, undermined indigenous cultures and traditions, and threatened individual and communal rights. What is less known about Grant is the importance of faith in his life and how it informed his thought. Indeed, even though Grant did not write about his faith to any great extent, he claimed that it was the inspirational centre of everything he thought and wrote. This thesis will attempt to uncover the substance of Grant's faith and how it informs his thought. Grant was a Christian and a Protestant whose faith is best expressed in the words of Martin Luther: "A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is." (Luther's Works, vol. 31, p. 40) This quote is not incidental. Grant found in Luther's words and the theological orientation Luther named a "Theology of the Cross," the basis of his critical and constructive critique of the contemporary realities that concerned him. But even though Luther gave the words for this theological orientation, its significance in shaping Grant's thought was developed through his struggle with other theologians and philosophers, the most influential of whom was Simone Weil. This thesis will be an attempt to define this theological orientation as expressed by Luther, how Grant came upon it through formative influences and experiences along with formal studies in theology and philosophy, how Simone Weil gave intellectual and existential voice to this orientation in him, and how it informed Grant's perspective on all the thinkers he struggled with and all the issues that preoccupied his thought. Finally, this thesis

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2006. / Supervisor: John C. Robertson, Jr. Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-323).