DOCSLIB.ORG

Durham E-Theses

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Durham E-Theses Toward a new paradigm for bioethics: ecological and theological contributions Rowell, Mary How to cite: Rowell, Mary (2005) Toward a new paradigm for bioethics: ecological and theological contributions, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2279/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk TOWARD A NEW PARADIGM FOR BIOETHICS ECOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS The copyright of this thesis rests with the author or the university to which It was submitted. No quotation from It, or Information derived from It may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university, and any Information derived from It should be acknowledged. A thesis in 1 volume submitted by Mary Rowell: To the Department of Theology and Religious Studies University of Durham: PhD. Degree Submitted: October. 2005 - 5 FEB 2007 ABSTRACT MARY ROWELL TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM FOR BIOETHICS: ECOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS In this thesis it is argued that current conceptions of bioethics are inadequate in the light of today's global ecological and societal circumstances. An examination of the dominant contemporary model of bioethics as it is known and practiced in North America shows it to be entrenched and entrapped in a medical context and an ethos of liberal individualism. The model does not have the scope or flexibility to address critical issues of environmental destruction and its social causes and consequences, both of which impact the integrity of the biosphere and human health. Thus, bioethics fails to fulfill its purported role with respect to life, health, and the service of medicine and those receiving care within the medical system. The claim is made that a new paradigm for bioethics is needed, one modeled on ecological principles. It is argued moreover that theology can be a valuable contributor to the development of an ecological bioethics. Traditional contributions of theology to bioethics are not, however, adequate for the task of reformulating the discipline to meet today's urgencies and needs. What is needed is a retrieval of the rich Christian tradition of creation theology and the insights of contemporary eco-theology. A detailed account of these theological perspectives is provided together with an exploration of recent ecclesial statements and documents which articulate them in a vital manner and in terms of a call for Christian moral commitment. Theology is thus shown to have a potentially powerful and imaginative gift, to be joined with others, in the evolution of bioethics. Finally, this thesis presents a model for the expression and practical development of an ecological bioethics - a bioethics for life and healing - for today and for our future. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v DECLARATION vi INTRODUCTION vii CHAPTER 1: EXPLORING BIOETHICS 1 Traditional Medical Ethics 3 Mid-twentieth-Century Developments in Medical Science 4 Lessons of the Holocaust 4 Continuing Optimism and the Gifts of Science in the 1960's 7 A Strained Medical Ethics 8 Conferences and the Fledgling Bioethics 13 Bioethics 17 The Wider Origins of Bioethics 24 Theology and the New Bioethics 31 The New Bioethics and Traditional Theology: Mirror-Images 40 CHAPTER 2: TOWARD A RENEWAL OF BIOETHICS: SOME BEGINNINGS 53 A Global Ecological Crisis 54 Key Features of Global Environmental Crisis 55 Social and Personal Costs of the Environmental Crisis 62 Environmental Destruction, International Policy and Human Health 66 A Case to Consider 73 A Case Analysis: Critiquing Standard Bioethics 79 A Renewal of Bioethics? 87 The Beginnings of an Ecological Model of Bioethics: A Retrieval of the Work of Rensselaer Potter 92 CHAPTER 3: THEOLOGY, ECOLOGY AND A RENEWAL OF BIOETHICS 102 Theology: A Potentially Constructive Voice in the Development of Bioethics 103 Tradition, Scriptural Interpretation and "God's Good Creation" 106 Creation in the Early and Medieval Church 109 Loss and Continuity of an Ecological Motif in Reformation and Post-Reformation Theology 123 Evolution, Process Thought and Modern Theology 126 Oppression, Liberation and Ecotheology 137 Feminist Voices and the Growth in Ecotheology 140 New Biblical Scholarship: Its Contributions to Ecotheology 147 "Let all the Earth Bless the Lord" - The Ecological Motif Through the Ages 152 The Christian Tradition as Promise 156 iii CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPING A NEW MORAL FOUNDATION FOR BIOETHICS 158 Church Response to an Environmental and Social Crisis 160 The Churches and the Articulation of a Moral Foundation 165 A Second Mirror-Imaging: Theology and a New Foundation forBioethics 183 Prevailing Anthropocentrism 186 Thomas Berry: The Need for a "New Story" 189 The "New Story": Berry's Functional Cosmology 195 Some Critique of Thomas Berry 208 Berry and Moltmann: Some Points of Comparison 217 The Contributions of Thomas Berry to a Reformulation of Bioethics 222 CHAPTER 5: GIVING NEW SHAPE TO BIOETHICS: AN ECOLOGICAL MODEL 230 An Ecological Model of Bioethics: An Understanding of the Concept 232 A New Look at Bioethics Theory 234 Issues of Conflict or Competing Interests 261 Virtue Ethics: Possible Contributions to a Revised Theory of Bioethics 266 The Social Teachings of the Church as a Basis for the Development of Bioethics 275 Education in Bioethics and Bioethics Education 282 A New Look at Bioethics Practice 284 Conclusion 308 BIBLIOGRAPHY 310 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The opportunity to research and write this thesis would not have been possible without the love, encouragement, and oftentimes sacrifice of my family throughout my life. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my late Mother, Bessie May Rowell for showing me from my early years, that the joy, beauty health and flourishing of humankind is inseparable from the magnificence, gift and integrity of the natural world. I owe to my late Father, Leonard Walter Rowell a sense of the sacred that is in every aspect of this world, in all its events, and in our experiences of them. I am deeply grateful to the example of Dr. E. Monica Shutter, family physician, teacher, and Methodist minister, who through her life has shown me a vision of medicine that is at once scientific, sacred, compassionate and all- embracing. A debt of immense gratitude is owed to the many people with whom I worked in the developing world. In their material poverty and deep suffering, they showed me human dignity and true joy and they taught me the meaning of difference and inequality. The encouragement necessary to complete this work has been the gift of my two supervisors at the University of Durham. I thank Dr. Ann Loades for her wisdom, continuing kindness and expert guidance. I owe a debt of appreciation to Dr. Robert Song who graciously took on the supervision of my thesis following the retirement of Dr. Loades. I thank Dr. Song for his invaluable insights, challenging critique, patience and never-failing support. I thank Margot Smith and Heather Gamester for their copy editing skills and kindness. Any remaining mistakes in style and grammar are entirely my own. Lastly, but very especially, I owe profound thanks to my religious congregation, The Sisters of Saint Joseph of Peterborough, Canada, without whose fidelity, support and encouragement this work would have been impossible. I especially thank Sisters Joan Driscoll and Shirley Tapp, C.S.J, for their patient reading of my chapters, their comments and challenges. Most of all I thank them for their generous friendship and remarkable examples of loving commitment. I wish to express particular thanks to Sisters Shirley O'Rourke, Marilyn Meraw and Linda Gregg C.S.J, for their vision and passionate witness to the importance of ecology for spirit, faith and life. I thank Sister Marilyn Meraw for her witness to a life of integrity, love and simplicity, for her unfailing support, and for her guidance and friendship that bless my life. I owe deep gratitude to Sister Linda Gregg for her leadership in the ecology ministry of our congregation, her knowledge and insight which she shared with me so generously, and for her life's example and friendship that is my inspiration. vi DECLARATION I declare that no part of this thesis has been submitted for a degree in this or any other university. All references to the work of other writers and researchers have been appropriately cited in the footnotes of this thesis. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published in any form, including electronic and the internet, without the author's prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. VII INTRODUCTION This thesis has its beginnings in my professional experience. As a clinical bioethicist, and teacher of bioethics, I came to the gradual realization that the dominant North American model of bioethics is inadequate in the light of present global environmental and social circumstances. My most compelling recognition of such circumstances was a result of my work in healthcare in developing countries. During that experience I saw first hand some of the devastating effects of environmental disregard and destruction.
Recommended publications
  • This Chapter Will Demonstrate How Anglo-Catholicism Sought to Deploy

    This Chapter Will Demonstrate How Anglo-Catholicism Sought to Deploy

    Building community: Anglo-Catholicism and social action Jeremy Morris Some years ago the Guardian reporter Stuart Jeffries spent a day with a Salvation Army couple on the Meadows estate in Nottingham. When he asked them why they had gone there, he got what to him was obviously a baffling reply: “It's called incarnational living. It's from John chapter 1. You know that bit about 'Jesus came among us.' It's all about living in the community rather than descending on it to preach.”1 It is telling that the phrase ‘incarnational living’ had to be explained, but there is all the same something a little disconcerting in hearing from the mouth of a Salvation Army officer an argument that you would normally expect to hear from the Catholic wing of Anglicanism. William Booth would surely have been a little disconcerted by that rider ‘rather than descending on it to preach’, because the early history and missiology of the Salvation Army, in its marching into working class areas and its street preaching, was precisely about cultural invasion, expressed in language of challenge, purification, conversion, and ‘saving souls’, and not characteristically in the language of incarnationalism. Yet it goes to show that the Army has not been immune to the broader history of Christian theology in this country, and that it too has been influenced by that current of ideas which first emerged clearly in the middle of the nineteenth century, and which has come to be called the Anglican tradition of social witness. My aim in this essay is to say something of the origins of this movement, and of its continuing relevance today, by offering a historical re-description of its origins, 1 attending particularly to some of its earliest and most influential advocates, including the theologians F.D.
  • Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. an Introduction And

    Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. an Introduction And

    reviews Penny Mawdsley reviews Second Coming. Bede Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of understood that the common ‘folk’ the English People from their various An Introduction and Selection Germanic kinship groups, who lived by Rowan Williams and Benedicta Ward in rural Bloomsbury, (London 2012) Hbk. 200 pages. £15.29 communities under one of the I’m not convinced that this slim volume dedicated to seven kings of the the late Donald Allchin, champion of ecumenism, then Anglo-Saxon adds much to the huge canon of literature relating to Heptarchy ‘at the Bede’s remarkably prolific output of theological, utmost end of the earth’, needed hagiographic and historical work undertaken over a encouragement and support fully to convert long life for the period (673 - 735 CE). It consists of a from paganism and live godly lives. This would bring distillation of the five books that make up the about God’s Kingdom and it was to this end that Ecclesiastical History, translated from Bede’s clear and Bede’s life’s work was dedicated. He fervently believed unembellished Latin into clear, modern and that there should be unity of liturgy and wider unacademic English by Benedicta Ward, an Anglican Christian practice and this would only come about if Carmelite nun, Reader in the History of Christian all English Christians followed Papal decrees in all Spirituality at the University of Oxford. Nothing of aspects of their Christian life, from the design of Sister Benedicta’s personality, let alone her passion for monastic tonsures to the date on which Easter was to Bede’s writing, emerges from the text, as, arguably, it be celebrated.
  • The Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius

    The Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius

    The Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius The Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius: Orthodox and Anglican Ecumenical Relations 1927-2012 By Dimitrios Filippos Salapatas Foreword by Dr Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury The Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius: Orthodox and Anglican Ecumenical Relations 1927-2012 By Dimitrios Filippos Salapatas This book first published 2018 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2018 by Dimitrios Filippos Salapatas All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-0547-2 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-0547-6 To my parents and brother ‘For the peace of the whole world, for the welfare of God’s holy Churches, and for the union of all, let us pray to the Lord.’ TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ................................................................................... viii Foreword .................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements .................................................................................. xiii Abbreviations ...........................................................................................
  • Apostolic Succession in the Porvoo Common Statement Unity Through a Deeper Sense of Apostolicity

    Apostolic Succession in the Porvoo Common Statement Unity Through a Deeper Sense of Apostolicity

    Apostolic Succession in the Porvoo Common Statement Unity through a deeper sense of apostolicity Erik Eckerdal Uppsala University Thesis 2017-08-01 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Ihre-salen, Engelska parken, Uppsala, Friday, 22 September 2017 at 10:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Theology). The examination will be conducted in English. Faculty examiner: Professor Susan K Wood (Marquette University). Abstract Eckerdal, E. 2017. Apostolic Succession in the Porvoo Common Statement. Unity through a deeper sense of apostolicity. 512 pp. Uppsala: Department of Theology, Uppsala University. ISBN 978-91-506-2829-6. A number of ecumenical dialogues have identified apostolic succession as one of the most crucial issues on which the churches need to find a joint understanding in order to achieve the unity of the Church. When the Porvoo Common Statement (PCS) was published in 1993, it was regarded by some as an ecumenical breakthrough, because it claimed to have established visible and corporate unity between the Lutheran and Anglican churches of the Nordic-Baltic-British-Irish region through a joint understanding of ecclesiology and apostolic succession. The consensus has been achieved, according to the PCS, through a ‘deeper understanding’ that embraces the churches’ earlier diverse interpretations. In the international debate about the PCS, the claim of a ‘deeper understanding’ as a solution to earlier contradictory interpretations has been both praised and criticised, and has been seen as both possible and impossible. This thesis investigates how and why the PCS has been interpreted differently in various contexts, and discerns the arguments used for or against the ecclesiology presented in the PCS.
  • Church of the Province of Southern Africa Provincial Synod 1992

    Church of the Province of Southern Africa Provincial Synod 1992

    CHURCH OF THE PROVINCE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA PROVINCIAL SYNOD 1992 SWAZILAND 11-21 AUGUST I, MAX HENRY HALES, Registrar of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, do hereby certify that in terms of Standing Rule 10(a) a quorum as provided by Standing Rule 16 is present at this Synod. DATED AT b <=■ THIS i t K DAY OF 1992 ______ ^ ^ A H ~ PROVINCIAL REGISTRAR HlHiilES-QE .THE_27TH.._SESSIQN OF THE PROVINCIAL SYNOD OF THE CHURCH QF THE PROVINCE QE ^MiEfiML^EEIGAJiELD AT WATERFORD KAHHLABA COLLEGE, MBABANE. SWAZILARD FROM 11-20 AUGUST 1992. 1. Synod assembled for a celebration of the Holy Eucharist at the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Mbabane, Swaziland at 18h00. 1.1 After the Gospel, the Registrar (having certified that a quorum was present) the President, the Most Revd D M Tutu, constituted the Session of Synod. 1.2 The President delivered his Charge. 1.3 Immediately before the blessing Synod received greetings from local churches The Revd Fr Joseph Matola spoke on behalf of the Roman Catholic bishop, the Rt Revd Louis Ndlovu. The Revd Absolom Mnisi spoke on behalf of the Lutheran Church. The Rt Revd A M Dlamini spoke on behalf of the Council of Swaziland Churches and the Zionist Church. 1.4 The Dean of the Province, the Rt Revd Michael Nuttall, read letters of greeting from : The Revd Nigel Uden, Minister-in-Charge of the Ecumenical Parish of St John the Evangelist, Sandton; The General Secretary of the Anglican Consultative Council, Canon Sam van Culin; The Most Revd Keith Rayner, Archbishop of Melbourne, on behalf of the Anglican Church in Australia.
  • The Baptist Ministers' Journal

    The Baptist Ministers' Journal

    The Baptist Ministers' Journal April 1996 ISSN 0968 - 2406 Vol254 Contents .......................................................................................................... 1 Editorial . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 In Praise of Erasmus ........................................................................................ 3 by Revd John F.V. Nicholson Wired for Sound: 26 Years in Local Broadcasting ......................................... 8 by Revd Jim A. Pollard Homosexuality:AChristianView ........................................................... : ...... 11 by Revd Keigh G.. Riglin Minister, Amersham Free Church, Bucks Patterns of Christian Giving: Treetrunk or Rabbit's Ears? ........................... 16 by Revd Fred Stainthorpe 1 Corinthians 7: A Paradigm for Pastoral Counselling ................................ 19 by Revd Mike A. Smith Minister, Golcar Baptist Church, Huddersfield Roots That Go Deep: Benedict and Ignatius ................................................. 21 by Revd Brian A. Howden Tutor, Northern Baptist College, Manchester Review Section ............................................................................................... 27 Of Interest To You .......................................................................................... 30 "The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Editorial Board" Baptist Ministers' Journal April 1996 Editorial We are not seeing
  • Passchendaele Remembered

    Passchendaele Remembered

    1917-2017 PASSCHENDAELE REMEMBERED CE AR NT W E T N A A E R R Y G THE JOURNAL OF THE WESTERN FRONT ASSOCIATION FOUNDED 1980 JUNE/JULY 2017 NUMBER 109 2 014-2018 www.westernfrontassociation.com With one of the UK’s most established and highly-regarded departments of War Studies, the University of Wolverhampton is recruiting for its part-time, campus based MA in the History of Britain and the First World War. With an emphasis on high-quality teaching in a friendly and supportive environment, the course is taught by an international team of critically-acclaimed historians, led by WFA Vice-President Professor Gary Sheffield and including WFA President Professor Peter Simkins; WFA Vice-President Professor John Bourne; Professor Stephen Badsey; Dr Spencer Jones; and Professor John Buckley. This is the strongest cluster of scholars specialising in the military history of the First World War to be found in any conventional UK university. The MA is broadly-based with study of the Western Front its core. Other theatres such as Gallipoli and Palestine are also covered, as is strategy, the War at Sea, the War in the Air and the Home Front. We also offer the following part-time MAs in: • Second World War Studies: Conflict, Societies, Holocaust (campus based) • Military History by distance learning (fully-online) For more information, please visit: www.wlv.ac.uk/pghistory Call +44 (0)1902 321 081 Email: [email protected] Postgraduate loans and loyalty discounts may also be available. If you would like to arrange an informal discussion about the MA in the History of Britain and the First World War, please email the Course Leader, Professor Gary Sheffield: [email protected] Do you collect WW1 Crested China? The Western Front Association (Durham Branch) 1917-2017 First World War Centenary Conference & Exhibition Saturday 14 October 2017 Cornerstones, Chester-le-Street Methodist Church, North Burns, Chester-le-Street DH3 3TF 09:30-16:30 (doors open 09:00) Tickets £25 (includes tea/coffee, buffet lunch) Tel No.
  • 'Wales' African Twin' by Paul Williams

    'Wales' African Twin' by Paul Williams

    Wales’ African Twin The story of Dolen Cymru - the Wales Lesotho Link Paul Williams Author’s note It is a privilege to have been involved with Dolen Cymru – the Wales- Lesotho Link – since its inception. And it was a special privilege to have been charged with keeping the records since those very first informal meetings in 1983. I continued, as Secretary, to keep the records of the link until the Spring of 2004. I would like to record my sincere thanks to Dr Carl Clowes, who first suggested that I write this book. He has been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement. As well as writing the foreword, he has given the manuscript a thorough edit, adding fresh insights and up-dated material. I would also like to thank my wife Elizabeth for her support, proof- reading and sensible suggestions. As Secretary of the link, I have had the opportunity of working with wonderful colleagues, many of them serving on different Dolen committees and filling different posts, both in Wales and in Lesotho. They are too numerous to list here (some, but not all, appear in the text), but I would like to offer my deepest thanks and appreciation to all of them. Without their selfless and enthusiastic contribution, there would be no story to write. Paul Williams, March 2008 Dolen Cymru by Paul Williams ISBN: 1 85994 601 1 Published by Cyhoeddiadau’r Gair, Contact details: Ael y Bryn, Chwilog, Pwllheli, Dolen Cymru - Gwynedd LL53 6SH Wales Lesotho Link Unit B, Enterprise House, First Published: June 2008 All rights reserved 126 Bute Street, Cardiff CF10 5LE Design and layout: Aled Davies Cover design: Robert Williams, Magma Books Tel: 02920 497390 Printed by: Gwasg Gomer, Llandysul www.dolencymru.com Contents Author’s note 2 Foreword by Dr Carl Clowes 4 1.
  • AB1163-14-001-Jpeg.Pdf

    AB1163-14-001-Jpeg.Pdf

    CHURCH OF THE PROVINCE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA 26TH SESSION OF PROVINCIAL SYNOD TO: THE PRESIDENT, THE MOST REVD DESMOND MPILO TUTU D.D., F.K.C CERTIFICATE I, MAX HENRY HALES, Registrar of the Province of Southern Africa, do hereby certify that the quorum prescribed by Rule 16 of the Standing Rules of the Provincial Synod of those entitled to be present at this Provincial Synod in terms of Canon 1, is duly present and that accordingly the Synod is duly constituted. DATED AT DURBAN THIS 31ST DAY OF MAY 1989. M H HALES PROVINCIAL REGISTRAR m /a/mt£ s of t h e 2.6t h Session of the P hovi ncihl Sy/vob OF The C h u EC. H f T h e P rovince of So u t h e r n P f Ricf) b *A)a £ a./ lAAsA-sQ^^-txAs-e yPo-€t^a/^ /^v^ct^v, ^ ^ i^u ^^/(AaA~Q /9S9. ^IX^V -A ^ y<^/ 'TcA.-C-Ao -A-Ca A ^ y & A . O A ^ h a a ^ o ' y&&AAAHUCs£/ sAX €• &O^u~. ^RAa v ^t/AOiAAjLxx^a^ 3//*Jf Al/Aiy, 22*. 4</*z<Ls£ ^io. /&\fl)2ocTc*o, * 4 ^ ■det^Lt, 2 h a a >»v a& a *o 6 P. S. A -^TUiAjLokct f ^ U u / ^ P a La ) y&s£s<ZA-<^e} A&&Z- J ^ - V A n La As C ^ G - P / P l^ A S ) a C l-OLA •^Ay^aA diaUAAAA^ ^dZy^Tt^t£A)3 / ^ a x /" sGl ^6C4-F<Aa a a * aAAa v u o ^ A ^ ^ uCaaX".

  • PDF Hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen

    PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/145654 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2017-12-05 and may be subject to change. WAITING THE RELIGIOUS POETRY OF RONALD STUART THOMAS WELSH PRIEST AND POET • M.J.J, van Buuren •• WAITING THE RELIGIOUS POETRY OF RONALD STUART THOMAS WELSH PRIEST AND POET Een wetenschappelijke proeve op het gebied van de Letteren. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Katholieke Universiteit van Nijmegen, volgens besluit van het College van Decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 2 december 1993 te 3.30 uur precies door Martmus Johannes Joseph van Buuren geboren op 8 juni 1927 te 's Gravenhage. Promotores: Prof. Dr W.J.M. Bronzwaer Prof. Dr C.J. Waaijman ISBN 90-9006638-1 3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 ABBREVIATIONS 9 PART A. THE POET Chapter One: Ronald Stuart Thomas 13 Chapter Two: Welsh and Anglo-Welsh Poetry 27 Chapter Three: R.S.Thomas and the Christian Religious Tradition 38 PART B. THE POETRY Chapter Four: A Poetry of Religious Experience 55 Chapter Five: The Seeds of Godhead 77 Chapter Six: God's Disappointment with Man: Mythopoeic Poetry 100 Chapter Seven: Man's Disappointment with God 115 A Dazzling Darkness Chapter Eight: The Gates to The Presence 133 PARTC. POSTSCRIPT 159 BIBLIOGRAPHY 161 APPENDIX : R.S.THOMAS AT SEVENTY 172 CURRICULUM ГТАЕ 183 " Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all: but something ere the end Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

  • On Preparation for Prayer

    From the Ignatian Tradition ON PREPARATION FOR PRAYER Achille Gagliardi In April 2003, The Way published an extract from one of the earliest commentaries on the Spiritual Exercises to have come down to us, by the controversial Italian Jesuit Achille Gagliardi (1537-1607).1 Here we present another extract, a highly-wrought rhetorical elaboration on what Ignatius says about how an exercitant should prepare for prayer. Nicolas Standaert’s article on the ‘composition of place’ earlier in this issue presents Jerónimo Nadal’s approach to Ignatian prayer with its stress on the scriptural and pictorial elements—an approach that was subsequently set aside by mainstream Jesuit thinkers. This passage from Gagliardi vividly illustrates the shift. Gagliardi’s intense evocations of reverence and of the divine majesty and transcendence are powerful. But they lead him, almost inevitably, to marginalise the Preludes, with their focus on a scriptural text and the exercitant’s desires. Later commentators would argue as to whether the Exercises were a school of union with God or of decision. Even though the alternatives here should not be polarized, the differences in intuition about the nature of prayer are probably perennial. There were many things that Holy Father Ignatius did in order that before prayer we would prepare ourselves for it well. And regarding this preparation he prescribed many things in an ordered and considered fashion. 1 Achille Gagliardi, ‘Requirements for the One Giving and for the One Receiving the Exercises’, The Way, 42/2 (April 2003), 29-40—see this text for further information about Gagliardi. The article can be downloaded from http://www.theway.org.uk/back/422FIT.pdf.
  • I.D.A.J News Notes

    I.D.A.J News Notes

    r OFFICE COPY DO NOT REMOVE i. d. a.j news notes Published by the United States Committee of the International Defense and Aid Fund for Southern Africa P.O. Box 17, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 October, 1982 Telephone (617) 491-8343 How long have you been with the ANC, and how did you become by the South African military. In fact there's essentially an occupying involved with it? force almost on a permanent basis in southern Angola. Well, my involvement with the ANC is from my childhood, since The government would like to put fear in the hearts of the leaders my father was a member of the ANC. But I actively got involved of the neighboring countries, fear in the hearts of politically active when I left South Africa and went to Swaziland. I went to high South Africans who are in exile, all in an attempt to cow people or to school in Swaziland. I went there for the first time in 1959. Affer the subdue people into inactivity. But I think it has the opposite effect. It organization was banned in South Africa in 1960 it was one of the popularizes the movement within the country. It indicates the effec­ few places where it had a really visible presence. So my involvement tiveness of the movement to the people in the country, who dates from my high school days. There have been a number oftrials ofANC members in the last few "South Africa is involved months in South Africa, and the govemment seems to be making more in international terrorism.