DOCSLIB.ORG

The Philosophy of Revelation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Philosophy of Revelation The Philosophy of Revelation Author(s): Bavinck, Herman (1854-1921) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library Description: In 1908-1909, Princeton Theological Seminary invited Her- man Bavinck to deliver the renowned L.P. Stone Lectures. This volume contains these lectures, all of which concern theories of divine revelation. He details the importance of God's revealing himself in history, thought, nature, personal experience, and religious tradition, hoping to show that people cannot make sense of the world without acknowledging the divine revelation as foundational. The lectures remain relev- ant today, and give a more concise insight into early 20th century Reformed thought than some of Kuyper's and others' lengthier works. Kathleen O©Bannon CCEL Staff Subjects: Doctrinal theology God Revelation i Contents Title Page 1 Lecture 1. The Idea of a Philosophy of Revelation 2 Lecture 2. Revelation and Philosophy 18 Lecture 3. Revelation and Philosophy (cont.) 34 Lecture 4. Revelation and Nature 50 Lecture 5. Revelation and History 68 Lecture 6. Revelation and Religion 87 Lecture 7. Revelation and Christianity 106 Lecture 8. Revelation and Religious Experience 126 Lecture 9. Revelation and Culture 151 Lecture 10. Revelation and the Future 168 Indexes 197 Index of Scripture References 198 ii This PDF file is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, www.ccel.org. The mission of the CCEL is to make classic Christian books available to the world. • This book is available in PDF, HTML, ePub, Kindle, and other formats. See http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bavinck/revelation.html. • Discuss this book online at http://www.ccel.org/node/20602. The CCEL makes CDs of classic Christian literature available around the world through the Web and through CDs. We have distributed thousands of such CDs free in developing countries. If you are in a developing country and would like to receive a free CD, please send a request by email to [email protected]. The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a self supporting non-profit organization at Calvin College. If you wish to give of your time or money to support the CCEL, please visit http://www.ccel.org/give. This PDF file is copyrighted by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. It may be freely copied for non-commercial purposes as long as it is not modified. All other rights are re- served. Written permission is required for commercial use. iii Title Page Title Page The Philosophy of Revelation The Stone Lectures for 1908-1909 Princeton Theological Semiary BY Herman Bavinck Doctor of Theology; Professor in the Free University of Amsterdam 1 Lecture 1. The Idea of a Philosophy of Revelation Lecture 1. The Idea of a Philosophy of Revelation PHILOSOPHY OF REVELATION Lecture 1 - The Idea of a Philosophy of Revelation The well-known Assyrian scholar, Hugo Winckler, some years ago boldly declared that “in the whole of the historical evolution of mankind there are only two general world-views to be distinguished, —the ancient Babylonian and the modern empirico-scientific” ; “the latter of which,” he added, “is still only in process of development.”1 The implication was that the religion and civilization of all peoples have had their origin in the land of Sumer and Akkad, and more particularly that the Biblical religion, in its New Testament no less than in its Old Testament form, has derived its material from that source. This pan-Babylo- nian construction of history has, because of its syncretistic and levelling character, justly met with much serious opposition. But there is undoubtedly an element of truth in the de- claration, if it may be, taken in this wider sense,—that the religious supra-naturalistic world- view has universally prevailed among all peoples and in all ages down to our own day, and only in the last hundred and fifty years has given way in some circles to the empirico-sci- entific. Humanity as a whole has been at all times supra-naturalistic to the core. Neither in thought nor in life have men been able to satisfy themselves with the things of this world; they have always assumed a heaven above the earth, and behind what is visible a persistently ignored in Romanist and liberal circles, and the Reformation movement systematically represented as the origin and source of the Revolution. Cousin and Guizot agree in this judgment with De Bonald and De Maistre.2 French Protestantism finds it acceptable, and puts forward and praises the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” as a blessed fruit of the labors of Luther and Calvin. And in Germany, by men like Paulsen and Julius Kaftan, Kant is glorified as a second Luther, the true philosopher of Protestantism.3 No doubt between these two mighty movements of modern history certain lines of re- semblance may be traced. But formal resemblance is not the same as real likeness, analogy as identity. Between the freedom of the Christian man, on behalf of which Luther entered the lists, and the liberty, equality, fraternity, which the Revolution inscribed on its banner, the difference is fundamental. Luther and Voltaire are not men of the same spirit; Calvin and Rousseau should not be named in the same breath ; and Kant, with his epistemological 1 H. Winckler, Himmels- und Weltenbild der Babylonier. Leipzig, 1903, p.9. 2 Groen van Prinsterer, Ongeloof en Revolutie. 1862, pp.138 ff. 3 Fr. Paulsen, Philosophia militans. Berlin, 1901, pp.31 ff. J. Kaftan, Der Philosoph des Protest. Berlin, 1904. Theodor Kaftan, Moderne Theol. des alten Glaubens. 1901, pp.76, 102. 2 Lecture 1. The Idea of a Philosophy of Revelation and moral autonomy, was not the exponent of the Reformation, but the philosopher of Rationalism. This is implicitly acknowledged by all who accord the honor of emancipating the mind of man in the sixteenth century to Erasmus rather than to Luther, and who rank the Renascence in importance and value above the Reformation.4 According to this view Erasmus and his like-minded fellow-workers attempted a regeneration of Christianity, but sought this not, like Luther, in a repristination of the teaching of Paul, but in a return to the Sermon on the Mount. He is to be thanked, then, that supranaturalism has slowly given way to materialism, transcendence to immanence, Paulinism to the religion of Jesus, dogmatics to the science of religion. Luther remains the father of the old Protestantism; to Erasmus belongs the glory of having been the first exponent of modern Protestantism. In this historical judgment there undoubtedly lies an element of truth. Erasmus and his kindred spirits, no less than the Reformers, aimed at a simpler and more interior type of religion to be attained through contact with the Person of Christ But the fact is lost sight of that all these men, in their conception of the essence of religion, remained entangled in mediaeval dualism, and were thus in no position to effect a fundamental reformation of the doctrine and worship of the Church of Rome. The whole mental attitude of humanism was such as to render it, above everything, afraid of tumult, and bent upon preserving the “am- abilis ecclesiae concordia.” “Summa nostrae religionis pax est et unanimitas,” said Erasmus. But altogether apart from this, humanism was and remained one of the many “Aufklarungs- bewegangen” which have periodically emerged in the Roman Church, and will not fail to reappear in the future. The experience of sin and grace which came to Luther in the monas- tery of Erfurt fixed itself in these two conceptions; the humanists felt no need of the liberty and joy which flow from the sinner’s justification in the sight of God through faith alone and without the works of the law. Humanism, therefore, was nothing more nor less than the Reformed-Catholicism of the sixteenth century; in the end it not only broke with Luther, but came to the help of Rome and the Counter-Reformation.5 4 Busken Huet, Het Land van Rembrandt. F. Pijper, Erasmus en de Nederl. Reformatie. Leiden, 1907. Paul Wernle, Die Renaissance des Christ. im 16 Jahrh. Tubingen, 1904. 5 Lezius, Zur Charakteristik des relig. Standpunktes des Erasmus. Güterslohe, 1895. H. Hermelink, Die relig. Reformbestrebungen des deutschen Hamanismus. Tübingen, 1907 (comp. the review of this work in Theol. Lit. Zeitung, Jan. 4, 1908). Max Richter, Desiderius Erasmus und seine Stellung zu Luther auf Grund ihrer Schriften. Leipzig, 1907. Hunzinger, Der Glaube Luthers und das religions-geschichtliche Christentum der Gegenwart. Leipzig, 1907. Hunzinger strikingly observes that the laudation of Erasmus at the expense of Luther is in keeping with the attempt perceptible elsewhere to go back from the Christ of the Bible to the so-called historical Jesus, the Jesus of the Synoptics or the Sermon on the Mount. The line repre sented by Christ, Paul, Augustine, Luther, and Calvin is abandoned in favor of that represented by Jesus, Pelagius, Abelard, Erasmus, the Enlightenment. 3 Lecture 1. The Idea of a Philosophy of Revelation Nevertheless, there is this much of truth in the view in question,—that Luther and Erasmus were two different men, and the old and the new Protestantism are in principle distinct. Confirmation of this has recently come from an unprejudiced quarter, namely, from Professor Troeltsch of Heidelberg, in an important study of Protestantism contributed by him to Die Kultur der Gegenwart.6 He acknowledges, of course, that the ancient world- view was modified by the Reformation, and enriched with a new conception of religion; but he none the less maintains that its general structure was preserved intact. In their view of the world and life, sin and grace, heaven and earth, church and state, faith and knowledge, Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin were children of the Middle Ages, and revealed this fact at every point of their activity as Reformers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Who's Afraid of the Brothers Grimm?: Socialization and Politization Through Fairy Tales
    Who's Afraid of the Brothers Grimm?: Socialization and Politization through Fairy Tales Jack Zipes The Lion and the Unicorn, Volume 3, Number 2, Winter 1979-80, pp. 4-41 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/uni.0.0373 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/247386 Access provided by University of Mary Washington & (Viva) (19 Sep 2017 17:43 GMT) Who's Afraid of the Brothers Grimm? Socialization and Politization through Fairy Tales Jack Zipes Over 170 years ago the Brothers Grimm began collecting original folk tales in Germany and stylized them into potent literary fairy tales. Since then these tales have exercised a pro- found influence on children and adults alike throughout the western world. Indeed, whatever form fairy tales in general have taken since the original publication of the Grimms' nar- ratives in 1812, the Brothers Grimm have been continually looking over our shoulders and making their presence felt. For most people this has not been so disturbing. However, during the last 15 years there has been a growing radical trend to over- throw the Grimms' benevolent rule in fairy-tale land by writers who believe that the Grimms' stories contribute to the creation of a false consciousness and reinforce an authoritarian sociali- zation process. This trend has appropriately been set by writers in the very homeland of the Grimms where literary revolutions have always been more common than real political ones.1 West German writers2 and critics have come to
    [Show full text]
  • Calvinism Isn't the Only Truth: Herman Bavinck's Impressions of The
    Calvinism Isn't the Only Truth: Hennan Bavinck's Impressions of the USA George Harinck On July 22 of the year 1892 two Dutch theologians passed through customs at Rotterdam harbor. They set sail to America to make a three months trip through the United States and Canada. Both of them were professor at the Theological School of the Gerefonneerde Kerken in Nederland at Kampen. According to their passports their names and dates of birth were: Douwe Klazes Wielenga, born August 22, 1841 and Herman Bavinck, born December 13, 1854. They were professors, but that did not mean they belonged to the substantial citizens of the Netherlands. Bavinck and Wielenga originated from the circles of the Secession of 1834, a group of simple and at first humiliated Reformed people. Their conviction was formulated in the classical texts of the Belgic Confession of 1561, the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, and the Canons of Dordt of 1618/1619. Their piety was linked most closely to the Scriptures. They were trained to struggle by the history and doctrines of Calvinism, and they were familiar with suppression and believed they were among the elect. The trip of these two Refonned professors cannot be separated from the voluminous emigration of the Dutch to America in the second half of the nineteenth century, and the transatlantic ecclesiastical relationship that resulted from it. There had been contacts between the Nederlands Hervonnde Kerk and the Dutch Refonned Church of America since the seventeenth century, but they were watered down. The emigration flow towards America that originated in 1846, however, had changed this situation.
    [Show full text]
  • Ellis and the Grimms; German Nationalism; Folk Tradition; Oral and Written Culture
    Sessions 1-4: Ellis and the Grimms; German nationalism; folk tradition; oral and written culture. A good place to start is to consider what we generally mean by “Fairy Tales”. A typical formulation might contain some or all of the following properties: “old; magical; peopled by types rather than heavily individuated characters; formulaic; oral; for children”. We then read Ellis, chapters 1-3, and found that the Grimms’ work took place in a context of growing German nationalism, with an intense focus on German language and culture. The collection was envisaged by the Grimms as a serious work of philology, an attempt to reform and re-build German Literature then awakening from a lengthy period of relative eclipse, to challenge French linguistic and cultural dominance. From there we passed to the concept of oral tradition, the doctrine of “survivals”, and of the cultural shortcomings of Modernity—the central idea here being that a separate and distinctive strand of culture, later called “folklore”, was preserved in oral tradition by the common people, and that although sustained by living memories, some of its contents were extremely ancient. One key earlier text here was James Macpherson in the elaborate scholarly apparatus to his sensationally-successful edition of the Poems of Ossian (1765) which had made the argument for the coherence of oral tradition and its ability to transmit cultural materials in a stable form over long periods of time, so that most contemporaries considered that contact with orality guaranteed, ipso facto, contact with high antiquity. We needed to remind ourselves about such matters, because in the university reforms of the later nineteenth century folklore arrived too late on the scene to establish itself as a central academic discipline, so that there are only a handful of departments in America today.
    [Show full text]
  • © 2010 Julia Silvia Feldhaus ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
    © 2010 Julia Silvia Feldhaus ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Between Commodification and Emancipation: Image Formation of the New Woman through the Illustrated Magazine of the Weimar Republic By Julia Silvia Feldhaus A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School – New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in German Written under the direction of Martha B. Helfer And Michael G. Levine And approved by ____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October 2010 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Between Commodification and Emancipation: Image Formation of the New Woman through the Illustrated Magazine of the Weimar Republic By JULIA SILVIA FELDHAUS Dissertation Directors: Martha B. Helfer Michael G. Levine This dissertation investigates the conflict between the powerful emancipatory image of the New Woman as represented in the illustrated magazines of the Weimar Republic and the translation of this image into a lifestyle acted out by women during this era. I argue that while female journalists promote the image of the New Woman in illustrated magazines as a liberating opening onto self-determination and self- management, this very image is simultaneously and paradoxically oppressive. For women to shake off the inheritance of a patriarchal past, they must learn to adjust to a new identity, one that is still to a large extent influenced by and in the service of men. The ideal beauty image designed by female journalists as a framework for emancipation in actuality turned into an oppressive normalization in professional and social markets in which traditional rules no longer obtained.
    [Show full text]
  • INGO GILDENHARD Cicero, Philippic 2, 44–50, 78–92, 100–119 Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary CICERO, PHILIPPIC 2, 44–50, 78–92, 100–119
    INGO GILDENHARD Cicero, Philippic 2, 44–50, 78–92, 100–119 Latin text, study aids with vocabulary, and commentary CICERO, PHILIPPIC 2, 44–50, 78–92, 100–119 Cicero, Philippic 2, 44–50, 78–92, 100–119 Latin text, study aids with vocabulary, and commentary Ingo Gildenhard https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2018 Ingo Gildenhard The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text and to make commercial use of the text providing attribution is made to the author(s), but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work. Attribution should include the following information: Ingo Gildenhard, Cicero, Philippic 2, 44–50, 78–92, 100–119. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2018. https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0156 Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https:// www.openbookpublishers.com/product/845#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://www.
    [Show full text]
  • Or “Grace Restoring Nature”? Edwards and Bavinck on the Heart of Christian Salvation Dane C
    The Bavinck Review 3 (2012): 9–29 “Created Over a Second Time” or “Grace Restoring Nature”? Edwards and Bavinck on the Heart of Christian Salvation Dane C. Ortlund ([email protected]) Bible Publishing Director, Crossway Man must be converted twice, first from the natural to the spiritual life, and thereafter from the spiritual to the natural life. —Johann Cristoph Blumhardt Perhaps the two thinkers being most significantly re- appropriated and re-appreciated in current evangelical theological discourse are Jonathan Edwards and Herman Bavinck. Barth has certainly been on the receiving end of a surge of interest of late, as has Calvin with the recent celebration of his five hundredth birthday. Others too could be mentioned as enjoying fresh stage time such as B. B. Warfield to whom there has finally been devoted a synthetic explication of his thought;1 Charles Hodge, whose relation to Scottish Common Sense Realism and alleged rationalism is being hotly discussed;2 Cornelius Van Til, whose 1. Fred G. Zaspel, The Theology of B. B. Warfield: A Systematic Summary (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010); note also the forthcoming volume by the same author, Warfield on the Christian Life: Living in Light of the Gospel, Theologians on the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway). See also the recently published dissertation by David P. Smith, B. B. Warfield’s Scientifically Constructive Theological Scholarship, Evangelical Theological Society Monographs (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2011), which debunks reductionistic views of Warfield’s alleged “dictation” theory of inspiration. 2. Along with Smith’s work mentioned in the previous footnote, see, e.g., Paul Kjoss Helseth, “Right Reason” and the Princeton Mind: An Unorthodox Proposal (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2010); Paul C.
    [Show full text]
  • Continuity in Color: the Persistence of Symbolic Meaning in Myths, Tales, and Tropes
    Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern University Honors Program Theses 2016 Continuity in Color: The eP rsistence of Symbolic Meaning in Myths, Tales, and Tropes McKinley May Georgia Southern University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/honors-theses Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation May, McKinley, "Continuity in Color: The eP rsistence of Symbolic Meaning in Myths, Tales, and Tropes" (2016). University Honors Program Theses. 170. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/honors-theses/170 This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in University Honors Program Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Continuity in Color: The Persistence of Symbolic Meaning in Myths, Tales, and Tropes An Honors Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Department of Literature and Philosophy. By McKinley May Under the mentorship of Joe Pellegrino ABSTRACT This paper examines the symbolism of the colors black, white, and red from ancient times to modern. It explores ancient myths, the Grimm canon of fairy tales, and modern film and television tropes in order to establish the continuity of certain symbolisms through time. In regards to the fairy tales, the examination focuses solely on the lesser-known stories, due to the large amounts of scholarship surrounding the “popular” tales. The continuity of interpretation of these three major colors (black, white, and red) establishes the link between the past and the present and demonstrates the influence of older myths and beliefs on modern understandings of the colors.
    [Show full text]
  • Solovyov's Metaphysics Between Gnosis and Theurgy
    religions Article Solovyov’s Metaphysics between Gnosis and Theurgy Aleksandr Gaisin The Graduate School for Social Research, IFiS PAN, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland; [email protected]; Tel.: +7953-154-6247 Received: 29 September 2018; Accepted: 8 November 2018; Published: 13 November 2018 Abstract: This article provides a reading of Vladimir Solovyov’s philosophy as expressed in his ‘Lectures on Divine Humanity’ and ‘The Meaning of Love’. It seeks to unpack his eclectic thought in order to answer the question of whether there is a Jewish Kabbalistic influence on the Russian thinker amidst his usual platonic, gnostic, and Schellengian tropes. Interested as a young man in Jewish Mysticism, Solovyov fluctuates in his ‘Lectures on Divine Humanity’ between a platonic reading of Schellengian Gnosticism and some elements of Kabbalistic origin. In ‘The Meaning of Love’, he develops a notion of love that puts him very close to what Moshe Idel calls ‘theosophic-theurgical Kabbalah’. Showing how ‘The Meaning of Love’ completes the narrative of ‘Lectures’, we can affirm that there is a certain Christian Kabbalistic line in Solovyov’s thought that culminates in his theurgical understanding of love. In this sense, Solovyov might be called a philosophical Marrano as he is certainly a heterodox theosopher that fluctuates between Christian Gnosis and Christian Kabbalah, never assuming a solid identity. Keywords: philosophical theology; heterodoxy; Judeo-Christianity; Russian religious renaissance; Christian Kabbalah; Vladimir Solovyov The enigmatic and eclectic nature of Solovyov’s thought is unveiled if we simply look at the early readings of his philosophy. Already, the Silver Age’s thinker and poet Dmitry Merezhkovsky deemed Solovyov as a Gnostic writer, immersed in Christian heresy (Merezhkovsky 1991, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Herman Bavinck's Theological Aesthetics: a Synchronic And
    TBR 2 (2011): 43–58 Herman Bavinck’s Theological Aesthetics: A Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis Robert S. Covolo PhD candidate, Fuller Theological Seminary In 1914 Herman Bavinck wrote an article for the Almanak of the Vrije Universiteit entitled, “Of Beauty and Aesthetics,” which has recently been translated and republished for the English-speaking world in Essays on Religion, Science, and Society.1 While this is not the only place where Bavinck treats the subject of beauty, this article stands out as a unique, extended glimpse into Bavinck’s theological aesthetics.2 In it we see that Bavinck was conversant with philosophical aesthetics and aware of the tensions of doing theological aesthetics from both a small “c” catholic and a distinctly Reformed perspective. There are many ways to assess Bavinck’s reflections on aesthetics. For example, one could look at the intimations in Bavinck’s works of the aesthetics formulations of later Dutch Reformed writers such as Rookmaker, Seerveld, or Wolterstorff.3 1. Herman Bavinck, “Of Beauty and Aesthetic” in Essays on Religion, Science and Society, ed. John Bolt, trans. Harry Boonstra and Gerrit Sheeres (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 245–60. 2. See also Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, God and Creation, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2004), 252–55. 3. This in itself would prove to be a very interesting study. In one section of the essay Bavinck entertains an idea by a “Mister Berland” who maintains “the characterization of an anarchist situation in the arts.” See Bavinck, “Of Beauty and Aesthetics,” 252.
    [Show full text]
  • GERMAN LITERARY FAIRY TALES, 1795-1848 by CLAUDIA MAREIKE
    ROMANTICISM, ORIENTALISM, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY: GERMAN LITERARY FAIRY TALES, 1795-1848 By CLAUDIA MAREIKE KATRIN SCHWABE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2012 1 © 2012 Claudia Mareike Katrin Schwabe 2 To my beloved parents Dr. Roman and Cornelia Schwabe 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisory committee chair, Dr. Barbara Mennel, who supported this project with great encouragement, enthusiasm, guidance, solidarity, and outstanding academic scholarship. I am particularly grateful for her dedication and tireless efforts in editing my chapters during the various phases of this dissertation. I could not have asked for a better, more genuine mentor. I also want to express my gratitude to the other committee members, Dr. Will Hasty, Dr. Franz Futterknecht, and Dr. John Cech, for their thoughtful comments and suggestions, invaluable feedback, and for offering me new perspectives. Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge the abundant support and inspiration of my friends and colleagues Anna Rutz, Tim Fangmeyer, and Dr. Keith Bullivant. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my family, particularly my parents, Dr. Roman and Cornelia Schwabe, as well as to my brother Marius and his wife Marina Schwabe. Many thanks also to my dear friends for all their love and their emotional support throughout the years: Silke Noll, Alice Mantey, Lea Hüllen, and Tina Dolge. In addition, Paul and Deborah Watford deserve special mentioning who so graciously and welcomingly invited me into their home and family. Final thanks go to Stephen Geist and his parents who believed in me from the very start.
    [Show full text]
  • RODERICK MAIN Revelations of Chance SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology
    REVELATIONS OF C HANCE Synchronicity as Spiritual Experience RODERICK MAIN Revelations of Chance SUNY series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology Richard D. Mann, editor Revelations of Chance Synchronicity as Spiritual Experience Roderick Main State University of New York Press Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2007 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany NY 12210-2384 Production by Kelli Williams Marketing by Anne M. Valentine Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Main, Roderick. Revelations of chance : synchronicity as spiritual experience / Roderick Main. p. cm. — (SUNY series in transpersonal and humanistic psychology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-7023-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-7024-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Coincidence—Religious aspects. I. Title. II. Series. BL625.93.M35 2007 204'.2—dc22 2006012813 10987654321 In memory of John Mein Main (1930–2006) CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi 1. Introduction 1 2. Synchronicity and Spirit 11 3. The Spiritual Dimension of Spontaneous Synchronicities 39 4. Symbol, Myth, and Synchronicity: The Birth of Athena 63 5. Multiple Synchronicities of a Chess Grandmaster 81 6.
    [Show full text]
  • Gabriel Moran's Book Is a Tour De Force of Practical Theology. Beginning
    “Gabriel Moran’s book is a tour de force of practical theology. Beginning from a creative reappropriation of the meanings of ‘faith’ and ‘revelation’ as ‘believing in a revealing God,’ Moran establishes a lively and relevant theological basis for addressing problems of authority and responsibility in the Church, for identifying the distinctively Christian faith-response to divine revelation, and for questions of teaching and learning. This remarkably stimulating and thoroughly original approach to our ecclesial life today offers real guidance through the perils and pitfalls of today’s Christian believing. Written with a clarity and attractiveness that should give it a wide readership, the book charts its own distinctive course through some very well-traveled waters.” — Paul Lakeland Aloysius P. Kelley SJ Professor of Catholic Studies Director, Center for Catholic Studies Fairfield University, Connecticut “Gabriel Moran, master-teacher, teaches us anew about old topics. He has fresh, insightful things to say about the God who reveals, the humans who accept and respond to this revelation, and the community in which the revelation is mediated. When a master teacher speaks, there is always much to be learned by all who listen carefully, and that is abundantly true in this book.” — Michael G. Lawler Professor Emeritus of Catholic Theology Creighton University Omaha, Nebraska “Once again Moran has shown he is one of the most underestimated Roman Catholic intellectuals of our time. No work is more timely. No project more important. The book is the summit of his life’s work on the question of revelation. Moran’s intention here is to be deeply conservative.
    [Show full text]