DOCSLIB.ORG

Signposts to Silence Metaphysical Mysticism: Theoretical Map and Historical Pilgrimages HTS Religion & Society Series Volume 2

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Signposts to Silence Metaphysical Mysticism: Theoretical Map and Historical Pilgrimages HTS Religion & Society Series Volume 2 HTS Religion & Society Series Volume 2 J.S. Krüger Signposts to Silence Metaphysical mysticism: theoretical map and historical pilgrimages HTS Religion & Society Series Volume 2 Signposts to Silence Metaphysical mysticism: theoretical map and historical pilgrimages Published by AOSIS (Pty) Ltd, 15 Oxford Street, Durbanville 7550, Cape Town, South Africa Postnet Suite #110, Private Bag X19, Durbanville 7551, South Africa Tel: +27 21 975 2602 HTS Religion & Society Series Fax: +27 21 975 4635 Email: [email protected] Volume 2 Website: https://www.aosis.co.za Copyright © J.S. Krüger. Licensee: AOSIS (Pty) Ltd The moral right of the author has been asserted. Cover Image: Photograph and background image by J.S. Krüger entitled, ‘Original Rubbing’. All rights reserved. No unauthorised duplication allowed. Published in 2018 Impression: 1 ISBN: 978-1-928396-45-1 (print) ISBN: 978-1-928396-46-8 (epub) ISBN: 978-1-928396-59-8 (pdf) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2018.BK52 How to cite this work: Krüger, J.S., 2018, ‘Signposts to Silence. Metaphysical mysticism: theoretical map and historical pilgrimages’, in HTS Religion & Society Series Volume 2, pp. i–546, AOSIS, Cape Town. Signposts to Silence HTS Religion & Society Series ISSN: 2617-5819 Series Editor: Andries G. van Aarde Metaphysical mysticism: theoretical map and historical pilgrimages Printed and bound in South Africa. Listed in OAPEN (http://www.oapen.org), DOAB (http://www.doabooks.org/) and indexed by Google Scholar. Some rights reserved. This is an open access publication. Except where otherwise noted, this work is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), a copy of which is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Enquiries outside the terms of the Creative Commons license should be sent to the Rights Department, AOSIS, at the above address or to [email protected] J.S. Krüger The publisher accepts no responsibility for any statement made or opinion expressed in this publication. Consequently, the publishers and copyright holder will not be liable for any loss or damage sustained by any reader as a result of his or her action upon any statement or opinion in this work. Links by third-party websites are provided by AOSIS in good faith and for information only. AOSIS disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third-party website referenced in this work. Every effort has been made to protect the interest of copyright holders. Should any infringement have occurred inadvertently, the publisher apologises and undertakes to amend the omission in the event of a reprint. HTS Religion & Society Series Volume 2 Signposts to Silence Metaphysical mysticism: theoretical map and historical pilgrimages J.S. Krüger Religious Studies domain editorial board at AOSIS Chief Editor Andries van Aarde, Post Retirement Professor in the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa Board Members Warren Carter, Professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, United States Christian Danz, Dekan der Evangelisch-Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Wien and Ordentlicher Universität professor für Systematische Theologie und Religionswissenschaft, University of Vienna, Austria Pieter G.R. de Villiers, Associate Editor, Extraordinary Professor in Biblical Spirituality, Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State, South Africa Musa W. Dube, Department of Theology & Religious Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Botswana, Botswana David D. Grafton, Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Jens Herzer, Theologische Fakultät der Universität Leipzig, Germany Jeanne Hoeft, Dean of Students and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, Saint Paul School of Theology, United States Dirk J. Human, Associate Editor, Deputy Dean and Professor of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa D. Andrew Kille, Former Chair of the SBL Psychology and Bible Section, and Editor of the Bible Workbench, San Jose, United States William R.G. Loader, Emeritus Professor Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia Isabel A. Phiri, Associate General Secretary for Public Witness and Diakonia, World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland Marcel Sarot, Emeritus, Professor of Fundamental Theology, Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University, the Netherlands Corneliu C. Simut, Professor of Historical and Dogmatic Theology, Emanuel University, Oradea, Bihor, Romania Rothney S. Tshaka, Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Elaine M. Wainwright, Emeritus Professor School of Theology, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Executive Leader, Mission and Ministry, McAuley Centre, Australia Gerald West, Associate Editor, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics in the College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Peer review declaration The publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African ‘National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books’. The manuscript was subjected to rigorous two-step peer review prior to publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher and/or authors in question. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the manuscript be published. Where the reviewers recommended revision and/or improvements to the manuscript, the authors responded adequately to such recommendations. Research Justification Signposts to Silence provides a theoretical map of what it terms ‘metaphysical mysticism’: the search for the furthest, most inclusive horizon, the domain of silence, which underlies the religious and metaphysical urge of humankind in its finest forms. Tracing the footsteps of pioneers of this exploration, the investigation also documents a number of historical pilgrimages from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. Such mountaineers of the spirit, who created paths trodden by groups of followers over centuries and in some cases millennia, include Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu, Siddhattha and Jesus, Sankara and Fa-tsang, Plato and Plotinus, Isaac Luria and Ibn Arabi, Aquinas and Hegel. Such figures, teachings and traditions (including the religions of ‘Judaism’, ‘Christianity’ and ‘Islam’; ‘Hinduism’, ‘Buddhism’ and ‘Taoism’) are understood as, at their most sublime, not final destiny and the end of the road, but signposts to a horizon of ultimate silence. The hermeneutical method employed in tracking such pioneers involves four steps: • sound historical-critical understanding of the context of the various traditions and figures • reconstruction of the subjective intentional structure of such persons and their teachings • design, by the author, of a theoretical map of the overall terrain of ‘metaphysical mysticism’, on which all such journeys of the spirit are to be located, while providing a theoretical context for understanding them tendentionally (i.e. taking the ultimate drift of their thinking essentially to transcend their subjective intentions) • drawing out, within the space available, some political (taken in a wide sense) implications from the above, such as religio-political stances as well as ecological and gender implications. Continuing the general direction of thought within what the author endorses to be the best in metaphysical mysticism in its historical manifestations, the book aims at contributing to peace amongst religions in the contemporary global cultural situation. It relativises all claims to exclusive, absolute truth that might be proclaimed by any religious or metaphysical, mystical position, while providing space for not only tolerating, but also affirming the unique value and dignity of each. This orientation moves beyond the stances of enmity or indifference or syncretism or homogenisation of all, as well as that of mere friendly toleration. It investigates the seemingly daunting and inhospitable yet immensely significant Antarctica of the Spirit, the meta’‘ -space of silence behind the various forms of wordy ‘inter’-relationships. It affirms pars pro toto, totum pro parte, and pars pro parte: that each religious, mystical and metaphysical orientation in its relative singularity represents or contains the whole and derives value from that, and that each represents or contains every other. This homoversal solidarity stimulating individual uniqueness is different from and in fact implies criticism of the process of globalisation. While not taking part in a scientific argument as such, Signposts to Silence aims at promoting an understanding of science and metaphysical mysticism as mutual context for each other, and it listens to a number of voices from the domain of science that understand this. This book is original research, and contains no material plagiarised from any other publication, or material published elsewhere. J.S. (Kobus) Krüger: Research Associate, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Contents List of abbreviations used in the text xv Biographical Note xvii Introduction xix Chapter 1: Scanning for beacons 1 §1 Interlocking crises and the search
Load more

Recommended publications
  • SACRED SPACES and OBJECTS: the VISUAL, MATERIAL, and TANGIBLE George Pati
    SACRED SPACES AND OBJECTS: THE VISUAL, MATERIAL, AND TANGIBLE George Pati BRAUER MUSEUM OF ART | APRIL 13 — MAY 8, 2016 WE AT THE BRAUER MUSEUM are grateful for the opportunity to present this exhibition curated by George Pati, Ph.D., Surjit S. Patheja Chair in World Religions and Ethics and Valparaiso University associate professor of theology and international studies. Through this exhibition, Professor Pati shares the fruits of his research conducted during his recent sabbatical and in addition provides valuable insights into sacred objects, sites, and practices in India. Professor Pati’s photographs document specific places but also reflect a creative eye at work; as an artist, his documents are also celebrations of the particular spaces that inspire him and capture his imagination. Accompanying the images in the exhibition are beautiful textiles and objects of metalware that transform the gallery into its own sacred space, with respectful and reverent viewing becoming its own ritual that could lead to a fuller understanding of the concepts Pati brings to our attention. Professor Pati and the Brauer staff wish to thank the Surjit S. Patheja Chair in World Religions and Ethics and the Partners for the Brauer Museum of Art for support of this exhibition. In addition, we wish to thank Gretchen Buggeln and David Morgan for the insights and perspectives they provide in their responses to Pati's essay and photographs. Gregg Hertzlieb, Director/Curator Brauer Museum of Art 2 | BRAUER MUSEUM OF ART SACRED SPACES AND OBJECTS: THE VISUAL, MATERIAL, AND TANGIBLE George Pati George Pati, Ph.D., Valparaiso University Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6:23 Only in a man who has utmost devotion for God, and who shows the same devotion for teacher as for God, These teachings by the noble one will be illuminating.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of the Early Vedic Age in Ancient India
    Journal of Arts and Culture ISSN: 0976-9862 & E-ISSN: 0976-9870, Volume 3, Issue 3, 2012, pp.-129-132. Available online at http://www.bioinfo.in/contents.php?id=53. A STUDY OF THE EARLY VEDIC AGE IN ANCIENT INDIA FASALE M.K.* Department of Histroy, Abasaheb Kakade Arts College, Bodhegaon, Shevgaon- 414 502, MS, India *Corresponding Author: Email- [email protected] Received: December 04, 2012; Accepted: December 20, 2012 Abstract- The Vedic period (or Vedic age) was a period in history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. The time span of the period is uncertain. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the Rigveda, the oldest of the Vedas, was com- posed roughly between 1700 and 1100 BCE, also referred to as the early Vedic period. The end of the period is commonly estimated to have occurred about 500 BCE, and 150 BCE has been suggested as a terminus ante quem for all Vedic Sanskrit literature. Transmission of texts in the Vedic period was by oral tradition alone, and a literary tradition set in only in post-Vedic times. Despite the difficulties in dating the period, the Vedas can safely be assumed to be several thousands of years old. The associated culture, sometimes referred to as Vedic civilization, was probably centred early on in the northern and northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent, but has now spread and constitutes the basis of contemporary Indian culture. After the end of the Vedic period, the Mahajanapadas period in turn gave way to the Maurya Empire (from ca.
    [Show full text]
  • Fyodorov's Meontology
    III. NON-STANDARD TRAITS OF 20TH CENTURY AND RECENT PHILOSOPHY 157 Fyodorov’s Meontology Myroslav Feodosijevič Hryschko (University of Ljubljana) Abstract The text treats the philosophy of Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov as a meontology; that is, as a metaphysics irreducible to ontology. This treatment starts from a certain non-ontological symptom within Fyodorov’s texts and develops two philosophemes found in The Philosophy of the Common Task: The Task qua immortality and resurrection, and Fyodorov’s shift of ontol- ogy from the question “Why does the existing exist?” to “Why do the living die?” Resurrection and immortality are not developed as some ethical re- joinder to the latter question but rather, both philosophemes are posited to- gether as constitutive of a prospective Fyodorovian meontology. Using the contemporary speculative anti-humanism of Badiou, Brassier, Grant, Meil- lassoux, etc., and the anthropic-transcendental lineage of Kant and Heideg- ger as points of both accession and tension, the possibility of resurrection and immortality coupled with the death of being suggests the excision of any constancy or necessity to ontology, to both Being or beings, thus entail- ing the rudiments of such a meontology. 1. Introduction The metabasis eis allo genos that is Fyodorov’s transposition of the ontological question “Why does the existing exist?” to “Why do the living die?”1 is not a vitalism; it is not an appropriation of ontology in terms of a theoretical concern accorded to what may be provisionally formulated as a problem of the organic. This misprision is coextensive to the misprision concerning the decisive status of resurrection and immortality in The Phi- losophy of the Common Task.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae
    JOSEPH ACQUISTO Professor of French Chair, Department of Romance Languages and Linguistics University of Vermont 517 Waterman Building Burlington, VT 05405 [email protected] (802) 656-4845 EDUCATION Yale University Ph.D., Department of French (2003) M.Phil., French (2000) M.A., French (1998) University of Dayton B.A., summa cum laude, French (1997) B.Mus., summa cum laude, voice performance (1997) EMPLOYMENT HISTORY Chair, Department of Romance Languages and Linguistics, University of Vermont 2016-present Professor of French, University of Vermont 2014-present Associate Professor of French with tenure, University of Vermont 2009-2014 Assistant Professor of French, University of Vermont 2003-2009 BOOKS 7. Poetry’s Knowing Ignorance, under consideration 6. Proust, Music, and Meaning: Theories and Practices of Listening in the Recherche, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 5. The Fall Out of Redemption: Writing and Thinking Beyond Salvation in Baudelaire, Cioran, Fondane, Agamben, and Nancy. New York: Bloomsbury, 2015. Paperback edition 2016. 4. Poets as Readers in Nineteenth-Century France: Critical Reflections, co-edited volume with Adrianna M. Paliyenko and Catherine Witt. London: Institute of Modern Languages Research, 2015. 3. Thinking Poetry: Philosophical Approaches to Nineteenth-Century French Poetry, edited volume. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. 1 2. Crusoes and Other Castaways in Modern French Literature: Solitary Adventures. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2012. Paperback edition 2014. 1. French Symbolist Poetry and the Idea of Music. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006. EDITED SPECIAL ISSUE The Cultural Currency of Nineteenth-Century French Poetry, a special double issue of Romance Studies (26:3-4, July/November 2008) co-edited and prefaced with Adrianna M.
    [Show full text]
  • The Druze: Culture, History and Mission
    The Druze A New Cultural and Historical Appreciation Abbas Halabi 2013 www.garnetpublishing.co.uk 1 The Druze Published by Garnet Publishing Limited 8 Southern Court South Street Reading RG1 4QS UK www.garnetpublishing.co.uk www.twitter.com/Garnetpub www.facebook.com/Garnetpub blog.garnetpublishing.co.uk Copyright © Abbas Halabi, 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. First Edition 2013 ISBN: 9781859643532 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Jacket design by Garnet Publishing Typeset by Samantha Barden Printed and bound in Lebanon by International Press: [email protected] 2 To Karl-Abbas, my first grandson And the future generation of my family 3 Preface Foreword Introduction Chapter 1 Human geography Chapter 2 The history of the Druze, 1017–1943 Chapter 3 Communal and social organization Chapter 4 Traditional culture and the meaning of al-Adhā feast Chapter 5 Civil status law Chapter 6 The diaspora and cultural expansion Chapter 7 The political role of the Druze from independence to the present time Chapter 8 The Druze message: plurality and unity Summary and conclusion Appendix 1 The impact of European influences on the Druze community: “The new look” Appendix 2 Sheikh Halīm Taqī al-Dīn: a man of knowledge,
    [Show full text]
  • On Spirituality Century with the Rise of Secular Views on Spirituality [10, 11]
    February 2008 The Irish Psychologist ARTICLE historical and conceptual coupling between religiosity and spirituality, a conceptual coupling that has been thrown into disarray over the past On Spirituality century with the rise of secular views on spirituality [10, 11]. I recently asked a group of third year Part 1: Deconstructing, students, "Do you think psychologists should study spirituality?" Some of grappling, and moving in the them said, "No, spirituality cannot be observed or objectively measured – it has no place in psychological field of others science." I wondered if this reply reflected a misunderstanding of Michael J. Hogan the goals of psychological science - a curious negation of certain Mike Hogan is a lecturer in psychology at the National University of Ireland, categories of human experience as a Galway. Correspondence regarding this article may be addressed by email to focus of inquiry - or simply a dislike [email protected]. for entertaining ideas that are in some way associated with orthodox religion. In truth, I cannot claim to have direct The highest activity a human being can and every attempt to construct an access to the minds of my students, attain is learning for understanding, objective account of consciousness and I can only speculate as to why because to understand is to be free struggles with the problem of human they think the way they think. At the Baruch Spinoza, Ethics subjectivity [6, 7]. Consciousness same time, even though the students itself - coupled with our prolific failed to tell me what spirituality is, We are staggeringly lucky to find imaginations - can offer us a sense many students did at least consider ourselves in the spotlight.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconsidering Religion
    RECONSIDERING RELIGION: TOWARDS A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS By MALILA N. ROBINSON 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 Education Written under the direction of Catherine A. Lugg and approved by ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May, 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Title RECONSIDERING RELIGION: TOWARDS A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS By Malila N. Robinson Dissertation Director: Catherine A. Lugg This dissertation analyzed the legal and policy issues involved with teaching about religion in U.S. public schools as part of a multicultural curriculum. U.S. public schools are government entities, and thus, the people who work within the public education system are bound by U.S. laws, policies, regulations and court rulings relating to schools. This dissertation used federal and lower court rulings dealing with Constitutional demands for the separation of church and state and the resulting public school policies and practices to highlight the difficulties many school teachers and administrators have attempting to sift through dense and often vague or contradictory legal dicta contained therein. Additionally, this dissertation combined
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy As a Path to Happiness
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Philosophy as a Path to Happiness Attainment of Happiness in Arabic Peripatetic and Ismaili Philosophy Janne Mattila ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in auditorium XII, University main building, on the 13th of June, 2011 at 12 o’clock. ISBN 978-952-92-9077-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-7001-3 (PDF) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/ Helsinki University Print Helsinki 2011 2 Abstract The aim of this study is to explore the idea of philosophy as a path to happiness in medieval Arabic philosophy. The starting point is in comparison of two distinct currents within Arabic philosophy between the 10th and early 11th centuries, Peripatetic philosophy, represented by al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā, and Ismaili philosophy represented by al-Kirmānī and the Brethren of Purity. These two distinct groups of sources initially offer two contrasting views about philosophy. The attitude of the Peripatetic philosophers is rationalistic and secular in spirit, whereas for the Ismailis philosophy represents the esoteric truth behind revelation. Still, the two currents of thought converge in their view that the ultimate purpose of philosophy lies in its ability to lead man towards happiness. Moreover, they share a common concept of happiness as a contemplative ideal of human perfection, merged together with the Neoplatonic goal of the soul’s reascent to the spiritual world. Finally, for both happiness refers primarily to an otherworldly state thereby becoming a philosophical interpretation of the Quranic accounts of the afterlife.
    [Show full text]
  • The Theosophist
    THE THEOSOPHIST VOL. 133 NO. 2 NOVEMBER 2011 CONTENTS Buddhist Teachings on Relationships 3 Radha Burnier Live the Life and You Will Come to the Wisdom 8 Mary Anderson Coordination of Science and Human Values 14 C. A. Shinde Some Difficulties of the Inner Life — II 19 Annie Besant The Roots of Modern Theosophy 25 Pablo D. Sender The Life-Path of a Theosophist 32 Vinayak Pandya Theosophical Work around the World 37 International Directory 38 Editor: Mrs Radha Burnier NOTE: Articles for publication in The Theosophist should be sent to the Editorial Office. Cover Picture: Gate at the Headquarters Hall — by Richard Dvorak Official organ of the President, founded by H. P. Blavatsky, 1879. The Theosophical Society is responsible only for official notices appearing in this magazine. 1 THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Founded 17 November 1875 President: Mrs Radha Burnier Vice-President: Mrs Linda Oliveira Secretary: Mrs Kusum Satapathy Treasurer: Miss Keshwar Dastur Headquarters: ADYAR, CHENNAI (MADRAS) 600 020, INDIA Secretary: [email protected] Treasury: [email protected] Adyar Library and Research Centre: [email protected] Theosophical Publishing House: [email protected] & [email protected] Fax: (+91-44) 2490-1399 Editorial Office: [email protected] Website: http://www.ts-adyar.org The Theosophical Society is composed of students, belonging to any religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of the Society’s Objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and to draw together men of goodwill, whatsoever their religious opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share the results of their studies with others.
    [Show full text]
  • An Energetic Example of Bidirectional Sino-Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Transmission
    religions Article From China to Japan and Back Again: An Energetic Example of Bidirectional Sino-Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Transmission Cody R. Bahir Independent Researcher, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA; [email protected] Abstract: Sino-Japanese religious discourse, more often than not, is treated as a unidirectional phe- nomenon. Academic treatments of pre-modern East Asian religion usually portray Japan as the pas- sive recipient of Chinese Buddhist traditions, while explorations of Buddhist modernization efforts focus on how Chinese Buddhists utilized Japanese adoptions of Western understandings of religion. This paper explores a case where Japan was simultaneously the receptor and agent by exploring the Chinese revival of Tang-dynasty Zhenyan. This revival—which I refer to as Neo-Zhenyan—was actualized by Chinese Buddhist who received empowerment (Skt. abhis.eka) under Shingon priests in Japan in order to claim the authority to found “Zhenyan” centers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and even the USA. Moreover, in addition to utilizing Japanese Buddhist sectarianism to root their lineage in the past, the first known architect of Neo-Zhenyan, Wuguang (1918–2000), used energeticism, the thermodynamic theory propagated by the German chemist Freidrich Wilhelm Ost- wald (1853–1932; 1919 Nobel Prize for Chemistry) that was popular among early Japanese Buddhist modernists, such as Inoue Enryo¯ (1858–1919), to portray his resurrected form of Zhenyan as the most suitable form of Buddhism for the future. Based upon the circular nature of esoteric trans- mission from China to Japan and back to the greater Sinosphere and the use of energeticism within Neo-Zhenyan doctrine, this paper reveals the sometimes cyclical nature of Sino-Japanese religious influence.
    [Show full text]
  • A Love Knowing Nothing: Zen Meets Kierkegaard
    Journal of Buddhist Ethics ISSN 1076-9005 http://blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhistethics/ Volume 22, 2015 A Love Knowing Nothing: Zen Meets Kierkegaard Mary Jeanne Larrabee DePaul University Copyright Notice: Digital copies of this work may be made and distributed provided no change is made and no alteration is made to the content. Reproduction in any other format, with the exception of a single copy for private study, requires the written permission of the author. All en- quiries to: [email protected]. A Love Knowing Nothing: Zen Meets Kierkegaard Mary Jeanne Larrabee 1 Abstract I present a case for a love that has a wisdom knowing nothing. How this nothing functions underlies what Kier- kegaard urges in Works of Love and how Zen compassion moves us to action. In each there is an ethical call to love in action. I investigate how Kierkegaard’s “religiousness B” is a “second immediacy” in relation to God, one spring- ing from a nothing between human and God. This imme- diacy clarifies what Kierkegaard takes to be the Christian call to love. I draw a parallel between Kierkegaard’s im- mediacy and the expression of immediacy within a Zen- influenced life, particularly the way in which it calls the Zen practitioner to act toward the specific needs of the person standing before one. In my understanding of both Kierkegaard and Zen life, there is also an ethics of re- sponse to the circumstances that put the person in need, such as entrenched poverty or other injustices. 1 Department of Philosophy, DePaul University. Email: [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • “In God We Trust:” the US National Motto and the Contested Concept of Civil Religion
    religions Article “In God We Trust:” The U.S. National Motto and the Contested Concept of Civil Religion Michael Lienesch Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3265, USA; [email protected] Received: 12 April 2019; Accepted: 20 May 2019; Published: 25 May 2019 Abstract: In this essay, “In God We Trust”, the official motto of the United States, is discussed as an illustration of the contested character of American civil religion. Applying and evaluating assumptions from Robert N. Bellah and his critics, a conceptual history of the motto is presented, showing how from its first appearance to today it has inspired debates about the place of civil religion in American culture, law, and politics. Examining these debates, the changing character of the motto is explored: its creation as a religious response to the Civil War; its secularization as a symbol on the nation’s currency at the turn of the twentieth century; its state-sponsored institutionalization during the Cold War; its part in the litigation that challenged the constitutionality of civil religious symbolism in the era of the culture wars; and its continuing role in the increasingly partisan political battles of our own time. In this essay, I make the case that, while seemingly timeless, the meaning of the motto has been repeatedly reinterpreted, with culture, law, and politics interacting in sometimes surprising ways to form one of the nation’s most commonly accepted and frequently challenged symbols. In concluding, I speculate on the future of the motto, as well as on the changing place of civil religion in a nation that is increasingly pluralistic in its religion and polarized in its politics.
    [Show full text]