DOCSLIB.ORG

Douglas George Brown a Thesis Submitted in Conformity with The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Douglas George Brown a Thesis Submitted in Conformity with The AN EXAMINATION OF ALJENATING TRENDS IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Douglas George Brown A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Graduate Department of Theory and Policy Studies in Education University of Toronto 0 Copyright by Douglas George Brown 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*I of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Sbeet 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 OttawaON KtAOW Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichelfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownershp of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author' s ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract An Examination of Alienatina Trends in Reliqious Education Degree of Doctor of Education, 1997. by Douglas George Brown Graduate Department of Theory and Policy Studies in Education, University of Toronto Sociology of religion, as defined by Peter Berger, suggests that alienation is an ongoing, one-sided dialectic where individuals internalize but fail to externalize religious Iife. Religious alienation occurs when individuals perceive the historical development of religious life as being 'divinely-given' and fail to see the hurnan constructedness of institutions, rituals and dogma. This thesis demonstrates that alienating trends have developed and have been legitimated across religious traditions by the selective use of metaphors and symbols. Criticisms, concerning alienating trends in religious life, have been articulated in the modern period and are found in the writings of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and Habermas, yet for the most part are not incorporated into many modern presentations of religious life, especially into religious education. Attempts to understand religious judgement development and faith development through social scientific approaches are reviewed and these approaches suggest that individuals experience religious life differently throughout the life cycle and that some individuals express religious judgement and religious faith in less alienating ways than others. In order, to address alienating trends and begin to articulate a non-alienating approach to religious life, the thesis follows the research of Wilfred Cantwell Smith and his understanding of the development of the history of religion. Smith argues that religious life is an ongoing human expression of faith through a tradition in a community. The thesis concludes by suggesting that education about religious life needs to include but broaden the approach to religious life suggested by Smith, and also include spirituality and any 'considered way of life'. As well, the thesis argues that the teaching of religious life needs to develop an holistic approach to curriculum, and as well incorporate insights from learning theory that demonstrate that individuals perceive and process information in different ways. iii Table of Contents Introduction 1. A Definition of Alienation within Religious Life 2. Alienation within Religious Life: The Development of Religious Traditions and Alienation 3. Hermeneutics and Alienation within Religious Life: Hegel, Man<, Nietzsche, Freud, and Habermas 4. Stages of Religious Judgement and Stages of Faith Development: Empirical Research, Theological Legitimation, and Alienation 5. Towards a Non-alienating Understanding of Religious Life: Wilfred Cantwell Smith and the Study of 'Religion' 6. Towards a Non-alienating Approach to Education about Religious Life Bibliography Introduction Across cultures and throughout hurnan history religion has had a role to play in providing a framework for social life and a support for the lives of individuals. At tirnes, religion has promoted the best qualities of hurnan life including generosity, compassion. care and love. At other times religion has promoted lesser human qualities and religion has been used to legitimate oppression, war, bigotry and hatred. As Gregory Baum suggests, there is an ambiguity to religion. It can promote the best and, as well, the worst within the lives of individualsi. This thesis is a study about religious life and how, at times, when presented in one-sided or alienating ways religious life does not promote the best within the lives of human beings, and does not fully enhance human life. The thesis begins by arguing that society, and indeed, al1 aspects of social life, including religious traditions and religious knowledge, are human constructions. Religious life is a human construction and to forget that fact, may lead to a feeling of alienation. However, it is possible to create a religious environment 1 Gregory Baum, Reliqion and Atienation: A Theolwical Readincl of Socioloqy (New York: Paulist Press. 1975), pp. 9-15. 1 that does exclude less and alienates fewer individuals. The keys are to gain a wider perspective of religious life and understand the construction of social reality. Chapter two examines alienating trends within religious traditions. As a tradition develops, the experience of the sacred is increasingly mediated by a professional leadership. In addition, there is usually a devaluation of the material world in order to promote spiritual development. Furthermore, traditions are often interpreted prirnarily intellectually and tend to alienate individuals who are not trained religious thinkers. Lastly, traditions often discriminate against women. The third chapter examines major theories which attempt to expose and explain some alienating trends in religious life as articulated by Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud and Habermas. These authors daim that religion at times devalues the world and fosters unequal relationships [Hegel], legitimates inequalities and numbs people to social injustices [Marx], discourages individuality and the fulfilling of potential [Nietzsche], promotes infantilism and illusions [Freud], and presents plausibility structures in non- rational terms [Habermas]. These scholars reject religion for many different reasons, but the underlying theme is that at times religion alienates individuals from human experience in its multiformity and depth. Another way to examine alienation is to understand the process of change within the religious life of individuals. Several research projects which focus on religious development are reviewed within chapter four. The thesis examines the research of Fritz Oser and Paul Gmünder on religious judgement and James Fowler on faith development. The research indicates that religious thinking and faith are not static qualities; they develop and change throughout life. Particularly useful f rom Fowler's research is the understanding of faith articulated by Wilfred Cantwell Smith which suggests that religious thinking and faith development need not be alienating. Chapter five explores W. C. Smith's understanding of 'religion' as a way to interpret religious life in a non-alienating manner. Smith argues that many of the problems associated with alienating trends in religious life arise from not understanding the history of religious life; that the history of religious life is a single history expressed in different forms; that the western philosophical tradition, namely ' Philosophia' is one of the religious traditions of humanity; that there is no such thing as 'religion' rather individuals express faith through a tradition in a community; that when religion is framed in alienating terms faith is reduced to belief, tradition develops into idolatry, and community becomes a cult. Accepting that religious life is an ongoing human construction of faith expressed through a tradition in a community, it becomes possible for religious life to be passed on from generation to generation without falling into further alienating understandings. Chapter six begins with the suggestion that education about religious life should be expanded in order to incorporate philosophia, as well, any 'spiritual' or 'considered way of life', next research into holistic education is discussed, and finally a discussion into learning theory, especially the perceiving and processing of information, is presented. Educators, whether in a religious institution or an academic setting, need to understand the criticisms raised about religious life and confront the alienating trends so that religious life may be continually constructed in more plausible ways to address the needs of individuals in the world today. Thus, individuals involved in education about religious life, whether in a school or a religious institution, whether communicating through a lesson, a sermon, or a counselling session, need to understand the process of alienation and alienating trends in order to move toward a non-alienating interpretation, understanding and presentation of religious life. Chapter One A Definition of Alienation within Reliqious Life A. The Human Constructedness of Religious Life Peter Berger
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 602 Ellen Bradshaw Aitken and Arvind Sharma
    602 book reviews Ellen Bradshaw Aitken and Arvind Sharma (eds.), The Legacy of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2017. 254 pp. isbn 9781438464695 (hbk.) This edited volume contains selected papers from a symposium held at McGill University in Montreal in November 2009 to honor and assess the legacy of the Canadian Islamicist, scholar of comparative religion, and liberal Protestant theologian, Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1916–2000). Smith arguably was ahead of his time when, in his groundbreaking book The Meaning and End of Religion (1962), he called for the term religion to be dropped due to its association with reified systems of thought known as the world religions, and replaced by the more experiential term, faith. The contributors to this book take up from differing perspectives Smith’s call to re-evaluate the objectification of faith as it has been developed according to the world religions paradigm. Of the fourteen contributors to the book, seven can be classified as theologians: two currently hold posts in theology (Amir Hussain and K. R. Sundararajan), four are distinguished scholars from Harvard Divinity School (John B. Carman, Harvey Cox, William A. Graham, and Donald K. Swearer), and one is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Divinity in Trinity College, Toronto (Peter Slater). The other seven contributors more generally fall within the approach to the study of religion most associated with the comparative study of religion, or what otherwise might be called the science of religion (Purushottama Bilimoria, Thomas B. Coburn, Diana Eck, John Stratton Hawley, Jonathan R. Herman, Sheila McDonough, and Robert A.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish-Christian Dialogue Under the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Gregory Baum
    Document generated on 10/02/2021 6:07 p.m. Théologiques Jewish-Christian Dialogue under the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Gregory Baum Juifs et chrétiens. L’à-venir du dialogue. Volume 11, Number 1-2, Fall 2003 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/009532ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/009532ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Faculté de théologie de l'Université de Montréal ISSN 1188-7109 (print) 1492-1413 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Baum, G. (2003). Jewish-Christian Dialogue under the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Théologiques, 11(1-2), 205–221. https://doi.org/10.7202/009532ar Tous droits réservés © Faculté de théologie de l'Université de Montréal, 2003 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Théologiques 11/1-2 (2003) p. 205-221 Jewish-Christian Dialogue under the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Gregory Baum Religious Studies McGill University Prior to World War II, Jewish religious thinkers who moved beyond the tradition of Orthodoxy were in dialogue with modern culture, including dialogue with Christian thinkers who were also searching new religious responses to the challenge of modernity.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish-Christian Dialogue Under the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Gregory Baum
    Document généré le 30 sept. 2021 14:33 Théologiques Jewish-Christian Dialogue under the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Gregory Baum Juifs et chrétiens. L’à-venir du dialogue. Volume 11, numéro 1-2, automne 2003 URI : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/009532ar DOI : https://doi.org/10.7202/009532ar Aller au sommaire du numéro Éditeur(s) Faculté de théologie de l'Université de Montréal ISSN 1188-7109 (imprimé) 1492-1413 (numérique) Découvrir la revue Citer cet article Baum, G. (2003). Jewish-Christian Dialogue under the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Théologiques, 11(1-2), 205–221. https://doi.org/10.7202/009532ar Tous droits réservés © Faculté de théologie de l'Université de Montréal, 2003 Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d’auteur. L’utilisation des services d’Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d’utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne. https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Cet article est diffusé et préservé par Érudit. Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l’Université de Montréal, l’Université Laval et l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. https://www.erudit.org/fr/ Théologiques 11/1-2 (2003) p. 205-221 Jewish-Christian Dialogue under the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Gregory Baum Religious Studies McGill University Prior to World War II, Jewish religious thinkers who moved beyond the tradition of Orthodoxy were in dialogue with modern culture, including dialogue with Christian thinkers who were also searching new religious responses to the challenge of modernity.
    [Show full text]
  • TEACHING INSIDE-OUT: on TEACHING ISLAM Author(S): Amir Hussain Source: Method & Theory in the Study of Religion , 2005, Vol
    TEACHING INSIDE-OUT: ON TEACHING ISLAM Author(s): Amir Hussain Source: Method & Theory in the Study of Religion , 2005, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2005), pp. 248- 263 Published by: Brill Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23551737 REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23551737?seq=1&cid=pdf- reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Brill is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion This content downloaded from 72.195.177.31 on Tue, 06 Jul 2021 16:18:48 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms TEACHING INSIDE-OUT: ON TEACHING ISLAM1 Amir Hussain2 It is in colleges and universities that Muslim students in North America usually have their first serious opportunities to learn about their own traditions and to articulate their own ways of being Muslim. There is a marked difference here from the experience of Christian or Jewish students. There are any numbers of Christian or Jewish schools in North America, in addition to a number of religious institutions of higher learning.
    [Show full text]
  • The Legacy of Wilfred Cantwell Smith a Symposium Celebrating the Sixtieth Anniversary of Mcgill’S Faculty of Religious Studies
    The Legacy of Wilfred Cantwell Smith A Symposium celebrating the Sixtieth Anniversary of McGill’s Faculty of Religious Studies Friday, November 6, 2009 All are Welcome, no registration required Location: Faculty of Religious Studies, William and Henry Birks Building, 3520 University Street, McGill University 8:00 a.m. Coffee and pastries available (Senior Common Room) 8:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m. Session I (Chair: Professor Katherine Young, in the Birks Heritage Chapel) Panel JoHn Braisted Carman Wilfred Smith as an Academic Architect THomas B. Coburn Setting tHe Stage for tHe Emergence of ‘Contemplative Studies’: Reflections on tHe Work of Wilfred Cantwell SmitH C. Peter Slater "Wilfred SmitH's PropHetic Sense of History and Proposal Regarding Verification." Donald Swearer Towards a World THeology Revisited 10:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m. Coffee Break (Senior Common Room) 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Session II (Chair: Professor Ian Henderson, in the Birks Heritage Chapel) Panel PurusHottama Bilimoria THe Meaningful End of ‘God’ and ‘Scripture’ Harvey CoX Belief is Not FaitH Revisited JosepH PrabHua THe Interreligious Hermeneutics of Raimon Panikkar and Cantwell SmitH Robert C. Segal THe Limits of Dialogue 1:00p.m.–2:00 p.m. Lunch: Provided for conference presenters, FRS faculty, and FRS graduate students; registration requested). 2:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. Session III (Chair: TBA, in the Birks Heritage Chapel) Panel THomas Faulkner THe PropHet MuHammad & tHe Enigma of War JonatHan R. Herman Who Cares if the Qur'an is the Word of God? K. R. Sundararajan THe Study of Religions as tHe Study of Persons: My Journey to Islam 4:00 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
    [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]
  • Tradition, Experience, Interpretation a Dialectical Model for Describing The
    HEIKKI RÄISÄNEN Tradition, Experience, Interpretation A Dialectical Model for Describing the Devel- opment o Religious Thought Every scholar of early Christian thought will discover a great deal of variety and change, and many traces of conflict, in her or his sources (see e.g. Dunn 1990). On a smaller scale, similar features are ob- served by scholars of the Qur'an, my second area of interest (cf. Räisänen 1997, 125-130 on the phenomenon of "abrogation" within the Qur'an). In both cases one is faced with vivid processes of evolv- ing thought. Ninian Smart has stressed that "there is a dialectic be- tween experience and doctrine" (Smart 1971: 24). Yet this aspect of religion may not always receive as much attention as it deserves in the science of religion. A recent survey observes that, in general, the "mutable, processive character of a religion's ongoing life has tended to be overlooked by comparative religionists almost as much as it will probably be denied by the devotees of a tradition." (Lott 1988: 31.) The role of conflict in particular probably tends to be underestimated. Both in trying to work out a history-of-religion account of early Christian thought' (see Räisänen 1990), and in trying to understand the Qur'an with empathy (Räisänen 1971; Räisänen 1997: 81-136), I have often found it useful to envisage religious thought in terms of a dialectic between tradition, experience and interpretation (Räisänen 1990: 122-136). This means that religious thought develops in a process in which traditions are time and again interpreted in the light of new experiences, and vice versa: experiences are interpreted in the light of traditions.
    [Show full text]
  • Interpreting Religion Beyond the Propositional Frame
    ‘The sky is not a cow’: interpreting religion beyond the propositional frame. In her editorial for a special virtual issue of the Journal of Philosophy of Education on ‘Religion and Education’, Anna Strhan has offered a concise yet comprehensive overview of the diverse range of debates that have preoccupied discussions of the relations between religion and education over recent decades. What is striking about her account, and Strhan hints at this in the closing paragraph of the editorial, is how discussions within philosophy of education have presupposed that the belief dimension of religion is the core of religious life, to the exclusion of almost everything else, that “the way in which religion has been theorised, in particular the focus on indoctrination, has privileged the equation of religion with belief” (Strhan 2014). The privileging of belief is evident, for example, in Michael Hand’s reply to Trevor Cooling’s argument about the marginalization of religion within education. Here associating belief with the idea of a “theory of the meaning of life” or a worldview, Hand states: Theories of the meaning of life need not be religious, and a religion need not include a theory of the meaning of life. But, at least in the case of the major world religions, religious commitment typically does involve subscription to such a theory. It is appropriate to speak of a ‘Christian worldview’, for example, because the core Christian narrative of the creation, fall and redemption of humanity is plausibly construed as an account of the significance, origin and purpose of human existence (Hand 2012, 529).
    [Show full text]
  • A Tribute to Gregory Baum Michael W
    Sacred Heart University DigitalCommons@SHU Mission and Catholic Identity Publications Office of Mission and Catholic Identity 12-2-2011 The ourJ nalist as Theologian: A Tribute to Gregory Baum Michael W. Higgins Sacred Heart University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/mission_pub Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Higgins, Michael W. "The ourJ nalist As Theologian." Commonweal 138.21 (2011): 12-18. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Office of Mission and Catholic Identity at DigitalCommons@SHU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mission and Catholic Identity Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@SHU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ARTICLE The Journalist as Theologian A Tribute to Gregory Baum Michael W. Higgins heir number is not legion, and it continues to not as a theological shaper or foundational thinker, but as dwindle. The few remaining Second Vatican a journalist following his curiosity wherever it leads him. Council Fathers alive today are in their nineties, To Baum, one should note, “journalist” does not betoken and their able theological experts—the periti— a scribbler with a deadline, but rather someone inexhaust- notT far behind. But at least one in this august company is ibly fascinated with ideas, intellectual trends, and currents. not going quietly into the good night of retirement: Grego- His career has balanced the Good News with news in pi- ry Baum, mathematician, theologian, ex-Augustinian friar, oneering proportions.
    [Show full text]
  • Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Kenneth Cragg on Islam As a Way of Salvation
    Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Kenneth Cragg on Islam as a Way of Salvation Richard J. Jones question Christians must ask in relation to neigh­ remedial activity of God to which Christian tradition attests. A bors of non-Christian faiths is how Jesus' Great Com­ Accordingly, Cragg criticizes Muslim reliance on ap~eals to mission to go and makedisciples of all nations relates to his Great human moral sensibility and Muslim reluctance to affirm any Commandment to love God wholly and to love our neighbors as revelation by God of his own nature. Smith, in contrast, relies ourselves. One way love of neighbors expresses itself toda~ is by ultimately on human moral responsiveness; he postulates innate taking their religion more seriously tha~ ~as often the c~se In the individualopenness to the divine. HenceSmithcan prizeas God­ past. Paying attention to our neighbors faith, however, IS bound guided and salvific the efforts of Muslims to establish a social to raise-for those who have not excluded it a priori-a theologi­ order pleasing to God. cal question: Is God involved in the code, cult, and creed of other religions? .. Smith and Cragg: Similar Approaches, Different Christian answers to this question constitute a Christian Milieux theologyof religion. Theologies of religion havebeenforn:ulated in exclusive terms (saving knowledge of God occurs only In Jesus Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Kenneth Cragg both took part in Christ) by Karl Barth; in inclusive terms (Christ is the means of British and North American Oriental studies of the 1930s and God's saving self-communication, even among perso~s who ~o 1940s, gained firsthand acquaintance with living Muslim com­ not profess him) by Karl Rahner; and mor~ r~ce~tly In pluralist munities through combined academic and ecclesiastical posts, terms (there are multiple ways to God, existing In parallel) by and have intended their writings on Islamic topics to be read by John Hick and Hans Kung.' These and similar attempts to recon­ Muslim as well as by Christian and Western academic readers.
    [Show full text]
  • Gregory Baum: Seminal Theologian, Man of Faith and Friend | OP / ED | T
    Gregory Baum: Seminal theologian, man of faith and friend | OP / ED | t... http://www.thesuburban.com/opinion/op_ed/gregory-baum-seminal-theo... http://www.thesuburban.com/opinion/op_ed/gregory-baum-seminal-theologian-man-of-faith-and-friend /article_54b0d323-cb19-5e28-a63b-91a43be757b0.html By Father John Walsh Special to The Suburban Oct 25, 2017 Gregory Baum breathed life into the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and has left the world an inheritance of dialogue. He contributed to the writing of the document Nostra Aetate which literally repaired 2000 years of bitter and inimical relations between Catholics and Jews. Today Christian- Jewish dialogue, and more especially Catholic-Jewish dialogue, is palpable in the most recent document Between Jerusalem and Rome which representatives from all branches of Judaism presented to Pope Francis on August 31, 2017. Gregory was one of the leading theologians to propose on-gong fraternal dialogues and when he introduced himself to Catholic-Muslim dialogue he supported the Fetullah Gülen movement by writin a defense of his work throughout the world. As a critical theologian he considered every question asked of him or others and reflected upon them to rethink and reinterpret sacred scripture and to draw from Papal and other Church documents to respond to their quandaries. He also wondered wh bishops and priests had not read the documents. Gregory proposed a secular-religious dialogue and in reading the works of humanitarians he recognized those values that could be shared. No mountai was too high to climb and no river too deep to cross. Gregory was a man of deep faith.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecclesiology in a Secular Age
    Ecclesiology in A Secular Age: Ecclesiological Implications of the Work of Charles Taylor and Bernard Lonergan Thesis Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Theological Studies by Robert J. Brodrick UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio December, 2010 ECCLESIOLOGY IN A SECULAR AGE: ECCLESIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE WORK OF CHARLES TAYLOR AND BERNARD LONERGAN NAME: Brodrick, Robert APPROVED BY: _________________________________________ Dennis Doyle, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor _________________________________________ Anthony Godzieba, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Cyril Orji, Ph.D. Faculty Reader _________________________________________ Sandra A. Yocum, Ph.D. Chairperson ii ABSTRACT ECCLESIOLOGY IN A SECULAR AGE: ECCLESIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE WORK OF CHARLES TAYLOR AND BERNARD LONERGAN Name: Brodrick, Robert J. University of Dayton Advisor: Dr. Dennis Doyle The contemporary condition of secularity poses a unique environment in which the Church becomes incarnate in the world. The subject of secularity itself has been the focus of serious academic study, and two broad sources of this phenomenon can be drawn from the lifetime work of Charles Taylor: the rise of foundational epistemology and particular changes within the modern social imaginary. These two paradigm shifts have created a latent moral and religious skepticism within contemporary secular society in which it is generally accepted that complex moral and religious issues cannot be arbitrated by reason and must ultimately be decided on the basis of an individual’s personal feeling. In this thesis, the author draws on an integration of studies by Charles Taylor and Bernard Lonergan to establish that intellectual, moral, and religious conversion form the basis for the act of knowing and therefore provide an adequate theological response to the problem of skepticism.
    [Show full text]