This volume brings together Rosenzweig's central essays on theology and philosophy, including two works available for the first time in English: the conclusion to Rosenzweig's book Hegel and the State, and Rosenzweig's famous letter to Rudolph Ehrenberg known as the Urzelle of the Star of Redemption, an essential work for understanding Rosenzweig, Weimar theology and philosophy, and German idealism and the existential reaction of the period. Additional selections are presented in new or revised translations. Introduction and notes by Franks and Morgan set Rosenzweig's works in context and illuminate his role as one of the key thinkers of the period.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing is the most representative figure of the German Enlightenment. His defense of Spinoza, who had traditionally been condemned as an atheist, provoked a major controversy in philosophy, and his publication of Reimarus' radical assault on Christianity led to fundamental changes in Protestant theology. This volume presents the most comprehensive collection in English of Lessing's philosophical and theological writings, several of which are translated for the first time.
A highly engaging essay that will draw students into a conversation about the vital relationship between philosophy and theology. In this clear, concise, and brilliantly engaging essay, renowned philosopher and theologian John D. Caputo addresses the great and classical philosophical questions as they inextricably intersect with theology--past, present, and future. Recognized as one of the leading philosophers, Caputo is peerless in introducing and initiating students into the vital relationship that philosophy and theology share together. He writes, “If you take a long enough look, beyond the debates that divide philosophy and theology, over the walls that they have built to keep each other out or beyond the wars to subordinate one to the other, you find a common sense of awe, a common gasp of surprise or astonishment, like looking out at the endless sprawl of stars across the evening sky or upon the waves of a midnight sea.”
This volume is devoted to Vermigli's philosophical writings, consisting of topics from commentaries with sections on "reason and revelation," "body and soul," "knowledge of God," "providence, miracles, and responsibility," and "freewill and predestination." Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562) is considered to be one of the most important Italian reformers of the early modern period. Martyr is the subject of renewed interest for historical and theological scholars. The Peter Martyr Library, a series of critical English translations of the chief works of Peter Martyr Vermigli, allows his own words in context to speak for themselves.
How can we coherently believe that there is only one God if we also believe that there are three divine Persons? This volume presents a selection of the most important recent philosophical work on this topic accompanied by new essays from differing theological and philosophical perspectives.
A philosophical approach to analysing Christian doctrines has been developing since a renewal of interest in the Philosophy of Religion in the 1960s and 1970s. This books looks at this cross-disciplinary interest and the literature on 'philosophical theology'.
When this book was originally published in 1957 there had been lively debates on the air and in the press about the bearing of modern philosophy upon Christianity, but there had been relatively little sustained discussion of the subject. This book of essays was the product of a small group of Oxford philosophers and theologians, who had met and talked informally for some years before writing it. It is an attempt to discuss with care and candour some of the problems raised for Christian belief by contemporary analytical philosophy. In asking the questions raised, this book makes articulate the perplexities of many intelligent people, both believers and unbelievers. The contributors concentrate on the way such concepts as God, Revelation, the Soul, Grace are actually used rather than asserting or denying some very general theory of meaning.
The arresting poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins arises from philosophical engagement with the Trinity, the Incarnation, and other mysteries of Christian revelation. No previous study has explored his poetry in the light of his philosophical theology. Hopkins's thoughts on justice and language challenge today's inhuman literary theories. With explications of more than twenty-nine of Hopkins's intricate poems and difficult prose, this study traces Hopkins's engagement with his age. New, philosophically rigorous definitions of Hopkins's key poetic terms--"inscape" and "instress"--detail exactly how he discovered the possibility of multiple true concepts of things, each grounded in reality but demanding the participation of the moral will. Doubt of the possibility of historical truth drove many Victorians to scientism or vague religious sentimentalism. Hopkins asserted that humans physically can and morally must learn truth. Haunted by a sense that experience is incommunicably singular, and aware that culture and consciousness shape history, he found support in the personalist religious epistemology of John Henry Newman. On it Hopkins formed his poetics, later enriched by John Duns Scotus's communitarian theory of justice in language. Scotus deeply influenced Hopkins's idea of poetry, coloring not only his arguments and images but the metrical and verbal music of his style. Lovers of Hopkins's poetry will find a deeper understanding of his music; philosophers will find an epistemology and aesthetics worthy of respect. Students of literature will find a challenging theory of the relationship between linguistic structures and the world of experience. In today's intellectual environment, which treats the notion of truth as a cynical tool of politics, and deception as inherent in language, Hopkins's luminous vision of sacrificial love and community at the heart of poetry offers a refreshing antidote to the dry suspicions of academic literary theory. Bernadette Waterman Ward is associate professor of English at the University of Dallas. " An] extraordinarily fine, and indeed often deeply inspiring book. . . . Ward provides dextrous and detailed readings of a number of Hopkins poems, and her discussions wonderfully integrate clarification of idea with analysis of how stylistic features (like alliteration and spring rhythm) contribute to the power of the lyrics' communications. She understands, better than many others, Hopkins' true dedication to his poetry-writing, besides recognizing his intellectual openness to such positions as 'theistic evolutionism', and his sternly chaste (but psychologically honest) dealing with admitted personal homoerotic feelings. . . . One of the most valuable Hopkins studies ever to appear."--Jeffrey B. Loomis, The Year's Work in Hopkins Studies, Victorian Poetry "Ward's excellent study, as it reveals the confluence of intellectual and spiritual aspirations, whether viewed in their poetic or their philosophical manifestation, makes for stimulating reading. In this book, philosophers learn about poetry and poets learn about philosophy. . . . This book is a useful tool for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and specialists in literature, philosophy, or theology, as well as anyone interested in the Jesuit intellectual/spiritual tradition as it appears in the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins." Mary Beth Ingham, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly " A] valuable contribution to research on Hopkins. Her scholarship is wide and solid. Although the focuses are not new, their fresh assembly is lucid and their application to Hopkins firmly demonstrated. The exposition of Scotus's influence is especially rich and suggestive in understanding the interactive dynamic of 'selving' in Hopkins' writings." David Anthony Downes, Christianity and Literature "Of the many attempts to define t
