(With an Introduction by Aldous Huxley) In its Eastern aspects—Chinese, Hindu, and Japanese—Zen Buddhism has proved a puzzle, although a stimulating one, to the Western mind. Himself a Westerner, Dr. Benoit has approached it through an occidental manner of thinking. “For the first time, Dr. Benoit presents the traditional doctrine of Zen Buddhism in a language that is understandable to the Western world,” says one of his Indian admirers, Swami Siddheswarananda. The author does not advocate a “conversion” to Eastern religion and philosophy. Rather, he would have Western psychological thinking and reasoning meet with oriental wisdom on an intellectual plane, in order to make it participate in the oriental understanding of the state of man in general. “I do not need to burn the Gospels in order to read Hui-neng,” says Dr. Benoit. Zen, to be quite exact, is not so much a doctrine as a hygiene of intelligent living. As such it is presented by the author, a practicing psychoanalyst. It is a way of breaking the deadlock into which the faulty functioning of our civilization has led us, of liberating us from the prevalent contemporary sickness, anxiety. This book provides the elements for reaching “satori,” that modification of the internal functioning of man which can be described as a state of unassailable serenity. This state, Dr. Benoit makes clear, is he truly “normal” one. How to develop intelligence and will so that this transformation of life can be achieved is the subject of this book.
Man cannot live fully until he has considered the great questions of life. It is for this reason that we turn to Western psychology and metaphysics for help in solving our problems. The approach of psychology and psychotherapy is based on "statistical normality," or the behavior of the greatest number. In an effort to conform, we focus on our problems rather than our possibilities, emulating a norm that falls drastically short of our full capacity for development. Oriental thought, and Zen thought in particular, seeks to activate the true potential of men and women--to transform our lives, and thereby enable us to shed our problems and suffering. The Supreme Doctrine applies the essence of Oriental Wisdom to the pursuit of self-knowledge and transcendence. The first step in a holistic psychology is to begin examining the true “state of man,” rather than its aberrations. In so doing, we can give new direction and purpose to our lives. The author does not advocate “conversion” to Eastern thought, but rather an integration of East and West, wherein Western psychological thinking and reasoning can be enriched and clarified by Oriental wisdom.
Historically, the political question doctrine has held the courts from resolving constitutional issues that are better left to other departments of government, as a way of maintaining the system of checks and balances. However, this book discusses the gradual changes in the parameters of the doctrine, including its current position dealing with increasingly extraterritorial concerns.
In this book, legal scholars outline how and why the Supreme Court should revitalize the nondelegation doctrine—which has not been invoked since 1935. If the Court does so, it will protect the constitutional separation of powers and require Congress to make the difficult political decisions that a legislature should make in a democratic society.
When the first Supreme Court convened in 1790, it was so ill-esteemed that its justices frequently resigned in favor of other pursuits. John Rutledge stepped down as Associate Justice to become a state judge in South Carolina; John Jay resigned as Chief Justice to run for Governor of New York; and Alexander Hamilton declined to replace Jay, pursuing a private law practice instead. As Bernard Schwartz shows in this landmark history, the Supreme Court has indeed travelled a long and interesting journey to its current preeminent place in American life. In A History of the Supreme Court, Schwartz provides the finest, most comprehensive one-volume narrative ever published of our highest court. With impeccable scholarship and a clear, engaging style, he tells the story of the justices and their jurisprudence--and the influence the Court has had on American politics and society. With a keen ability to explain complex legal issues for the nonspecialist, he takes us through both the great and the undistinguished Courts of our nation's history. He provides insight into our foremost justices, such as John Marshall (who established judicial review in Marbury v. Madison, an outstanding display of political calculation as well as fine jurisprudence), Roger Taney (whose legacy has been overshadowed by Dred Scott v. Sanford), Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, and others. He draws on evidence such as personal letters and interviews to show how the court has worked, weaving narrative details into deft discussions of the developments in constitutional law. Schwartz also examines the operations of the court: until 1935, it met in a small room under the Senate--so cramped that the judges had to put on their robes in full view of the spectators. But when the new building was finally opened, one justice called it "almost bombastically pretentious," and another asked, "What are we supposed to do, ride in on nine elephants?" He includes fascinating asides, on the debate in the first Court, for instance, over the use of English-style wigs and gowns (the decision: gowns, no wigs); and on the day Oliver Wendell Holmes announced his resignation--the same day that Earl Warren, as a California District Attorney, argued his first case before the Court. The author brings the story right up to the present day, offering balanced analyses of the pivotal Warren Court and the Rehnquist Court through 1992 (including, of course, the arrival of Clarence Thomas). In addition, he includes four special chapters on watershed cases: Dred Scott v. Sanford, Lochner v. New York, Brown v. Board of Education, and Roe v. Wade. Schwartz not only analyzes the impact of each of these epoch-making cases, he takes us behind the scenes, drawing on all available evidence to show how the justices debated the cases and how they settled on their opinions. Bernard Schwartz is one of the most highly regarded scholars of the Supreme Court, author of dozens of books on the law, and winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award. In this remarkable account, he provides the definitive one-volume account of our nation's highest court.
The theology of Vincent of Lérins is often reduced to a memorable slogan: "We hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by everyone." Thomas Guarino argues that this "Vincentian canon" has frequently been taken out of context. This book introduces Vincent's thought and its reception in Christian history, exploring Vincent's creative and innovative understanding of the development of doctrine and showing how it informed the thought of John Henry Newman. Guarino contends that Vincent's theology contributes significantly to theology and ecumenism in the twenty-first century. The volume is the second in a series on the church fathers edited by Hans Boersma and Matthew Levering. About the Series The Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality series critically recovers patristic exegesis and interpretation for contemporary theology and spirituality. Each volume covers a specific church father and illuminates the exegesis that undergirds the Nicene tradition.
