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Volume 1 Issue 1 -

January 2015

Issue of Open Theology

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Contents
Journal Overview

Open Access April 3, 2014

Inaugural Editorial for the journal Open Theology

Charles Taliaferro

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Open Access March 20, 2014

Panentheism in the context of the theology and science dialogue

Joseph A. Bracken

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Abstract

The term “panentheism” (literally, everything in God) mediates between pantheism of the sort espoused by Spinoza and classical theism (God as transcendent Creator of the world). In this essay, in dialogue with the contemporary Danish theologian Niels Henrik Gregersen I review various historical positions re panentheism before concluding with a summary statement of my own understanding of the God-world relationship. The ancient Greek Orthodox tradition, for example, can be retrieved to set forth what might be called soteriological panentheism whereby the communitarian life of the three divine persons of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is freely offered to all creatures at the end of the world. The German Idealists Krause, Hegel and Schelling focused instead on the progressive self-manifestation of God in the world of creation in and through a dialectical process governed by Divine Mind or Will. In the mid-20th century Charles Hartshorne, the disciple of Alfred North Whitehead, presented what he called dipolar panentheism: God as the “soul” of the world and the world as the “body of God.” The Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin located the goal of cosmic evolution in the Pauline vision of the Cosmic Christ who thereby “personalizes” the whole of creation. Most current understandings of panentheism are derived from one or another of these earlier efforts at understanding how the world can be both in God and yet distinct from God. I myself use the notion of hierarchically ordered systems employed in the life-sciences to make clear how the higher-order system proper to the communitarian life of the three divine persons both conditions and is conditioned by the lower-order systems proper to the world of creation.

Open Access July 17, 2014

Late Secularization and Religion as Alien

Steve Bruce

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Abstract

The argument that modernization and secularization are linked in some non-accidental and nontautological manner is sometimes rebutted with the assertion that the statistical evidence of decline in indices of interest in religion in the UK and elsewhere in the modern world is a mere trend that may be changed by a revival of interest in religion. This essay considers the obstacles to such a revival. It makes the case that ‘late secularization’ differs in three important ways from ‘early secularization’. The shared stock of religious knowledge is small, the public reputation of religion is poor, and religion is carried primarily by populations that are unusual in being drawn either from a narrow demographic or from immigrant peoples. Given the role of affective social bonds in religious conversion, the alien nature of the carriers of religion makes religious revival extremely unlikely.

Open Access September 19, 2014

The Rhetoric and Reception of John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy: Privileging Prejudice in Theology?

Paul Hedges

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Abstract

This paper uses Douglas Pratt’s typology of religious extremism and fundamentalism to argue that John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy employs styles of rhetoric and representation of the religious Other that have clear affinities with such ideologies. While clearly demarcating Milbank’s theology from what is normally termed fundamentalism or extremism, the paper shows that nevertheless similar rhetoric and judgements are employed that suggests that his theology is at best unhelpful, and at worst potentially dangerous. Focusing upon Milbank’s early work, the paper suggests that such rhetoric can be found through much of his writings, but notes that a different approach can be detected in his most recent writings. Suggestions for more productive modes of theological encounters with the religious Other are advanced, which suggest how the ideology of Radical Orthodoxy may be in potential sympathy with such ideas.

Open Access November 14, 2014

“In Harmony with Reason”: John Duns Scotus’s Theo-aesth/ethics

Oleg Bychkov

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, the debate has intensified over the nature of John Duns Scotus’s (meta) ethics: is it a purely voluntarist “divine command” ethics or is it still based on rational principles? The former side is exemplified by Thomas Williams and the latter by Allan Wolter. Scotus claims that even the divine commandments that are not based on natural law are still somehow “in harmony with reason.” But what does this mean? Richard Cross in a recent study claims that God’s reasons for establishing certain moral norms are “aesthetic.” However, he fails to show clearly what is “aesthetic” about these reasons or why God’s will would follow “aesthetic” principles in legislating moral norms. This article clarifies both points, first, by painting an up-to-date picture of what constitutes “aesthetic” principles, and second, by providing a more accurate model of the way the human volitional faculty operates and addressing the problem of the “freedom of the will” from a present-day point of view.

Open Access January 29, 2015

Aspects of rendering the sacred Tetragrammaton in Greek

Pavlos D. Vasileiadis

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Abstract

This article recounts the persistent use of the sacred Tetragrammaton through the centuries as an „effable,“ utterable name at least in some circles, despite the religious inhibitions against its pronunciation. A more systematic investigation of the various Greek renderings of the biblical name of God is provided. These renderings are found in amulets, inscriptions, literary works, etc., dating from the last few centuries B.C.E. until today. It will be illustrated that some forms of the Tetragrammaton were actually accepted and used more widely within the Greek religious and secular literature since the Renaissance and especially since the Modern Greek Enlightenment. Furthermore, it is asserted that for various reasons there is no unique or universally “correct” rendering of the Hebrew term in Greek. Of special note are two Greek transcriptions of the Tetragrammaton, one as it was audible and written down by a Greek-speaking author of a contra Judaeos work in the early 13th century in South Italy and another one written down at Constantinople in the early 17th century—both of them presented for the first time in the pertinent bibliography.

Open Access January 28, 2015

Understanding the Text of the Bible 65 Years after the Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Emanuel Tov

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Abstract

The focus of this study is the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, 65 years after their discovery near the Dead Sea, with the purpose of improving our understanding of the text of Hebrew Scripture. The Qumran finds (more than 200 fragmentary scrolls) reflect textual plurality, and all the biblical texts were probably considered authoritative. At the same time, the 25 Scripture scrolls from sites in the Judean Desert outside Qumran are virtually identical to the medieval MT.

Open Access January 26, 2015

The Pioneering Appearances of Philosophy of Religion in Europe: François Para du Phanjas on the Nature of Religion

Vladimir K. Shokhin

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Abstract

Philosophy is, in some sense, the self-reflection of general culture, and perpetual self-reflection has been a primary occupation of philosophy in the West. Consequently, self-reflection is of great importance for dividing philosophical fields into separate divisions, and philosophy of religion is no exception. This paper deals with a thinker who constructed a “philosophy of religion” as a discipline, but was overlooked by historians. The main achievements of François Para du Phanjas (1724-1797), who tried to offer a theory of religion in the theological context, have not lost their significance for today, especially his insights into epistemology of religious beliefs, his conception of “certainty” and classification of “religious evidences”, and the shortcomings of his analysis of “natural religion”.

Open Access January 27, 2015

Hume and Kantian Teleology

Ronald Mercer

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Abstract

This paper argues that Hume’s claim to have some belief in God is accurate because his own philosophy is held together by a teleological underpinning that leads to the idea of God. Previous work that has favorably connected Hume’s philosophy to Kant’s provides a framework to argue that Hume inadvertently admits a teleological a priori in understanding nature in the same way that Kant understands teleology as the “lawfulness of the contingent.” Having connected Hume and Kant through teleological aesthetics, this paper moves to show how this teleology underwrites several positive statements about God that Hume makes in the Dialogues .

Open Access June 25, 2015

“Ecumenical Recognition” in the Faith and Order Movement

Minna Hietamäki

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Abstract

“Full recognition” has been the expressed goal of ecumenical endeavours since the beginning of modern ecumenism. This article investigates the development of the idea of “recognition” in the ecumenical movement as represented by the Commission on Faith and Order. The text introduces a theoretical framework for investigating the idea of recognition, with special attention paid to the theological impact of the Roman Catholic Church’s official entry into the ecumenical movement after the Second Vatican Council. The article notes that the idea of recognition has received little attention as an independent concept in ecumenical theology until recently. However, the notion of recognition could function as an overall concept, bringing together various aspects of the ecumenical movement.

Open Access September 3, 2015

Ethnographic Ecclesiology and the Challenges of Scholarly Situatedness

Gitte Buch-Hansen, Kirsten Donskov Felter, Marlene Ringgaard Lorensen

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Abstract

This article reflects on the importance of being aware of one’s own situatedness when carrying out empirical research. The unforeseen outcome of a project in which we studied converting refugees’ encounter with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark provoked these reflections. The fieldwork was carried out in a particular congregation in Copenhagen that has attracted many asylum seekers, primarily of Muslim background. The empirical work revealed that the scholars, as participant observers, experienced the situation in the congregation quite differently than did the refugees. Initially, the scholars did not recognise conflicts and problems related to ethnicity, gender and class among the various groups of refugees. However, interviews based on the refugees’ documentation of their experiences with and within the congregation allowed different perspectives to be articulated. On one hand, perceptual blind spots inspired reflection on the epistemological deficit that characterised the scholarly habitus. On the other, our theological training did enable us to understand the migrant converts’ specific interpretation of the Christian Gospel. The article concludes that it is important to see informants as collaborators with regard to both scholarly reflexivity and the concrete outcome of research in a shared quest for ecclesiological knowledge.

Open Access September 24, 2015

Election in Christ in Schleiermacher’s Christian Faith and Christian Ethics

Kevin Vander Schel

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Abstract

Schleiermacher’s treatment of election criticizes the narrow focus on individual salvation and emphasizes the primacy of divine grace. Yet more than merely offering a revision of this controversial doctrine, Schleiermacher’s position illuminates the larger correlation of grace, history, and soteriology in his theology. This essay examines Schleiermacher’s novel understanding of grace and history by attending to the subtle theme of the “supernatural-becoming-natural” in his thought. In contrast to rationalist and supernaturalist theologies in his day, his Christian Faith and Christian Ethics offer a historically-minded treatment that focuses on the original instance of grace in history: the appearance of the redeemer. Schleiermacher depicts the relatively supernatural influence of Christ as transforming the natural and historical world from within, drawing creation to its divinelyordained completion. This dynamic highlights Schleiermacher’s work as an innovative contribution to ongoing discussions of grace and redemption in modern and contemporary systematic theology.

Topical Issue: Violence of Non-Violence, edited by Michael Jerryson and Margo Kitts

Open Access June 3, 2015

Religion and the Violence of Non-Violence

Michael Jerryson, Margo Kitts

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Open Access June 3, 2015

Striking at the Sacred: The Violence of Prayer, 1960-1969

Tobin Miller Shearer

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Abstract

This essay explores the complex relationship between public prayer and violence during ten years of the Civil Rights Movement. During the 1960s and throughout the long civil rights era, activists who used the race-based, highly performative act of public prayer incited violence and drew the nation’s attention to the black freedom struggle. Study of the public prayers that led to violence further suggests that the introduction of prayer into public space acted as a conduit of moral judgment even when intended as a bridge of connection, a pattern that suggests the exercise of public prayer can be a catalyst for violence.

Open Access June 3, 2015

Sufism and Anti-Colonial Violent Resistance Movements: The Qadiriyya and Sanussi Orders in Algeria and Libya

Fait Muedini

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Abstract

In this article, I examine the role of Sufism (and Sufi leaders) as they relate to anti-colonial political and military resistance movements. Sufism is often viewed as a non-violent and non-political branch of Islam. However, I argue that there are many historical examples to illustrate the presence of anti-colonialist Sufi military movements throughout the “Muslim World,” and I give particular attention to the cases of ‘Abd al-Qadir of the Qadiriyya movement and his anti-colonialist rebellion against France in Algeria in the 1800s, as well as that of Italian colonialism in Libya and the military response by the Sanussi order. Thus, while Sufism clearly has various teachings and principles that could be interpreted to promote non-violence, Sufi political movements have also developed as a response to colonialism and imperialism, and thus, one should not automatically assume a necessary separation from Sufism and notions of military resistance.

Open Access June 3, 2015

Violently Peaceful: Tibetan Self-Immolation and the Problem of the Non/Violence Binary

John Soboslai

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Abstract

The paper investigates the conceptual dichotomy of violence and nonviolence in reference to the self-immolations that have been taking place in Tibet for the last several years. First using the insights of Hannah Arendt to distinguish between the categories of violent, nonviolent and peaceful, I approach the question of violence as the problem of acts that transgress prohibitions against causing harm. Using that heuristic, I examine the ways multiple ethical systems are vying for recognition regarding the selfimmolations, and how a certain Buddhist ambivalence around extreme acts of devotion complicate any easy designations of the act as ‘violent’ or ‘nonviolent’. I conclude by suggesting how any such classification inculcates us into questions of power and assertions of appropriate authority.

Open Access June 3, 2015

Ahimsā and its Ambiguities: Reading the story of Buddha and Aṅgulimāla

John Thompson

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the story of the Buddha’s encounter with Angulimāla, a vicious brigand who, subdued by the Buddha, renounces his outlaw ways for the monastic life, eventually attaining arahant status. The tale of Angulimāla has proven quite popular in Buddhist history and is often cited as evidence of how under the Dhamma no one is beyond salvation. Yet this story poses problems for our understanding and as such, has been repeatedly (sometimes radically) re-interpreted over the years. Taking my cue from literary theorists, I maintain that these retellings encourage us to read the story in its various incarnations as an on-going narrative struggle with issues surrounding violence, suggesting a fundamental ambivalence towards violence (and the much-touted virtue of ahiṃsā ). Such struggles become even clearer when we compare Aṅgulimāla to another storied Buddhist figure, Asoka Maurya. While perhaps discomforting to those seeking for those seeking a Buddhist basis for rejecting violence, it may be that embracing such ambivalence points towards a more realistic ethic for our world.

Open Access June 3, 2015

The Violence of Conversion: Proselytization and Interreligious Controversy in the Work of Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Chad M. Bauman

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Abstract

Critics of Christianity in India have frequently accused Christianity of being a predatory, imperialistic religion with absolutist tendencies, and have framed Christian evangelism as an aggressive, uncouth act. More recently, however, and in an idiom that resonates with many contemporary Indians, Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1930-) has made the more controversial claim that the attempt to convert another person is itself an act of violence. In three parts, the paper 1) describes Dayananda’s claims, while bringing them into conversation with the arguments of earlier critics of Christianity (e.g., Mahatma Gandhi, Sita Ram Goel, Ashok Chowgule, Arun Shourie), 2) analyzes and critique Dayananda’s use of the term “violence,” and 3) demonstrate how the claim that conversion is an act of violence blurs somewhat easily into a justification of acts of violence against those who attempt to convert others. In the end, I argue that whether Dayananda’s claim that proselytization is a form of violence makes sense depends not only on one’s definition of “violence,” but also on one’s definition of “religion.”

Open Access June 3, 2015

The Violence of Nonviolence in the Revelation of John

Pieter G. R. De Villiers

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Abstract

This article investigates the conviction among many biblical scholars that Revelation is a nonviolent book. It first analyses some of the major arguments to support this thesis by investigating the book’s perspectives on martyrdom, on witness, its spiritualizing language, and its message of divine judgment. It then analyses in more depth how the non-violent message of the book is embedded in and reflects violent language, how its seemingly positive portrayal of women is in fact permeated by gender violence and how it portrays divine violence. The article concludes with brief hermeneutical remarks that reflect on how the offensive dimensions of Revelation’s violent non-violence can be interpreted.

Topical Issue: Manichaeism - New Historical and Philological Studies, edited by John C. Reeves

Open Access November 6, 2015

Introductory Remarks to the topical issue “Manichaeism - New Historical and Philological Studies”

John C. Reeves

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Open Access September 21, 2015

Many Faced Gods: Triadic (Proto-)Structure and Divine Androgyny in Early Manichaean Cosmogony

Timothy Pettipiece

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Abstract

This paper gathers together evidence that the Manichaean cosmogony was originally based on a trinitarian structure (Father, Mother, Child). This basic triad was subsequently expanded into various hypostases as the Manichaean myth evolved over time and across linguistic contexts.

Open Access September 10, 2015

The Manichaean Attitude to Natural Phenomena as Reflected in the Berlin Kephalaia

Gábor Kósa

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Abstract

The relationship between religion and science is a hotly debated issue, which has triggered new approaches and redefinitions of fundamental notions worldwide. This paper presents a preliminary sketch of the Manichaean attitude towards natural phenomena, thus exploring the question of the relation of religion to science—even if these notions are not necessarily applicable for early, non-European phenomena—in a historical context. In my survey, I use the Coptic Kephalaia, a fourth-century Manichaean text from Egypt, to highlight some instances (the Sun and the Moon, clouds, vegetation and animals, the salty sea, shadow, and earthquake) that characteristically reflect the unique, early Manichaean attitude to the physical world.

Open Access September 23, 2015

The Epitaph of Mar Solomon, Bishop of South China, Administrator of Manicheans and Nestorians

Majella Franzmann

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Abstract

The tombstone of the Christian bishop Mar Solomon is an important witness to communities of the Church of the East and Manichaeans in fourteenth-century China. The epitaph consists of a bilingual inscription in Chinese and Syro-Turkic. Three major points will be discussed—the identification of Mar Solomon as administrator of both communities; the use of the term “Manzi” to designate Mar Solomon’s geographical area of influence; and the significance of the style and languages of the epitaph.

Open Access October 13, 2015

New Developments in the History of East Uighur Manichaeism

Takao Moriyasu

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Abstract

Most of the materials on the history of Manichaeism during the time of the East Uighur empire are Chinese sources (Chinese works and the Karabalgasun inscription) which are well known on account of its French translation with detailed notes by Chavannes and Pelliot (1911-1913). Thereafter several new materials in Middle Iranian or in Old Uighur have been published as follows: T II D 135, a colophon in Middle Persian; M 1, a colophon of the Mahrnāmag (Hymn-Book); U 1 (= T II K Bündel Nr. D 173), a fragment of an Uighur historical book about Old Turkic peoples; U 72 and U 73, an Uighur Account of Mouyu Qaγan’s Conversion to Manichaeism; U 168 II (= T II D 173 a2), the colophon of a prayer appended to a Uighur Manichaean scripture in 795. Also just recently Peter Zieme has discovered new material: 81TB10: 06-3a. I have tried to reconstruct the history of Manichaeism during the time of the East Uighur empire synthesizing all materials mentioned above.

Open Access October 14, 2015

Further Textual Evidence Pertaining to the Enigmatic ‛Mani-Citations’ of Severus of Antioch

John C. Reeves

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Abstract

The 123rd Cathedral Homily of the early sixth-century Monophysite patriarch Severus of Antioch features a series of textual citations drawn from a Manichaean work. Modern scholars have noted certain affinities these citations share with materials contained in prior Christian polemicists such as Titus of Bostra and Theodoret, and they have offered largely speculative suggestions about the possible identity of the written source. The present paper seeks to advance the critical discussion surrounding this source by calling attention to the existence of what appear to be ‘later’ versions of this same source in some Arabic language testimonia about Mani and Manichaeism.

Open Access October 14, 2015

On the Date of the Ritual Manual for the Celebration of the Birthday of the Ancestor of Promoting Well-being from Xiapu

Xiaohe Ma

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Abstract

Xingfuzu qingdan ke (Ritual Manual for the Celebration of the Birthday of the Ancestor of Promoting Well-being) was composed by Lin Deng’s offspring and disciples during the Jiayou period (1056-1063) of the Northern Song Dynasty. It cites not only direct quotations from the Hymnscroll, but also a considerable number of Middle Iranian texts phonetically transcribed in Chinese characters from manuscripts of the early Tang Dynasty (ca. 650-732). There are the names of the Manichaean trinity: 1, MC. i-ṣi̭u, Pth./MP. yyšw‘, “Jesus”; 2, , MC. *ki̯ən-ńi luo-ṣi̭εn, Pth./MP. knyg rwšn, “Maiden of Light”; and 3, , MC. γwâk-mi̭ĕn luo-ṣi̭εn, MP. whmn rwšn, “Light-Nous.” There is also the title of Mani, MC. muât-lâ muâ-ńi pi̯uət-lji-si̯ĕt-d’ək *luo-*ṣi̭εn, MP. mr’ m’ny prystgrwšn, “Lord Mani the Envoy of Light”. It replaces Wahman in the Manichaean trinity with Mani and invokes the trinity of the Religion of Light: Mani, the Buddha of Light; Jesus, the Buddha of Harmony; and Lightning, the Royal Buddha. It preserves not only , MC. i̭a-ki̭u-p’i̭u, MP. y’kwb, “Jacob” and the names of four archangels: , MC. *luo-b’i̯wak-i̯ĕt-lâ, MP. rwp’yl, “Raphael”; , MC. *mjie̯-xâ-i̯ĕt-lâ, MP. myh’yl, “Michael”;, *ngi̯ɐp-b’i̯wak-lâ-i̯ĕt-lâ, MP. gbr’yl, “Gabriel”; and , MC. *sâ-lâ-i̯ĕt-lâ, MP. sr’yl, “Sariel”; but also the names of two angels: , MC. *nəng-ˑât-suo-si, MP. nrsws; and , MC. *nəng-si̯ĕt-d‘iei- kəw-si, MP. nstyqws. The Aramaic and Middle Persian terms for the four entities of calmness are transcribed in Chinese characters in its lines 87-90 as in the second phonetic hymn of the Hymnscroll, but some Chinese characters are different. And there are also Parthian terms for the four entities of calmness transcribed in Chinese characters in its line 223: , MC. b’i̯uk-γâ, Pth. bg’, “God”; , MC. luo-ṣi̯ɛn, Pth. rwšn’, “Light”; MC. dz’â-γuət-lâ, Pth. z’wr’, “Power”; and , MC. ńźi-lji-pi̯uət-tâ, Pth. jyryft’, “Wisdom”. Most of these terms transcribed in Chinese characters do not appear in the Dunhuang Chinese Manichean manuscripts and Chinese historical records, but we cannot deny that they are genuine Manichaean terms inherited from Chinese texts of the early Tang Dynasty which are now lost.

Topical Issue: In Search of a Contemporary World View: Contrasting Thomistic and Whiteheadian Approaches, edited by Joseph Bracken

Open Access November 11, 2015

Comparing and Contrasting Aquinas and Whitehead: An Introductory Commentary

Joseph Bracken

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Open Access September 11, 2015

Thomas Aquinas and Alfred North Whitehead on God‘s Action in the World

Thomas E. Hosinski

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Abstract

Thomas Aquinas’ intentions in his position that God acts through secondary causes are both laudable and correct. In affirming God’s action within secondary causes Thomas intended to affirm true freedom and contingency in the world and the creatures’ limited participation in God’s creative power. But his interpretation of these topics rests on assumptions about divinity that subvert his intentions. This article summarizes Thomas’ analysis and discusses the principal difficulties with his interpretation of God’s action. It then presents an interpretation of how Alfred North Whitehead’s position on divine action avoids these difficulties and achieves a more coherent understanding of God’s action in the world, even though it too requires revision. If Whitehead’s metaphysics is revised to think of creativity as the divine life rather than as ultimately distinct from God, then it, too, presents God as sharing the divine life with creatures by endowing them with the creativity and freedom to create themselves on the divinely-given ground of possibility. Thomas’ intentions and a revised Whiteheadian interpretation of divine action are compatible and complement each other on the topic of divine action in and through creatures and on the idea of existence as participation in the divine life.

Open Access October 14, 2015

God’s Power and Almightiness in Whitehead’s Thought

Palmyre M.F. Oomen

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Abstract

Whitehead’s position regarding God’s power is rather unique in the philosophical and theological landscape. Whitehead rejects divine omnipotence (unlike Aquinas), yet he claims (unlike Hans Jonas) that God’s persuasive power is required for everything to exist and to occur. This intriguing position is the subject of this article. The article starts with an exploration of Aquinas’ reasoning towards God’s omnipotence. This will be followed by a close examination of Whitehead’s own position, starting with an introduction to his philosophy of organism and its two-sided concept of God. Thereupon, an analysis of Whitehead’s idiosyncratic view on God’s agency will show that, according to this conception, God and the World depend upon each other, and that God’s agency is a non-coercive but persuasive power. The difference between coercion and persuasion will be explained as well as the reason why God, according to Whitehead’s conception, cannot possibly coerce. Finally, a discussion of the issue of divine almightiness will allow for a reinterpretation of divine almightiness from a Whiteheadian perspective, which will show how despite Whitehead’s rejection of God’s omnipotence, his concept retains essential elements of God as pantokrator (and thus markedly differs from Hans Jonas’ concept).

Open Access September 21, 2015

Revising Whitehead’s Notion of Society in the Light of Contemporary Physics

Marc A. Pugliese

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Abstract

This article argues that Joseph A. Bracken’s revisions of Alfred North Whitehead’s derivative notion of “society” are plausible in view of developments in physics since Whitehead. In particular, Bracken argues that Whitehead’s derivative notion of “society” should rather be a category of existence equiprimordial with “actual entity,” and that contemporary actual entities in concrescence do influence each other as they directly prehend the society as a nexus. The article begins with Whitehead’s view of the metaphysical project as empirical, tentative, and subject to ongoing revision. Next, the essay explains Whitehead’s view of societies and contemporary actual entities. Following this is a survey of developments in physics since Whitehead that are relevant to his understanding of “society” and contemporary actual entities. The article then explains how Bracken differs from Whitehead on these points and argues that the physics developments corroborate Bracken’s proposed revisions to Whitehead. The essay ends with a restatement of Whitehead’s view of metaphysics as provisional and in need of ongoing revision.

Open Access October 14, 2015

Language about God in Whitehead’s Philosophy

Dissimilarities and Similarities between Aquinas and Whitehead

Palmyre M.F. Oomen

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Abstract

The way Whitehead speaks of God in his ‘philosophy of organism,’ and the evaluation thereof, is the subject of this article. The background of this issue is the position - broadly shared in theology, and here represented by Aquinas - that one should not speak ‘carelessly’ about God. Does Whitehead violate this rule, or does his language for God express God’s otherness and relatedness to the world in a new intriguing way? In order to answer this question an introduction into Whitehead’s philosophy is given, and especially into his category of existence, the ‘actual entity.’ For Whitehead God is an actual entity, and so is the most trivial puff of existence. His perception of the similarity and greater dissimilarity between God and the worldly actual entities (and clusters thereof) is analyzed. In the main and final section of this article these insights are used as a tool to decrypt Whitehead’s God-language. Here the status of Whitehead’s and Aquinas’ statements about God are compared, Whitehead’s ideas concerning the analogical character of concrete language are discussed, and it is argued that in Whitehead’s philosophy too there is no discourse about God without a shift or breakdown of the ‘ordinary’ meaning of language.

Open Access November 6, 2015

Are Aquinas and Whitehead Metaphorical and Analogical All the Way Down?

Robert Masson

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The paper argues from the perspective of a significant strand of interpretation of Aquinas and from insights in cognitive linguistics that a fruitful dialogue between Whitehead and Thomism needs to take into account that metaphysics and talk about God are metaphorical and analogical all the way down. Cognitive linguistics provides an explanatory scheme for explaining how Aquinas’s tectonic use of analogy shifts the ground of our conventional fields of meanings to create space to conceptualize what otherwise would be beyond grasp and to make inferences possible that otherwise would be unthinkable. The essay concludes with a question, admittedly from a particular trajectory of Thomism and cognitive linguistics, about whether Whitehead’s conception of God adequately accounts for the radically metaphorical “imaginative leap” entailed in the Christian conception of God.

Open Access November 11, 2015

Divine Ecozoics and Whitehead’s Adventure or Resurrection Metaphysics

Tokiyuki Nobuhara

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Abstract

My proposal of an Ecozoics of the Deity seeks to find the ground of ecology of the world in the fact that God is loyal to the place / Eco of emptiness as it empties itself, thereby paradoxically manifesting God as the only one in the universe who can and does actually evoke loyalty / life (Gr., Zoe) in us creatures. Thus, it endeavors to give a theological rationale to Thomas Berry’s idea of the Ecozoic Era. The proposal of Divine Ecozoics challenges Sallie McFague’s idea of the world as “God’s body” by advocating that God has God’s own secret indwelling place before entertaining the world as God’s visible body. The present essay, however, is endowed with the Johannine-Whiteheadian idea of the Great Friend with which to critically qualify my general argument for Divine Ecozoics. The vision of the Great Friend transmutes the general view of the reality into its unity of appearance, or the co-resurrection of the Son and of us creatures.

Open Access November 11, 2015

Papal Infallibility – a Flat Locus. From a Thomistic Position of Ecclesial Independence Towards a Whiteheadian Interpretation as Locus Theologicus Alienus

Hans-Joachim Sander

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Thomism which traditionally backed Papal Infallibility creates a special Catholic locus theologicus proprius out of this dogma which depends on a positive straight line between God and men. But in looking into the inevitable spatial aspect of the doctrine, the necessity of Papal Infallibility to teach ex cathedra, the straight line turns into a relative flat locus which depends on processes independent of it. By this topology provided by Whitehead’s Process Philosophy Papal Infallibility turns into a locus theologicus alienus coherent with the philosophical backing of the doctrine.

Topical Issue: Science and/or Religion: a 21st Century Debate, edited by Shiva Khalili and Fraser Watts

Open Access November 6, 2015

Science and Religion: Issues and Trends

Fraser Watts, Shiva Khalili

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Open Access October 28, 2015

The Secret Sympathy: New Atheism, Protestant Fundamentalism, and Evolution

Liam Jerrold Fraser

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Abstract

In spite of the apparent differences between the two, a number of commentators have suggested an underlying sympathy between new atheism and protestant fundamentalism (e.g. De Botton 2012; Vernon 2007; Flew 2007; Robertson 2010) While such comparisons are intriguing, it not always clear whether they should be taken seriously, as they are frequently asserted without sustained argument. This paper seeks to ameliorate this lack of clarity through a textual study of new atheist and protestant fundamentalist texts. This textual study reveals two presuppositions shared by new atheists and protestant fundamentalists: a literal, univocal, and perspicuous understanding of Scripture, and a disruptive and substitutionary conception of divine activity in nature. As such, for all their differences, both groups share similar beliefs concerning the Christian faith. While scholars frequently critique new atheist and protestant fundamentalist arguments by attacking biblical inerrancy or metaphysical naturalism, this paper concludes by arguing that a more successful critique of these two groups can be advanced by questioning the biblical and theological presuppositions that they share.

Open Access November 6, 2015

Ernan McMullin’s Thought on Science and Theology: An Appreciation

Amerigo Barzaghi, Josep Corcó

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Abstract

The thought of Ernan McMullin on the relationship between science and theology can be summarized with a word that he himself used: consonance. We briefly describe this epistemological proposal, and we show a concrete instance of its application by way of a short analysis of one of McMullin’s interdisciplinary works, “Cosmic Purpose and the Contingency of Human Evolution.” With the help of the authoritative comment that William Stoeger has made on this paper, we sketch McMullin’s effort to find a consonance between two different claims: the theological one – humans expected – and the evolutionary one – humans unexpected. In this case, consonance is reached by recurring to the classic Augustinian notion of the atemporality of God. We then show how McMullin’s way of interpreting consonance affects the question of the viability of a natural theology in a scientifically informed era. In fact, his distrust of various kinds of natural theology is another crucial aspect of his epistemological framework for interdisciplinary dialogue.

Open Access October 27, 2015

The Higgs Boson, The God Particle, and the Correlation Between Scientific and Religious Narratives

Lorns-Olaf Stahlberg

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Abstract

The Higgs mechanism – as part of the Standard Model of Elementary Particle Physics – is mostly considered to be a real physical process that brings about the mass of every elementary particle. Recent discussions show that there are alternative interpretations of it, differing from the common one in the spectrum and the features of some specific physical objects. This, in turn, shows that the problem of reference remains unsolved for physical theories: It is not obvious what kind of objects theoretical terms exactly refer to. Given the fact that the reference to the object level is ambiguous even in the natural sciences, what correlations can be established between scientific terms and religious expressions at all? Do ontic ambiguities make the dialogue between science and religion easier or more complicated? This article reflects on these questions by examining the possible significations (and interrelations) of scientific and religious signs in general as well as from the perspective of the individual. I suggest that religious storytelling and ritual practices can establish specific associations between scientific and religious worldviews under certain conditions – without confusing the different world-views conceptually.

Open Access November 6, 2015

Transcendent Mind, Emergent Universe in the Thought of Michael Polanyi

Vincent M. Smiles

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Abstract

This essay vindicates two major aspects of the science-based philosophy of Michael Polanyi: 1. His concept of tacit knowing, and 2. His concept of the multi-levelled character of reality. These two notions relate closely with one another, and together support the thesis to be argued here, that when it comes to understanding human beings, and most especially the human mind, science and religion have to meet on the common ground of the transcendent capacities of human beings, which are pointers to the transcendent character of the universe. The mind is an emergent of the universe, as are all of its other amazing characteristics, but mind is also, therefore, a clue to the character of the universe and its encompassing reality. Mind reflects reality; reality invites mind.

Open Access October 27, 2015

Science and Spirit: A Critical Examination of Amos Yong’s Pneumatological Theology of Emergence

Mikael Leidenhag, Joanna Leidenhag

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Abstract

This paper is a critical examination of Amos Yong’s pneumatological use of emergence theory. In seeking to bridge the divide between the worldviews of science and Pentecostalism, Yong sees emergence theory as a fruitful mediating discourse. We will argue for the following: 1) the supernaturalism of Yong’s Pentecostal theology renders the concept of emergence obsolete; 2) the ontological independence of various types of spirits in Yong’s theology breaks his commitment to supervenience theory; and 3) Yong’s transference of scientific concepts into the normative discourse of theology is potentially problematic. These criticisms should be seen as a call for Yong to depart from emergence theory (and supervenience) in his admirable ambition to harmonize the spirit-filled imagination of Pentecostalism with the scientific culture of the 21st century.

Open Access October 27, 2015

Downward Causation – The Way How Mind and Matter Interact?

Andreas Losch

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Abstract

The paper analyzes Karl Popper’s and John Eccles’ account of mind-matter interaction and compares their use of the concept of downward causation with other more recent accounts of it, especially those of Nancey Murphy and George Ellis. The argument includes John Polkinghorne’s take on Divine action, as it provides an interesting version of downward mind/matter-interaction. It will be argued that while downward causation is a speculative concept, it nevertheless remains the best approximation to a scientific perspective on mind/matter interaction that we can obtain. As a result, Popper’s and Eccles’ account seems to be more interesting in these regards than usually assumed, and should not continue to be overlooked in the debate.

Open Access October 27, 2015

Cultural Influences on the Brain

Science and Theology on Human Specificity

Ivan Colagè, Lluis Oviedo

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Abstract

This paper addresses the timely issue of human specificity in a multidisciplinary perspective. It starts with a brief description of the relationships between science and theology during the last few decades, and notes how the situation has been changing since the beginning of the 21st century. We then suggest how recent scientific developments open up fresh and concrete approaches to human specificity in science and theology, especially when the real import of human cultural complexion is taken into account. In a following section, two fundamental topics are addressed - neural learning and gene-culture co-evolution. We will then discuss the importance of these topics for human uniqueness and culture (as well as their potential limits in supporting the specificity of the human being). Furthermore, we will propose a novel approach, based on the notion of cultural neural reuse (i.e., cultural processes affecting brain anatomy). This approach acknowledges an irreducible role of cultural dynamics in human overall constitution. Cultural neural reuse suggests that one way in which humans are unique is that they are able to shape and transcend themselves. Finally, the implications of this approach will be drawn for theological topics such as the imago Dei doctrine, the notion of self-transcendence, and the integral view of the human being emerging from Biblical and early Christian anthropology.

Open Access October 27, 2015

God, Genetics, and Event Phenomenology

Re-Thinking Common Human Experience of Temporality In Theology, and Its Usefulness in Science, Theology, and Contemporary Culture

Carolyn J. Love

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Abstract

In the classical Christian theological understanding, God and time are tightly interwoven (e.g. time and eternity, the Incarnation, and liturgy) and inform how we comprehend the presence and absence of the Incomprehensible in our day-to-day lives. Yet the classical Christian understanding of temporality does not take into account scientific discoveries pertaining to time, and how this influences our experience of temporality. It is within the fabric of God and time that this paper will bring together the concept of time in event phenomenology and biology, namely genetics, to construct a more robust understanding of temporality, a genetic-event model of temporality, that avoids the classical Christian issues of temporal/eternal antinomy, mind soul location, metaphysics of transcendence, or transcendental epistemology. Thus, providing an original approach to how we think about God today in a culture that seeks answers from science, as well as religion. This paper will discuss the usefulness of the geneticevent model in theology, in science, and in the dialogue between theology and science, demonstrating that these two ways of knowing can benefit each other.

Open Access October 27, 2015

Self-Evident Experience: A Challenge to the Empirical Study of Religion

Walter Renner

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Abstract

Empirical psychology’s philosophy of science traditionally orients by Popper’s Critical Rationalism. This paradigm has been successful with observable behavior and some aspects of emotion and cognition. Still, phenomena like spirituality, empathy, or love have been neglected because they can neither be easily communicated nor instantly replicated. I propose to enlarge the scope of empiricism by accepting Self-Evident Experience (SEE) as a source of “soft” empirical data, as long as they (a) can be interpreted within a rationalist framework and (b) are supported by cumulative experiences by others in the course of time. Applying this approach to SEE of a spiritual or religious nature, the theological system of the individual’s denominational affiliation serves as the rational framework (a), and experiences similar to others serve as the accumulated “database” (b), both supporting the validity of the experience. In the sense of Critical Rationalism, apart from arguments (a) and (b), criteria for “falsifying” SEE are suggested: Experiences which are in line with an individual’s or society’s expectations and which lack an impact on the individual’s further course of life will be attributed less validity than experiences which put the individual at risk in today’s climate of skepticism and which substantially influence his or her life.

Open Access October 27, 2015

Science and/or Miracle? The System Approach to Miracle Events

Adam Świeżyński

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Abstract

The system approach to the miracle is based on the conviction that the complex issues, requiring the interdisciplinary approach, should be captured in a system way. Thus, the problem of miracle, because of its interdisciplinary character, should be captured in a systemic way, because such approach enables the more adequate and comprehensive presentation of these issues. The system approach towards the epistemology of miracle is the attempt of the more adequate presentation of the relationship between the scientific-natural research and theological stage of recognizing the miracle. Because of using systemic categories, it is possible to present the common foundations (environment) of the system of scientific-natural knowledge and the system of theological interpretation, which can be described as the rationality of knowledge. The result of adopting the systemic epistemology of miracle is noticing the relations between the scientific-natural research and theological interpretation in their system complexity. Determining these relations leads to the more general conclusion that the natural sciences and theology as separate and autonomous systems of gaining the knowledge of reality do not have to be treated as the competing but rather as the complementary ones, with their methodological diversity and limitations in mind.

About this journal

Open Theology is an international Open Access, peer-reviewed academic journal that welcomes contributions written in English addressing religion in its various forms and aspects: historical, theological, sociological, psychological, and other.
The journal encompasses all major disciplines of Theology and Religious Studies, presenting doctrine, history, organization and everyday life of various types of religious groups and the relations between them. We publish articles from the field of Theology as well as Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology of Religion and also dialogue between Religion and Science.
Open Theology does not present views of any particular theological school nor of a particular religious organization. The contributions are written by researchers who represent different religious views. The authors present their research concerning the old religious traditions as well as new religious movements.
The aim of the journal is to promote an international and interdisciplinary dialogue in the field of Theology and Religious Studies. The journal seeks also to provide researchers, pastors and other interested persons with the fruits of academic studies.

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Political Theology and the State of Exception: Critical readings on the centenary of 'Political Theology' & 'Roman Catholicism and Political Form' by Carl Schmitt - Edited by Guillermo Andrés Duque Silva (University of King Juan Carlos, Spain) - NEW DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: May 31, 2023.
Religion and Spirituality in Everyday Life edited by Joana Bahia (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Cecilia Bastos (National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and María Pilar García Bossio (UCA-CONICET, Argentina) - deadline for submissions: May 15, 2023.