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This paper argues that it cannot be fitting to blame God. I show that divine immutability, even on a weak conception, implies that God's ethical character cannot change. I then argue that blame aims at a change in the ethical character of the one blamed. This claim is directly intuitive, explains a wide set of intuitions about when blame is unfitting, and is implied by most of the theories blame offered in the philosophical literature. Since blame targeted at God aims to change God's ethical character, an impossibility, such blame is not fitting. I then draw on this conclusion to sketch a new theodicy. I argue that a necessary condition on being blameworthy is that one can be blamed under some possible condition. So, God cannot be blameworthy. Further, I argue that if someone cannot be blameworthy, then they cannot do wrong. Wrong actions tend to make us blameworthy, but since God cannot be blameworthy nothing can tend to make him blameworthy – God cannot do wrong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary expositions of God's goodness commonly err either (1) by subjecting God to moral laws, which is to question His sovereignty, or (2) by failing to establish that God will always act in accordance with moral principles, which removes the theist's ability to appeal to God's goodness in response to problems of evil. Current attempts at intermediate positions which avoid these two problems fall short. In this paper, I aim to construct a better intermediate position and account of God's goodness. I do this by claiming that God's ability to create is best explained in terms of God's self‐love. Since God, as the greatest possible being, must be able to create, He must love Himself. I argue that this in turn entails that God loves all things, since by loving Himself, God loves the pre‐existent ideas of everything that will come to exist, and by extension the things themselves. This, I argue, allows us to have confidence that God will act in accordance with moral principles, but without subjecting Him to moral laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nicholas of Cusa and his daringly speculative theology seem odd matches for Blaise Pascal, the constant critic of the philosophies en vogue during his life. A commonality they share is their mutual concern for the apparent disproportion between the infinite God and the finite human. In this paper, I compare and analyse the shape this question takes in Cusanus's De ludo globi and Pascal's Pensées. Both men observe a sort of 'ludic' character inherent to the pursuit of bridging finite and infinite. Cusanus's 'ball game' realises the universe and the human being's pursuit of salvation as a circular field in which the player seeks to reach the vanishing point of its centre. Pascal likewise portrays human life as a cosmic game that everyone must 'play' with their ethical decisions. Ultimately, they both come to register Christ as the agent and object of their games, the divine player who fashions finitude into infinity. I conclude by sketching a way to reconcile Pascal with natural theology based on his universal game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of William Lane Craig's key arguments for the finitude of the past is the Successive Addition Argument (SAA). Malpass (2021) has recently developed a novel challenge to the SAA, utilising a thought experiment from the work of Fred Dretske, which is meant to show that it is possible to count to infinity, to argue that there is a counterexample to the SAA's second premise. In this paper, I contend that the Malpass‐Dretske counterexample should not worry advocates of the SAA. First, I argue that one objection Malpass considers—the Potential Infinite Objection—reveals an interesting fact: the SAA's second premise is unnecessarily strong and can be weakened whilst still yielding the same conclusion. Second, I show how another one of the objections considered by Malpass—the Accumulation Objection—is successful, provided some clarification to the SAA's premises. The upshot of both analyses is that we generate two 'new' Successive Addition arguments that not only move the dialectic forward, but shed light on deeper assumptions and motivating intuitions concerning the Kalām. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chad Trainer argues that Frederick Copleston S.J. was wrong to expand the notion of philosophy from Western (Greek) philosophy to include Eastern philosophies.1 He believes that while in Hawai'i Copleston changed his mind to accept what Trainer calls 'aphoristic writings, mystically inspired tracts and exegetical exercises' as philosophy, even though to do so resulted in contradicting his earlier published views.2 In the following paper I will to some extent agree with Trainer's opinion about Copleston. However, based solely on Chinese material, I will explore why it is possible to draw a distinction between Chinese and Greek thought, what that distinction implies and whether the term 'philosophy' can be justifiably expanded to Chinese thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important questions about divine revelation is the question – what is the nature of divine revelation? This conceptual question even precedes such epistemological questions as whether we can know that a divine revelation occurred, or whether divine revelation can produce religious knowledge. In this paper, I argue for a particular analysis of the concept of divine revelation. Key to my proposal is that ‘to reveal’ is a term of epistemic appraisal: if a subject revealed a proposition to a receiver, then this implies that the receiver actually accepted the information offered. I will end this paper by investigating what the consequences of my proposal are for answering the two epistemological questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most substantial source for thinking about forgiveness is Christian ethics. Some Christians offer forgiveness even for atrocities in the absence of repentance and reparations. The paper critically examines Christian idealism about forgiveness, while looking beyond Christianity toward a humanistic approach that acknowledges the tragic conflict between forgiveness and justice. Christian forgiveness is part of a radical revaluation of values regarding the goods of this world, personal identity, and temporality. Humanistic approaches, as found in Kant and the Greeks, do not embrace this radical revaluation of values. But it remains useful to consider the benefits of forgiveness, even for those who are not willing to commit to such a radical revaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twentieth century one interpretative perspective is curiously and strikingly absent: spatiality of narrative. Philosophical thought saw fundamental ontology as founded on temporality with space as decoration. Johannine inquiry has tended to follow in philosophy's temporal footsteps. However, it is plausible to assume that New Testament writers were spatially oriented while modern interpreters have been ensconced in temporal consciousness. Furthermore, as anthropology has long recognized, conceptions of space and place are central to any culture's sense of self. The undue hermeneutic privileging of linearity and causality may have forced biblical texts into a temporal mode of reading that their original authors may not have intended. In understanding biblical worlds it is necessary to again explore spatiality. This essay will introduce textured spatiality as it applies to John 9. It will briefly review temporal thought and consciousness and explain how visual imagery is an essential component to the transmission and preservation of tradition. Textuality will also be used to tell the tale of the man born blind. Using the nature of Shabbat as a pivot, and a narrative juxtaposition of two contrasting Sabbath spaces, the paper will point to a possible Urcarnivalesque element in the chapter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the integrity of the discourse in the Anglican eucharistic tradition by considering the philosophical assumptions that underlie eucharistic theology. It argues that where the conversation of the Anglican eucharistic tradition is open and unfinished then the integrity of the discourse is facilitated as opposed to the conversations of party positions and particular interests which suggest exclusive versions of truth. The conversation or dialogue of Anglican eucharistic theology is seen to be enhanced through the consideration of the philosophical assumptions of realism and nominalism to both the moderate and immoderate degrees that underpin eucharistic theology as a state of affairs. The insights of contemporary philosophers are used as a way of conceptualising the discourse of the Anglican eucharistic tradition and a model of Anglican eucharistic theology is suggested as a means of facilitating the integrity of the discourse through the recognition of multiformity in the tradition and by distancing the discourse from the hermeneutic idealism of particular interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to clarify the theoretical core of Solger's thought, the foundation for his aesthetics. I first analyze Solger's dialectic of double negation. Secondly I focus on Solger's gnoseology, which is orientated toward grasping the equilibrium between the Infinite (God) and the finite (world) consisting in this double negation. Lastly I investigate the notion of sacrifice, connecting it with Solger's ironic dialectic and showing its relevance to a complete understanding of his thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to make a contribution to work concerning the nature of the subject. The article pays special attention to the work of Parfit but will also cover the work of Hume and Locke. The article seeks to develop an ontological account of persons with important implications to the way in which we distinguish associations, groups and persons in both philosophy and moral theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given recent developments in Franco-German phenomenology with its so-called ‘theological turn’, there has been a concomitant renewal of interest in Maurice Blondel's thought. In this paper I consider the phenomenological structure of Blondel's early philosophy. Blondel defended and published his controversial thesis in 1893 and with this work presented a highly original phenomenology that was deeply indebted to the positive tradition and yet went beyond this same tradition to include even religious practice as part of its inquiry. Keen to engage the rationalist philosophers of the French academy, Blondel proposed a phenomenological project that was geared to engage the critical spirit of an age that was already deemed to be post-metaphysical. It is in clarifying the manner in which Blondel conceives such a positive phenomenology that I indicate how his thought may contribute to contemporary debates in the phenomenology of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Henry Newman's An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent is a commonly cited source for the idea that religion and ethics are in some fashion mutually implicated, and specifically the idea that religious belief can be grounded in our moral experience. In this paper I aim to do two things. First of all, I shall try to show that Newman's account of the relationship between religious and ethical understanding, as expounded in the Grammar, is more richly nuanced than one might suppose from reading the work of his commentators, and indeed anticipates a great deal of recent discussion in the philosophy of religion. Secondly, I shall argue that one strand of Newman's case in particular merits further attention in the context of current debate; here I shall argue that Newman's position is reminiscent of recent discussion in the philosophy of mind concerning the sense in which feelings are intentional, and articulates a view which is at best underdeveloped in recent work in philosophy of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that it gives voice to Nicholas Cusanus and his conception(s) of deity. Topics include considered that it is centered on the concept of possest, applied to God and coined to combine the ideas of his full actuality and potentiality and by also integrating potentialities of non-divine reality into God himself, as Cusanus is able to predicate both active and passive potentiality of the divine.

The article examines that D. Chenu published essay in which he advanced the thesis that the ordo disciplinae of Thomas's Summa Theologiae was modeled upon the exitus-reditus of Neoplatonic emanation. Topics include reports that thesis was not without significant controversy, and seemed to widen the chasm between those who believed that more attention had to be paid to this Neoplatonic dimension in Thomas and those for whom Thomas's Aristotelianism trumped any significant Neoplatonic pedigree.

This paper examines the problem of ontotheology as it was defined by Martin Heidegger, and how it has subsequently been approached by those philosophers and theologians who have followed in his wake. It argues that Heidegger’s initial analysis of the onto-theological condition was mistaken by its presumption of a radical divide between philosophy and theology. Furthermore, many of the key thinkers who have followed after Heidegger have merely reinscribed this supposed divide between thought and faith, rather than genuinely questioning the terms Heidegger thought self-evident. The result, even among some of the most radical and influential contemporary thinkers such as Emmanuel Levinas, John Caputo, and Jean-Luc Marion, has been a contemporary philosophy deprived of questions of faith and a theology unaccountable to its place in the world. In response to this shortcoming of contemporary philosophical and theological thought, Jacques Derrida has approached the problem of ontotheology from the dual perspective of both thought and faith, and thereby, has provided a new path of thought beyond the problem of ontotheology and towards a renewed appreciation for the possibilities for a genuine philosophical theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the Catholicism's traditional account of the human person in dialectical juxtaposition with the characteristic claims made about the human being by modern and classical philosophy respectively. It mentions that perception that self-understanding would exercise on the human world came into its own only after modern philosophers pressed the idea of the abstract individual into political service.

The article focuses on the philosopher Milo Crimi endeavours to save monk Gaunilo of Marmoutiers' island from the peril of incoherence. It mentions Crimi's arguments that ‘an ideal island is conceivable if it's defined as any island exhibiting an ideal ratio of great-making island properties' in response to theologian Cornelius Plantinga (1974: 90-91).

The article explores the way in which Western metaphysics influences thinking and being. It discusses the Enlightenment and critique of Western philosophy, with topics including ontological problem, approach to common law principles, totality and infinity. Works by philosophers including Emmanuel Levinas, Desmond Manderson and Arne Naess, are discussed.

The article focuses on the ethical importance of philospher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s treatment of morality in the thesis, Elements of the Philosophy of Right. There has been rise in interest in Hegel's inner-outer thesis as a frame in which one can view Hegel's treatment of action and morality.

The article discusses philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's pronouncement on the death of God, focusing in the main on his published writings. it mentions idea of the death of God has manifested itself in the twentieth century in death of God theology. it also mentions Nietzsche lays out possible ways to weaken the feelings associated with metaphysics and addressing the metaphysical need.

Metaphilosophy is typically concerned with such questions as the goals of philosophy, the relations between philosophy and the arts and sciences, the methods of argumentation and tools of analysis employed by philosophers, major trends and schools of thought, the prospects for progress and future directions. But one topic that has been consistently overlooked in these discussions is that of the temporality, or pace and tempo, of philosophy. Initially this may seem a relatively insignificant topic and therefore one that has been justifiably passed over. The tempo of philosophy, however, relates in quite direct ways to the nature of philosophical practice and how this has been shaped by wider social currents and changes – matters that are of crucial concern to metaphilosophy. Most of us, for example, are keenly aware that modern life is fast and frenzied, and its busy‐ness appears only to be accelerating. How has this impacted upon the ways in which philosophy is understood and produced? Does the fast pace of contemporary life compel us to reevaluate not only our ways of living but also our ways of thinking as philosophers? In response to such questions, I propose that philosophy is in urgent need of slowing down, and to this end I develop what might be called a ‘Slow Philosophy’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines philosopher Gianni Vattimo's theory of secularisation with regard to the debate between Karl Löwith and Hans Blumenberg on the subject. Topics include Vattimo's views on Löwith and Blumenberg, his alternative to the debate's conclusions, and the arguments of Löwith and Blumenberg on secularisation. Also discussed are Vattimo's philosophical influences, views on Christianity, and the relationship between secularisation and the history of ideas.

The article examines the transcendence structure in the philosophies of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Emmanuel Levinas, highlighting Leibniz's book "Principles of Nature and Grace" and Levinas' "Essence and Disinterestedness." Topics include the relationship of Levinas' thought to philosophy, the similarities and differences between the thinking of Leibniz and Levinas, and Levinas' analysis of essence. Also discussed is the need to adopt a way of thinking that will overcome philosophy.

The article explores the genealogy of philosopher Søren Kierkegaard's views on imitation with regards to the influence of non-biblical scholarship on his views. Topics include the similarities Kierkegaard and Plato's views on imitation, Kierkegaard's relations to Socrates, and Kierkegaard's concept of the martyr-imitator-followerand its reference to Socrates as a person. Also discussed are the elements of Kierkegaard's imitation which include the non-imitative character of imitation.

The article offers information on poet and lawyer, Sir John Davies, who is the compendium of late Renaissance thought, called philosophical anthropology. It mentions that than expository poem conveying basic philosophical content is difficult to imagine. It mentions that Davies's skill at versifying ideas has attracted more attention. Information on the medieval and ancient philosophical traditions is presented.

The article provides information on the critical analysis of philosopher Alasdair Macintyre's narrative historicist conception of progress. It informs about MacIntyre's justification for the rational superiority of his narrative historicist conception of progress. It further informs about notion of epistemological crisis, dramatic narrative, and the philosophy of science.

Pragmatic theological realism (PTR) urges us to take up the realist aim of theology or the goal of truth although we have good reason to think that the goal can neither be attained nor approximated. Rescher contends that pursuing an unreachable goal can be rational on pragmatic grounds so long as pursuing the unreachable goal yields indirect benefits. I have blocked this attempt at providing a pragmatic justification for the realist aim of PTR on precisely the same pragmatic grounds: since there is a competing alternative to PTR and the alternative can provide whatever indirect benefits PTR can offer while being less risky than it is, prudential reasoning favours the alternative to PTR. This undermines the pragmatic case for the realist aim of theology since the instrumentalist alternative does not aim at the truth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines William James' view that pragmatic philosophy allows for theistic belief and compares it to Richard Rorty's argument that theistic belief is fundamentally incompatible with pragmatic philosophy. Theism is permissible for James because it is commensurate with his view of philosophy as inquiry. Theism is impermissible for Rorty because it incommensurate with his view of philosophy as conversation. James' arguments are shown to be too generic in their conception of the God in whom theistic belief may be placed, and Rorty's arguments against the desirability of theistic belief are shown to run afoul of his own philosophical program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heidegger's deconstruction of the history of Western metaphysics has been a major influence behind poststructural critiques of modernity as well as more apologetic attempts to maintain a dialogue with historical sources, such as Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics. This bifurcation has intensified the ambiguity of Heidegger's project: was it an attempt to relinquish philosophical ties to the past or a call for a fundamental reinterpretation of them? In this article I argue the latter, focusing my analysis on Heidegger's notions of appropriation and historicity. On the one hand, appropriation is the hermeneutical event by which ontology is reinfused into a reading of historical sources. On the other hand, historicity is the self-reflexive historical involvement by which we become aware of what contemporary, philosophical conditions necessitate this reengagement. In the end, Heidegger's critique of metaphysics arises from this self-reflexivity. It deconstructs the prevailing misunderstandings of philosophical sources in order to allow for reinterpretation at a revivified ontological level constantly in view of the question of being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philosophy begins in wonder, according to Plato and Aristotle. However, they did not expand a great deal on what precisely wonder is. Does this fact alone not raise curiosity in us as to why this passion is important? What is its role in our thinking except to end as soon as one begins conceptually delimiting its nature? The thinkers Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes both expanded upon earlier brief articulations of wonder in natural, supernatural and practical ways. By means of an historical and philosophical examination of these two early modern thinkers, this article hopes to begin to answer the question: ‘What is wonder?’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how contemporary science points to a kind of metaphysical space which can allow for divine agency in the world. According to the author, divine agency is crucial for believers since the universe also depends on God's creative act at every moment of its existence. He mentions that what many theologians find fascinating with contemporary science is a view of the universe different from a causally closed system operating according to the prescriptions of Newtonian mechanics.

Three recent attempts to draw resources for theology from the work of philosopher and social theorist Gillian Rose are examined. Although her work has received little attention, it has been influential in the development of ‘Radical Orthodoxy’. Yet her dense style has led to many misunderstandings of her work. Each of the three attempts to draw theological resources from her work examined is problematic, either because it misrepresents Rose's work or because it reads Rose too narrowly. The outline of a positive account of Rose's philosophy is developed through critical engagements with these three readers. I suggest that an alternative theological appropriation of Rose that focuses on her account of the theological virtues, particularly faith and love, might be possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the features of modernist and postmodernist novels is the way they interrogate classical metaphysics, in the spirit of what Habermas calls post-metaphysical thinking, otherwise known as the post-Enlightenment critique of the Enlightenment. As a literary prism, post-metaphysical thinking is not anti-metaphysical: it conducts its interrogation and still accommodates both secular and religious frames. Iris Murdoch and Muriel Spark are often compared but they interrogate classical metaphysics from different perspectives and for different purposes. In the nineteen-fifties, Murdoch was an aspiring philosophical author who treated classical metaphysics as a canon of influential myth, while Spark was an aspiring theological author who had recently converted to Catholicism. Through a reading of The Bell and Robinson, both published in the same year, this article describes how the young Murdoch and Spark do what emerging literary authors of the nineteen-fifties were expected to do: frame the human condition and reflect on its existential dilemma. With their different perspectives they both write within the same paradigm, or theory of mind; against symbolic backgrounds, and among significant dialogues, they make use of similar tropes. But Murdoch and Spark arrive at opposite positions on the relationship between imagination and reality, between logos and mythos, and ultimately on the nature of freedom and contingency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the emphasis on the problem of alterity can be characterized as post-Levinasian philosophy. Another philosopher who concerned himself with alterity is Soren Kierkegaard. His hierarchichal nature of thought contradicts that of Emmanuel Levinas. Kierkegaard is primarily concerned with the relation between the subject and God.

Books reviewed: Christopher Bobonich, Plato's Utopia Recast: His Later Ethics and Politics John Capreolus, On The Virtues Miguel A. Badia Cabrera, Hume's Reflection on Religion Catherine Chalier, What Ought I to Do?: Morality in Kant and Levinas Keith Ansell-Pearson and John Mullarkey, Henri Bergson: Key Writings Andrew Brook and Don Ross, Daniel Dennett Nancey Murphy, Brad J. Kallenberg, and Mark Thiessen Nation, Virtues and Practices in the Christian Tradition: Christian Ethics after MacIntyre William Lane Craig, God, Time, and Eternity Paul Copan and Paul K. Moser, The Rationality of Theism W. Norris Clarke, The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics Richard A. Cohen, Ethics, Exegesis and Philosophy: Interpretation after Levinas Simon Critchley and Robert Bernasconi, The Cambridge Companion to Levinas D. D. Raphael, Concepts of Justice Martha C. Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions David Herbert, Religion and Social Transformations Robert H. Nelson, Economics as Religion; from Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond Edmondo F. Lupieri, The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics Antonía Tripolitis, Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age James M. Scott, Geography in Early Judaism and Christianity: The Book of Jubilees David Naugle, Worldview: The History of a Concept Dianne Kirby, Religion and the Cold War Colin E. Gunton, The Christian Faith: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Paul Williams, The Unexpected Way: On Converting from Buddhism to Catholicism Alan P. F. Sell, Confessing and Commending the Faith Thomas M. Kelly, Theology at the Void John David Dawson, Christian Figural Reading and the Fashioning of Identity Daniel Kendall and Stephen T. Davis, The Convergence of Theology: A Festschrift Honoring Gerald O'Collins, S.J. Bernard Hoose, Authority in the Roman Catholic Church Timothy Matovina and Gary Riebe-Estrella, Horizons of the Sacred: Mexican Traditions in US Catholicism Kenneth J. Howell, God's Two Books: Copernican Cosmology and Biblical Interpretation in Early Modern Science Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller Jr. and Jeffrey Paul, Should Differences in Income and Wealth Matter? Ron Geaves, Continuum Glossary of Religious Terms [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on Michael Purcell's theological development of Levinas' philosophy. Ethical-theological significance of the Other; Levinas' metaphysics; Redefinition of the meaning of Being.

In Truth in Aquinas Catherine Pickstock and John Milbank continue Radical Orthodoxy's ‘reinterpretation’ of the history of philosophy and theology by evaluating philosophy as metaphysics so that ‘metaphysics collapses into sacra doctrina’ in Thomas Aquinas. Their strategy for saving Aquinas from Heideggerian ‘onto-theology’ is the opposite of that Jean-Luc Marion who in ‘Saint Thomas d'Aquin et l'onto-théo-logie’ keeps philosophy and metaphysics distinct from sacred teaching. The article examines some of the questions involved by reconsidering the nature of philosophy as textual commentary in late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. It goes on to examine what Aquinas means by ‘the truth of things’, and concludes by looking at how he treats the aspects of metaphysics and the relation of metaphysics and sacra doctrina. Hankey judges that Marion is right on this question. The author suggests that what is involved with Milbank and Pickstock is not a reinterpretation of Aquinas. What they have written depends on mistakes and misrepresentations of basic points in his teaching, e.g, participation, intellectual intuition and abstractions, God's being and his existence in things, with the result that Thomas looks more like Descartes or Spinoza than himself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an index of research articles published in the October 1997 issue of the journal 'HeyJ XXXVIII.' 'Can One be Cognitively Conscious of God?,' by Anthony Baxter; 'State-Primacy and Third World Debt,' by Alan Carter.