HEYTHROP JOURNAL最新文献

I argue that Jean-Louis Chrétien’s account of beauty and Bernard Lonergan’s account of art and aesthetic experience complement one another and, when taken together, offer an illuminating philosophical account of the ontological, ethical, intellectual, and transcendent aspects of art and aesthetic experience. Chrétien draws out with particular perspicacity the ontological dimension of aesthetic experience as that of ‘call and response’. His analysis of the evocative character of beauty helps thematise a foundation which is implied but not thematised in Lonergan’s account. The latter’s reflection on art and aesthetic experience is characterised by its distinct emphasis on the ethical, intellectual, and transcendental aspects of aesthetic experience. He introduces a set of distinctions that draw out these aspects with force and clarity.

I argue that Jean-Louis Chrétien’s account of beauty and Bernard Lonergan’s account of art and aesthetic experience complement one another and, when taken together, offer an illuminating philosophical account of the ontological, ethical, intellectual, and transcendent aspects of art and aesthetic experience. Chrétien draws out with particular perspicacity the ontological dimension of aesthetic experience as that of ‘call and response’. His analysis of the evocative character of beauty helps thematise a foundation which is implied but not thematised in Lonergan’s account. The latter’s reflection on art and aesthetic experience is characterised by its distinct emphasis on the ethical, intellectual, and transcendental aspects of aesthetic experience. He introduces a set of distinctions that draw out these aspects with force and clarity.

In a string of articles, over the years, Shawn Bawulski has propagated a palatable via media between full-fledged apokatastasis and a traditionalist doctrine of hell. Though not original to Bawulski, reconciliationism, in the eyes of many, offers a more faithful and effective synthesis of varied Christian eschatological commitments. Despite reconciliationism’s initial comparative aesthetic and moral superiority vis-à-vis numerous alternative eschatological models, it flounders amidst a quagmire of theological impediments. To that end, this paper examines some of reconciliationism’s shortcomings, particularly relating to peculiar conceptions of concupiscence and everlasting ennui.

In a string of articles, over the years, Shawn Bawulski has propagated a palatable via media between full-fledged apokatastasis and a traditionalist doctrine of hell. Though not original to Bawulski, reconciliationism, in the eyes of many, offers a more faithful and effective synthesis of varied Christian eschatological commitments. Despite reconciliationism’s initial comparative aesthetic and moral superiority vis-à-vis numerous alternative eschatological models, it flounders amidst a quagmire of theological impediments. To that end, this paper examines some of reconciliationism’s shortcomings, particularly relating to peculiar conceptions of concupiscence and everlasting ennui.

Abdolkarim Soroush’s deployment of new historicism, above all through the paired notions of the ‘historicity of text’ and the ‘textuality of history’, establishes a remarkably potent bridge between contemporary literary theory and the hermeneutics of the Holy Qur’an. New historicism, which has long discredited any naïve belief in history as a neutral, stable record, instructs us instead to see history as a contested field, continually shaped and reshaped by cultural, political, and social forces. Soroush presses this insight into the service of Qur’anic interpretation. Islam’s sacred text becomes, in his reading, not a timeless repository of meanings, but an utterance that emerges from its originating historical situation—an evolving product of that first context which demands a historicised interpretation if it is to be intelligible in contemporary society. On this account, the Qur’an is a dynamic text, profoundly conditioned by the socio-cultural milieu of the Prophet Muhammad, and inseparable from the human agencies that transmitted and construed revelation. By underscoring this human role in the ongoing life of the text, Soroush’s framework authorises a flexible and critical engagement with the Qur’an, one that contests rigid, acontextual readings and instead urges a multifaceted, historically alert apprehension of its significance.

Abdolkarim Soroush’s deployment of new historicism, above all through the paired notions of the ‘historicity of text’ and the ‘textuality of history’, establishes a remarkably potent bridge between contemporary literary theory and the hermeneutics of the Holy Qur’an. New historicism, which has long discredited any naïve belief in history as a neutral, stable record, instructs us instead to see history as a contested field, continually shaped and reshaped by cultural, political, and social forces. Soroush presses this insight into the service of Qur’anic interpretation. Islam’s sacred text becomes, in his reading, not a timeless repository of meanings, but an utterance that emerges from its originating historical situation—an evolving product of that first context which demands a historicised interpretation if it is to be intelligible in contemporary society. On this account, the Qur’an is a dynamic text, profoundly conditioned by the socio-cultural milieu of the Prophet Muhammad, and inseparable from the human agencies that transmitted and construed revelation. By underscoring this human role in the ongoing life of the text, Soroush’s framework authorises a flexible and critical engagement with the Qur’an, one that contests rigid, acontextual readings and instead urges a multifaceted, historically alert apprehension of its significance.

This paper presents a specific interpretation of the teleological suspension of the ethical. It argues that the suspension presupposes a theocentric anthropology in which humanity’s telos finds fulfilment in relationship with God. In performing the suspension, the individual fulfils their telos. The argument develops by situating the suspension within Kierkegaard’s broader authorship. Either/Or, Repetition, and Fear and Trembling are analysed as interconnected works that trace Stages on Life’s Way’s existential trajectory, where one moves from the aesthetic to the ethical and finally to the religious stage. Each transition occurs through a negation of the self and resulting despair. The aesthetic life fails because it grounds identity in externality, thereby undermining authenticity. The ethical life fails because it detaches duty from the person, once again denying authenticity. Initiated by the teleological suspension, the religious stage occurs when the self relates directly to God, achieving authenticity. To achieve authenticity, however, the religious stage must presuppose a theocentric anthropology in which one’s telos finds fulfilment in relation to God. It does so because only within such an anthropology does an individual gain authenticity and avoid the despair of the earlier stages by performing the suspension.

This paper presents a specific interpretation of the teleological suspension of the ethical. It argues that the suspension presupposes a theocentric anthropology in which humanity’s telos finds fulfilment in relationship with God. In performing the suspension, the individual fulfils their telos. The argument develops by situating the suspension within Kierkegaard’s broader authorship. Either/Or, Repetition, and Fear and Trembling are analysed as interconnected works that trace Stages on Life’s Way’s existential trajectory, where one moves from the aesthetic to the ethical and finally to the religious stage. Each transition occurs through a negation of the self and resulting despair. The aesthetic life fails because it grounds identity in externality, thereby undermining authenticity. The ethical life fails because it detaches duty from the person, once again denying authenticity. Initiated by the teleological suspension, the religious stage occurs when the self relates directly to God, achieving authenticity. To achieve authenticity, however, the religious stage must presuppose a theocentric anthropology in which one’s telos finds fulfilment in relation to God. It does so because only within such an anthropology does an individual gain authenticity and avoid the despair of the earlier stages by performing the suspension.