PAPER ABSTRACTS - 2007 MAR-AAR MEETING
The following papers are scheduled for presentation at our March 2007 meeting in Baltimore. When possible, the papers have been grouped into sessions. Please be aware, however, that until the final schedule is settled,
the order of sessions and paper presentations may still change.
SESSION I: (Thursday, March 1, 9:00–11:00 am ):
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( AAR 1.1 ) COMPARATIVE & HISTORICAL STUDIES IN RELIGION A: ( 9:00–11:00, Knight )
Presiding: Charles Selengut, Drew University.
“Reinhold Niebuhr’s Paradoxical Anthropology and Political Thought: An Application to Korean Political Culture.”
Song-Chong Lee, Department of Religion, Temple University.
My paper deals with Reinhold Niebuhr's political theology. I will analyze his theoretical basis through 'the concept of paradoxical anthropology' and apply it to the understanding of the chronic instability of Korean political culture. I argue that Korean political culture has been chronically instable, not because of the vicissitudes of external factors such as the nuclear crisis of North Korea and a more militarized and ambitious Japan as a hegemonic competitor, but because of the absence of the notion of paradoxical nature of man from Korea's traditional political ideologies and values. I will present the inordinately idealistic, sentimental and messianic perception of the human and politics embedded in Korean Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity, along with the analysis of Korea's historical circumstances.
“Ethnographic Research and Inter-Religious Dialogue: Methods and Benefits.”
Joni Podschun, Hendrix College.
There is an acute need for effective inter-religious dialogue. While scholars articulate their goals and espouse different methods, there has been little talk of incorporating anthropological methods in the discipline. The tools of ethnographic research, participant observation and interviews, can be fruitfully and easily employed by dialogists. The benefits to such an approach are substantial—more effective communication, the opportunity for members of the subaltern to articulate their beliefs and choices, and improved understanding of faith traditions and practitioners. Employing ethnographic research I conducted among Muslim women in central Arkansas during the academic year of 2005-2006, my paper describes ethnographic methods, focusing on the work of James Spradley and the two primary tools used by ethnographers, participant observation and interviews, to portray the benefits of utilizing these tools and the need for more of such scholarship in the study of religion.
“Re-(cons)-Truing Christianity: H. Richard Niebuhr and Contemporary Catholicism.”
Stephen Johnson, Montclair State University.
H. Richard Niebuhr’s long-forgotten challenges to Protestantism’s ethical irresponse-abilities and idolatrous Christian-centrism are bearing unexpected fruit in new soil. In his ethical and theological wrestles, from 1929's “Social Sources of Denominationalism” through 1960's “Radical Monotheism,” the forgotten Niebuhr brother anticipated issues later brought by deconstructionism, post-modernism, and post-colonialism. His self-critical strategies for creative response scared fellow National Council of Churches stalwarts (who owed him so much). Acknowledged and unacknowledged, Niebuhr’s influence and approaches resonate in today’s Roman Catholic theological, ecclesiological, and civic struggles. From life-long engagement with Christian scriptures and Catholic tradition, Hans Küng, John C. Meagher, and William Spohn have worked out similar approaches and potent legacies. In other challenging ways Andrew Greeley, Paul Lakeland, and Anselm K. Min have been provoking and aiding similar transformation. Their separate but convergent works effectively adapt and enhance “neo-orthodox” Niebuhr’s most radical insights. American Catholics and Protestants may all greatly benefit thereby.
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( AAR 1.2 ) RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY A : ( Thursday, 9:00–11:40 am, Mather)
Religion and Spirituality Panel = Unsaying the Unsaid: Recasting Mystical Theologies for Contemporary Liberative Praxis. ( Eubanks, Martin, Padilla, York )
Presiding: Patricia Way, Temple University.
“Self and the Godhead in Eckhart and Heidegger.”
Andrew Eubanks, Drew University.
In the mystical theologies of Meister Eckhart and Marguerite Porete, the soul unites with the Godhead…what then? This paper will explore the consequences of what would happen if our souls are, in the words of Porete, “annihilated,” while taking seriously the importance of selfhood in becoming one with the Godhead. I argue that there needs to be a way in which we sustain our individuality, while also being continually open to the influence of God, or God’s will. Per the early Caputo, Heidegger’s mysticism helps this project via the anxiety of Dasein, which draws away “from the world of things to the realm of that which is not thing at all.” For Heidegger, anxiety stands “in a secret bond with serenity and the gentleness of a creative longing” (emphasis mine, John Caputo The Mystical Element in Heidegger’s Thought, 23), perhaps protecting creatureliness in mystical union with God.
“Emphatic Ethics: Pushing the Boundaries of the Apophatic/Unsaid with a Thoroughly Spoken and Embodied Ethic.” Dhawn Martin, Drew University.
This paper seeks to construct an emphatic ethic besed on the method and intent of apophatic discourse. This effort will unfold through four movements: analysis of the Pseudo-Dionysian method/mystical theology – primarily through the works of Michael Sells (Mystical Languages of Unsaying) and Denys Turner Darkness of God), description of the performative character of apophasis as manifest in the works of Meister Eckhart and Teresa of Avila, engagement with Amy Hollywood’s apophatic/negative theology ethic (The Soul as Virgin Wife), and etymological study of the word emphasis. “Emphasis,” derived from emphainein (which means to present, show, indicate, set forth) is frequently coupled with poieo (to make, do), per Liddell and Scott (Greek-English Lexicon, etymonline.com). The mating of an embodied “doing” with a purposive “setting forth” of the self as agent of passionate and creative ethics will serve as the crux of the argument for and construction of emphatic ethics.
“Phallus Unveiled: Apophatic Language of Eros in Kabbalah.”
Elaine Padilla, Drew University.
Elliot Wolfson, pre-eminent interpreter of Kabbalah, seeks to unveil the divine phallus at the center of Jewish erotic mysticism in Language, Eros, Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination (2004). Through layers of mystical unsaying, Wolfson succeeds in unveiling but not demystifying the phallus. Wolfson reveals her, the veil as the loincloth covering the male genitalia; but she, Shekinah, as woman remains veiled within the text. In this discussion I seek to move beyond the unveiling of the divine phallus that prevails in concepts such as Ein Sof (Infinite) by unveiling how Wolfson engages in a double vision. The phallus is out in the open - but at the expense of the woman. I will search for a space of undefinition that can disturb the frame of symbols used in Kabbalistic erotic language, to liberate her from the text. And perhaps this space can be the chora or khōra, per Julia Kristeva and Jacques Derrida.
“Unsaying the Self as Feminist Mystical Theology?”
Lydia York, Drew University.
The radically apophatic goals of detachment and will-annihilation in the work of Meister Eckhart and Marguerite Porete seem inimical to contemporary feminist efforts. Beverly Lanzetta seeks to reclaim an apophatic unsaying of woman to “find the tools women need to pull up the sources of misogyny imbedded in their souls” (Radical Wisdom: A Feminist Mystical Theology, 13). Refining Lanzetta’s project (and resisting essentialization of women’s experience and mystical traditions), I engage concepts of selfhood and detachment via the tools of self-psychology. The Poretan/Eckhartan “without a why” converses easily with Kohut’s therapeutic model of empathy as “evenly suspended attention” with focus on “achieving understanding rather than on the wish to cure and to help” [ Heinz Kohut, “Forms and Transformations of Narcissism,” Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 14: 269 ]. In the process, I figure a directional switch in the currents of Christian apophatic discourse toward unsaying the human through the unsaying of God; imagining a divine apophasis of the human as much as a human apophasis of the divine.
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( AAR 1.3 ) RELIGIOUS ETHICS A: ( Thursday, 9:00–11:00, Talbot ).
Presiding: Lee Barrett, Lancaster Theological Seminary.
“Teaching Social Justice in the Corporate University: Deploying the Teachings of Jesus and Marx in the Era of Unchecked Global Capitalism.”
Megan V. Davis, The George Washington University.
Jesus’ teachings and Marx’s writings are about personal and group responsibility in working towards establishing and maintaining just and sustainable communities. Both Jesus and Marx ask us to consider what the world would be like if we inverted dominant power structures and social practices in the name of justice. In an undergraduate religion topics seminar we (a United Methodist minister/New Testament scholar and a Marxist philosopher/critical theorist) help students make connections between the methodologies for social justice proposed in the teachings of Jesus, in Marx’s writings, and in contemporary writings on theories of power. We ask students to evaluate the long-standing tension between institutionalized religion and Marxism, and explore the use of faith and Marx as mechanisms to bring about more just communities on all levels. Our paper reflects on the success of the project given these methodological concerns, and presents lessons learned for teaching interdisciplinary classes in religion.
“Ethics and War on Terror: A Niebuhrian Approach.”
Jennifer Tyre, Lancaster Theological Seminary.
As the United States continues to experience daily repercussions from September 11, theological and ethical questions arise concerning the propriety of the current war on terror, particularly the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent military activity of the United States and its allies. This paper draws upon the social and political ethics of Reinhold Niebuhr, to generate a set of normative principles governing the strategies and goals of the current “war against terrorism.” Further, the paper uses these principles to closely examine and evaluate the actions of the current political administration in regard to terrorism and the war in Iraq. Then, by using certain Niebuhrian assumptions, the paper seeks to apply these ethical principles in the development of an alternative policy toward Iraq in the war on terror.
“ ‘All Life is Interrelated:’ The Transforming Power of Agape Love in King, Merton and Thurman.” Cristóbal Serrán-Pagán y Fuentes, Goucher College.
The purpose of this paper is to explore how mystical love calls the person into action. This type of love seeks redemption and reconciliation because the goal is the creation of the beloved community. This philosophy of agape love does not have in mind the destruction of communities; rather its goal is to create a humane society where each sentient and non-sentient being is respected and valued as a whole person. The mystical theologies of King, Merton and Thurman stress this cosmic sense of interdependence where “all life is interrelated.” For them, a true mystic is one who, out of his direct encounter with the divine, actively engages and participates in the social and spiritual struggles of his or her time. Paradoxically, their mystical visions led them to transform society at large by becoming fully engaged in the non-violent protests against racism, poverty and war.
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( AAR 1.4 ) WOMEN AND RELIGION A: (Thursday, 9:00–11:00, White Oak A ).
Panel=Feminist Theology as Principled Activity.
Presiding: Lauve Steenhuisen, Georgetown University.
“Feminism/Religion/Culture…Justice?”
Emily K. Arndt, Georgetown University
Powerful contradictions exist in the work of feminist ethicists surrounding proposals for a common morality that would allow cross-cultural critique of practices that harm women. Introducing the role of religion, both practically and theoretically, complicates things even further. My contribution to this panel on feminist theological activity will be to discuss four contributions made by feminist ethicists to this debate. Catholic ethicists Lisa Sowle Cahill and Margaret Farley offer alternative foundations for constructing ways to critique practices that are harmful to women’s well-being in contrast to the more religiously-suspicious approach of philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s presentation of the capabilities approach. Another dimension is added by Toinette Eugene’s discussion of religion’s (particularly Christianity’s) contribution to social justice for women from a Womanist perspective. Implicit in these different approaches is an assumption that to protect women from imperialist values and patriarchal assumptions, such foundations are (or should be) either more deductive (Cahill/Farley) or inductive (Nussbaum). Eugene’s stress on historical context is helpful in seeing the inadequacies of a “data versus theology” debate. And her emphasis on the pain and process of striving for justice enriches the shared emphasis on active response to injustice in all these proposals.
“World Without End? Or is the End in Sight? Reflections on Ecofeminism, Economics, and Eschatology in a Post-September 11 World.”
Helene Businger-Chassot, Georgetown University.
The paper will be an attempt to rethink the ecofeminist theology of the 1990’s of Sallie McFague and Rosemary Radford Ruether in light of the growing concerns caused by global warming on a planetary scale. It will also link this concern to the economic and political situation in a post-September 11th world and the global war on terror, which threatens both the ecological and political balance of our planet. Sallie McFague has called for a new liberation theology specific to North America, to draw attention to the growing threat of American over consumption. I will add that in light of the “global war on terror”, a notion of a “realized eschatology” versus an apocalyptic vision of an end to the world could provide the necessary corrective to an attitude of wastefulness and carelessness in the apocalyptic vision of an “end of the world”, and provide us with the motivation to take the impending ecological crisis more seriously.
“Irregular Ordinations of Catholic Womenpriests as Principled Activity.”
Lauve H. Steenhuisen, Georgetown University.
The recent ordinations of Roman Catholic women have raised the issue of what constitutes legitimate ordination. The ordinations have been called “valid but not regular”, that is, the women were ordained by Catholic bishops using the authorized rite, thus continuing the ‘Petrine succession’ or ‘apostolic succession’ but defying papal bans on the ordination of women. This paper will examine the “Womenpriest” movement through the lens of feminist theology, arguing that such acts of resistance, and the modeling of an egalitarian model of priesthood, are embodied feminist theology. Feminist theological perspectives as Schussler Fiorenza’s “discipleship of equals”, and comparison’s with Ruether’s “women-church” movement, will be applied to the Womenpriest phenomenon. Comparison’s with the Protestant Episcopal irregular ordinations of the 1970’s, and the Catholic church’s use of race as a disqualifying criteria, will also be grounds for comparison.
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( AAR 1.5 ) HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY A: ( Thursday, 9:00–11:00, White Oak B )
Presiding: Raymond F. Bulman, St. John’s University, NY.
“Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and the Matrix of Authority Called ‘Biblical Canon.’ ”
Carlos R. Bovell, Independent Scholar.
In this paper I take a brief look at the role of scripture in Justin Martyr and Irenaeus and conclude that a canonical dialectic seems to attend any religious use of scripture and should therefore occupy a far more central role in ecumenical discussions that broach the historical function of Christian scripture among the churches.
“Vatican II and the Council of Trent: The End of a Project.”
Raymond F. Bulman, St. John’s University, NY.
This paper constitutes a report on a project that was announced at the AAR regional four years ago. The goal of the project was to convene a group of highly qualified historians and theologians to examine the relationship between the Council of Trent and Vatican Council II by exploring a wide area of religious change that occurred between the two Councils. Since then Oxford University Press has published a book containing the team’s findings. After examining questions of historical context, the emergence of a Tridentine system and its exportation from Europe to New Spain, the various contributors examine liturgical change, the use of Latin, changes in Church music, the training of priests, moral theology, married life, the religious life of women, the sacrament of confession and the attitude toward other religions. Overall, the very diverse findings of the scholarly team converge to support the thesis that Vatican II marks the end of the Tridentine system.
“The Influence of the Visitationsreise of Nicolas von Cusa (1401-1464) in the German Empire on the Cistercian Monastery Leeuwenhorst.”
Geertruida de Moor, The Catholic University of America.
My dissertation at the Dutch University of Leiden in Medieval History, dealing with the Cistercian Monastery for females, Leeuwenhorst, which existed between 1261 and 1574, was largely based on the monastery’s account books, kept from 1410/11 to 1570/71, and preserved in the National Archive in The Hague. The purpose of this paper will be to give insight about how Cusanus visit to the Northern Netherlands influenced the way of life in Leeuwenhorst. In the fifteenth century, many clerical authorities tried repeatedly to stop the decay of the Church and the monasteries. In 1450, Pope Nicholas V designated Cardinal Nicolas von Cusa to visit the German Empire, including the Low Countries, to reform religious life and seek to end differences among them. In particular, he wanted to reform the abuses in monasteries for women. These facts can be found in the literature. Yet even before the Pope entrusted Cusa with the visitation of religious houses, the Cistercian Order was actively working to abate the decline in the monasteries. In 1449, the General Chapter ordered the Cistercian reformers and visitators to improve the nuns' monasteries in every way. In 1451, the General Chapter, the highest authority of the Cistercian Order, ordered the Abbots the Holy Roman Empire to make visitations as a part of a tightening of discipline. The monastery’s account books tell that measures of austerity were taken. In 1450/51 and 1451/52 various visits were paid to other Cistercian monasteries of nuns in the neighborhood, among which was Saint Servatius, the motherhouse, near the city of Utrecht. In 1452/53, the confessor of Nyeklooster (New Monastery), in Frisia, in which monks lived, came to consult the confessor of Leeuwenhorst. Perhaps the restoration of monastic discipline was one of the subjects of the consultation. Afterwards a messenger was sent to the Father Immediate, the Abbot of the Abbey of Kamp, who might have given an account of the gathering in Leeuwenhorst.
Although Cusa did visit Leeuwenhorst, his influence becomes clear by looking at the account books. Since the Abbey of Kamp was situated a fourteen-days' journey away from this house, probably more care from Abbots in the vicinity was seen as desirable. This came in the hand of the abbot of the Benedictine house of Egmond, which was the only male monastery in the County of Holland, comprised of monks from a noble background, and as such acceptable for the Nuns as peers. In addition, from the account books of the years 1451/52 and following, it is clear that the Rule of Saint Benedict concerning enclosure was taken seriously. Until 1459/60, neither the Abbess nor the sisters went to Masses of newly ordained priests, which earlier was the case. No pilgrimages were made until 1478. In 1457/58, a new grate in the parlor was welded, separating the sisters from any guests. About fifteen years later the observance of enclosure was dropped. In 1465/66 the Abbess went again on a pilgrimage and in 1471/72, Abbess Agnes van de Boekhorst tot Noortich attended baptisms and spent time with her relatives. In 1473/74, the choir-nuns once more went on excursions. So at least for a while Cusanus’ visitation can be considered as somewhat successful.
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SESSION II: (Thursday, March 1, 11:00–12:40 ):
( AAR 2.1 ) ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION: ( Thursday, 11:05–12:45, Knight ).
Presiding: Steve Johnson, Montclair State University.
“ ‘Reacting to the Past’ in an Interreligious Present.”
Christopher D. Denny. St. John’s University, NY.
This presentation will describe experiments in adapting a recently developed undergraduate pedagogy, “Reacting to the Past,” for use in church history classes. In order to increase student understanding of Christian history, I supplemented the historical role-playing “Reacting” employs with group assignments that required students to account for the various intellectual and social reasons that led to the religious controversies they had been reenacting. At the end of the semester, students were required to write a paper comparing their judgments on the historical disputes with those of the person whose persona they had been instructed to assume, and were also required to explain the differing social constructions behind these comparisons. In conclusion, while “Reacting” helps students better understand the influences shaping religious histories, its conflictual pedagogy can be detrimental in the disciplines of theology and religious studies when students have strong religious commitments and are unwilling to accept religious pluralism.
“Stubborn Western Misconstructions: Are They Asianists’ Responsibility?”
Lise Vail, Montclair State University, NJ.
Cultural misunderstandings about Eastern religions continue to plague not only American popular culture, but also our U.S. educational system. These misconstructions influence our lives as Asianist scholars and teachers profoundly. For example, high school students taught to understand India only through the caste system (treated as opposite to American equality ideals) and Hindu ‘polytheism’ (presented as opposite to Western ‘monotheism’) are subtly discouraged from taking a course in Hinduism when they attend college. Equality-oriented, monistic (or monotheistic) yoga or devotional traditions, with their greater similarity to Christian (and Buddhist) traditions, by contrast receive insufficient attention. Must we always subtly or overtly disdain 'the other'? This paper is aimed, therefore, at influencing choices Asianist scholars make in the classroom and in discussion with colleagues and neighbors. It suggests, or perhaps reminds, Asian specialists that they are rather uniquely suited to redressing misunderstandings that continue to pervade Western society and religions. The following four core features will be discussed: (1) polytheism vs. monotheism, (2) ideas of ‘idol-worship’ vs. ‘genuine’ worship, (3) Eastern assumptions of perfection or divinity as goal vs. Western assumptions that claiming godhood is dangerously egomaniacal or heretical, and finally (4) Eastern tendencies to respect religious syncretism vs. Western tendencies toward exclusivism. The oppositional thinking embedded in these four dualities is especially flawed; popular parlance presents ‘ours’ (viewed as superior), as opposed to ‘theirs’ (viewed as flawed, inferior). The paper will explore modes of disarming such stubborn oppositions, while also subtly seeking to enhance mutual respect.
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( AAR 2.2 ) RELIGION IN AMERICA A: ( Thursday, 11:10–12:30, Talbot ).
Presiding: Arthur Remillard, St. Francis College, Loretto, PA.
“American Popular – and Protestant – Impressions of Islam, 1895-1921.”
Kaley M. Carpenter, Princeton Theological Seminary.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, volunteers with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) sketched, photographed, and even filmed the people they attempted to evangelize in the Ottoman Empire. Missionaries disseminated these portrayals in the United States through letters, magazines, newspapers, books, and – at World War I’s end – through nationwide publicity campaigns that raised relief for survivors. Although such images served as the basis for news reports and American public opinion, little systematic analysis exists of them. This paper identifies and examines some of the most striking depictions of Muslim and Christian peoples that American missionaries presented to both their religious supporters and to the nation as whole. While less prone to the “Oriental” romanticizing found in American fine art and popular culture, Protestant missionaries portrayed Turks, Kurds, and Armenians to U.S. audiences with an equally stylized look and narrative that suited their own agenda.
“Terrorism and the Evangelical Pulpit: Homiletic Themes on the Sunday after 9-11.”
Miriam Perkins-Fernie, The Catholic University of America.
On the Sunday after September 11, 2001 many evangelical ministers across the nation gave sermons that addressed the events of the preceding week. This paper draws on a sample of sermons which were given at large evangelical churches throughout the nation on Sunday, September 16, 2001. The sample includes approximately twenty sermons from some of the largest evangelical churches throughout the United States. The paper offers a preliminary investigation into the arguments put forward in these sermons by proposing five central homiletic themes: evangelistic, therapeutic, moral, civic, and cosmic. The development of these themes in relation to one another enabled ministers to connect the security and fate of the nation with the personal faith of the evangelical believer.
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SESSION III : (Thursday, March 1, 2:00—4:00 )
( AAR 3.1 ) RELIGION AND PSYCHOLOGY: ( Thursday, 2:00–4:00, Knight )
Panel= Self Psychology, Religion, and Ethics.
Presiding: Henry Carrigan, Northwestern University Press.
“A Tamed Ambition: How Abraham Lincoln Tamed His Ambition, and Survived His Depressions.” Tim Helton, Drew University.
Abraham Lincoln struggled with deep and chronic depressions. As a young man, his friends, observing a bout of depression, described him as crazy. Nor were the depressive moods solely phenomena of his early adult life. Much later, during Lincoln’s service in congress, his partner said that, “Melancholy dripped from him as he walked,” and during his presidency, following a series of Union defeats, Lincoln described himself as, “as nearly inconsolable as I could be and live.” Lincoln’s depression accompanied a grandiose ambition but it also accompanied skills and talents that enabled him to tame his ambition and live with his depression. In conversation with Heinz Kohut’s theory of narcissism and the self, we will explore how Lincoln leveraged his skills to tame the ambition, and survive his depressions, and contribute significantly to the life of his nation.
“Papa Bear and Mother Eagle: Toward a Self-Psychology of the Political Left with Heinz Kohut, George Lakeoff and Stephen Colbert.”
Lydia York, Drew University.
The comedy news show The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert has grown to cult status among young generations of the political left. Colbert mimics and hyperbolizes the grandiose-narcissistic strict-father personae of radical right-wing pundits, spinning satiric confusions of nation, and religion, and gender. In this paper I employ the self-psychology of Heinz Kohut and the “nation as family” metaphor of George Lakoff to argue that Steven Colbert provides much needed mirroring and idealizing self-object functions, including an accidental symbolic patricide in the White House. Nightly intoning to his fans “like a mother eagle soaring over her young, I’ll be watching you,” Stephen acts as both mother and father to attend to the unfulfilled narcissistic needs of the political left. Can the incisively silly exhibitionism of Stephen Colbert help transform the infamous ineffectiveness of liberal politics?
“About Face: A Kohutian Turn of Levinasian Eco-Ethics.”
Eric Trozzo, Drew University.
Some environmental philosophers have used the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas as a basis for constructing a “middle ecology” that sees a human ethical responsibility for the more-than-human world. This responsibility is based on Levinas’ argument that there is an unbridgeable gap between the self and the other that necessitates an ethical obligation to the other. Yet the self-psychology of Heinz Kohut, and in particular his concept of the selfobject, calls into question Levinas’ understanding of the complete separation of the self to the other. This paper explores how the concept of selfobject can be used to critique Levinas’ concept of subjectivity and push the ecological ramifications of his “ethics of otherness” towards a deeper form of ecological ethics.
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( AAR 3.2 ) RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY B: ( Thursday, 2:00–4:40, Mather )
Presiding: Catherine Martin, The College of Saint Elizabeth.
“Jesus and Virtue Ethics in the Spirituality of Jean Vanier.”
Brian Berry, College of Notre Dame of Maryland.
Stanley Hauerwas has described L’Arche communities for the mentally handicapped as an example of an “embodied theology.” This paper explores the mutual interaction between the spiritual practices of the communities of L’Arche (including living with the poor, those from other cultures, and those of other religions) and the interpretations of Jesus and virtue ethics offered by Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, in two of his more recent writings, namely, Jesus, The Gift of Love (1994) and Made for Happiness: Discovering the Meaning of Life with Aristotle (2001). It argues that these writings of Jean Vanier are an important contemporary resource for theologians who are seeking to understand and express the relationship between Jesus, virtue ethics and spirituality within the discipline of Christian ethics, precisely because of their practical and embodied character.
“Circus Spirituality: Migrant Life and Connection to the Holy.”
Catherine Martin, The College of Saint Elizabeth.
A look at how circus people connect with the spiritual dimensions of reality within their unique context will be considered in this paper. Conversations with current members of circus troupes in the United States will be reviewed to discern patterns of seeking the holy in the midst of close living quarters and repeated movement from place to place. Most circuses have no provision for meeting the religious needs of their personnel. Because of the constant change of location, there can be no stable relationship with a single religious community of worship. Exceptions to this are provided by ministries engaged in by a few members of two religious communities of women. Accounts from the experiences of some of these women will be discussed to gain additional insight into the ways in which the circus world can be sacred space.
“Mary McAleese of Ireland: A Spirituality of Friendship.”
Elizabeth L. McCloskey, The Catholic University of America.
Ireland is a land of paradoxes, a place of unimaginable beauty and incredible suffering, a “terrible beauty,” in the words of Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Its history is marked by famine and poverty, religious oppression, a troublesome relationship with Great Britain and, in the twentieth century, a divisive partition, a sectarian conflict and increasingly in recent years, a religious cynicism. It also tugs at the imagination as the mystical and lyrical land of saints and scholars who saved civilization. It also is the home of Mary McAleese, the elected President of the Republic of Ireland. Born and raised in the religiously divided Northern Ireland, she has emerged as one shaped by, but not defined by, its historic divisions. A spirituality of friendship permeates her writing, speeches and public life. This public expression of her spirituality is the very strength that allows her to be genuinely “catholic” and to move toward reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant, between North and South and between cynic and believer in contemporary Ireland. To trace Mary McAleese’s spirituality of friendship is to: (1) examine how it emerges from the backdrop of a particular historical and cultural framework, that of being a Catholic woman coming of age during the Troubles in Northern Ireland; (2) describe how her understanding and experience of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is expressed in her writings and speeches in theological terms drawn from her own life experiences, deeply rooted in Ireland; and finally (3) depict a symbol that captures her spirituality of friendship as one grounded in her spiritual ancestry and nourished by a hope for the future, both in Ireland and beyond.
“Comparing the Spirituality of the Desert Mothers and a Contemporary Christian Feminist’s Spirituality.” Laurie Mellinger, Evangelical School of Theology, Myerstown, PA.
The sayings attributed to women in the alphabetical collection of “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers” offer some important themes characteristic of their spirituality: silence, attentive listening, and vigilance; disciplined ascetic practices; patience, perseverance, and endurance; and humility and compassion. Selected works by Benedictine nun Joan Chittister also yield intriguing concepts: renewed focuses on feeling and intuition; dialogue and flexibility; humility and compassion; and balance and reintegration. These two spiritualities, both produced predominantly by women monastics, demonstrate similarities in their refusal to use words to control others and in their insistence on humility and compassion. However, they diverge substantially on their perceptions of the value of emotion and intuition, and their understandings of submission and engagement. The analysis concludes by positing a connection between contemporary Benedictine spirituality and women’s desert spirituality by way of the ammas’ influence on the abbas of the desert, depicted by Cassian and read by Benedict.
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( AAR 3.3 ) RELIGION IN AMERICA B: ( Thursday, 2:00–4:40, Talbot )
Presiding: Arthur Remillard, St. Francis University, Loretto, PA.
“Is the Catholic Tradition Over? A Report from the Field.”
Patrick Hayes, St. John’s University, NY.
Christian Smith’s recent major study on the spirituality of America’s teenagers, particularly Catholic adolescents, reveals a troubling picture. Not only do teenagers seem to be rejecting the major religious tenets of their respective religious traditions, there is an accompanying lack of concern on the part of many teens to investigate their faith outright. A frequent complaint is that traditional religion is undergoing either being dumbed-down to keep younger people interested. At the extreme, many are lamenting the eventual demise of traditional religiosity in this country. For Catholics, this is probably most evident by the dearth of clergy—an ecclesiological phenomenon that affects several facets of the Church’s sacramental and pastoral life.
What is meant by “traditional religion” or, indeed, of Tradition itself? In this paper, I offer five tentative insights from current work being undertaken by members of the “Generational Group” affiliated with a research project based at Fordham University, “Passing on the Faith, Passing on the Church.” This group is self-charged with investigating whether what is emerging in the Catholic Church is, in fact, a problem. It is also trying to detect how the wider culture is influencing adolescent religiosity. Five factors seem to be emerging in our collaborative work: a) attention to the meaning of Tradition among younger generations of Catholics; b) best practices in other churches; c) the role of media in shaping Catholic thought; d) multiculturalism in the U.S. church; and e) the work of social justice. I will give some highly preliminary assessments about how these five factors are shaping the ecclesial understanding and catechetical mission in American Catholicism today for people under thirty.
“ ‘True’ and ‘Un-True’ Americans: Anti-Catholicism, Civil Religion(s), and the Murder of Father James Coyle.” Arthur Remillard, St. Francis University, Loretto, PA.
On August 11, 1921 in Birmingham, Alabama, Methodist minister Edwin Stephenson shot and killed Father James Coyle, a Catholic priest. The subject of the dispute was Stephenson’s eighteen-year-old daughter, who Coyle had recently wed to a forty-three year old Catholic Puerto Rican. During the October trial, Hugo Black (a future U.S. Supreme Court Justice) defended Stephenson before an all-white Protestant jury who acquitted the minister despite the evidence. An examination of the Coyle affair unveils, among other things, two competing civil religions. Historians of Southern civil religion during this era have tended to underemphasize Catholicism and focus instead on the Lost Cause. As the details of this murder reveal, however, members of the faith could instigate an impassioned debate about the definition of patriotism. Catholics and their detractors both believed that they were “true” Americans, and that their opposition was anything but.
“Saint John the Evangelist Church as a Case-Study in a Spatial Analysis of Early National Catholic Philadelphia.” Katie Oxx, St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.
Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Philadelphia (1831), a bold and ostentatious structure designed to outshine local Protestant churches and attest to the success of Catholicism, is an ideal site for a case-study of Catholic spatiality. Saint John’s reveals a rich, multi-layered, urban religiosity and offers a new model of the historical development of the city and the American church. It presents a unique perspective on inter-religious interactions with Catholic presence as part of and not marginal to the larger urban environment. Using space as a unit of analysis of Saint John’s complicates the division between public and private and reveals urban religious sites as highly contested. It also incorporates sacramental, imaginative, and transnational characteristics not always evident in non-Catholic spaces.
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( AAR 3.4 ) RELIGIOUS ETHICS B: ( Thursday, 2:00–4:00, White Oak A )
Panel = Residents or Resident Aliens? Hauerwas and Detachment in Contemporary Christianity.
Presiding: Angela Sims, Union Theological Seminary, VA – PSCE.
“A Critique of the ‘Resident Alien’ Movement.
David Krueger, Temple University.
This paper points to a recent trend among Evangelical Christians who have grown disenchanted with the Religious Right and its identification with conservative political agenda to ‘Win America for Christ’. They have adopted an apolitical stance toward world that is quite similar to the ‘Resident Alien’ motif of Stanley Hauerwas. These movements resist direct political involvement but instead emphasize a Hauerwasian notion of privileging the church as the exclusive locus of ethical activity. I will highlight two examples of this new trend as exemplified through the writings of Pastor Greg Boyd of Woodland Hills Church and literature from the Emerging Church Movement. I will argue that this cynical withdrawal from the public is as dangerous to the health of American Democracy as is the Religious Right’s agenda to ‘Christianize’ America.
“Is King a Constantinian or an Alien? Resident Aliens and the Life and Work of Martin Luther King, Jr.” Charles Brian McAdams, Temple University.
In their wildly popular Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon called upon the church to be a “Christian colony,” rejecting what they called a Constantinian ecclesiology that assumes the church should serve the world. Rather, they contend the Church should serve as an alternative to the world. Though they point to the 1960s as a turning point in the relationship between the church and society, Resident Aliens is virtually silent about the Civil Rights Movement or Martin Luther King. Both Resident Aliens and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement are powerful influences in contemporary Christianity. Both articulate roles for the church in civil society. Therefore, this paper juxtaposes Hauerwas and Willimon’s articulation of the proper role of the church with the life and work of King. This paper seeks to answer the question: How does King measure up to Hauerwas and Willimon’s ecclesiology, particularly as it was articulated in Resident Aliens?
“Global Residents: The Myth of the Christian Colony.”
Patricia Way, Temple University.
This paper asserts that the “Christian colony” motif, espoused by Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon in Resident Aliens, is insufficient for addressing the concept of “neighbor” in the current global paradigm. Christian detachment from the world lacks a theology that might address the relationship between first world Christians and people of the two-thirds world upon whom they depend. The notion of “resident aliens” also lacks a model for how embodied Christians might live and act in the world in light of this global relationship. As an alternative to Hauerwasian escapism, this paper explores a Christian activism that seeks to engage the world and challenge the systems of global inequality that often implicate Christians in their everyday lives. By highlighting two groups, the Sisters of the Holy Cross and the Religious Working Group, and their simultaneous lived identities as Christians and activists working to effect global economic change, this paper exposes the myth of the Christian colony and the reality of being global residents.
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( AAR 3.5 ) THEOLOGY A: ( Thursday, 2:00–4:40, White Oak B )
Presiding: Michael Kogan, Montclair State University.
“Jacques Dupuis’ Theology of Religion and the Postmodern Religious Sensibilities.”
Craig A. Baron, St. John’s University, NY.
Christian theology is afforded a new opportunity to be heard in the public conversation of the postmodern age by the re-enchantment of the world. But how can theology be relevant in a world that proclaims the end of all meta-narratives? The theology of Jacques Dupuis can help to provide guidance, especially through his analysis of religious pluralism. Working from the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ and a tri-personal understanding of the divine essence, he searches for a theological perspective that can combine these beliefs with the ways of salvation of other religious traditions. It is an inductive method that is carried out in the specific context of an interfaith encounter that assumes a unified divine plan. Dupuis’ work on a Christian theology of religious pluralism, then, can be used as a model for thinking about revelation and religious experience that avoids the pitfalls of foundationalism.
“The Influence of Vatican II on Yves Congar’s Theology of the Laity.”
Rose M. Beal, The Catholic University of America.
Dominican theologian Yves Congar is hailed as one of the theologians who exercised the most influence upon the Second Vatican Council, both by his pre-conciliar theological writings and by his energetic participation as a theological advisor to the Council. Indeed, his theological fingerprints are clearly discernable on Lumen Gentium, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, in its description of lay participation in the three-fold office of Christ. Yet Congar not only gave but also received at the Council; the development between his early and late theologies of the laity can be attributed directly to his own theological experience and development at the Council. Following a brief sketch of Congar’s earlier and later theologies, this paper draws on Congar’s private journals and other reflections to discover three key conciliar events that spurred the theological development manifested in his later theology of the laity and to illuminate their impact on his thought.
“Boethius’ Use of Augustine’s De Trinitate.”
David Barbee, The University of Pennsylvania.
Théodore de Régnon’s “Études de théologie positive sur la Sainté Trinité” has served as the foundation of many explorations of Augustine’s Trinitarian thought by systematic theologians. His works posits a dualism between Greek and Latin theologies in which the Latin Augustine began his Trinitarian exploration from divine oneness and explained his thought with a deficient psychological model. In contrast, historians Lewis Ayres and Michel Réne Barnes have pointed toward Augustine’s participation in a common Nicene theology and contend that the jumping off point is divine simplicity, followed by a discussion of the divine relations. In light of these conflicting interpretations, it may be instructive to turn toward a later Augustinian interpreter to determine which school of thought has more validity. To that end, Boethius’ use of Augustine will be explored. Boethius claims to be a disciple of Augustine and, as such, his thought may be helpful in resolving the tension.
“Rahner’s Contribution to an Ecological Theology.”
Michael Canaris, Fordham University.
Karl Rahner, S.J., perhaps the preeminent Catholic theologian of the twentieth century, establishes a systematic theological schema throughout his extensive corpus of writings. His unique and nuanced overarching framework informs a variety of philosophical and theological reflections even today. Thus, his influence has long-reaching effects, even in areas of thought upon which he did not directly comment. One such area is the discipline of ecological theology. While Rahnerian writings are replete with discussions of how humanity can epistemologically know the divine, receptively exist as open to His grace, interact with the Creator lovingly, recognize the divine in the material, etc., he does not formulate an explicit synthesis which we would today call an eco-theology. However, it is my contention that Rahnerian writings not only lend themselves nicely to such a synthesis, but have themselves greatly shaped the rise of ecological theological approaches in the latter part of the last century and into contemporary times. I am guided in this hypothesis by Michael Petty and by no means take credit for being the first to recognize Rahner’s role in this discipline. Like Petty, I hope to show that Rahner “provides us with a theology that always strives to see all things - God, human being, the world -in their interrelatedness… a theology that is profoundly ecological even though…it was not his intention to construct a theological response to the ecological crisis.” Michael W. Petty. A Faith That Loves the Earth: The Ecological Theology of Karl Rahner. (New York: University Press of America,1996), vi.
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SESSION IV: (Thursday, March 1, 4:10–6:20 pm ):
( AAR 4.1 ) MAR-AAR PLENARY: ( Thursday, 5:20–6:20, White Oak A )
Presiding: Henry Carrigan, Northwestern University Press.
“Confessional Christian Theology in the Context of the Wider Human and Religious Conversation.” Roger Haight, Union Theological Seminary, NY.
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