In Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge, and the Natural World, Lisa H. Sideris makes a compelling case that a new cosmology movement advocates for a new, universal, creation story grounded in the sciences. She fears the new story reinforces elite power structures and anthropocentrism and thus environmental degradation. Alternatively, she promotes genuine wonder which occurs in experiences of the natural world. As Sideris focuses on the likely logical outcome of the assumptions and arguments of the new cosmologies, she does not investigate (...) whether and how people react to these new myths. I suggest that methods of documentary studies, applied to popular book reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, shed light on the ramifications of the new cosmologies among the general public. While many reviewers exhibit attitudes and behaviors that would concern Sideris, responses are far from univocal. Using this case as a guide, I suggest that attention to the experience of laypeople could contribute productively to religion and science research in general. (shrink)

Fermina Álvarez Alonso | : Contrairement à ce qui avait été reconnu précédemment, on a été frappé du surprenant silence et du manque de réception théologico-juridique des instituts séculiers durant le concile Vatican II. Beaucoup de membres de ces instituts s’attendaient à ce que le concile Vatican II accorde une attention particulière aux nouvelles formes de vie consacrée, en précise la nature, l’action, indique le lieu qui leur convienne dans le corps organique de l’Église et, enfin, exprime un jugement positif (...) à leur égard. Mais, en fin de compte, ils ne furent mentionnés que brièvement au no 11 de Perfectae Caritatis et dans le Décret Ad Gentes. Un excursus historique présente les instituts séculiers depuis leur reconnaissance juridique initiale en 1947, à travers la Constitution apostolique Provida Mater Ecclesia, et met en évidence, en particulier, la contribution apportée par quelques religieux clarétains comme Tabera et Larraona, qui travaillèrent à l’approbation de cette réalité. En suivant la trace des instituts séculiers durant les travaux du concile Vatican II jusqu’à l’étape préparatoire, on a retrouvé quelques interventions qui mettaient en relief leur nouveauté et leur apport pour l’Église. Les instituts séculiers, bien qu’impliqués dans les discussions sur les religieux, seraient davantage à inclure dans l’environnement laïc ; en fait, les caractéristiques de sécularité, de mission et d’état de perfection lié aux conseils évangéliques, sont le patrimoine commun de tous les chrétiens du fait de leur consécration baptismale. Ainsi, à travers une diversité multiforme de formes juridiques, aux dons et charismes élargis dans l’Église, les laïcs rendent possible le prolongement de l’Incarnation. | : Contrary to that which has previously been affirmed, in the Second Vatican Council one observes a surprising silence about and an absence of a theological-juridical reception of secular institutes. Many members of these secular institutes expected the Second Vatican Council to give special attention to the new forms of consecrated life, to clarify their nature and action, to indicate the place they would have in the organic body of the Church and, finally, to express a judgment encouraging such institutes. In the end, however, they are mentioned briefly in no. 11 of Perfectae Caritatis and in the Decree Ad Gentes. An historical excursus presents secular institutes from their first juridical recognition in 1947, in the Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesiae, and in particular the contribution made by a few Claretian religious, such as Tabera and Larraona, who worked for the approval of this reality, is pointed out. Following the journey of the secular institutes during the work of the Second Vatican Council from the preparatory phase, a few interventions are extracted which demonstrate their originality and their contribution to the Church. Secular institutes, while forming part of the discussion regarding religious, should also be included in the discussion regarding the laity ; in fact, the characteristic of being secular, of mission, and of a life of perfection reached through the evangelical counsels are the common patrimony of all Christians as a result of their baptismal consecration, and under a variety of juridical forms, according to the gifts and charisms bestowed upon the Church, the laity make possible an extension of the Incarnation. (shrink)

Dans deux études à paraître, José Luis Garcia Ramón et moi avons proposé de nouvelles interprétations de quelques épiclèses de la déesse thessalienne Ennodia : Ennodia est Κορουταρρα, « celle qui fait grandir », et plus précisément « celle qui dote de nourriture / de croissance », Στροπικά, déesse « aux éclairs », porteuse de lumière, et encore Μυκαικα, « déesse des tombeaux ». Cette interprétation nouvelle de l’épiclèse Μυκαικα apporte un témoignage supplémentaire sur le caractère de déesse protectrice des (...) tombeaux qu’il faut reconnaître à Ennodia. Ce caractère d’Ennodia peut être confirmé encore par la réinterprétation d’une autre inscription thessalienne, la dédicace IG IX 2, 592, de Larisa. L’on peut en effet reconnaître dans ce texte fragmentaire une consécration à Ennodia d’un enclos funéraire et l’on peut y restituer de plus une autre épiclèse de la déesse, épiclèse qu’a fait connaître une dédicace d’Azôros récemment publiée par P. Chrysostomou, pour Ἐννοδία Ἰλιάδι.In two studies currently awaiting publication, José Luis Garcia Ramón and I have proposed new interpretations of some epithets of the Thessalian goddess Ennodia: Ennodia is Κορουταρρα, ‘the one who makes grow’ and, more precisely, ‘the one who provides food’, Στροπικά ‘the goddess who carries lightning’, and Μυκαικα, ‘goddess of the tombs’. This new interpretation of this last epiclesis gives us new evidence on the character of Ennodia as protectress of the tombs. This character of Ennodia can now be confirmed by the reinterpretation of another votive inscription, IG IX 2, 592, from Larisa. It is possible to recognize in this fragmentary inscription the consecration of a funerary enclosure to Ennodia; here we can make the restitution of another epiclesis of Ennodia, an epiclesis which is now seen in a votive inscription coming from Azoros in northern Thessaly and recently published, with the formula Ἐννοδία Ἰλιάδι. (shrink)

In the Infamous Opening Sections from Part IX of Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche celebrates a strident kind of elitism and countenances, in however attenuated a form, the institution of slavery. “Every enhancement of the type ‘man,’” he writes, “has so far been the work of an aristocratic society—and it will be so again and again—a society that believes in the long ladder of an order of rank and difference in worth [Werthverschiedenheit] between man and man, and that needs slavery (...) [Sklaverei] in some sense or other” (257). In the section that follows, Nietzsche describes a “good and healthy aristocracy” as “accept[ing] with a good conscience the sacrifice of untold human beings who, for its sake [um ihretwillen] .. (shrink)

I employ William Alston’s account of speech act theory in order to analyze the concept of consecration. I describe consecrations as EXERCITIVE-type illocutionary acts, whereby objects are distinguished for God’s use. I test my reasoning and definition on the first instance of consecration in Scripture, the consecration of the Sabbath. This allows me to probe further the necessary and sufficient conditions for veridical consecrations. Finally, I describe that the speech act of consecration brings about an ownership (...) relation between God and the consecrated object. (shrink)

Edmund Burke characterizes the state as consecrated, or sacred. There is a sense in which Hegel, too, consecrates the state: Hegel says the state is based on religion and that to preserve the state, religion “must be carried into it, in buckets and bushels.” This paper discusses the sense in which Hegel’s state is consecrated by juxtaposing his views with Burke’s. Both Burke and Hegel reject the theory of the divine right of kings, while recognizing religion’s ability to connect people (...) to a totality transcending their particular lives. But the similarities nearly end there. Burke sees religion as a tie that binds people and helps create an ethical community, at least in England; for Hegel religion does not have that function in a modern state. Where Burke thinks commitment to religion is a stabilizing influence, Hegel worries that religion can lead to fanaticism and destroy a state. Consequently, where Burke supports an establishment of religion, Hegel thinks church and state must remain separate. Both Burke and Hegel think the state must tolerate the free exercise of different religions, but Burke is unwilling for the state to tolerate atheists, who he regards as outlaws of the human race. But as Hegel sees the function of religion in a modern state as providing an answer to the existential question of how one’s existence has meaning given that it is inevitably extinguished, and if philosophy can also provide an answer to that question, Hegel’s consecrated state could be a home for atheists. The paper draws on, among other works, Hegel’s Rechtsphilosophie, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of History, early theological writings, and for Hegel’s views on state-sponsored religious education, the Nürnberg School Addresses and letters to Niethammer. (shrink)

The present paper provides a comparative analysis of imperial and canonical legislation concerning the abduction of lay or consecrated women in the 4th century, when both legislations delineated the distinctive features of the abovementioned crimen. The imperial law showed both an extreme severity towards abductors and a leniency towards lay and consecrated women, who were considered innocent; however, women were not allowed to live together with their abductors. The canonical legislation also severely punished abductors and considered lay women innocent; however, (...) contrary to the provisions in the civil laws, the ecclesiastical legislation condemned consecrated women who consented to abduction. The paper aims to reconstruct the basic outline of both legislative systems and to identify a set of key features that might describe female submission to both the will of male members of the family and to the provisions in the canonical laws: indeed, the consent to abduction often represented an extreme attempt on the part of women to determine their own lives. (shrink)

How did it become possible to philosophize about history? Man has generally sought to locate himself in natural space rather than in historical time. The various oriental philosophies give no place to history. “Humanistic” Greece herself, in other respects so eager to explore human conduct in all its characteristic dimensions and in all its aspects, prudently recoiled from anything which might give value to time or cause history to appear as the specifically human mode of existence. No other culture, perhaps, (...) carried so far the concern for harmonizing human relationships, and yet the idea of progress was completely lacking in it. The organization of the terrestrial city always remained the central point of the reflection of Greek poets and philosophers, who were almost all teachers and law-givers—but they never thought to situate the true destiny of man in the historical world, much less to grant man a place in the universe which would make him forget the precariousness of his condition and his subordination to that which surpasses him. And, if we listen to Aristotle: “The life of moral virtue,” he says, “is happy only in a secondary degree. For the moral activities are purely human, ανθρωπικαι.” Naturally, “it is true that, being a man and living in the society of others, he chooses to engage in virtuous action, and so will need external goods to carry on his life as a human being, πρos τo ανθρωπɛνɛσθαι.” But we must take care not to assert “that man is superior to the other animals … since there are other things far more divine in their nature than man, for instance, to mention the most visible (ϕανɛρωτατα), the things of which the things of which the celestial system is composed.” Aristotle was referring to the stars—and, indeed, it was in the circular motions of the luminaries, much more than in the human domain, that the classic Greeks saw that which is manifested in being with the greatest splendor. If we limit ourselves to the specifically human—as do those whom Plotinus designates under the frankly disdainful term oι ανθρωπικωτɛρoι—we risk losing contact with the Good that revolves in the cosmos and is our sole guaranty against the senseless non-being which threatens us from every side. Under these conditions the question of knowing whether or not history has meaning, and whether or not it is provided with an appropriate logic which expresses the profound structure of our being, appears meaningless. (shrink)

In response to Lisa Sideris's provocative new book Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge and the Natural World and in conversation with voices from feminist technoscience, this article challenges the deracinated wonder of new cosmology encounters in two senses. First, by tracing how it is uprooted from critical perspectives on scientific knowledge production. And second, by contending deracinated wonder is ripped from cultural and historical contexts thus erasing embodied inequalities. Deracinated wonder attached to uncritical forms of science, I argue, solidifies new cosmology (...) as an investment in white environmentalism by directing religion and ecology away from pluralities of encounter and the affective weight of environmental degradation and environmental racism. (shrink)

Rousseau as Author will be a groundbreaking book not just for Rousseau scholars, but for anyone studying Enlightenment ideas about authorship and responsibility.

Walker, David 'When our first parents were driven out of Paradise, Adam is believed to have remarked to Eve; My dear, we live in an age of transition'. When we look back at the past decades, and look ahead, we could consider we too are living in an age of transition. Looking back we often take the Second Vatican Council as the point where change began. However, the seeds of what flowered at the council and have continued to bear fruit (...) after it were planted well before it. The future is not clear, yet we can expect that significant change will be part of it. As we reflect on our changing situation, it would be helpful to keep in mind another comment of Dean Inge: 'There are two kinds of fools: one says, "This is old, therefore it is good"; the other says, "This is new, therefore it is better" '. (shrink)

The Mahāyāna ideal isaprati $$\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} $$ hā-nirvā $$\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{n} $$ a — liberation with a basis in neithersa $$\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{m} $$ sāra nornirvā $$\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{n} $$ a, that is to say, neither in the conventional world nor in the true nature of all things (Nagao 1981). Through the consecration proceedings ayidam, Buddha, or Bodhisattva is established insa $$\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{m} $$ sāra. Through the employment of the mirror in the consecration ritual, thatyidam, Buddha, or Bodhisattva participates in the actual nature of all (...) things as they are — unestablished, devoid of own nature, like reflected images in a mirror. If the mirror does not resolve the paradox of consecrating the unconsecratable, it holds up a mirror to the impossible mystery of transcendent immanence. (shrink)

Ever since the first elite business schools were founded in Europe and the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, they have enjoyed an intimate relationship with economics. Despite some notable analyses of economics’ importance for the successful institutionalization of business schools, an understanding of the relation between economics and elite business schools requires further development. As such, this paper focuses on ‘economics as symbolic capital’ for the consecration of business schools as elite settings, with particular emphasis (...) on the symbolic aspects of economics’ cultural and social capital. Consecration can be seen as critical to the institutionalization of elite business schools; in contrast to the primary focus of previous studies on the material significance of economics in business schools, my chief concern is the discipline’s symbolic power and importance for business schools’ status as elite institutions in many countries today. Data from a study on Sweden’s elite business school, The Stockholm School of Economics, were based on both historical and contemporary sources, including archival material, biographies, statistics, participant observations, and interviews with faculty and students. The SSE is one of the world’s oldest elite business schools where economics has played a critical role ever since its establishment; the SSE’s economics faculty has a unique relation to the ultimate source of capital for contemporary global economics, namely, The Nobel Prize in Economics, which exerts a significant influence on the discipline’s general standing and status today. (shrink)

The article considers the dynamics of various religious orders and other institutes of consecrated life in the UGCC and the characteristics of their institutionalization in the context of the needs of Ukrainian society.

Barker, Ken One of the lasting fruits of the wide-spread experience of the renewal in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council has been the surprising emergence of new expressions of consecrated life. The Missionaries of God's Love (MGL) is an Australian example of this renaissance. Founded in Canberra in 1986 as a small fraternity of young men around a priest, the MGL brothers have now grown to more than twenty in final vows and more than thirty in formation. (...) The MGL sisters, founded in Canberra in 1987, possess the same charism, but with a separate identity and expression. They currently have six in final vows and fifteen members. To understand the new ecclesial energy that has generated this resurgence of desire for consecrated life, it is necessary to examine the ecclesial context in which the Missionaries of God's Love was born. Three main movements of the Spirit have provided this new ecclesial environment, which has proved conducive to the birth of a new way of consecrated life. (shrink)

Thomas Aquinas says that the eucharistic words of consecration – ‘This is my body’ (‘Hoc est corpus meum’) – are uttered by the consecrating priest both ‘significatively’ (‘significative’) and ‘recitatively’ (‘recitative’). This allows him to simultaneously account for the reference of the indexicals ‘this’ and ‘my’, the first of which must apply to some present substance, and the second of which must refer not to the priest but to Christ. This joint significative and recitative use can be distinguished from (...) other semantic and pragmatic features that the words exhibit, which I call significative productivity and instrumental representation: the words produce what they signify, and the speaker acts as an instrument of another, whom the speaker represents. Other sacramental forms share these features. What’s distinctive about the words of consecration is how they exhibit them – as a recitation. This recitative use can be explained by distinguishing between the sacramental gesture (such as the pouring of holy water or the anointing with oil) and the sacramental speech act (that is, the uttering of words that signify and produce the sacrament). In the eucharist, the sacramental gesture and sacramental speech act are one and the same. Despite identifying this intriguing linguistic phenomenon, Aquinas doesn’t fully explain. Puzzles linger, one of which concerns whether the recited words are also asserted. (shrink)

The subtitle of Rousseau as Author refers to Rousseau’s motto, which elegantly describes the gist of Rousseau’s now commonly practiced ideas of authorship and responsibility, and concerns three overlapping issues: Rousseau’s well-known truthtelling in matters public and private, his devotion to a peculiar understanding of philosophy as a way of life, and his singular boldness in making statements that he knew could result in literary and political persecution. As Kelly says, the focus of the book is on the third issue, (...) but ultimately the book’s intention is to “show the preconditions” for a “full treatment of Rousseau’s understanding of philosophy”. (shrink)

This article discusses the ascetic–eschatological dimension of consecrated life through the lens of death. Death is not understood as an impenetrable border which separates the two worlds but as a fluid cell membrane which binds time and eternity. The phenomenon of death in consecrated life is perceived in three ritual events: baptism, religious consecration and physical death. These three moments make the so–called 3D transformation which is not only in these three events but through asceticism it is extended to (...) the whole existence of the consecrated person. Ascetic way of living is the membrane where eschaton transcends its own borders. The effort of asceticism and joy of eschaton in consecrated life are two sides of the same reality. Considering the relation between asceticism and eschaton, a convent could be named a heavenly embassy and consecrated people heavenly ambassadors. (shrink)

The merits of these two books speak for themselves. The topic chosen by the author is one that is very much alive today and one that has provoked much discussion, some superficial, some quite definitely soul-searching. To this latter the author has made a very valuable contribution. Religious of either sex will be the poorer for ignoring these two works. He states clearly some biting truths which lay bare the deep laden fears which militate against really choosing fully a vocation—a (...) choice which is for better or for worse. The demands of a vocation are always there as a challenge. In fact ‘a feeling of revulsion from the sacrificial element, an experience of turning away can be in fact the first experienced states of a person in whom the divine call truly exists’. (shrink)

This article explores some of the benefits and pitfalls of applying rights language and legislation to the debate over whether to consecrate women as bishops in the Church of England. Secular feminists have pointed out tensions between the concept of women's rights and religious freedom which highlight conflicts in law between religious and gender identities. Women priests have not, as yet, used equal opportunities legislation as a tool to allow women to be consecrated as bishops and faith communities are exempt (...) from this legislation. Wood argues that this exemption is not entirely `safe' due to the established status of the Church of England but the question remains as to whether equal opportunities legislation is the best basis for consecrating women as bishops. (shrink)

This article explores the phenomenon of consecration, which, so far, has been neglected by sociologists of intellectuals. Contrary to the common Bourdieusian approach to consecration, which conflates it with legitimization, consecration is conceptualized as a process of the symbolic elevation of a figure, or an object, to the level of sacred symbols relevant to a particular community. Five analytically distinctive elements are identified that constitute the consecration process and a proposed framework is applied to disentangle the (...) consecration of the Czech philosopher, and martyr of anti-communist dissent, Jan Patočka. In this analysis, original data are used to uncover repressed facts about the life of this intellectual icon. (shrink)

Trop peu connu des théologiens et des communautés chrétiennes, l'accord oecuménique Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist Between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East n'en est pas moins significatif au plan ecclésiologique, liturgique et dogmatique. Il invite à accueillir les différences légitimes et suggère aux catholiques occidentaux de revisiter la théologie médiévale de l'eucharistie.

The adjective ἱερός is a central term in Greek religion and is used in various contexts. Generally translated ‘sacred’, it indicates that an object has been conceded to the gods and is now in relation with them (relation of belonging, protection, etc.). It appears frequently in Greek inscriptions in the expression τὰ ἱερά, to designate sacred objects or, in a more abstract meaning, sacred matters.