Self Actualization And The Radical Gospel

Can today’s Christians reconcile a belief in self-actualization with the extreme ethical demands of the New Testament? The author argues that they can, although not easily, and that the felt uneasiness between two concerns—self-fulfillment and self-gift—may generate a healthy tension. There is then an apparent mismatch between two views of ethics. On the one hand, psychological humanism is based on self-affirmation, acceptance of one’s limitations, moderation, and the search for a quality of life in the midst of globalization. On the other hand, the radicalism of the gospel emphasizes passion (in the two senses of this word), self-transcendence towards the infinite, and generosity for God and others. Nonetheless, these two tendencies are neither incompatible nor easily reconcilable. The book uncovers both the pitfalls of self-actualization and the misleading interpretations that have disfigured the radical gospel. It highlights the developmental factors, views of human life, successes, and failures which play a considerable role in a person’s journey. It brings psychological, biblical, philosophical, theological, and pastoral clarifications to bear on the issues. This book will help its readers to grasp what a psychologically informed Christian ethic can be, both intellectually and practically.

Can today's Christians reconcile a belief in self-actualization with the extreme ethical demands of the New Testament? The author argues that they can, although not easily, and that the felt uneasiness between two concerns--self-fulfillment and self-gift--may generate a healthy tension. There is then an apparent mismatch between two views of ethics. On the one hand, psychological humanism is based on self-affirmation, acceptance of one's limitations, moderation, and the search for a quality of life in the midst of globalization. On the other hand, the radicalism of the gospel emphasizes passion (in the two senses of this word), self-transcendence towards the infinite, and generosity for God and others. Nonetheless, these two tendencies are neither incompatible nor easily reconcilable. The book uncovers both the pitfalls of self-actualization and the misleading interpretations that have disfigured the radical gospel. It highlights the developmental factors, views of human life, successes, and failures which play a considerable role in a person's journey. It brings psychological, biblical, philosophical, theological, and pastoral clarifications to bear on the issues. This book will help its readers to grasp what a psychologically informed Christian ethic can be, both intellectually and practically.

From the Preface: "Get real" was a slang term that became popular in the 1960's when Michael Hickey was growing up in East Boston. It implied that someone wasn't in touch with reality and had to change their way of thinking or living. If you put on the television today, all you might find is one of the hundreds of so-called reality TV shows. More often than not, these reality shows are illusions of reality because the "real persons" utilized as actors/performers are seemingly coached to act in certain ways by the directors, judges, or producers who really control the reality. Nonetheless, reality TV is a modern phenomenon; people watch it constantly, and that does indicate a high degree of the public's interest in some concept of reality. As for "mystery," it seems we are approaching an age where there will be the death of mystery, and we will have only reality. Hickey believes this is because the vast majority of the populace doesn't view reality in the context of mystery. They imagine mystery to be something which is just obscure or ambiguous, which given enough time, will be solved by reason and logic and become reality. Hickey's goal is that Get Real will give the reader a fresh understanding of both reality and mystery as seen from a theological and philosophical viewpoint. Ultimately, he intends the reader to move beyond the perceived duality in order to establish that mystery is truly the home of all reality.

Taking account of the widespread indifference, scepticism, and distrust of organised religion in the West, Louis Roy begins The Three Dynamisms of Faith with the human concern about hope and about a reachable happiness, both in our contemporary world and in the Bible. He then traces these themes in three historic giants of Christian thinking: Thomas Aquinas, John Henry Newman, and Bernard Lonergan.

Throughout this book, Louis Roy illustrates his conviction that Christianity consists in the most profound experience to which human beings are invited by God. This experience involves meaning and truth, hope and love, suffering and joy, solidarity and critique. It is a space of freedom, where diverse persons seek the light and make their decisions, interacting with the intellectual and affective resources of their culture. Faith is understood as a personal and communal adventure--a sequence of real life experiences. The book proposes an articulate and coherent vision of the Christian faith. It surveys the complementary dimensions of Christian experience. It points to various paths, traveled by different people. It offers an actualization for our time, that is, a road map that is at the same time flexible and in keeping with truth. It engages in a dialogue with psychology and with non-Christian views, for example on meditation and on reincarnation. The book is addressed to a large audience of educated readers, who are likely to be very interested in its biblical, philosophical, psychological, sociological, interreligious, and pastoral components. Its originality consists in bringing together the interactions between several disciplines, in a practical way.

Critical belonging has been an essential feature of Christianity since its origin, but the forms it assumes understandably differ with the specific challenges Christians rise to meet throughout history. During the past two thousand years, these challenges have covered a broad spectrum: epistemic, moral, political, economic, religious, and spiritual. In our global society, all of these challenges seem to be occurring at once. Since no individual can meet all of them adequately, Toward a catholic Christianity tries to show how by working collaboratively the “people of God” can credibly meet them together. In this way, the diversity and unity within the Roman Catholic community are explicitly acknowledged and affirmed. For if that community is to become authentically Christian, it will need to become more genuinely catholic.

This book offers a philosophical account of ordinary consciousness as a step toward understanding mystical consciousness. Presupposing a living interaction between meditation and thinking, the work draws on Western and Japanese thinkers to develop a philosophy of religion that is friendly to the experience of meditators and that can explore such themes as emptiness, nothingness, and the self. Western thinkers considered include Plotinus, Eckhart, Schleiermacher, Heidegger, Brentano, Husserl, Sartre, and Lonergan; and Japanese thinkers referenced include Nishitani, Hisamatsu, and Suzuki. All employed centering prayer, Zen, or other forms of mental concentration. Particular emphasis is placed on the work of twentieth-century Catholic philosopher Bernard Lonergan, whose writings on consciousness can inform an understanding of mysticism.

In this rich book Matthew Levering explores nine key virtues that we need to die (and live) well: love, hope, faith, penitence, gratitude, solidarity, humility, surrender, and courage. Retrieving and engaging a variety of biblical, theological, historical, and medical resources, Levering journeys through the various stages and challenges of the dying process, beginning with the fear of annihilation and continuing through repentance and gratitude, suffering and hope, before arriving finally at the courage needed to say goodbye to one’s familiar world. Grounded in careful readings of Scripture, the theological tradition, and contemporary culture, Dying and the Virtues comprehensively and beautifully shows how these nine virtues effectively unite us with God, the One who alone can conquer death.