Transcendent Mystery In Man

Annotation A robust philosophical and theological discussion of the theantropic consciousness from earliest times through manifestions such as shamanism and through modern times including the work of de Chardin and Pope Benedict X111. Judeo-Christian traditions are discussed as are Greek philosophical traditions. Author is senior Catholic theologian and philosopher.

“We fell in love with Jesus. Then we had to decide what to do with God.” In Transcending Mysteries: Who Is God, and What Does He Want from Us? Andrew Greer and Ginny Owens take readers on a journey to answer the question: is the God of the Old Testament the same God we relate to and worship today? As the most definitive written revelation of who God is, Scripture has always been vital to the stories of the Christian faith. The Old Testament has proved especially tough for those who have been persuaded by the gracious gospel of Jesus but also desire to surrender to a God they don’t fully comprehend. We adore the Son of God, but what about God the Father? Using Old Testament stories Andrew and Ginny help Christ-followers reconcile a New Testament Redeemer with an Old Testament God and understand what God really wants from His people. They dialog back and forth as they share their own stories of struggle and surrender. Their comments are separated by speaker identifiers that are used throughout. Features include: Old Testament stories that are completed in Jesus' message Dialog between Andrew Greer and Ginny Owens Music lyrics from Andrew and Ginny that illustrate biblical truths Thought-provoking questions for reflection or study

In the tradition of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, a winner of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books shows how four tools enabled has us humans to control the destiny of our species "A wondrous, visionary work." --Tim Flannery, scientist and author of the bestselling The Weather Makers What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Readers of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution -- a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones -- caused a cultural explosion. In Transcendence, Gaia Vince argues instead that modern humans are the product of a nuanced coevolution of our genes, environment, and culture that goes back into deep time. She explains how, through four key elements -- fire, language, beauty, and time -- our species diverged from the evolutionary path of all other animals, unleashing a compounding process that launched us into the Space Age and beyond. Provocative and poetic, Transcendence shows how a primate took dominion over nature and turned itself into something marvelous.

Atheism and Salvation is an original and unique work that explores in detail Karl Rahner's understanding of atheism within the context of anonymous Christianity. In light of Vatican II, Rahner contends that atheism cannot simply be understood as ignorance or willful rebellion against God. Instead, he argues that one can be an atheist on a categorical level and still be a person of supernatural faith and a Christian, albeit in an implicit or anonymous way. In addition to masterfully explaining anonymous Christianity and modern atheism, Atheism and Salvation provides a succinct summary of the traditional proofs for the existence of God. Intended for those who have an interest in the future of theology, religion and philosophy, this insightful work will leave its readers seeing reality in a new light.

In the varying perspectives of theological thought the contrasting ideas of transcendence and immanence must inevitably be looked at together. To whatever extent they are held to be mutually compatible or mutually exclusive, neither can be considered without at least some cognizance being taken of the other. Nevertheless, in the swinging of the pendulum from era to era, first one and then the other theme receives the greater weight of attention. Thus, nineteenth-century liberalism placed more emphasis on immanence, whereas the twentieth-century revolt against liberalism has concentrated on transcendence. In this book the author studies the transcendent aspect of God as developed by five contemporary theologians. Two of the men whose work Dr. Farley examines, Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich, are thoroughly familiar. The other three, Karl Heim, Charles Hartshorne, and Henry Nelson Wieman, have received less attention in recent studies. The five represent widely divergent traditions, but all of them agree in opposing immanentism. Moreover, they all deal with the tension between the philosophical and the Biblical affirmations of God's transcendence, and attempt to show, in their respective ways, how these types of "beyondness" are related.

This book introduces readers to the concept of the Axial Age and its relevance for a world in crisis. Scholars have become increasingly interested in philosopher Karl Jaspers’ thesis that a spiritual revolution in consciousness during the first millennium BCE decisively shaped world history. Axial ideas of transcendence develop into ideologies for world religions and civilizations, in turn coalescing into a Eurasian world-system that spreads globally to become the foundation of our contemporary world. Alongside ideas and ideologies, the Axial Age also taught spiritual practices critically resisting the new scale of civilizational power: in small counter-cultural communities on the margins of society, they turn our conscious focus inward to transform ourselves and overcome the destructive potentials within human nature. Axial spiritualities offer humanity a practical wisdom, a profound psychology, and deep hope: to transform despair into resilience, helping us face with courage the ecological and political challenges confronting us today.

This book presents detailed discussions from leading intercultural philosophers, arguing for and against the priority of immanence in Chinese thought and the validity of Western interpretations that attempt to import conceptions of transcendence. The authors pay close attention to contemporary debates generated from critical analysis of transcendence and immanence, including discussions of apophasis, critical theory, post-secular conceptions of society, phenomenological approaches to transcendence, possible-world models, and questions of practice and application. This book aims to explore alternative conceptions of transcendence that either call the tradition in the West into question, or discover from within Western metaphysics a thoroughly dialectical way of thinking about immanence and transcendence.

This book sets up a dialogue between Heidegger and four medieval authors: St. Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Jan van Ruusbroec. Through a close reading of medieval and Heideggerian texts, the book brings to light elements that present possibilities for a revised appropriation of some traditional metaphysical and theological ideas, arguing that, in spite of Heidegger's critique of "ontotheology," many aspects of his thought make a positive, and not exclusively critical, contribution. Unlike some past studies of the relation between Heidegger and medieval mysticism, this book seeks to establish a real identity between the content, the subject-matter (Sache), of the medieval and Heideggerian texts that it examines. In so doing, it challenges Heidegger's own assertion that what he calls "being" cannot be called God. Against this assertion, Sikka argues that what is to be called God remains an open question, and points out metaphysical and theological elements in Heidegger's reflections on being that help to answer this question. Offering new insights into the relation between metaphysics, theology, and mysticism, the book contributes not only to Heidegger studies but to philosophical theology as well.