Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Justice Not Benevolence: Catholic Social Thought, Migration Theory, And The Rights Of Migrants, Tisha Rajendra

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Although there are many migration theories that purport to explain why people migrate, many theologies and ethics of migration rely on neoclassical migration theory, which views migration solely as the result of poverty and unemployment in sending countries. This paper reviews various migration theories in order to argue that Catholic social teaching on migration has primarily relied on neoclassical theories of migration. This over-reliance on neoclassical migration theory has led to flawed policy recommendations and ethical analyses.

Christian ethics must respond to the reality of migration as described by migration systems theory, which suggests that migration systems are actually initiated …

The Rational Agent Or The Relational Agent: Moving From Freedom To Justice In Migration Systems Ethics, Tisha Rajendra

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Most accounts of immigration ethics implicitly rely upon neoclassical migration theory, which understands migration as the result of poverty and unemployment in sending countries. This paper argues that neoclassical migration theory assumes an account of the human person as solely an autonomous rational agent which then leads to ethics of migration which overemphasize freedom and self-determination. This tendency to assume that migration works as neoclassical migration theory describes is shared by political philosophers, such as Joseph Carens, Michael Walzer, and David Miller. This paper argues that all three philosophers incorrectly frame migration as a contest between the freedom of the …

To Speak Of God In A Feminine Way In The Churches And Theologies Of The Americas, Susan Ross

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Received Tradition: Dilemmas In Radak's Biblical Commentaries, Devorah Schoenfeld

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Suspicious Minds: The Spirituality Of The Postmodern Nones, Michael Murphy

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Much has been made about the “nones” and the current demographics of belief in the United States, especially those of young people. The term nones rose to prominence when a Pew Research Center poll in 2012 called “Nones on the Rise” discovered that nearly 20 percent of Americans claim no religious affiliation—a number that has been steadily climbing since 2007. Last January, National Public Radio aired a weeklong series titled “Losing Our Religion: The Growth of the nones.” In the spring of 2013, a poll conducted by Michael Hout of the University of California, Berkeley, and Mark A. Chaves of …

Are The Only True Atheists Actually Theologians?, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Contemporary continental European philosophy circulates around particular apocalyptic themes, offering new insights and suggestive proposals for theology to think through the implications of this often most difficult of religious subjects. As such philosophies manoeuvre to define apocalyptic through its return to questions of antinomian thought, of the 'interruption' of normative religious imagery, and of the negation of our most cherished theological representations (including our representations of God and the Law), we constantly find these philosophers engaged with the most basic foundations of Western religious history. From its inception, apocalyptic has been a genre of literature, and more generally of religious …

The Profanation Of Revelation: On Language And Immanence In The Work Of Giorgio Agamben, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay seeks to articulate the many implications which Giorgio Agamben's work holds for theology. It aims, therefore, to examine his (re)conceptualizations of language in light of particular historical glosses on the “name of God” and the nature of the “mystical,” as well as to highlight the political task of profanation, one of his most central concepts, in relation to the logos said to embody humanity's “religious” quest to find its Voice. As such, we see how he challenges those standard (ontotheological) notions of transcendence which have been consistently aligned with various historical forms of sovereignty. In addition, I intend …

Citing ‘Whatever’ Authority: The Ethics Of Quotation In The Work Of Giorgio Agamben, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper seeks to lay out an analysis of Giorgio Agamben’s central claims with regard to the formation of a theory of citationality. By juxtaposing Walter Benjamin’s theory of citations alongside his more recent, critical engagements with the western theological tradition, Agamben sets himself the goal of redefining ethics along Levinasian lines in order to arrive at a respect for the face of ‘whatever’ being before us, the true source toward which all citations point.

The Problem Of Having Both A Body And A Name In The Work Of Jean-Luc Marion: Names, Fathers And The Hopeful Possibilities Of A Queer Phenomenology, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this essay, and following upon both Jacques Lacan’s and Jacques Derrida’s personal struggles with fatherhood and the naming of their children, I take up what I consider to be Jean-Luc Marion’s failure to deal with the embodiment of fatherhood through an examination of patriarchal signification, or, specifically, the naming of one’s children after the father—at least insofar as Marion’s brief analysis of this symbolic act points toward his failure to think through the various potential and lived embodiments of the father. I aim to illuminate how his efforts to continue this naming of the child with the father’s name …

Business And Merchants Will Not Enter The Places Of My Father: Early Christianity And Market Mentality, Edmondo Lupieri

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

At the time of the redaction of the New Testament (NT), the relatively newly constituted Roman Empire seems to have brought some sort of political uniformity to the whole Mediterranean world. This phenomenon must have had some kind of financial repercussions due to a more centralized administration and a relatively larger diffusion of a standardized monetary system. Can we understand if this had any impact on the preaching of (the historical) Jesus? Did his early followers have the memory of any teaching of his regarding money, its possession or its use? And, in the times and areas they were living …

The Profanation Of Revelation: On Language And Immanence In The Work Of Giorgio Agamben, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay seeks to articulate the many implications which Giorgio Agamben’s work holds for theology. It aims therefore to examine his (re)conceptualizations of language, in light of particular historical glosses on the ‘name of God’ and the nature of the ‘mystical’, as well as to highlight the political task of profanation, one of his most central concepts, in relation to the logos said to embody humanity’s ‘religious’ quest to find its Voice. As such, we see how he challenges those standard (ontotheological) notions of transcendence which have been consistently aligned with various historical forms of sovereignty. In addition, I intend …

Christian-Jewish Relations 1000-1300: Jews In The Service Of Medieval Christendom, Devorah Schoenfeld

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Searching For A Self-Reflexive Theology: Ways Forward For Systematic Theology In Relation To (Non) Religious Thought In Contemporary Western Culture, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article aims to draw attention, first, to the need to explore the inner plurality of theological discourse, as such plural discourses serve to promote a certain dynamism and fullness within theology as a field, especially in relation to religious studies today. Second, such a potential fullness is reflected in the modern struggle to characterize the relationship between faith and reason. Comprehending the misunderstandings, often construed as an impasse between faith and reason, could foster new relations between scientific methods and theological imaginations. Third, understanding these tensions from a systematic theological perspective also entails a more precise analysis of the …

Soziale Roboter Für Ältere Menschen? Ethische Überlegungen Zur Sozialen Interaktion Mit Robotern Im Gesundheitswesen, Hille Haker

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.