Transformation: Psychoanalytic and Eucharistic

This paper will explore parallels between Eucharistic and psychoanalytic transformation. Its objective will, in part, challenge the assumption that Eucharist constitutes a concrete and material reality, insular and devoid of symbolism; indeed, offering similarities to the psychoanalytic concept symbolic equation. It will be argued that Eucharist must be understood in context to its transformation within the community of believers, a relationship that offers accord to the transformation within the psychoanalytic relationship. Moreover, parallels between ultimate truth and divine mystery will be examined using the Bionian concept O.     

Whose Eucharist? Eucharistic Identity as Historical Subject

Through the experiences of a medieval historian and the experiences which have led to her engagement with the Eucharist in the Middle Ages this paper traces some of the ways in which medieval people assumed or discarded identities through their relationships with the Eucharist. The many ways in which the image encompassing an incarnate God in a wheaten disc allowed individual and groups to assert selfhood, difference and specificity are considered through examples of liturgical, mystical and theological relationships, articulations, of the Eucharist. The centrality of Jews as affirmers of Eucharistic truth in late medieval culture through the rejection and violence attributed to them is offered as a necessary facet of the Eucharist's suggestive possibilities. Eucharist is shown as a symbol of interiority and intrinsic value, opposed to Jewish literality and misrecognition of value, ideas which created a link between talk about the Eucharist and discussion of usury. Lastly, some of the historical interests of Jewish writers in the historical links between Jews and the Eucharist are explored.     

Borders, Globalization and Eucharistic Hospitality

Abstract :  This article relates the sacrament of the Eucharist to world migration and hospitality. To weave these themes is to find borders all around the Eucharistic table/altar, borders often unnoticed but borders that define economic, social, cultural, sexual and class divides. Using the notion of  borderless borders  and engaging Jacques Derrida's notion of hospitality, the author tries to expand the possibilities of the Christian demand to welcome people in and around and through the eucharistic sacrament as people gather with one another to be with one another and issue this constant call of welcome to whomever wants to come and eat.     

John Henry Newman on the presence of God in the Eucharist; an inspiration for reflecting on the truth of dogma1

John Henry Newman is known for his consistent, coherent, and sincere thought on the questions of faith that were important to him and his communities. Newman shares philosophical and theological reflections in many works, such as, a complex analysis of philosophical and theological aspects of faith and a subtle articulation of infallibility. Yet, Newman provides relatively little on the Eucharist. As a Tractarian, Newman raises the philosophical issue of presence in the Eucharist, distinguishes between local and real presence, and articulates his faith in the latter. As an Oratorian, Newman does not write a treatise on the Eucharist. Instead, Newman's thoughts on the Eucharist are mostly contained within prayers, devotions, meditations, and some passing commentary on the liturgy, rites, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Through a close reading of these texts, it is suggested that Newman provides a case study for the reflecting on the truth of dogma because of his incisive articulation of the sacramental presence of God in the Eucharist and his response to the use of the philosophical notion of transubstantiation.     

Nietzsche,intention, action

Nietzsche sometimes writes as if we are not in control—at least not in conscious control—of our actions. He seems to suggest that what we actually do is independent of our intentions. It turns out, though, that his understanding of both intention and action differs radically from most contemporary treatments of the issue. In particular, he denies that our actions are caused by their intentions, whose role is hermeneutical in a sense that this essay develops. How then is responsibility to be assigned, since its moral variety, at least, depends, on several views, on the intention with which an action is performed? Nietzsche, of course, is not interested in making attributions of moral responsibility. Still, his views on the relationship between an individual action, its intention, other actions by its agent, and the agent's character, as this essay presents them, provide a reasonable account of action generally and a different, broader account of responsibility for oneself.     

Globalization in Light of Luther's Eucharistic Economic Ethics

This article suggests that Christ “filling all things,” and abiding in a special way in the assembly of believers, offers moral agency for faithful response to economic structures that gravely threaten Earth's regenerative capacities. That claim is explored through Luther's theology of Christ indwelling creation held together with his eucharistic economic ethics, his call to certain practices, his refusal to minimize the pervasiveness of human sin, and his insistence that in brokenness and defeat the saving God is present and calls forth power. The trends designated by the term “globalization,” as used in this essay, are clarified. Dangers posed to the Earth community by that constellation of trends are illustrated.     

Primordial texts: An object relations approach to biblical hermeneutics

What is object relations theory? What is the place of an object relations perspective in biblical hermeneutics as a process? After briefly introducing object relations theory, this presentation discusses the place of an object relations perspective in the hermeneutical process by analyzing D. Winnicott's “squiggle” game with childreń as a hermeneutical paradigm, and by examining critical themes such as: subject-object relations or the relationship between text and the interpreter or interpreting community, transitional space, and the suspension of disbelief or the locus of illusion in hermeneutical understanding.     

Luther and the Eucharistic Controversy

Luther wrote That These Words of Christ … Still Stand Firm to teach people what they should believe about the Lord's Supper and to refute the arguments of his opponents. Luther saw the devil as responsible for the rejection of Christ's substantial presence in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. The disagreement concerning the eucharist rested on the opposing exegesis of key Scripture texts and had implications for Christology and the understanding of the relationship between theology, science, and human reason. Luther believed that his opponents taught a heretical position that endangered people's souls, and so their ideas could not be tolerated.     

Social Ecology: A Hermeneutical Framework for Reading Biblical Texts? A Latin American Perspective

Using the concept of “social ecology” developed by Murray Bookchin as a starting point, this article explores the reception of this idea in Latin America before elaborating some key principles derived from this concept for a hermeneutical strategy to approach biblical texts. In particular, the article argues that Bookchin's understanding of the seriousness of the ecological crisis and of its causes, his views on the issues around exploitation, hierarchy and domination, gender and age oppression, and his criticism of the prevailing economic and political dimension could provide a hermeneutical framework that is relevant for an ecologically sound and justice‐centred reading of biblical texts.     

From Latimer's Fellow-martyr to the ‘English Calvin': Nicholas Ridley's Reputation and the Circulation of A brief declaracion of the Lordes Supper, 1555-1570

Abstract

Nicholas Ridley, the Edwardian Bishop of London, was executed in 1555 during Mary Tudor's reign. An active publicist, he composed in prison a didactic treatise that promoted the Reformed view of the Eucharist and was published in Emden (1555) and in Strasbourg (1556). In 1556, A brief declaracion found its way to Geneva where a community of English exiles had it translated into Latin (Conrad Badius then issued a version in French). Not only did the translation acquire a polemical edge, but certain allusions, scattered in the preface and in the margins of the text, turned Ridley's treatise into a ‘Calvinist’ manifesto at a time when Calvin was ardently defending his views against the Lutheran polemicist, Westphal. Meanwhile, Jean Crespin made use of Badius's version in his martyrologies and reprinted Ridley's treatise in his 1570 edition. Whereas in England, Ridley's works began to be perceived as controversial after Mary's death, Crespin and Beza (Icones, 1580) kept his treatise alive and heralded him as the ‘English Calvin’ in French Reformed circles.     

John Henry Newman: Bernard Lonergan's ‘Fundamental Mentor and Guide’

Abstract: Reason has reasons of which ‘reason’ knows nothing. It was this essential insight, along with the methodological prioritisation of a phenomenology of cognition and the recognition of the epistemological distinctiveness of judgment, that a young Bernard Lonergan gleaned from his study of John Henry Newman's Grammar of Assent. Given that the ‘later’, post-Insight (1953) Lonergan enacted a more explicit transposition of his thought into a hermeneutical and existential framework, one might be tempted to assume that this coincided with a drift away from his tutelage under the nineteenth-century Englishman. Indeed, an examination of the secondary literature detailing their relationship would suggest as much. Yet, in the hope of contributing to the regrettably sparse Newman-Lonergan scholarship and proposing a modest recalibration therein, I argue that the more existential, hermeneutical, and committed to the philosophical turn to concrete socio-historical subjectivity Lonergan grew, the more fruit his early Newmanian formation bore. By analysing Newman's proto-Lonerganian anticipations in the areas of self-appropriation, conversion, the relationship of subjectivity to objectivity, and the hermeneutical nature of consciousness, I will contend that Newman—a presciently continental mind writing as one untimely born into an analytical milieu—was the wellspring from which Lonergan never ceased to draw.     

Pusey's ‘Lectures on Types and Prophecies of the Old Testament’: Implications for Eucharistic Theology

Edward Pusey's ‘Lectures on Types and Prophecies of the Old Testament’ remain unpublished and little known. Despite this they contain important insights exploring prophecy and sacramental theology based on the philosophical assumptions of moderate realism expressed through the notions of ‘type’ and ‘archetype’. This article explores Pusey's ‘Lectures’ with particular emphasis on sacramental realism. Pusey's philosophical insights concerning a moderate realist view of the Eucharist are discussed and links with eucharistic theology in the wider Anglican and other traditions are made. Links with the reflections of theologians and philosophers are also drawn out in an effort to establish that the ‘Lectures’ continue to be of value in the present and so deserving of wider appreciation and use.     

William J. Morgan’s ‘conventionalist internalism’ approach. Furthering internalism? A critical hermeneutical response

Several authors, such as William J. Morgan, John S. Russell and R. Scott Kretchmar, have claimed that the limits between the diverse normative theories of sport need to be revisited. Most of these works are philosophically grounded in Anglo-American philosophical approaches. For instance, William J. Morgan’s proposal is mainly based on Richard Rorty’s philosophy. But he also discusses with some European philosophers like Jürgen Habermas. However, Habermas’ central ideas are rejected by Morgan. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Morgan’s rejection of Habermas’ thought and show that a more appropriate normative of sport that explains better our current sporting world can be achieved by drawing on the German philosopher’s ideas. The plan of this paper is the following. It shall analyse the limits of the distinction between broad internalism and externalism by taking Morgan’s work as its starting point. To do so, firstly, the conventionalist way in which Morgan criticises the limits of interpretivism shall be explained (§2). Secondly, the relationship between Morgan’s proposals and the hermeneutical theories which are at the roots of his proposal shall be brought to light. Thirdly, since Morgan takes Habermas’ hermeneutical ethics to be an example of externalism, the relationship between his theory and Habermas’ ethical account shall be clearly defined. Moreover, Morgan’s proposal shall be criticised in the light of Habermas’ discourse ethics (§3). To conclude, a Habermasian approach in sport ethics shall be described (§4).     

“You Must Follow Our Belief or Else You Can't Receive God”: Constructing a Sexual Bi/Theology of Eucharist

Embodied experiences and insights of LGBTQ persons can challenge and contradict grand metanarratives of sacramental theology that exclude and/or censure these persons. Through a theological investigation of the narratives of Vincent, a 26‐year old Malaysian, I examine the dynamics of his self‐identifying as bisexual and Roman Catholic in relation to his perception of the Eucharist. Drawing from his narratives and aided by the theologisings of Marcella Althaus‐Reid, Andrea Bieler and Luise Schottroff, I explore alternative ways in which the Eucharist can be imagined for LGBTQ Christians.     

The conciliar intent of Richard Hooker’s theological hermeneutic

Abstract

Recent research has sought to resolve the question of Richard Hooker’s theological relationship to the Reformation by identifying a hermeneutical framework that supports and guides his work as a whole. Two proposals are noteworthy: Torrance Kirby’s thesis on Hooker’s alignment with the Continental reformers and William Haugaard’s thesis on Hooker’s role in the development of ‘Anglicanism.’ This paper holds that these proposals should be understood within the context of Hooker’s conciliar intent. With a focus primarily on the preface to the Lawes, it is suggested that Hooker’s conciliar intent is motivated by the theological and ecclesial principles found in the premise, namely, the connection between the divine peace and order of 1 Corinthians 14:33 and the Council of Jerusalem. In clarifying the correlation of these two principles, the article asserts that the priorities of Hooker’s preface are first, to identify the hermeneutical crisis of his day as the crisis over the public criteria of Christian truth, and then to respond to this crisis by connecting spiritual discernment amidst controversy to conciliar judgment. Accordingly, ecumenical implications rather than doctrinal demarcation appear as central to Hooker’s theological project.     

‘Dominus dixit’

Abstract

The article reviews Peter Martyr Vermigli’s hermeneutical principles outlined in his I Corinthians commentary and examines Martyr’s understanding of the authority of Scripture and the Church as contrasted with a Roman Catholic interlocutor, Stanislaus Hosius; it also analyzes two test cases in Vermigli’s loci that demonstrate a constructive and destructive use, respectively, of his hermeneutical principles. The demonstrations evaluate Vermigli’s positive statement of the doctrine of justification and his polemical engagement with the doctrine of purgatory.     

EAT MY FLESH AND DRINK MY BLOOD

Disgust or horror is our natural attitude to eating human flesh and drinking human blood. How can this attitude not transfer itself to the Christian Eucharist, in which the bread is said to be Christ's body and the wine his blood? And if the aversion must transfer itself, then how can God have been, as Christians have to think, the founder of the rite? I discuss these questions with reference to several different theories of the Eucharist, one Calvinist, the others of a would‐be Roman Catholic kind.     

Five Books on Sacrifice: New Approaches in Sacrifice Studies

These books, each of which is grounded in familiarity with historical sources and at the same time alert to philosophical and theological questions, reveal that sacrificial studies are thriving. Grand theories have been enfeebled, but a rich repertory of hermeneutical strategies is being applied all the more freely to the vast material from many cultures. Bloodshed is no longer indisputably central, even in discussion of the classical and well‐documented traditions of India, Israel, and Greece. Past attempts to rationalize sacrifice, through spiritualization for example, are confuted by the sturdy texture of ritual. Despite the opacity of archaic rituals and texts, the social function of sacrificial customs and their potential pathologies are better understood, and interconnect with sacrificial dynamics in our own culture. The sacrificial interpretation of Calvary and the Eucharist is better appreciated as a rich and powerful New Testament construct, despite attempts to whittle it away. Yet those such as René Girard who urge a change of theological paradigm now have impressive critical resources at their disposal.     

Hermeneutics and historical consciousness: An appraisal of the contribution of Hans-Georg Gadamer

Abstract

In this introductory article to the volume of the South African Journal of Philosophy in tribute of Hans-Georg Gadamer, the author, first, makes a few remarks about the nature of hermeneutics and Gadamer’s views on the universality of the hermeneutical experience. This universality is, in particular, explained from the perspective of the “linguistic turn” in Gadamer’s thought. Secondly, there is a brief discussion of certain particular aspects of Gadamer’s contribution. Aspects of that contribution that are emphasized are: Gadamer’s reevaluation of prejudice, authority and tradition, his idea of “Wirkungsgeschichte”, his idea of meaning as a process rather than a given entity, his analogy between game-playing and the interpretation of art, and his dialogical conception of interpretation. The author concludes by developing his own estimate of the main thrust of Gadamer’s contribution. This contribution consists of the way in which Gadamer’s thought, on the one hand, represents a demonstration and embodiment of the kind of historical consciousness so typical of our times, but, on the other hand, also accomplishes this exemplification of historical consciousness while imaginatively avoiding the kind of relativistic historicism so typical of many other manifestations of the same trend.     

Going to church: attitudes to church attendance amongst Australian core Catholic youth

Religious communities have an obvious interest in passing on their beliefs and practices to future generations. Many traditional churches, however, report major difficulties in retaining the interest and involvement of adolescents. This study seeks to explore attitudes to a key indicator of traditional practice, church attendance, amongst Australian core Catholic youth (14–15 years of age). Fifty‐eight semi‐structured interviews were conducted with adolescents with a pre‐existing connection with parish communities. Most adolescents interviewed expressed either strong or weak familial pattern of church attendance and predicted a likely decrease in their future participation. This, coupled with the experience of older siblings' reported views about the significance of the Eucharist and a lack of supportive social networks either at school or in the wider community, suggests that many core Catholic adolescents are likely to become less involved in church life in the future.