C. S. Lewis and the Rejection of the Tao

When asking about the worldview and ethics behind such stories as The Chronicles of Narnia, readers should try to understand C.S. Lewis's work in light of the Tao or moral Natural Law. Even though our modern culture affirms a relativism in values, Lewis affirms a non-relativist universal ground for moral judgment. Lewis's theological work, Mere Christianity, provides the clue for this interpretation. Despite the apparent negativity or violence in even some of the most memorable scenes in the Chronicles, the underlying moral is hopeful and positive, reflecting a 'mere Christian' worldview.     

Deliberate Numerical Discrepancy of Generation in the Genealogy of Matthew

In the genealogy of Matthew, there is a numerical ‘discrepancy’ between the actual totals of generations (fourteen, fourteen, and thirteen) recorded in Matthew 1:12-16 and the stated totals (fourteen, fourteen, and fourteen) in 1:17.

This paper argues that Matthew's genealogy is devised by inserting breaks based on the pattern and concept of Chronicles in order to convey the unique Matthean message. This argument will be defended by showing the similarities between Chronicles and Matthew: (1) Matthew follows the Chronicler by putting the genealogy at the beginning of the whole book as an introduction to convey the Matthean messages; (2) by combining concepts of kingship and priesthood; (3) by mentioning ‘the sons of Israel’ and ‘all Israel’; (4) by including Gentiles; (5) by using retribution theology; (6) by employing intensification in his chiastic genealogical structure; (7) Matthewâ..s omission of several kings is in line with the Chronicler's ideology of cultic-oriented kingship; (8) Matthew shares the Chronicler's point of view that Judah's deportation to Babylon does not invalidate Yahweh's promise for the Davidic kingdom. Thus, the apparent numerical ‘discrepancy’ is deliberately devised by the Matthean author, just as the Chronicler uses the numerical discrepancy to highlight his emphases in the genealogies.     

Creative cognition, conceptual combination, and the creative writing of Stephen R. Donaldson

This article explores the reported use of conceptual combination in Stephen R. Donaldson's development of the idea for his award-winning fantasy series. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Donaldson's (1991) own account is used to illustrate the general principles of a creative cognition approach to understanding creativity as well as the more specific role of the basic process of conceptual combination. The links between Donaldson's and others' anecdotal accounts of creativity and laboratory investigations are assessed. The article concludes with an argument for a "convergence" approach in which information from anecdotal accounts and laboratory studies is combined to provide a more complete picture of creative functioning than either approach alone can offer.     

C. S. Lewis’ mythopoeia of heaven and earth: implications for the ethical and spiritual formation of multicultural young learners

This paper examines C. S. Lewis’ perspective of myth or fantasy literature which has mesmerized, and exerted great impact on, young learners’ hearts. In a society entrenched in postmodern ideologies, the understanding of what principles govern the construction of ethical and spiritual identity of young learners is often lost. In this context, well-written children’s literature can be a wonderful avenue where they can restore the value of the ordinary world, escape from the bondage of sinister world and enhance their sense of supernatural world. This paper argues that these are the major values Lewis held dear in the work of mythopoeia such as The Chronicles of Narnia. It also argues that Lewis’ fantasy novels for children were primarily his attempt to allow them to experience the mythic quality of good stories, i.e., to savour a more ultimate reality and divine truth through the myriad fantastic images and supernatural imagination.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: David Noel Freedman (ed.), Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Sara Japhet, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and its Place in Biblical Thought (Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des Antiken Judentums 9). William Johnstone, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Volume 1: 1 Chronicles 1–2 Chronicles 9: Israel’s Place among the Nations (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 253). William Johnstone, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Volume 2: 2 Chronicles 10–36: Guilt and Atonement (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 254). Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 1–39 (Westminster Bible Companion). Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40­66 (Westminster Bible Companion). Michael H. Floyd, Minor Prophets, Part 2. Louis H. Feldman, Josephus’s Interpretation of the Bible (Hellenistic Culture and Society 27). William Horbury (ed.), Hebrew Study from Ezra to Ben‐Yehuda. Jonathan L. Reed, Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: A Re‐examination of the Evidence. James D. G. Dunn, The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: A Commentary on the Greek Text (The New International Greek Testament Commentary). John Ashton, The Religion of Paul the Apostle. Robert Alte, Canon and Creativity: Modern Writing and the Authority of Scripture. Edward Yarnold, Cyril of Jerusalem. Norman Russell, Cyril of Alexandria (The Early Church Fathers). Marilyn Dunn, The Emergence of Monasticism: From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages. Mayeul de Dreuille, The Rule of Saint Benedict and the Ascetic Traditions from Asia to the West. Joel B. Green and Max Turner (eds.), Between Two Horizons: Spanning New Testament Studies and Systematic Theology. Zachary Hayes, The Gift of Being: A Theology of Creation. Rowan Williams, On Christian Theology. Horst Althaus, Hegel: An Intellectual Biography. Cyril O’Regan, The Heterodox Hegel. John Skorupski, The Cambridge Companion to Mill. Steven Schroeder, The Metaphysics of Co‐operation: A Study of F. D. Maurice (Value Inquiry Book Series 84). Oliver F. Williams (ed.), Global Codes of Conduct: An Ideal whose Time has Come (The John W. Houck Notre Dame Series in Business Ethics). Kevin Wm Wildes, Moral Acquaintances: Methodology in Bioethics. David L. Balch (ed.), Homosexuality, Science, and the ‘Plain Sense’ of Scripture. Kenneth Hylson‐Smith, Christianity in England from Roman Times to the Reformation, I: From Roman Times to 1066. Kenneth Hylson‐Smith, Christianity in England from Roman Times to the Reformation, II: From 1066 to 1384. Y. Hen and M. Innes (eds.), The Uses of the Past in the Early Middle Ages. John Lowden, The Making of the ‘Bibles Moralisées’. Richard Newhauser, The Early History of Greed: The Sin of Avarice in Early Medieval Thought and Literature (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 41). Odd Langholm, The Legacy of Scholasticism in Economic Thought: Antecedents of Choice and Power (Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics). Jean Richard, The Crusades c.1071–c.1291 (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks). Cindy L. Carson and Angela Jane Weisl (eds.), Constructions of Widowhood and Virginity in the Middle Ages (The New Middle Ages). James B. Atkinson and David Sices (eds.), Machiavelli and his Friends: Their Personal Correspondence. James V. Holleran, A Jesuit Challenge: Edmund Campion’s Debate at the Tower of London in 1581. Anthony Levi, Cardinal Richelieu and the Making of France. William H. Brackney, Paul S. Fiddes, and John H. Y. Briggs (eds.), Pilgrim Pathways: Essays in Honour of B. R. White. Philip C. Almond, Adam and Eve in Seventeenth‐Century Thought. Craig Harline and Eddy Put, A Bishop’s Tale: Matthias Hovius among his Flock in Seventeenth‐Century Flanders. Stefan Collini, Richard Whatmore and Brian Young (eds.), History, Religion and Culture: British Intellectual History 1750–1950. Lawrence Barmann and C. J. T. Talar (eds.), Sanctity and Secularity during the Modernist Period. Roland Hill, Lord Acton. Oliver O’Donovan and Joan Lockwood O’Donovan (eds.), From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
BALLYMURPHY: A TALE OF TWO SURVEYS, by A. E. C. W. spencer
WHERE THE WASTELAND ENDS: POLITICS AND TRANSCENDENCE IN POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, by Theodora Roszak
THE LIFE OF JESUS CRITICALLY EXAMINED, by D. F. strauss
COMMANDS OF CHRIST, by Paul S. Minear
THE RISE OF THE MONOPHYSITE MOVEMENT: Chapters in the History of the Church in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries, by W. H. C. Frend
RAMON LULL AND LULLISM IN FOURTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE, by J. N. Hillgarth
CHRONICLE INTO HISTORY: An Essay on the Interpretation of History in Florentine Fourteenth-century Chronicles, by Louis Green
THE WAY OF A PILGRIM, trans. R. M. French
HEALING IN DEPTH, by Culver M. Barker
DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF, by Christopher Bryant     

Coexistence of Unconditionality and Conditionality of the Davidic Covenant in Chronicles

The Davidic covenant is the basis of the hope for a restoration of the Davidic kingdom in Chronicles. The Chronicler's retention of both the unconditionality and conditionality of the Davidic covenant does not mean that he was inconsistent; in my view, he views the two as complementary. The royal promise is conditional in the sense that the Davidic kings are disciplined and punished, and the kingdom ceases to exist when it does not meet the conditions set down by YHWH; it is unconditional in that YHWH's will never depart from the kingdom, as seen in 1 Chron. 17:13 where YHWH distinguishes his promise to David from his promise to Saul. Following this line of thought, the Chronicler yearns for further change in the postexilic temple‐centered society through a restoration of the lost kingdom by appealing to the Davidic covenant. The latter subtends the preservation of the Davidic kingdom in the preexilic period and a possible restoration in the postexilic period.     

C. S. LEWIS & CHRISTOLOGICAL PREFIGUREMENT

This paper is an examination of the Christology and Pneumatology that C. S. Lewis read from the apparent prefiguring of elements of the Incarnation‐Resurrection narrative in religious myths, and also his assertion that the incarnation‐resurrection narrative operates on us both as fact and myth. After an initial examination of the term myth and mythopoeia, Lewis' writings on the myth that became reality (the Christ event) are discussed along with examples of prefigurement. Through his understanding of natural theology (rooted in that of Augustine, though fed by Lewis' daily reading of the Summa Theologiae) and his cautious respect for human imagination (from the poet, theologian and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge) and in contrast to his earlier deference for the conclusions of the Victorian religionist and social anthropologist James George Frazer, Lewis came to regard these prefigurements as the work of the Holy Spirit – intimations of God's salvific action in Christ – though Lewis' orthodoxy saw human imagination as flawed through original sin. This leads us to ask three questions: first, how do these prefigured ideas come to be in these myths and how do these intimations, splintered fragments of the true light, relate to Lewis' understanding of Christ as the light of the world; second, how does the Incarnation‐Resurrection narrative act/operate on us as a myth, whether spoken or read (a baptized imagination is crucial here for Lewis in both the creation and receiving/hearing of such narratives); and third, is there internal evidence for a mythopoeic interpretation within the Incarnation‐Resurrection narrative? Our conclusions can be illustrated by a brief examination of Lewis' own Christian myth – Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia– originally written for a Christian audience but now read by mainly non‐Christian/post‐Christian children and adults.     

Book Review Section

Books reviewed in this article: Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. Dana Gaines Robinson and James C. Robinson. Performance Consulting: Moving Beyond Training. Edward Cohen-Rosenthal (Ed.). Unions, Management, and Quality: Opportunities for Innovation and Excellence. Douglas H. Harris (Ed.). Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Robert J. Sternberg and Todd I. Lubart. Defying the Crowd: Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of Conformity. Harry C. Triandis, Marvin D. Dunnette, and Leatta M. Hough (Eds.). Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Volume 4 (2nd ed.). Albert L. Sieg with Steven J. Bennett. The Tokyo Chronicles: An American Gaijin Reveals the Hidden Truths of Japanese Life and Business. Christophe Midler. L'auto qui n'existait pas. Management des projets et transformation de l'entreprise [The Car That Wasn't: Management of Projects and Transformation of the Enterprise]. Keith Merron. Riding the Wave: Designing Your Organization's Architecture for Enduring Success. Robert Keidel. Seeing Organizational Patterns: A New Theory and Language of Organizational Design. Udai Pareek. Beyond Management: Essays on Institution Building and Related Topics (2nd ed.). Warren Bennis, Jagdish Parikh, and Ronnie Lessem. Beyond Leadership: Balancing Economics, Ethics and Ecology. Fons Trompenaars. Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business. Angel Kwolek-Folland. Engendering Business: Men and Women in the Corporate Office, 1870-1930. Peter Herriot and Carole Pemberton. Competitive Advantage Through Diversity: Organizational Learning from Difference. Paul J. Taylor and Michael P. O'Driscoll. Structured Employment Interviewing. Donald W. Slowik. Universal Interviewing, and Communications: Preemployment Application. Warren Freedman. Internal Company Investigations and the Employment Relationship. Martin Kimeldorf. Serious Play: A Leisure Wellness Guidebook. J. Philippe Rushton. Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective. Paul E. Spector. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice. Eberhard Ulich. Arbeitspsychologie [Work Psychology] (3rd ed.). Cary L. Cooper and Ivan T. Robertson (Eds). International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology 1995, Volume 10. M. Scott Myers. Rhymes of the Ancient Manager: Leadership in the New Age. Power Train: CBT Publisher's Kit (version 2) . Stat View for the Macintosh (version 4.1) .     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed: Paul Copan and William Lane Craig, Creation Out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration Mark S. Smith, The Memoirs of God; History, Memory, and the Experience of the Divine in Ancient Israel William M. Schneidewind, How the Bible Became a Book Tammi J. Schneider, Sarah: Mother of Nations John Eaton, The Psalms. A Historical and Spiritual Commentary with an Introduction and New Translation Richard A. Norris Jr, The Song of Songs Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators Mary E. Mills, Reading Ecclesiastes, A Literary and Cultural Exegesis Gary N. Knoppers, 1 Chronicles 1–9 Gary N. Knoppers, 1 Chronicles 10–29 Larry W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity Seyoon Kim, Paul and the New Perspective: Second Thoughts on the Origin of Paul's Gospel Douglas Harink, Paul Among the Postliberals: Pauline Theology beyond Christendom and Modernity Margaret Barker, Temple Theology: An Introduction Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary Carl B. Smith II, No Longer Jews: the Search for Gnostic Origins John Chryssavgis, John Climacus: From the Egyptian Desert to the Sinaite Mountain Kevin Corrigan and Elena Glazov‐Corrigan, Plato's Dialectic at Play: Argument, Structure, and Myth in the Symposium Peter Atkins, Memory and Liturgy: The Place of Memory in the Composition and Practice of Liturgy Paul P. J. Sheppy, Death Liturgy and Ritual, Vol. 1: A Pastoral and Liturgical Theology; Vol. II: A Commentary on Liturgical Texts Phillip Tovey, Inculturation of Christian Worship: Exploring the Eucharist David Foote, Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy: the Bishopric of Orvieto, 1100–1250 Lawrence S. Cunningham, Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life Sally Mayall Brasher, Women of the Humiliati: a Lay Religious Order in Medieval Civic Life Ralph McInerny, Aquinas Bernard Montagnes, The Doctrine of the Analogy of Being according to Thomas Aquinas Matthew Levering, Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology Joseph F. Conwell, A Brief and Exact Account: The Recollections of Simâo Rodrigues on the Origin and Progress of the Society of Jesus Thomas M. McCoog, S. J., The Mercurian Project: Forming Jesuit Culture 1573–1580 Jennifer D. Selwyn, A Paradise Inhabited by Devils: The Jesuits' Civilizing Mission in Early Modern Naples Leszek Kolakowski, The Two Eyes of Spinoza, and Other Essays on Philosophers Michael J. Buckley, Denying and Disclosing God Douglas Hedley, Coleridge, Philosophy and Religion. ‘Aids to Reflection’ and the Mirror of the Spirit Gerard Mannion, Schopenhauer, Religion and Morality John P. O'Callaghan, Thomist Realism and the Linguistic Turn: Toward a More Perfect Form of Existence Donald M. Broom, The Evolution of Morality and Religion Brenda Almond and Michael Palmer, Ethical Issues in the New Genetics: Are Genes Us? William Shaw, Ethics at Work: Basic Readings in Business Ethics Eberhard Schockenhoff, Natural Law and Human Dignity: Universal Ethics in an Historical World Robert P. Kraynak and Glenn Tinder, In Defense of Human Dignity: Essays for Our Times Donna Dickenson, Risk and Luck in Medical Ethics Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells, The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics Frederick Aquino, Communities of Informed Judgment Matthew Grimley, Citizenship, Community, and the Church of England. Liberal Anglican Theories of the State between the Wars Robert Miner, Truth in the Making: Creative Knowledge in Theology and Philosophy John Cottingham, The Spiritual Dimension: Religion, Philosophy and Human Value Paul D. Janz, God, The Mind's Desire: Reference, Reason, and Christian Thinking Richard Lennan, Risking the Church Jeffrey Stout and Robert MacSwain, Grammar and Grace: Reformulations of Aquinas and Wittgenstein Robert C. Croken and Robert M. Doran, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Vol. 17: Philosophical and Theological Papers 1965–1980 Frederick Crowe, Developing the Lonergan Legacy Donna Teevan, Lonergan, Hermeneutics, & Theological Method Kwasi Wiredu, A Companion to African Philosophy Alexandru Popescu, Petre ?u?ea: Between Sacrifice and Suicide K. K. Yeo, Chairman Mao Meets The Apostle Paul: Christianity, Communism, and The Hope of China Ian Linden, A New Map of the World Mark Knight, Chesterton and Evil     

Reasoning about the referent of a picture versus reasoning about the picture as the referent: An effect of visual realism

Research on picture perception and picture-based problem solving has generally considered the information that enables one to “see” and think about a picture’s subject matter. However, people often reason about a picture or representation as the referent itself. The question addressed here is whether pictorial features themselves help determine when one reasons about the referent of an image, as with an engrossing movie, and when one reasons about the image in its own right, as with abstract art. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that pictures with relatively high fidelity to their referents lead people to think about those referents, whereas pictures with relatively low fidelity lead people to think about the picture as a referent. Subjects determined whether marks on the bottom and top boards of an open hinge would meet if the hinge were closed. Accuracy and latency results indicated that subjects who saw realistic displays simulated the physical behavior of the hinge through analog imagery. In contrast, subjects who saw schematic displays tended to reason about static features of the display such as line lengths and angles. The results demonstrate that researchers must be cautious when generalizing from reasoning about diagrammatic materials to reasoning about the referents themselves.     

States of Affairs and States of Mind: The Effect of Knowledge of Beliefs

Research on the "curse of knowledge" demonstrates a tendency to behave as if others have access to one′s privileged information about a certain state of affairs. We explore the possibility that information about beliefs may induce this tendency, previously attributed exclusively to factual knowledge. In two experiments, subjects predicted the behavior of a buyer in a negotiation scenario. The seller′s agent had a belief about the value of the firm that was independent of its true value. Subjects had information about (1) the true value (i.e., factual knowledge) and (2) the agent′s belief. These two types of information were unknown to the buyer. Subjects′ predictions of buyer behavior were affected by this privileged information about both the factual knowledge and the agent′s belief. This suggests that curse of knowledge applies to information not only about states of affairs but also about states of mind.     

A puzzle about epistemic akrasia

In this paper I will present a puzzle about epistemic akrasia, and I will use that puzzle to motivate accepting some non-standard views about the nature of epistemological judgment. The puzzle is that while it seems obvious that epistemic akrasia must be irrational, the claim that epistemic akrasia is always irrational amounts to the claim that a certain sort of justified false belief—a justified false belief about what one ought to believe—is impossible. But justified false beliefs seem to be possible in any domain, and it’s hard to see why beliefs about what one ought to believe should be an exception. I will argue that when we get clearer about what sort of psychological state epistemic akrasia is, we can resolve the puzzle in favor of the intuitive view that epistemic akrasia is always irrational.     

Effect on Mood of Thinking About Extreme Emotional Terms

The hypothesis that being asked to think about extreme emotional terms influences mood in the direction of the polarity of the terms was tested in three experiments. Subjects answered items about their mood before and after being asked to think about nine extreme, positive emotional terms (e.g., ecstatic) or nine extreme, negative emotional terms (e.g., wretched). It was found that when subjects were asked to think about extreme, positive emotional terms, mood changed in a positive direction, and when they were asked to think about extreme negative emotional terms, mood changed in a negative direction. The effect on mood of being asked to think about extreme emotional terms did not depend on whether the subjects were asked just to think about the terms(Experiment 1), to think about the terms in relation to the self (Experiment 2), or to think about the meaning of the terms (Experiment 3).     

The Paraphrase Argument Against Collective Actions

This paper is about the status of collective actions. According to one view, collective actions metaphysically reduce to individual actions because sentences about collective actions are merely a shorthand for sentences about individual actions. I reconstruct an argument for this view and show via counterexamples that it is not sound. The argument relies on a paraphrase procedure to unpack alleged shorthand sentences about collective actions into sentences about individual actions. I argue that the best paraphrase procedure that has been put forward so far fails to produce adequate results.     

The Epistemic Value of Emotions in Politics

In this paper, I consider emotional reactions in response to political facts, and I investigate how they may provide relevant knowledge about those facts. I assess the value of such knowledge, both from an epistemic and a political perspective. Concerning the epistemic part, I argue that, although emotions are not in themselves sufficient to ground evaluative knowledge about political facts, they can do so within a network of further coherent epistemic attitudes about those facts. With regards to the political part, I argue that the contribution of emotions to evaluative knowledge about political facts, is indeed politically valuable. To develop my argument, I show first that an evaluative kind of knowledge is relevant for reaching a sophisticated level of political cognition, and second that emotions contribute distinctively to this kind of knowledge. I conclude that, when emotional experiences towards political events are coupled with an adequate factual knowledge about those events, they can ground a distinctive evaluative knowledge about those events, and such knowledge is relevant both from an epistemic and a political perspective.     

Justifying Partiality

It’s an undeniable fact about our moral lives that we are partial towards certain people and projects. Despite this, it has traditionally been very hard to justify partiality. In this paper I defend a novel partialist theory. The context of the paper is the debate between three different views of how partiality is justified. According to the first view, partiality is justified by facts about our ground projects. According to the second view, partiality is justified by facts about our relationships with the things that we are partial towards. And according to the third view, partiality is justified by facts about the things that we are partial towards. I argue that all three views contain part of the truth. We can see this by adopting a more sophisticated view of the weight of reasons. Once we do this, it will be clear that both facts about individuals and facts about relationships play a role in explaining why we often have stronger reason to act well towards those things we are partial towards. Further, I argue, facts about projects help explain why facts about relationships play the role that they do in determining the strength of our reasons.     

Irrealist Cognitivism

This paper argues that normative claims are truth-apt contents of cognition – propositions about what there is reason to believe, to do or to feel – but that their truth is not a matter of correspondence or representation. We do not have to choose between realism about the normative and non-cognitivism about it. The universality of reasons, combined with the spontaneity of normative responses, suffices to give normative claims the distinctive link to a 'convergence commitment' which characterises any genuine judgement; an accurate epistemology of normative discourse need postulate no faculty of receptivity to a special domain of normative fact. Some general arguments for the view that cognitivism about a domain of discourse imposes realism about it are considered and rejected.