The transformation of the Wang Yangming scholarship in the West,ca. 1960–1980: a historical essay

Students of Ming philosophy and the thought of Wang Yangming likely know that the 1960s–1970s was a period during which many scholarships in this field of study were produced in the English language. Indeed, it has been almost half a century since a group of scholars came together at the University of Hawaii to present papers on Wang Yangming in commemoration of the fifth centenary of his birth. That group included, for example, Wing-tsit Chan, David Nivison, and Du Weiming. These scholars, along with two others not present—Julia Ching and Carsun Chang—played a transformative role in introducing Wang Yangming to an English-reading audience. But, the history behind their achievement, as well as how they interpreted him for that audience, has yet to be written. This paper provides a synopsis of that history, explaining why the scholars chose to write about him and what they said about his life and ideas.     

For the Common Good: The Church of England,Christian–Muslim Relations and A Common Word

This paper seeks to explore some of the dynamics of Christian–Muslim relations today, particularly in England, and asks what might be the relationship between such dynamics and current Anglican theology, belief and practice. It explores the lecture of 7 February 2008 given by Archbishop Rowan Williams to the Royal Courts of Justice in London, and suggests that the Archbishop's remarks on this occasion are consonant with his understanding of Anglican ecclesiology. Finally the paper concludes by looking at the Archbishop's response to the document A Common Word and draws links between the Archbishop's interest in this document and his more domestic concerns.     

Computationalism,The Church–Turing Thesis,and the Church–Turing Fallacy

The Church–Turing Thesis (CTT) is often employed in arguments for computationalism. I scrutinize the most prominent of such arguments in light of recent work on CTT and argue that they are unsound. Although CTT does nothing to support computationalism, it is not irrelevant to it. By eliminating misunderstandings about the relationship between CTT and computationalism, we deepen our appreciation of computationalism as an empirical hypothesis.     

A Missing Dimension of European Influence on English Protestantism: The Heidelberg Catechism and the Church of England, 1563–1663

ABSTRACT

While historians of the early-modern Church of England have become familiar with the influence exerted upon it by Genevan and Zurich theologians, the impact of Heidelberg University and the Rhineland Palatinate was arguably equally important and has hitherto been neglected. That influence is charted here through the impact of the Heidelberg Catechism and the commentaries upon it by the Heidelberg divines Jeremias Bastingius and especially Zacharias Ursinus. While these were almost ubiquitous in the late-Elizabethan and Jacobean churches, Heidelberg divinity nevertheless came increasingly to be viewed with suspicion by churchmen under Charles I because of its alleged (and not entirely illusory) links to puritanism. It is argued here that with the creation of the Westminster Greater and Lesser Catechisms, the Heidelberg Catechism and commentaries on it no longer served a useful purpose even for puritans, and that later churchmen were unfamiliar with the influence that it had exerted in the recent past.     

Bodies,religion and relationality: the paradox of the Buddhist trikāya

Rethinking religion along the lines of relationality rather than focusing on practice alone may substantiate the cultural meanings of embodiment. Yet, relationality may only provide a cover for exclusive practices that are intended to reduce the significance of the religious subject, as in the case of the practice of multiple embodiments in Tibetan Buddhism. This practice refers to the ability of lamas to activate a form of transcendental reciprocity in the service of their disciples’ salvation. But its application also suggests a paradox centring on the dissolution of bodies. It not only affirms ongoing relationships between lamas and their disciples but also reiterates the quest for transcendental goals beyond the intricacies of bodily connections. This paradox demonstrates that the question of bodies and subjectivity in religion may not be resolved simply by focusing on the meanings of personal relationships and relationality. The context of these meanings becomes clearer when a distinction is made between the lama's personal goals and the metaphor of spiritual empowerment in lama–disciple relationships.     

‘That is Best,Which Was First’: Christian Primitivism and the Reformation Church of England, 1548-1722

Abstract

This essay explores the Church of England's theologico-historical sense of self during the tumultuous period of the ‘long Reformation.’ By taking its claim to be ‘primitive Christianity restored’ seriously it is argued that Church of England polemical apology was guided by Christian primitivism, an ideology shaped by a belief in the theological primacy of the beginning of Christianity. This made it intellectually possible to conceive of a past true, pure Church that should and could be re-formed in the present. In a more speculative vein it is also argued that this primitivism was formative in the Church's self-defining apologetic recourse to Scripture, reason, and tradition.     

Natural religion,common notions,and the study of religions: Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1583–1648)

While the seminal role of Lord Herbert in the early modern study of religion has long been recognized, his legacy has most often been mistakenly identified with ‘natural religion’. This article provides evidence for Lord Herbert's repudiation of ‘natural religion’ and its inconsistency with his own theory of common notions. It also identifies those basic tools still used in the study of religions which emerged as unintended by‐products of his theory of common notions.     

Growth or Decline in the Church of England during the Decade of Evangelism: Did the Churchmanship of the Bishop Matter?

The Decade of Evangelism occupied the attention of the Church of England throughout the 1990s. The present study employs the statistics routinely published by the Church of England in order to assess two matters: the extent to which these statistics suggest that the 43 individual dioceses finished the decade in a stronger or weaker position than they had entered it and the extent to which, according to these statistics, the performance of dioceses led by bishops shaped in the Evangelical tradition differed from the performance of dioceses led by bishops shaped in the Catholic tradition. The data demonstrated that the majority of dioceses were performing less effectively at the end of the decade than at the beginning, in terms of a range of membership statistics, and that the rate of decline varied considerably from one diocese to another. The only exception to the trend was provided by the diocese of London, which experienced some growth. The data also demonstrated that little depended on the churchmanship of the diocesan bishop in shaping diocesan outcomes on the performance indicators employed in the study.     

The sacred,the holy,the numinous – and religion: on the emergence and early history of a terminological constellation

ABSTRACT

At the turn of the 19th century and in the early 20th century, the sacred (Durkheim, Mauss, Callois), holiness/the holy (Söderblom, Otto) and the numinous (Otto) emerged as key terms in the nascent field of religious studies. These terms set up a discursive space for the study of religion that acknowledged its reality and relevance for modern societies and individuals, but that proceeded independent of confessional theologies and sought to transcend Western-Christian ethnocentrism. By providing a close reading of the works of the above-mentioned scholars, in particular Durkheim, this article revisits the emergence of these terms. In particular, it looks at the different ways in which the sacred, the holy and the numinous were related to religion. The article discusses some differences between the scholars of the sacred and the scholars of the holy in terms of their agendas, aims, and preconditions.     

A Simplified Proof of the Church–Rosser Theorem

Takahashi translation * is a translation which means reducing all of the redexes in a λ-term simultaneously. In [4] and [5], Takahashi gave a simple proof of the Church–Rosser confluence theorem by using the notion of parallel reduction and Takahashi translation. Our aim of this paper is to give a simpler proof of Church–Rosser theorem using only the notion of Takahashi translation.     

Towards the concerned study of religion: Exploring the double power–play disparity

Increasing numbers of students of religion, from various disciplines, address issues of public interest, going beyond documentation and analysis, taking the quality of human life in religion and society as a criterion for their recommendations. Accordingly, systematic reflection on the concerned study of religion is gaining relevance. The approach chosen in this article is to focus on one particular aspect, in this case the double ‐ cognitive and moral ‐ disparity in religious contexts between forms of power and play.

Power is viewed as the human capacity to influence other people's behaviour, even against their will. Play is defined here as the human capacity to deal simultaneously with different realities. Power and play represent two human capacities that in themselves are neutral but in combination may change from means, a situation of parity, into goal, a situation of disparity. A first type of disparity is cognitive in nature. It stems from the reduction of the potential open dynamic meaning-making that the power‐play constellation could stimulate as well. A second disparity is of a moral nature. It stems from the fact that the power‐play set may come to interfere with the quality of human life. As a set, power and play thus move between the roles of being either subservient means or self-fulfilling goal, between a soft and a hard version.

Religion is one field in which the gift for play is applied, resulting in the relationship with a sacred or divine reality. Whereas religions cannot survive without some form of power, the form given to the power‐play set marks out a religion's identity. Within our time the critical study of the double disparity of hard power and play has gained urgency. Global society faces severe problems of poverty, violence, pollution and miscommunication. Religions may act as a cause, but also as problem solver. Students of religion are invited to form multidisciplinary teams to study the double disparity in its actual form, while simultaneously exploring prospects for the promotion of both open meaning-making and the quality of human life, with power and play in a relationship of parity. This turn would necessitate a reappraisal of the research agenda for Religious/World-view Studies. It demands an identity change for this study field, both in the selection of themes for research and funding, and in the explicitly applied nature of scholarly work.     

Easy to remember?: genocide and the philosophy of religion

Philosophers of religion have written a great deal about “the problem of evil.” Their reflections, however, have not concentrated, at least not extensively or sufficiently, on the particularities of evil that manifest themselves in genocide. Concentrating on some of those particularities, this essay reflects on genocide, which has sometimes been called the crime of crimes, to raise questions such as: how should genocide affect the philosophy of religion and what might philosophers of religion contribute to help check that crime against humanity?     

Spirituality,the opiate of scholars of religion?

This review discusses Craig Martin’s approach to religious individualism and more widely the ways in which social scientists can make sense of individuals’ identities, beliefs and practice, as these seem more volatile and eclectic than ever. In particular, it is interested in the ‘critical’ study of religion developed in Capitalizing Religion. This review underscores the convergence between this book and other recent works regarding epistemological weaknesses affecting the contemporary study of religion (and in particular the ‘paradigm of spirituality’). It discusses Martin’s original contributions – in particular, a critical analysis of the ideological origins and biases underlying the categorisation of freely chosen spirituality vs. coercive religion. Finally, this review tries to further Capitalizing Religion’s argument by drawing on my own empirical work on the popularisation of meditation, yoga and kabbalah, sharing Martin’s critical approach and interest for the ways in which social structure and cultural norms affect individuals’ religious life.     

Latin America 1520–1600: a page in the history of the study of religion

This article examines the texts written by the first generation of missionaries on the beliefs and mores of the indigenous people of what came to be called Mexico and Peru, supplemented by some accounts written by travelers in Brazil. These works claimed to put forward knowledge about ‘the others’. It is argued that they were important precursors for the study of religion and should receive more attention as such. The issue of location is shown to be always present in this early material, along with the biological notion of hybridization. The conclusion asks whether the contemporary pursuit of knowledge can move from the biological unity of the human race to a view of the race as a social whole with common interests.     

The global community, religion, and education: the modernity of Dewey’s social philosophy

As a starting point this paper takes Dewey’s nowadays often stressed modernity and examines his social philosophy against the background of the current debates on republicanism and communitarianism. Particularly, the anaysis of Dewey’sThe Public and its Problem (1927) concludes that the attention being paid to Dewey is problematic as specific religious assumptions — explicitly developed inA Common Faith (1934) -lie in the background of his social philosophy, and are hardly being recognized. However, as it shall be shown, without considering the religious basis, neither Dewey’s social philosophy nor his educational theory can be properly understood.