Secular Spirituality and the Logic of Giving Thanks

Some atheists are attracted to the idea of a secular spirituality that carries no commitment to the existence of God or anything similar. Is this a coherent possibility? This paper seeks to define what we mean by a ‘spirituality’ by examining Robert C. Solomon’s defence of spirituality for the religious skeptic, and pursues the question of its coherence by reflecting on what is implied by taking thankfulness to be a proper response to our existence.     

Secular Epiphanies: The Anatheistic Hermeneutics of Gerard Manley Hopkins

What might epiphany mean for a “secular” society? What does it mean after the death of God? This article explores the hermeneutics of immanent, planetary epiphanies in the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins. In the creative spaces between author, text, and reader new possibilities for becoming enter the world. As such we might be able to name these anatheistic epiphanies.     

Spirituality: The Emergence of a New Cultural Category and its Challenge to the Religious and the Secular

The present article examines spirituality as an emergent new cultural category that challenges the binary opposition of the religious and secular realms of life. The article probes the cultural significance of the popular phrase ‘spiritual, but not religious’ and examines the emergence of New Age spirituality within the framework of late capitalism and postmodern culture. It offers a new perspective on the debate of the secularization theory and re-examines the notions upon which this debate hinges. The article also examines the assessment of New Age spirituality as disguised neo-liberal ideology and proposes that the disparaging condemnations of contemporary spirituality can be seen as a response to its challenge to the entrenched notion that the religious and the secular are universal distinct categories.     

Idealism and the Ontological Argument

The ontological proof became something of a signature argument for the British Idealist movement and this paper examines how and why that was so. Beginning with an account of Hegel's understanding of the argument, it looks at how the thesis was picked up, developed and criticized by the Cairds, Bradley, Pringle-Pattison and others. The importance of Bradley's reading in particular is stressed. Lastly, consideration is given to Collingwood's lifelong interest in the proof and it is argued that his attention is best understood as a direct continuation of theirs. In view of the fact that recent commentators have tried to draw a sharp line between Collingwood's approach to metaphysics and ontology and that of his predecessors, the establishment of this connection calls for a measure of reassessment on both sides.     

Spirituality and the Self

Spirituality and the Self explores how a mystical experience playing basketball led to a metamorphosis that transformed, expanded and unbound the author's sense of self.     

Gratitude and Good Government

I attempt to show that it is notphilosophically incompetent to ground politicalobligation in feelings of gratitude. But theargument needs to be stated carefully.Gratitude must be distinguished fromreciprocity. It applies only to good governmentwhich provides benefits to citizens for whichthey ought to feel grateful. It applies only tocitizens who accept that their feelings ofgratitude are properly demonstrated by anacceptance on their part of the duties ofcitizenship. It does not apply to citizenswhose benefits are purchased at the expense ofthe unjust treatment of fellow citizens.     

Feminism and Hermeneutics

Feminists often look to postmodern philosophy for a framework within which to treat difference. We might more productively look to a hermeneutic philosophy that emphasizes the interpretive dimensions of difference and allows us to acknowledge the partiality of our understanding. Hence, we might also recognize the importance of a hermeneutic conversation unconstrained by relations of power or ideology in which all nonexclusionary interpretive voices can be educated by one another.     

Spirituality and the Later Years

Summary

Three questions are raised and discussed. What is the meaning of spirituality? How is spirituality affected by the aging process? And what are some suggestions for spiritual ministry to the aging?     

Physicalism and Ontological Holism

The claim of this paper is that we should envisage physicalism as an ontological holism. Our current basic physics, quantum theory, suggests that, ontologically speaking, we have to assume one global quantum state of the world; many of the properties that are often taken to be intrinsic properties of physical systems are in fact relations, which are determined by that global quantum state. The paper elaborates on this conception of physicalism as an ontological holism and considers issues such as supervenience, realization of higher-order properties by basic physical properties, and reduction.     

Shadow and Spirituality

When we confront the meaning of spirituality in education confusion and conflict can arise as they arise from the confrontation with spirituality in ourselves. This occurs both at the personal and at the collective level, according to writers such as C.G. Jung. Failure to understand that human spirituality includes a shadow side of this kind is precisely what leads many forms of human spiritual expression, including organized religion, into deep splits and schisms. It is unsurprising, therefore, that the willing, but perhaps, nä L ve attempts of contemporary educationalists to understand spirituality within education in a wholly positive light have themselves run into trouble. This paper will attempt to argue that without balancing contemporary educational debate about spirituality against some writers', including C.G. Jung's, deepest insights into the place of shadow in spirituality, children will yet again be sold a misfaction [1] about the nature of that aspect of human being and becoming. This, in turn will merely deepen the chaos, confusion and conflict arising from the earnest and well-intentioned, but perhaps nä L ve, attempt to make spirituality part of the cross-curricular experience of all children in all common schools.[2]