The God Beyond

This article is an attempt to describe the structure of imaging God at the adult level At the adult level of religious development, this structure has three interrelated pieces: first, there is an adult self;second, there is unfettered imaging; and third, there is the God the adult self is able to relate to in unfettered imaging, and this is the God Beyond. The article concludes with a brief look at how the adult self hears and speaks about the God Beyond.The author acknowledges with gratitude the invaluable help in writing this article of Neil J. McGettigan, Religious Studies Department, Villanova University, Villanova, PA.     

The Superego God

This article is an attempt to describe the structure of imaging God at the superego level At the superego level of religious development, this structure has three interrelated pieces: first, there is an adolescing self; second, there is fettered imaging; and third, there is the God the adolescing self is able to relate to in fettered imaging, and this is the Superego God. The article concludes with a brief look at how the adolescing self hears and speaks about the Superego God.The author acknowledges with gratitude the invaluable help in writing this article of Neil J. McGettigan, Religious Studies Department, Villanova University, Villanova, PA.     

The Power of God

Much contemporary analytic philosophy understands the power of God as belonging to the same logical space as the power of human beings: a power of efficient causation taken to the maximum limit. This anthropomorphic picture is often explicated in terms of God’s capacity to bring about any logically possible state of affairs, so-called omnipotence. D.Z. Phillips criticized this position in his last book, The Problem of Evil and the Problem of God. I defend Phillips’s argument against recent criticism by William Hasker, contending that the omnipotence thesis is either false or trivial. I trace the superficial plausibility of the thesis to a Cartesian understanding of personal agency, in the light of which God’s power over the whole material world is an inflated version of our more modest power over our own bodies: it is the power of immaterial souls to control material phenomena. This comparison is expressed to perfection in the work of Richard Swinburne, my main target. I argue that by making God a force among other possible forces, in-principle able to be resisted, however feebly, by contrary forces, this picture reduces the Creator to a creature.     

The face of wrath: The role of features and configurations in conveying social threat

We examined the role of single features and feature configurations in the effect of schematic faces on rated threat. A total of 101 medical students rated their emotional impression of schematic facial stimuli using semantic differential scales (Activity, Negative Valence, and Potency). In different parts of the experiment, the ratings concerned single features, eyebrow‐mouth configurations, or complete faces. Although eyebrows emerged as the overall most important feature, the effect of features was modulated by configuration. Simple configurations of eyebrows and mouth appeared to convey threat and nonthreat in a way highly similar to that of complete faces. In most cases, the configurations of eyebrows and mouth could significantly predict the effect of the complete faces.     

The temporality of God

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

The faces of God

Continental Philosophy Review -     

Roman Catholic couples: wrath and religion.

Qualitative methods were used to research the effects of the religious beliefs and practices of ten Roman Catholic couples on the ways in which they managed anger and conflict in their marital relationship. The couples were interviewed separately, twice each, using Grounded Theory techniques in the first, semi-structured interview, and Repertory Grids in the second. Religious beliefs supported a broad range of positions on anger management from self-control through to the thoughtful expression of anger. It is suggested that religious beliefs and practices can be thought of as expanding or restricting "space" by reducing the intensity of anger experienced and by providing an opportunity for reflection which enabled participants to take greater responsibility for their part in conflicts. The relationship with God affected the "space" in the couple relationship by meeting some of the unmet needs of individuals and by detouring anger away from the spouse to God where it was felt to be safely contained. This procedure was used more by wives; their husbands seemed more often to fear and avoid conflicts and the expression of anger. Links were made between the marital relationship and the relationship with God. It was proposed that these systems are both evolving interactively with changes in one resulting in changes in the other. However, there can be a delay before changes in one system can be integrated with conflicting beliefs or practices in the reciprocal system, which may result in ambivalent attitudes toward anger and conflict. Clinical implications and directions for future research were suggested.