An Epiphany Hymn Festival

Abstract

In winter 1990, sixteen choirs and congregations from the Pittsburgh area came together in that city to create an Epiphany hymn festival. The hymns, chosen from the newest Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran and Episcopal hymnals, were reprinted (by permission) in the program: each was introduced with a spoken commentary. Adapted versions of that commentary. which was based on the standard hymnal companions and hymn reference books, appear after each selection.

Hymns sung in alternation drew the congregation, which was surrounded by choirs, into the singing in several ways: unison, harmony, canon, listening to others.     

Interiority and Epiphany: A Reading in New Testament Ethics

Our “true self” is not an interior space but a product of the labors of time and the recognition of others. But how, then, do we move beyond rivalry to a genuinely common good beyond opposition and negotiation? Wise Stoics and Cynics had an answer. So did the Christian Church, based on Jesus’ offer of unconditional access to God for all—a non-competitive justifying grace. A twofold ethics and spirituality is displayed in Paul and Matthew. Action is judged not by performance nor by motive and intention but “according to its fidelity to the character of God, its ‘epiphanic’ depth”.     

雷公“显圣“雷灾与预防

2000年8月29日凌晨4时许,天空雷雨交加.突然一声巨响,将河南省濮阳市岳村乡东寨村一棵高20余米、直径达50厘米的老槐树自距地面1米以上部分撕裂成碎片,个别碎片被抛到50米开外的地方.此事引起当地群众的很大惊慌.一些人认为这一年为龙年,是“龙“发怒或“神仙“下凡.为此,方圆几十里的群众赶来烧香拜佛,每天达4000余人,闹得当地群众生产、生活不得安宁.……     

On the “Litany of Costlies” of the World Council of Churches: An Appeal for an Organizational Pilgrimage toward the Church as Moral Community

This essay concerns itself with what Lewis S. Mudge described as “the church as moral community.” 1 The trilogy of World Council of Churches’ documents entitled Costly Unity, Costly Commitment, and Costly Obedience are the primary source materials for rigorous and systematic reflection on the idea of the church as moral community. 2 Reading this “litany of costlies” 3 will deepen appreciation of the ecumenical significance of the idea of the church as moral community and inspire dedicated ecumenists to model it. Indeed, study of the ecclesiology and ethics process might have immediate, wider ecumenical implications. It could be a catalyst for creative organizational development in as many conciliar bodies that choose to practise the principles of building “the church as moral community.”     

A Dilemma for Rule-Consequentialism

Rule-consequentialists tend to argue for their normative theory by claiming that their view matches our moral convictions just as well as a pluralist set of Rossian duties. As an additional advantage, rule-consequentialism offers a unifying justification for these duties. I challenge the first part of the ruleconsequentialist argument and show that Rossian duties match our moral convictions better than the rule-consequentialist principles. I ask the rule-consequentialists a simple question. In the case that circumstances change, is the wrongness of acts determined by the ideal principles for the earlier circumstances or by the ideal ones for the new circumstances? I argue that whichever answer the rule-consequentialists give the view leads to normative conclusions that conflict with our moral intuitions. Because some set of Rossian duties can avoid similar problems, rule-consequentialism fails in the reflective equilibrium test advocated by the rule-consequentialists.     

一所培养哲学家的学校——牛津的哲学教育

本文把牛津等英国大学做哲学的方式与德国所谓的哲学研究进行比较,并论证:由于英国现存的一系列特殊的教育体制,使得德国所流行的那些做法不可能在英国得到鼓励.譬如,牛津大学实行导学制,对学生做每周至少一次耳提面命式的指导;校方对教学很重视,把教学而不是写作作为教师的主要职责;教师的职位很有保障,只要完成教学任务,对发表作品不做什么要求;写作和发表作品是研究兴趣、自我激励和思想成熟的自然后果;如此等等.总之,在英国大学,哲学师生之间、同事之间共享的不是一组哲学信条,而是一套学术标准.与其说牛津大学是一所传播哲学知识的学校,不如说是一所培养哲学家的学校.     

A sieve for entailments

The validity of an entailment has nothing to do with whether or not the components are true, false, necessary, or impossible; it has to do solely with whether or not there is a necessary connection between antecedent and consequent. Hence it is a mistake (we feel) to try to build a sieve which will strain out entailments from the set of material or strict implications present in some system of truth-functions, or of truth-functions with modality. Anderson and Belnap (1962, p. 47).     

A Dilemma for Eternalists

Philosophia - In this discussion I argue that, given the possibility of travel to the past, eternalists face a dilemma. They must choose between fatalism and the denial of an intuitive claim about...     

A foundation for presentism

Synthese - Presentism states that everything is present. Crucial to our understanding of this thesis is how we interpret the ‘is’. Recently, several philosophers have claimed that on...