Second Nature,Critical Theory and Hegel’s Phenomenology

ABSTRACT

While Hegel’s concept of second nature has now received substantial attention from commentators, relatively little has been said about the place of this concept in the Phenomenology of Spirit. This neglect is understandable, since Hegel does not explicitly use the phrase ‘second nature’ in this text. Nonetheless, several closely related phrases reveal the centrality of this concept to the Phenomenology’s structure. In this paper, I develop new interpretations of the figures ‘natural consciousness’, ‘natural notion’, and ‘inorganic nature’, in order to elucidate the distinctive concept of second nature at work in the Phenomenology. I will argue that this concept of second nature supplements the ‘official’ version, developed in the Encyclopedia, with an ‘unofficial’ version that prefigures its use in critical theory. At the same time, this reconstruction will allow us to see how the Phenomenology essentially documents spirit’s acquisition of a ‘second nature’.     

The ‘Holy Mother’ and the shadow: revisiting Jung's work on the quaternity

Through a series of clinical vignettes, this paper considers the impact of religious belief, specifically Roman Catholicism, on the psyche and development of mind; in particular, there will be a focus on the influences of the conflation of maternal beliefs with a Catholic belief system when the loss or absence of the father is a primary factor. Further, it will be shown in case examples that split off aspects of the personal shadow such as conflicted and aggressive emotions related to mother and father can conflate with the collective numinous and religious aspects of the ‘dark side’ of the God‐representation and result in ‘religious’ persecutory symptoms. This has a debilitating effect on the emerging personality, leaving it prone to fears, anxieties and psychotic pockets of experience when there is a numinous persecutory shadow in the background that affects and limits the individual's development. The implications and findings drawn from the clinical vignettes are used to consider the impact of an interrelationship and conflation between aspects of the psyche and religious beliefs. Jung's work on the Trinity and the ‘problem of the fourth’ (Jung 1942/1948/1991) is also reconsidered in relation to the role of the feminine, the maternal and the ‘reality of matter’. A diagram of the multiple levels of the quaternity is used to elaborate and expand on Jung's concept. © 2013, The Society of Analytical Psychology     

Discerning the spirit(s) in the natural world: Toward a typology of “spirit” in the religion and science conversation

Recent developments in Christian theological thinking on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology) have raised questions about the relationship between “spirit” and science. Cursory review of the religion and science literature, however, yields a wide array of uses and understandings of the concept of spirit. Current attempts to assess the relationship of pneumatology to science require an inventory or basic classification scheme of the various notions of spirit that have been in circulation over the past generation. This essay presents a preliminary typology of such uses in order to enable scholars and researchers to chart courses for future research in this area.     

Doukhobor ‘freedom seeker’ nudism: Exploring the sociocultural roots

This article explores the reasons behind nude protests among some groups of Canadian Doukhobors in the early twentieth century. Nude protests had never been practised by the Doukhobors until their arrival in Canada, and the reasons for this form of protest have not been sufficiently clarified in research. The author suggests that the choice of nudism as a form of protest by some Canadian Doukhobors (‘freedom seekers’) could be triggered by a combination of cultural clashes in the first years of the Doukhobor settlement in Canada, the Orthodox tradition of Holy Fools and Quaker influences. The article provides an overview of the consequences of the nude protest for the community and reports some contemporary attitudes of some Saskatchewan Doukhobors to these historical controversial protests.     

Pondering “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today's World”: A Protestant Missiological Reflection

The article explores “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today's World” (MOCT), one of the six official documents issued by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church that took place on the island of Crete in 2016. It is the first official Orthodox statement on mission ever published. The aim of the present article is to offer a reflection of MOCT from a Protestant missiological perspective. The article argues that MOCT interprets mission as the service of the church to the world, motivated by love. It goes on to discuss six major thematic areas of the statement, namely, the dignity of the human person; freedom and responsibility; peace and justice; peace and the aversion of war; the attitude of the church toward discrimination; and the mission of the Orthodox Church as a witness of love through service. The article seeks to provide a constructive critique of MOCT, assessing both its weaknesses and its assets. It concludes by saying that despite certain theological question marks, the new Orthodox mission document represents an invaluable contribution to the ecumenical discussion on mission and evangelism.     

The reception of Otto and Das Heilige in Japan: in and outside the phenomenology of religion

ABSTRACT

In Japan, Rudolf Otto is commonly identified as a precursor of the phenomenology of religion, claiming the sui generis nature of religion. However, the first Japanese translation of Das Heilige was published in 1927, far before the reception of the phenomenology of religion. This article divides the history of the reception of Das Heilige into three periods: before, during and after the heyday of the phenomenology of religion. It also examines both academic and lay receptions of Otto’s work, considering that its paperback version has sold over 53,000 copies. Its major findings are scholars of religion in the pre-war period framed Das Heilige according to a hierarchical dichotomy of the East and the West; post-war, phenomenological scholars empathetically interpreted the work, rejecting this ideological dichotomy; younger scholars have recently attempted more history-conscious, critical analyses; and, largely ‘non-religious’ general readers viewed it as a classic of Western thought, without being disturbed by its claim of Christian superiority.     

Speaking of the Spirit1

Since Gregory Nazianzus called it the “special difficulty” in the fourth century, we should not be surprised that speaking of the Holy Spirit still challenges theologians today. In this article I attempt definitions of the Spirit's activity in the church and the world, and its role within the life of the Trinity. I look for help in Paul's Letter to the Romans, from the Christian tradition, and from Luther's teaching, inviting all to this conversation about the Spirit's identity and place in an ecumenical context.     

The making of a sacred mountain. Meanings of nature and sacredness in Sápmi and northern Norway

A case study of sacred landscapes in the contemporary era, the article deals with a particular mountain and its rise to sacredness. Fuelled by plans of ski-slope development, the fate of Tromsdalstind caused a lively debate in local newspapers, as well as a report issued by the Sami Parliament. The report connected sacredness to Sami traditions in the past and to current laws on the protection of Sami cultural memories. This, then, was a case of sacredness constructed outside the context of organized religions and ongoing religious traditions, as well as a case of using secular laws as the primary basis for definitions of sacredness.Through this process, love for the mountain appears to have grown deeper and more religious, both for the Sami as well as for other northern Norwegians. Neither more nor less authentic than those of the past, these concepts of sacredness belong to the late modern world of law culture, nature romanticism, and to pan-indigenous spirituality as a “religion” in the making.     

SPIRIT AND CREATION

Abstract. The theology of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is not only a rather neglected but also a very diffuse subject. The neglect stems from the priority that was given in the early centuries to Christology. The diffuseness of pneumatology may well be a result of the bewildering variety of ways in which “spirit” or “Spirit” (Hebrew ruach, Greek pneuma) appears in the Bible. I attempt to bring the various activities ascribed to the Spirit under one heading, transmission of information, and then to see what can be learned from modern science about the role of the Spirit in creation. I suggest a distinct role of the Spirit in creation, jointly with but different from that of the Logos. Other occasions of a concerted action of Spirit and Logos are seen in the birth of Christ and the eschatological event. All of this leads to a trinitarian definition of creation.     

《科学》和《自然》杂志2015年的两篇心理学文章

本文评述了《科学》和《自然》杂志2015年的两篇文章。《科学》上的文章“心理科学的重现性”对100项心理学实验进行了重复验证。结果表明,只有大约多于1/3的原始研究能够重复。该文章对出现这样结果的原因作了分析,并指出这不是心理学的挫折。我们强调科学精神在于它的不确定性,因而科学才能处在不停的探索中。《自然》上的文章“P值仅仅是冰山的一角”,批评了个别心理学杂志禁用P值的做法,指出研究者应该在实验设计、数据处理等实验的前期阶段下功夫,才能防止心理科学的坍塌。我们结合国内研究生培养的现状,就改进心理学研究生的实验训练提出了建议。