'The Language of Disenchantment' [Book review], Journal of Ecclesiastical History, October 2014 (original) (raw)
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Divinings: Religion at Harvard
2014
Throughout Divinings for purposes of the cross-reference of leading ideas and persons, the author uses the following convention, notation within parenthesis of chapters, subchapters, and other subdivisions according to the following style: ([Ch.] 1.l.a.3.b.4.). AC The Antinomian Controversy, 1636-1638, by David D. Hall. AHR American Historical Review. ALK Archiv fur Literatur-und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters. ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers. AQ American Quarterly. ARG Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte. AUA American Unitarian Association. BAR Biblical Archeology Review. BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly. CCL Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina. CF Collectanea Franciscana. CH Church History. CO Calvin, Jean. Opera omnia. CR Corpus reformatorum. CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecciesiasticorum Latinorum. CSM Colonial Society of Massachusetts. CSWR Center for the Study of World Religions.
Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religionsarissenschaft 67: 237-245, 1983
Whereas in earlier centuries the Church had been accustomed to profess that "the Word of God is the Bible," a certain theological circle in the mid-Victorian Church of England known as the Broad Church began to expound quite a different formula, "the Word of God is in the Bible," the transition to which reflects a significant shift of emphasis in the logical structures governing theories of revelation then prevailing. How this funda mental change in the dogmatic structures of Christian thinking came about is not an issue here; rather, we are concerned with how nineteenth-century British theologians found -or presumed to find -confirmation of their approach to the Bible in the discovery, conveyed to them through the instrumentality of Christians who had engaged in interreligious dialogue, that religions of Indian origin, Hinduism in particular, also have scriptures believed to be -in various senses -inspired. If all that purports to be revelatory cannot indeed be such, so they reasoned, then the divine elements in them must be distinguished from the human by a processs of logical and moral analysis from which not even the Bible could be exempt. That certain leading Broad Churchmen even then were turning eastward is not now generally well known, and the present study is an attempt to demonstrate the extent to which the new theories concerning revelation, though arising chiefly as part of a dialectical process within Christianity itself, were nonetheless made by theologians to appear more credible by broadening the context in which documents alleged to be inspired are studied.
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2017
consolidation of government in the colony throughout Penn's life. These adjustments did not simply reflect shortcomings in Penn's theory, but were symptomatic of the 'indeterminate and contested' nature of the 'phenomena of which theory is constituted'that is, the inevitable 'flux at the very heart of politics'. Clearly, Murphy's primary audience is in political science. However, especially given his explicit concern for the fuller contextualisation of Penn's thought, his work would have benefitted from greater consideration of the impact of Penn's theology on that thought. For example, regarding Penn's argument that genuine faith could never be the result of coercion, Murphy stresses that he was exhorting 'mature understanding and deliberate consideration'. Yet Penn's belief in what he termed the 'self evidenceing [sic] verity' of Christianity (Great case, ) fundamentally arose out of his belief in the immediate guidance of the inward Light of Christ, and was articulated in the context of a wider theological dispute regarding the Quakers' commitment to the necessity of belief in the historical Jesus. Similarly, Penn's emphasis on high moral standards and his understanding of conscience in terms of duty towards God, alongside his minimalist approach to the basic doctrinal requirements for toleration, echo Quaker demands for obedience to the Light and the believer's potential for sanctification. What effect did Penn's theology have on his navigation between ideological and pragmatic commitments? However, this should not detract from Murphy's contribution. His interrogation of assumptions regarding canonicity, and his refusal to draw clear lines between Penn's life, performance and ideas, are relevant far beyond the realm of political scienceand to this end his work will undoubtedly have a captive readership among students of early Quakerism, the broader tolerationist movement, colonial and transatlantic history, and the religious and political milieus of the later seventeenth century.
Blind Spots of Disenchantment: Science, Religion, and Natural Theology in the Early 20th Century
This paper engages in a revisionist reading of Max Weber's notion of disenchantment, and the lesser known concept of an "intellectual sacrifice". It argues that Weber's original formulations of disenchantment as a process has occludes and delegitimises certain important cultural trends in the borderlands between science and religion in modernity. The implications are discussed with examples from early twentieth century science, and the attempt to create a new "natural theology" in this period.