Universism: A Religion of Know Nothings? (original) (raw)
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Unitarian Universalist congregations are often congregations of people who didn't fit in... To me this is where the UUA falls down, and why you have CUUPS and the Buddhists and the Christians and all these little subgroups -because we offer the hope of a spiritual journey, and we offer no tools to do it with. -Anonymous UU adult, from Engaging Our Theological Diversity The liberalism that is dead is the liberalism that does not call for decision, that does not see the divine spark in a person rises into flame only through the recognition of the need for a change of heart... Only when there is sincere recognition of incompleteness and failure, only there are the spirit of liberalism and true religion to be found.
Faith and Universities in a Religious and Secular World (1)
Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift, 2005
Following in the wake o f Rawls and Neuhaus, any number o f theologians, philosophers, historians, and political theorists-led by major figures like Alasdair MacIntyre, M ichael Sandel, Charles Taylor, and Stanley Hauerwas-have reexamined , debated, challenged, and at times rejected the premises o f liber alism, whether in the name o f religion, or communitarianism, or multiculturalism. To the extent that liberalism 's structures have been undermined or at least shaken by these analyses, the perspicuousness and usefulness o f distinctions long assumed-reason as opposed to faith, evidence as opposed to revelation, inquiry as opposed to obedience, truth as opposed to b elief-have been called into question. And finally ... the geopolitical events o f the past decade and o f the past three years espe cially have re-alerted us to the fact (w e always knew it, but as academics w e were able to cabin it) that hundreds o f m illions o f people in the world do not observe the distinction between the private and the public or between b elief and knowledge, and that it is no longer possible for us to regard such persons as quaintly pre-modern or as the needy recipients o f our saving (an ironic word) wisdom. Som e o f these are our sworn enem ies. Som e o f them are our colleagues. Many o f them are our stu dents. (There are 27 religious organizations for students on my campus.) Announce a course with «reli gion) in the title, and you w ill have an overflow population. Announce a lecture or panel on and you will have to hire a larger hall. And those who com e will not only be seeking knowledge; they will be seeking guidance and inspira tion, and many o f them will believe that religion-one religion, many religions, religion in generalw ill provide them. Are we ready? We had better be, because that is now where the action is. When Jacques Derrida died I was called by a reporter who wanted to know what would succeed high theory and the triumvirate o f race, gender, and class as the center o f intellectual energy in the academy. I answered like a shot: religion.1
Can the University and the Church Save Each Other?
CrossCurrents, 2005
I argue that at least in my context the university might help to save the church from the forces of secularization – insofar as instrumentalization is one virulent form of secularization; that in so doing the University might recall the Church to the literal sense of scripture, and that the University might even remind the Church of her identity. I will also, however, argue that the University desperately needs the Church’s help if it is to be properly academic.
In olden times believers met God, knew Him, walked with Him, had the clear and full consciousness that they had dealings with the God of heaven '-thus began Andrew Murray (1828-1917 his classic book, Moody, to name but a few (p. 8). Convinced that our time is no exception in this regard and building upon Gavin D'Costa's Theology in the Public Square (2005) which shows the secularized state of university theology, the present study set out to examine the origin (why), result (what), and process (how) of the secularization of university theology, particularly to answer why 'theology is no longer considered a necessary subject in the modern university' (Stanley Hauerwas, The State of the University, p. 12).
The University as an Agency of Building Common Understanding in the Global Age
2009
The article examines the practical value of philosophical hermeneutics by H.-G. Gadamer. Reffering to M. Heidegger who defi ned the concepts of Man and Dasein as belonging to different dimensions of our world and of phenomenology, author is looking for an examplar that would include real and phenomenological characters simultaneously. So he offers to see the University as a locus where hermeneutical conversation develops in both dimensions, and the one related to the ideas of truth, wisdom and thus a channel for common comprehension in the Global Age.