Abstract

Paul Tillich and Iris Murdoch forge new directions in theological ethics and moral philosophy in their appeals to moral transformation. Murdoch advocates for a retrieval of moral ontology constituted by the Good, encapsulated in individual self-consciousness and cognition, and manifested in purified vision and concrete attention to the other. Tillich, also concerned with the lack of depth and the loss of genuine symbols in human consciousness, attempts to revive the ontological language of being and non-being that can accommodate the richness of human essence and the vacillations of the existential situation. Tillich articulates these concerns through the concepts ultimate concern, the transmoral conscience, and New Being. ;My thesis argues that Murdoch and Tillich offer polemical voices within contemporary philosophical and theological conversations because they develop transcendental arguments that take moral transformation and love as the methodological points of departure for reflection on the human condition. In contrast to dominant philosophical and theological positions, Murdoch and Tillich maintain that models of self and reality are inchoate without acute recognition of the self as morally flawed, but transformable. They appropriate frameworks of participation and transcendence that affirm participation in transcendent goodness or the power of being, though Tillich privileges participation and Murdoch prefers transcendence . Moreover, they differ in their conceptions of the reunification achieved through transformation: Tillich's acceptance of the unacceptable versus Murdoch's spiritual discipline compelled by necessity. These two distinctions help clarify their divergent views of God and the Good, grace and work, and the roles of love vis-a-vis moral transformation. ;Their perspectives shed light on rehabilitation in criminal justice. Recent procedures---notably the 1987 Federal Sentencing Guidelines---attenuate the diversity of human flourishing, sever potentially constructive relationships between offenders, victims, and society, and instrumentalize justice. Murdoch's and Tillich's interpretations of the relationship between individuals, love, and justice and their criticisms of the bifurcation of fact and value reveal the moral shortcomings of the present system. The wider aim of the dissertation, therefore, is to marshal support for the efficacy of theological-ethical reflections regarding wider public discourse and social problems