Bonaventure distinguishes three meanings for grace. First, in a general sense, it is the assistance freely and liberally granted by God to creatures performing any of their acts. Second, in a more proper sense, grace is a term usually reserved for the gift from God by which the human soul is perfected and transformed. Third, is the concept of created sense as the means of justification and of this justification involving a change in being.

This introductory chapter discusses the life and times of Bonaventure, his writings, and influence. Bonaventure came to Paris as a young man, probably in 1234 or 1235, a time when the city was undergoing extraordinary rebirth. Three historic movements had recently converged on the banks of the Seine when Bonaventure began his new life in Paris: the rediscovery of Aristotle, the turn to “universities” for education, and the emergence of the Franciscans. Bonaventure became the eighth minister of the Franciscan order (...) in October 1257. (shrink)

Method as Identity considers how social identity shapes methodological standpoints. With a refreshing hip hop sensibility, Miller and Driscoll reorient the contemporary academic study of religion toward recognition of the costs and benefits of manufacturing “critical” distance from our objects of study.

This paper considers the number of speeches which treat central topics in the House of Lords second reading of the ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ (October 22, 2021). It summarizes some of the principal arguments for and against the Bill according to the main categories of discussion. These were compassion; palliative care; autonomy, choice and control; legal and social effects. In summarizing the arguments thematically, it is possible to see the current state of the debate and how concerns are shared on either (...) side, even if approaches to and proposed solutions for those problems are different. The paper concludes that the essential source of disagreement lies outside of the arguments raised, and therefore that any change in the law is not likely to arise from political consensus. (shrink)

Combining philosophical reflections with deep self-exploration to delve into the ancient mystery of death and rebirth, this book emphasizes collective rather than individual transformation. Drawing upon twenty years of experience working with nonordinary states, the author argues that when the deep psyche is hyper-simulated using Stanislaw Grof's powerful therapeutic methods, the healing that results sometimes extends beyond the individual to the collective unconscious of humanity itself.

This article investigates the role of privacy and transparency in the 4th Space and outlines their implications for the development and dissemination of conspiracy theories. We argue that privacy can be exploited by individuals and organizations to spread conspiracy theories online, while organizational transparency, intended to increase accountability and ultimately trust, can have the adverse effect and nurture conspiracy beliefs. Through the lens of the 4th Space concept, we offer suggestions on how to approach those challenges which emerge as a (...) result of the complex entanglements of both actual and virtual world across time. (shrink)

One important part of Aquinas’s theory of the nature of corruptible corporeal substances is his account of the individuation of such entities. In this paper, I examine an aspect of Aquinas’s account of individuation that has not received as much attention as some others, namely, how Aquinas applies his account of individuation specifically to cases involving non-living corporeal substances. I first offer an interpretation of a key passage in Aquinas’s corpus where he explains his theory of individuation. Second, I examine (...) a text where Aquinas applies his account of individuation to a case involving non-living substances. Finally, I raise a possible objection to what Aquinas says about the individuation of non-living substances and in answering the objection suggest that Aquinas holds the view that non-living substances enjoy a less perfect mode of individuality when compared to living substances. (shrink)

Phenomenological psychology is shown as a means to examine implications of mass-commodity culture, through the presentation of a phenomenological analysis of a TV commercial. This advertisement plays upon the vicissitudes of fathers' experiences of their relationships with their pre-pubescent daughters. The findings disclose an image of a father's ambivalently lived inability to tolerate his daughter's first sexual attraction to another male, and his attempt to continue to control the satisfaction of his daughter's bodily desire through commodities. The significance of and (...) alternatives to this variation are suggested. (shrink)

This chapter outlines the utility for employing case study methodologies to provide sufficient external validity upon which to craft policy relevant to maintaining healthy democratic politics. The broader theoretical context is an investigation into the conditions that might structurally condition democracies to fail via democratic means. Venezuela’s democratic decline serves as the basis for the heuristic case study, wherein the objective is to identify the failures of the Venezuelan case in a larger framework that addresses the complexity of institutional design (...) in democratic political systems states broadly. Cases are selected based upon the objective of the researcher, and similarly, the case study methodology chosen rests firmly on their research goals. Lastly, the chapter outlines the research design necessary for satisfying broader inquiry within the more modest approach to how heuristic case studies can be used to inform both theory and policy. (shrink)

A paradigm-breaking exploration of how collective intelligence functions in groups with practical guidelines for teachers.

In the current digital era, reliance on technology for communication and the gathering and dissemination of information is growing. However, the information disseminated can be misleading or false. Nurses tend to be trusted by the public, but not all information brought to the public forum is well-informed. Ill-informed discussions have resulted in harm to individuals who take such information as fact and act on it. As technology continues to evolve and fact versus fiction becomes more challenging to discern, it is (...) critical that nurses recognize their ethical responsibility to the public in providing information for which sound evidence exists. This analysis will explore medical misinformation through concepts such as confirmation bias and the politicization of science. Also, the impact of nurses not recognizing the power and responsibility associated with using their credentials in public fora, even when the central motivator is that they believe they are helping other individuals. Using nursing goals and perspectives, we will discuss the ethical responsibility of nurses to be aware of the soundness of what they think they know. Utilizing ideas of professional responsibilities, as outlined by professional codes of ethics as well as the ethical principles of non-maleficence and veracity, we explore the problem of nurses propagating misinformation and suggest strategies to enhance nurse awareness of their ethical responsibilities for veracity and transparency regarding what is known and what is not. (shrink)

Bonaventure holds that God does all things with power, wisdom, and goodness; such as in the case of the restoration. If Incarnation is examined as a work of God in the light of power, wisdom, and goodness, we can see why it is the most perfect of all God's works, for there cannot be any greater act of power than to combine within a single person two natures: the human and divine. While Bonaventure stresses the gratuity of the redemption — (...) that is, God was in no way obliged to save us — he is very clear that man could not have been saved by any healer other than God. (shrink)

Bonaventure frequently identifies theology with sacred scripture, using the term “scripture” as a synonym for theology to the extent that he refers to the whole of what God has revealed for the salvation of the human race. The best place to begin to understand Bonaventure's view of sacred scripture is with the conviction that he held with other medieval believers, that God has written three books: one within, one without, and one for sinners to return home. In Bonaventure's eyes, scripture (...) is not merely the literal meaning of the text. When he speaks of scripture, he means scripture as revealed in the fullness of its meanings, above all, in its allegorical interpretation. (shrink)

The question of time and history, took on tremendous urgency in Bonaventure's day. Bonaventure found himself enmeshed in debates about time and history both in the university and in the Franciscan order. Bonaventure believed that creation necessarily involves having a beginning in time, i.e., having being at some point after not having being. Time is thus necessarily lineal, not cyclical. So as Bonaventure considers the question in the light of philosophy he concludes that creation has a beginning in time, and (...) in the light of scripture he concludes that it will have an end. (shrink)

A fascinating property of germ cells is their ability to maintain totipotency throughout development. At fertilization, this totipotency is unleashed and the egg generates all the cell types needed to make a brand new organism. Occasionally, germ cells differentiate precociously in the embryo or in the gonads and form teratomas, tumors containing many differentiated somatic cell types. Until recently, the genetic basis for teratoma formation was not known. The unexpected discovery of a teratoma in a C. elegans double mutant points (...) to translational control as a key mechanism to maintain totipotency in developing germ cells. BioEssays 28: 865–867, 2006. © 2006 Wiley periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Coming out of mission efforts focused on evangelism, the rising Business as Mission movement stakes a claim to effective holistic mission by focusing on profit, evangelism, and development. Research indicates, however, that the development aspect of this `triple bottom line' is significantly weak. If, in fact, Business as Mission efforts were to incorporate the social and political dimensions of development, there would be great potential for a partnership with grassroots organizations to bring about deep-reaching social transformation.

This paper looks at nine different ways of defining scientism in order to show that potential definitions of the term conform to a general pattern: a definition of scientism either is self-defeating or else cannot really count as a construal of scientism in the first place. Advocates for the experimental sciences would therefore be better off accepting a middle position—one might say a broadly Thomistic approach to science—between the extremes of scientism on the one hand and a religious fundamentalism that (...) ignores the important contributions of the experimental sciences on the other. Such a middle position recognizes both the intellectual significance and the inherent limitations of the scientific method employed within the experimental sciences. (shrink)

In this paper I attempt to show how my graduate work in interpretive studies transformed my previous work as a special education consultant. Using Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics, as well as Ivan Illich's notions of iatrogenesis and counter-productivity, I discuss my work with a school team as they struggled throughout a school year with a special education classroom for students with diagnosed mental health disorders.

_ Source: _Volume 26, Issue 1, pp 118 - 147 This paper challenges the widespread emphasis on the absence of God in post- Holocaust historiography, theology, and art by suggesting that Barnett Newman’s _Stations of the Cross_ may have been conceived under the theological category of the apophatic rather than the aesthetic category of the sublime. This paper focuses on the “anti-realist” position of Newman and other artists for whom the Holocaust necessitated a renewed aniconic tendency in Jewish aesthetics. His (...) work, I suggest, holds out a tension between absolute absence and redemptive presence that at once resists and affirms a negative aesthetic of God’s solidarity with suffering. (shrink)

In Fear of Knowledge, Paul Boghossian presents a series of arguments against epistemic relativism and constructivism, doctrines that he considers to have exerted an overly unjustified influence over the human and social sciences in the past two decades. In the presentation of his arguments, Boghossian charts out a terrain that closely identifies relativism with skepticism. Yet, the relationship between the two does not seem to be a simple matter of entailment or implication. The purpose of this paper is to clarify (...) the landscape surrounding relativism and skepticism and thereby to highlight their difference. The implications of such a clarification will include illustrating that some arguments thought to be against relativism are actually against skepticism, that there are very different ways of understanding the relationship between relativism and skepticism, and that a commitment to either relativism or skepticism does not entail commitment to the other. The overall objective is to show that Boghossian's conception of the terrain is incorrect and to offer an explanation for this pervasive misconception about the connection between relativism and skepticism. (shrink)

Ectogestation involves the gestation of a fetus in an ex utero environment. The possibility of this technology raises a significant question for the abortion debate: Does a woman’s right to end her pregnancy entail that she has a right to the death of the fetus when ectogestation is possible? Some have argued that it does not Mathison & Davis. Others claim that, while a woman alone does not possess an individual right to the death of the fetus, the genetic parents (...) have a collective right to its death Räsänen. In this paper, I argue that the possibility of ectogestation will radically transform the problem of abortion. The argument that I defend purports to show that, even if it is not a person, there is no right to the death of a fetus that could be safely removed from a human womb and gestated in an artificial womb, because there are competent people who are willing to care for and raise the fetus as it grows into a person. Thus, given the possibility of ectogestation, the moral status of the fetus plays no substantial role in determining whether there is a right to its death. (shrink)

The objective list theory of well-being holds that a plurality of basic objective goods directly benefit people. These can include goods such as loving relationships, meaningful knowledge, autonomy, achievement, and pleasure. The objective list theory is pluralistic (it does not identify an underlying feature shared by these goods) and objective (the basic goods benefit people independently of their reactive attitudes toward them). In this paper, I discuss the structure of this theory and show how it is supported by people's considered (...) judgments. I then respond to three objections. First, I argue that there is no conceptual reason to favor a monistic theory of well-being over a pluralistic one (such as the objective list theory). Second, I argue that states of affairs can benefit people even though they hold no positive reactive attitudes toward them. And, third, I argue that objective list theorists can identify a fairly-determinate list of basic goods. (shrink)

This article argues that Laszlo's concept of the Akashic Field (A-field) does not render the concept of reincarnation either redundant or unnecessary, that reincarnation is a fact of nature, something the universe is doing at this stage of its evolution. Not only is Laszlo's theory compatible with the concept of rebirth, it actually strengthens that theory by clarifying some of the processes involved. This article presents a rationale for the belief that through reincarnation the universe is giving birth to a (...) transpersonal individuality that does endure outside space-time and is not dissolved back into the quantum vacuum. (shrink)