In this paper I explore the “Introduction” to Method in Theology and examine the presuppositions of this importanttext. These are concepts that Lonergan deemed necessary for introducing his work on functional specialization. I focus on mediation as a two-way process and the empirical notion of culture. It is interesting how these two significant ideas make their way into the brief introduction, which Lonergan wrote last when composing the text.

This paper presents some comparative themes examining the anthropologies of Bernard Lonergan, René Girard and the four noble truths in Buddhism. It also engages some specific aspects from the Tibetan lineage of Buddhism represented by Pema Chödron, following her teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. The approach of the paper invokes the structure of John Thatamanil's The Immanent Divine: diagnosis, etiology, prognosis, prescription as an organizational way of presenting material on such diverse thinkers. Following an overview of these thinkers, I will highlight (...) some of the themes such as suffering, violence, healing, compassion, and the role of affectivity in its relation to desire. It should become clear that such a practical approach to Buddhist-Christian dialogue provides a fruitful starting point and underscores the value of learning other religious traditions. (shrink)

This paper takes the work of Hans Urs Von Balthasar as a starting point and context for a philosophical recovery of beauty. Balthasar labored to recover a theological aesthetics within contemporary theology. However, his suspicion of modern philosophy with its turn to the subject left him unable to articulate the proper philosophical foundations for a modern recovery of beauty. He acclaimed the achievement of Aquinas but did not move beyond him. Therefore,the paper presents an argument for a transposed philosophy of (...) Aquinas through the thought of Bernard Lonergan. One that can properly ground a theological aesthetics because it reckons with the philosophers of doubt, and allows for the incorporation of other cultural notions of beauty that Balthasar admits are lacking in his own aesthetics. (shrink)

This paper takes Balthasar’s critique of Kierkegaard’s aesthetics as a context for recovering the notion of beauty within the subject. Balthasar believed that Kierkegaard contributed to the loss of beauty by separating the aesthetic from the ethical and religious spheres. By viewing the spheres in terms of differentiations of consciousness, Lonergan’s theory of consciousness offers an interpretation ofKierkegaard’s stages in such a way that addresses Balthasar’s concern and retains the Danish thinker’s significant achievements.

This paper argues for a fundamental theological re‐interpretation of Vatican II ecclesiology that acknowledges not one but two principal ecclesiologies inspired by the Council documents. Ecclesiastical authorities and some theologians have acknowledged that communion ecclesiology is the principal ecclesiology of Vatican II. However, this conception does not sufficiently account for the full range of relations with the Other that is a distinctive development in the Church's self‐understanding inaugurated by Vatican II; such an understanding is better represented by an ecclesiology of (...) friendship. I thus argue there are two ecclesiologies reflected in the Council documents: communion ecclesiology and another to be developed based on mutual relations and friendship with the Other. The latter is distinctively Ignatian in spirit; further, these two ecclesiologies are not fundamentally opposed to each other but are united in the missions of the Son and the Spirit. (shrink)

In the Summer of 1994 I had the opportunity to participate in Northwestern University's ethnographic field school. I decided to begin a project on the Navajo approach to dreams. For the Navajo (Diné1), the recounting of dreams is taken very seriously. The interviews of the three reports I collected reflect that their beliefs surrounding dreams are personal and they do not speak about them readily. Indeed, within a three month period I was fortunate to collect these interviews. Likewise, this report (...) is preliminary and anticipates further study. What follows are the highlights of these interviews with three Diné women. In short, a summary of these interviews supports much of the previous research to date. Likewise, this report addresses the value of dreams, the distinctions between good and bad dreams, the role of the diagnostician in dream interpretation (the Navajo appear to have specialists for different types of dream interpretation), and some possible areas of future research. Keywords: Dine, Navajo, dreams, women. (shrink)

According to the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, a world that has lost sight of beauty is a world riddled with skepticism, moral and aesthetic relativism, conflicting religious worldviews, and escalating ecological crises. In The Eclipse and Recovery of Beauty, John D. Dadosky uses Kierkegaard and Nietzsche's negative aesthetics to outline the context of that loss, and presents an argument for reclaiming beauty as a metaphysical property of being. Inspired by Bernard Lonergan's philosophy of consciousness, Dadosky presents a philosophy (...) of beauty that is grounded in contemporary Thomistic thought. Responding to Balthasar, he argues for a concept of beauty that can be experienced, understood, judged, created, contemplated, and even loved. Deeply engaged with the work of Aquinas, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Kant, among others, The Eclipse and Recovery of Beauty will be essential reading for those interested in contemporary philosophy and theology. (shrink)

This paper explores St. Paul of the Cross's passion-centred spirituality as a context for avoiding the distortions of such spirituality and promoting proper praxis. These distortions are not the legacy of Paul of the Cross himself, but the fact that his contemplation of the passion was primarily performative and mystical, along with the lack of a systematic theology on the passion-death-and resurrection, there remains a context wherein distortions of passion-centred approaches can occur. The paper then presents some aspects of Bernard (...) Lonergan's thought on lex crucis and also from his Trinitarian work in order to provide a theological framework. This framework can help prevent the distortions of such a passion-centred spirituality and guide orthopraxis of passion-centred spiritualities. In the final section we explore some insights from Buddhism that are consonant with both Paul of the Cross's spirituality and Lonergan's law of the cross as fruits of the Spirit and seeds of the Word. (shrink)

This paper explores the essays of two prominent ecclesiologists, Joseph Komonchak and Hans Urs Von Balthasar, on their respective fundamental definitions of the Church. Gleaning insights from their different perspectives, the paper applies aspects of Lonergan's philosophy in order to clarify some methodological presuppositions and some ecclesial distortions to be corrected in light of those presuppositions. Additionally, it addresses two fundamental issues for consideration in a post-conciliar theology of the Church.

For the edition of A Second Collection prepared for the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, editors Robert M. Doran and John D. Dadosky have added archival materials directly related to almost every one of the papers, bringing the reader closer to the original compositions.