Faith,Pluralism, and Public Engagement

Abstract

This essay is Miroslav Volf’s reply to the respondents to his book A Public Faith (2011). In the process of engaging his his respondents, the author articulates the main thesis and thrust of the book as well as the motivation behind writing it.     

Without Faith,Tsar, and Fatherland

This book excerpt explores the impact of the February revolution on periodical publishing in wartime Russia. It briefly considers the publishing activities of various political parties, but the main focus is publications by and for the active-duty army. The new freedom of the press allowed for dozens of new publications produced by soldiers themselves. Numerous other entities, including the civil authorities and public and private organizations, also published papers intended for the army, often with a pro-war message. But worsening problems with transport and supplies made it difficult to satisfy soldiers’ deep desire for news.     

真理、信念与历史研究——兼说人类历史发展规律

1．什么是真理真理这个概念在《大英百科全书》中没有相应的条目。《微软大百科辞海》中有四种定义：相符即真理,有用即真理,普遍一致即真理和削减的真理论。这里的任何一种定义都不能令人信服,它们仅仅给出了一些似是而非的答案,导致许多人从根本上否认真理的存在。我国的《辞海》和《中国大百科全书·哲学卷》都对真理的概念作出了明确的解释。《辞海》称：真理是对客观事物及其规律的正确反映,同“谬误”相对。《中国大百科全书·哲学卷》称：真理是与谬误对立的认识论范畴,指认识主体对存在于意识之外、并且不以意识为转移的客观实在的规律性的正确反映。这两种定义的突出特点是,把真理确定为认识主体对客观事物的规律和规律性的正确反映,指明了真理在认识领域中所处的地位。     

Liberal Government,Civil Society and Faith Communities

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between faith communities and the liberal system of government which operates in contemporary Britain. The problem addressed is as follows: liberal democracy relies upon the assumption of the validity of certain general truths: human rights, social justice, individual autonomy, and so on. In our postmodern society, however, social fragmentation has eroded the validity of such assumptions, leaving no universal or neutral benchmark through which to judge competing truth-claims. In particular, different faith traditions posit potentially incommensurable claims about what constitutes a good society. This article assesses the suggestion that in our pluralistic and differentiated society, more and more social decisions should be left to the market or to private rather than collective judgment and responsibility. It suggests various possibilities for reconceptualizing liberalism: for instance, as a modus vivendi providing a framework within which different moral outlooks can ‘live and let live’, but suggests that liberalism can have a positive moral content of its own, and need not be merely a coping mechanism for dealing with diversity.     

信仰危机与托马斯主义

托马斯主义的独特价值在于,每当天主教遭遇信仰危机时,教会当局就会隆重推出托马斯主义,在近现代,托马斯主义就经历了两次复兴。托马斯主义是一个调和理性与信仰的综合体系,当信仰尚能涵盖理性的张力时,这个体系就能够发挥一定的作用。但是,在现代世界科学理性主义大肆张扬的时代,信仰已被压缩到私人的范围,它已经很难涵盖理性提出的问题。因而,托马斯主义也就走到了尽头。     

Faith,philanthropy and the aged poor in nineteenth-century England and Wales

In the last half of the nineteenth century, Victorians grappled with welfare issues regarding the aged poor as social investigators sought to explain their dependency and poverty. Elderly men and women who were unable to care for themselves, and without a family or community to attend to their needs, had few alternatives outside the workhouse in nineteenth-century England and Wales. Catholic homes for the elderly managed by communities of women religious such as the Sisters of Nazareth provided an important option to the aged poor who often needed both accommodation and medical care. These homes provided a unique form of social welfare which attracted the attention of Protestants as well as Catholics as benefactors. Protestant reformers, looking for different approaches to maintaining the aged poor, inspected these Catholic homes in order to develop their own institutional solutions. Perhaps more pointedly, this interaction between Protestants and Catholics offers a counter narrative to the usual histories that emphasise anti-Catholicism, sectarianism and conflict. Despite the anti-Catholic tenor of the times, the homes for the aged of the Sisters of Nazareth were recognized and funded by both Catholics and Protestants as they were seen as providing a much needed form of charitable aid for the aged poor. As an alternative to poor law workhouses, the institutions created and managed by Catholic women religious formed an integral part of the mixed economy of welfare in the nineteenth century.     

Barack Obama's Political Theology: Pluralism,Deliberative Democracy,and the Christian Faith

Abstract

Obama won the 2008 election precisely because he crafted a political theology that enabled him to create a truly progressive Democratic Party religious and racial-ethnic minority platform that welcomed pro-choice and pro-life social-justice leaning Catholics and Evangelicals into a new coalition. His political theology was directly influenced by Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright and the black church civil rights tradition, white liberal Protestantism, his mother Ann Dunham's skepticism and free spirit, and Evangelical and Catholic leaders, advisors and opponents. Obama's best and most comprehensive statement on his political theology is his chapter on "Faith" in his New York Times No.1 best-selling autobiography The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006). Obama contends that religiously motivated people must learn the art of compromise, proportion, and how to find shared values. They must translate their religious concerns and vision for America into universal rather than religion-specific values, which must be subject to debate, amenable to reason, and applicable to people of all lifestyles and faiths or no faith at all. They should also be willing to sublimate their ultimate theological and religious convictions for the common collective good. Secular people likewise must adopt a similar approach towards religious people and activists.