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This study undertakes a comprehensive inquiry into the concept of experience in the thought of George Tyrrell from his earliest writings to 1900. No aspect of experience is passed over in its human, religious, Christian, and Catholic inflections. Tyrrell pursued a vast array of subjects and addressed them in often novel ways, even in his formative years, and at every stage of his thought he encountered the question of experience wherever he roamed. A study of experience in Tyrrell’s early works thus effectively offers a sweeping survey of the full gamut of his early thought. In the beginning we see that he came to recognize only gradually the significance of this category for all his inquiries. While scholars have traced experience in Tyrrell’s mature thought and researched its role in such targeted fields as ecclesiology and fundamental theology, the early writings by contrast have been largely passed over. This suggests a need for an unrestricted search at the origin of Tyrrell’s thought that tracks his discovery, formation, and evolution of this concept. We discover that its flexible and enigmatic character shapes and unifies the various questions that Tyrrell addressed over the years, thus marking his mature theology with a distinct character that was passed on to others in the universe of experience.

Thomas Chalmers was arguably the most popular Scot and influential churchman of his age, however, when he was first educated, ordained, installed, and serving as a parish minister in the Church of Scotland, he was by his own admission not yet a converted Christian. How could a minister of the gospel not believe the gospel? How this happened is telling of his context, country, and church, but it is not a short story. From a confusion of church and state dating back to the Scottish Reformation to an increasing secularism in and through the Scottish Enlightenment, the Church of Scotland moved increasingly away from its Reformation roots and the necessity of the gospel in Christian conversion, as evidenced in the early life of Thomas Chalmers.

Politics of the Soul in the Alcibiades is an important book that develops an interpretation of the essence of the political (politics of the soul) as elucidated through the analysis of Socrates’ practice of “self-cultivation” or care for the soul. In the process, it also confronts the issue of the problematic relationship between philosopher and statesman that is present to Plato’s dialogues. The analysis contributes the following to ongoing scholarship: (1) It offers a detailed and critical discussion of the neglected and ofttimes maligned dialogue the Alcibiades; (2) It contributes to the reinterpretation of the traditional view of the Socratic method arguing for elenchus as an expression and instantiation of the normative politics it seeks to define; and  (3) In developing a unique account of Socratic participatory democracy, it has the subordinate aim of demonstrating the value of Socratic practice over our own impoverished practice of political discourse. The text is suitable for scholars working in the fields of philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy, and classical studies. It would serve as an excellent secondary text for graduate level courses reading Plato’s dialogues because it contains an extensive and sustained discussion of the Socratic method. In addition to graduate students, it is appropriate for college students pursuing courses in philosophy in their third or fourth year of study. Laypersons who are intellectually curious about philosophy, particularly those interested in Socrates, will be attracted to this text.

The book is the first critical reading of all the major writings on history by Benedetto Croce. The study is not a summary but a critical assessment based on the relevance of Croce’s aesthetics for his concept of history. This account differs from previous studies which are characterized by the excluding or by minimizing the aesthetic, a process the author calls “defiguring.” Within this framework Croce’s concept of history is not a total philosophy but only an allegory of history: a narrative of the impossibility of history. In other words, Croce’s history is not unlike his definition of Hegel’s Phenomenology or his system as fiction. It is also not unlike Vico’s New Science, the other major influence on Croce’s concept of history, as an imaginative science. This study realigns Croce’s concept of history with Hegel’s and Vico’s to redefine, thanks to Croce, how we understand history.

This volume brings together a selection of essays from the Lecture Series in Bahá’í studies at the University of Haifa. Each chapter explores an aspect of the Bahá’í religion, including its history, community, culture and theoretical perspectives on contemporary issues. The authors discuss topics including the family and descendants of the Báb (founder of the religion from which the Bahá’í Faith emerged), the influential role of Bahá’í schools in the modernization of education in Iran, the process of introducing the law of monogamy into the Iranian Bahá’í community, early connections between Swiss citizens and Bahá’ís in the Middle East, the rich and varied landscape of Persian Bahá’í poetry, and the role of African Americans in the development of the US Bahá’í community, particularly with regard to race relations and the principle of the oneness of humanity. Also presented in this volume are Bahá’í perspectives on contemporary topics including changing conceptions of work and work values, the role of apologetics in interfaith dialogue, and the issue of ‘defamation of religions’ in international human rights discourse. This book will be of interest to readers in various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences who want to become informed in more depth about a wider range of topics in the emerging field of Bahá’í studies.

¿Cuál es la actualidad del pensamiento de Levinas en filosofía política? La pregunta tiene dos respuestas. La primera se relaciona -siguiendo a Foucault- con la ampliación de la pregunta por el “poder” a los campos de normalización social, lo que muestra una coincidencia con la preocupación levinasiana por identificar en la metafísica un movimiento totalizante. Por otra parte, dicha actualidad también corresponde a una necesaria renovación de la filosofía política en el contexto de la destrucción de la historia de la metafísica. La sagacidad de Levinas fue la de haber comprendido la pregnancia de las formas de dominación asociada a la ontología, de tal forma que la política no puede seguir siendo ser pensada como lo había sido hasta entonces sin traicionar su mismo potencial emancipatorio.

This book is above all an example of philosophical reflection in Africa, refuting traditional commonplaces concerning the continent. The texts comprising this volume disprove the misconceptions that Africa has never understood itself and has never contributed to the enrichment of knowledge, the development of rational thought, philosophy, the arts, science and technology as well as civilization. For the members of the recently established network Africa In-The-World, the contributions dealing with musical rhythms, dances and the continental humanist philosophy confirm that Africanisation is a process that continues unabated to this day. The multiple and significant African contributions are often difficult to see because they have long since been adopted and integrated into the heritage of humanity. Africa In-The-World is working toward the construction of a universal humanity – one conceived in terms of a "give and take mentality."

 The social values of honor and shame, which have attracted much research from cultural anthropology and New Testament studies for the past five decades, is the main focus of the book. This book proposes the need to combine major contributions of narrative, rhetorical, and cultural anthropological approaches to trace the development of the twofold honor-shame concept throughout the Marcan narrative—with special attention to family relations. Though adequate social-scientific and socio-rhetorical studies in Mark’s Gospel (even in relation to honor and shame) have been conducted, there are still few scholarly monographs that trace the honor-shame motifs from the start to the end of the narrative through the use of helpful insights from literary methods and heuristic models (e.g., challenge-riposte; patron–client relation). Thus, this book seeks to undertake this kind of research. If argues further that Mark intends to reverse the content of the honor-shame value system of his audience by means of narrative reversal and family relativization. Such dramatic redefinition basically turns this value system upside-down, especially in relation to the natural family and the new fictive family of Jesus. Finally, the book unpacks how Mark persuades his readers to reverse their value system—what they consider as shameful must now be valued as honorable, and what they view as honorable must now be seen as dishonorable. NT scholars, seminary professors, and graduate students will benefit from reading this book, which offers a fresh integrated honor–shame approach in studying Mark’s Gospel from start to finish.

Jouir d’un jugement adéquat au long de la vie grâce à une véritable éducation de la pensée, si possible dès l’enfance et, par conséquent, pouvoir décider de façon efficace, représente le but essentiel de l’auteur. Cela est particulièrement important pour préserver la démocratie par la compétence d’une citoyenneté lucide et responsable.

Mais c’est par une histoire à la fois réaliste et merveilleuse, suite directe de Pixie, que Lipman nous plonge dans les questions les plus actuelles　: une éducation appropriée à l’action, des relations positives avec la nature et les animaux, la solidarité dans les épreuves, la reconnaissance de l’autre, le dialogue des générations, la préservation de l’imagination et de la créativité, etc. Notre avenir humain en dépend. Il faut donc s’y appliquer car «　l’éducation morale bien menée est tout, sauf facile.　»