Contemplative Dimension Research Articles

Sabbath Stillness: Thoughts of a Lingering God

Abstract: The time is ripe for a fuller exploration of Sabbath within the field of Christian spirituality studies. Sabbath bears on several topics important to this field, including prayer, liturgy, time, justice, work, ecology, and interreligious dialogue. While many aspects of Sabbath are relevant to spirituality studies, this essay addresses contemplative dimensions of Sabbath and the potential for deepening more communal understandings of contemplation in dialogue with Jewish thought and practice. The consideration of contemplative dimensions of Sabbath unfolds in three movements: lingering, seeing , and stilling . It ends with a note about the eschatological dimension of Sabbath.

La dimensione contemplativa della nostra spiritualità

This study argues that a missionary dedicated to evangelization and serving the poor is a man of contemplation. Some often believed that a certain industriousness could not be married to a contemplative vision of things and life. However, the active and contemplative life are not mutually exclusive. It is impossible today to think of structuring a missionary activity without including the contemplative dimension. And how do we articulate action and contemplation? In the short space of this reflection, I will try to bring out the fruitfulness of the indication of the GA 2022, which assigns primacy in the area of ​​spirituality to the rediscovery of the contemplative dimension in our lives. In the 1950s, Vincentian spirituality was defined as the "spirituality of action." This expression was intended to qualify the commitment of the Christian in the world. The formula, which went out of fashion until the 1970s, however, lent itself to be interpreted ambiguously, so much so that Dodin preferred to speak of "mysticism of religious action," Ibáñez: "mysticism in action," Toscani: "mysticism of the poor,” Maloney: “mysticism of charity.” Today more than ever we need an "incarnate faith" and an "inspired charity." We need a faith that necessarily translates into "actions to be done." Just as we need a charity that is born of God and returns to God and becomes the expression of a greater love, Christ. In missionary zeal, caring for the poor, and dedication to service, a greater good arrives: the saving love of God.

Contemplative Freedom in the Anthropocene: Inspiration from Sloterdijk

Contemplative Freedom in the Anthropocene:Inspiration from Sloterdijk Jessica Ludescher Imanaka (bio) What new meaning of freedom can be found in the Anthropocene,1 and how can it be accessed in support of ethics and justice regarding environmental issues? It is clear that the current and future conditions of the Anthropocene will engender problems of ethics and justice of unprecedented nature and magnitude, requiring reconceptualizations of theories and praxes. As freedom has remained a core value and constituent concept in numerous theories of ethics and justice, at least in the West, it is worth considering the future of freedom in the Anthropocene. The German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk has proposed provocative possibilities for such reconceptualizations that prove fecund because his theories deal explicitly with ecological crises while drawing from diverse and opposed political perspectives. In a short book called Stress and Freedom, Sloterdijk reimagines the meaning of freedom, as interacting with stress in what I show to be a mutually transformative process. Freedom paradoxically retreats from stress so as to brave it with noble liberality. Such reconfigurations of freedom become more lucid once its interrelationship with stress is considered in connection with Sloterdijk's provocative environmental writings. This article sketches a vision for contemplative freedom based on the writings of Sloterdijk. I here explore his suggestive concept of freedom, as freedom from stress and "availability for the improbable" (Sloterdijk 2016b, 54), and exhibit its interconnection with his account of the demands placed upon us by the "Great Catastrophe" of ecological crises (Sloterdijk 2013, 44). I begin by articulating Sloterdijk's theory of society as a "stress integrated force field" in Stress and Freedom (Sloterdijk 2016, 6) and analyze this view in light of environmental stresses, which generate stressful freedom. Although Sloterdijk does not articulate the meaning of freedom explicitly in the context of environmental issues, I draw out the environmental implications. I then examine Sloterdijk's account of freedom in relation to stress and reveal the interactive dimensions of this relationship, arguing that his view of freedom transcends the left/right divide. I show how Sloterdijk draws from both leftist and conservative [End Page 297] conceptions of freedom but then moves beyond them with a Nietzschean twist. Sloterdijk's notion of freedom may be linked with his ideas of anthropotechnics, especially when stress and freedom are brought into dialectical interplay. I reveal the contemplative dimensions of his account of freedom, highlighting how freedom's dynamic tension with stress holds potential for fruitful reengagement with ecocrises. Integrating ideas from several of Sloterdijk's texts, I sketch a vision of contemplative freedom oriented toward a becoming-human anew in the Anthropocene. Proposing some reconfigurations of this vision, I conclude with Sloterdijk's hope for monogeistic co-immunity. Stressful Freedom in the Anthropocene In Stress and Freedom, Sloterdijk draws upon stress theory to propose that "the large-scale political bodies we call societies should be understood primarily as stress-integrated force fields" (2016b, 6). Societies find cohesion and "synchronization of consciousness" in response to stress-provoking stimulations, which are mainly propagated by the media (7). The media system produces agitating stimuli, which it continually updates and disseminates, generating topics of "concern" that bind the society symbolically (7–8). The book eventually focuses on a modern conception of freedom, which Sloterdijk attributes to Rousseau's view of freedom as the contemplative retreat from social persecution, an account that amounts to an individualistic removal from social reality and its stresses. Stress is defined as a kind of unfreedom, freedom as a form of nonstress. Sloterdijk's account of stress-induced unity appears to apply most easily to cultural similarity and identification, though he suggests it pertains to multicultural societies. It also could explain how subnational and transnational societies emerge, as groups bond over their shared sense of stress priorities and apprehension of what is stressful. Popular media vary intranationally as well as internationally. For example, political parties bond over perceived threats posed by the opposing tribe, and countries ally with each other in response to inimical forces. However, this account of the formation and maintenance of social cohesion remains incomplete by itself, since other elements, not least historical and legal ones, contribute to the formation and...

Taming the Wild Horse: An Annotated Translation and Study of the Daoist Horse Taming Pictures by Louis Komjathy

Reviewed by: Taming the Wild Horse: An Annotated Translation and Study of the Daoist Horse Taming Pictures by Louis Komjathy Joshua Capitanio Louis Komjathy. Taming the Wild Horse: An Annotated Translation and Study of the Daoist Horse Taming Pictures. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017. Pp. 264. $75.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0231181266. In Taming the Wild Horse: An Annotated Translation and Study of the Daoist Horse Taming Pictures, his most recent work, Louis Komjathy brings together two topics that he has been researching and writing about for over a decade now: meditative practice within the late imperial Daoist tradition of Complete Perfection (Quanzhen 全) and contemplative approaches to the study of religion. Those who are more familiar with his work on Daoist studies may not be aware of Komjathy's prominent role in the development of the field of contemplative studies: he was a founding member of the Contemplative Studies Unit within the American Academy of Religion, serving also as co-chair from its inception in 2010 until 2016, and has published several important works in the field, including the edited volume Contemplative Literature: A Comparative Sourcebook on Meditation and Contemplative Prayer1 and the more recent monograph Introducing Contemplative Studies.2 Taming the Wild Horse represents an attempt to bring the methodology of contemplative studies to bear on a pre-modern Daoist text, an untitled composition (referred to throughout the book as the "Horse Taming Pictures") that portrays the path of meditation in Complete Perfection Daoism allegorically through images depicting the process of taming a wild horse. Komjathy's "contemplative reading" of this text goes beyond translation and exegesis to document his own subjective engagement with the Horse Taming Pictures, guiding readers to "engage the contemplative dimensions of the text and the implications for human-animal relationships and equine being … [as] a form of contemplative practice" (x). The result is a unique work, which offers an engaging perspective on the text of the Horse Taming Pictures and a fresh approach to the study of Daoism and other religious traditions. [End Page 477] The book is divided into three main parts, comprising a historical and topical introduction, the translation of the Horse Taming Pictures text along with its verse commentary, and the author's own exegesis of the text. In "In Search of the Wild Horse," the first chapter in Part I, Komjathy introduces the Horse Taming Pictures and their author, Gao Daokuan 高道寬 (1195–1277). Situating both the text and its author within the Complete Perfection tradition, Komjathy provides a basic overview of the principles of internal alchemy and graded meditative cultivation that inform Complete Perfection practice as presented within the Horse Taming Pictures, outlining the structure of the text and the progression depicted within. This section is useful, but I would have liked to see more discussion of the relationship between the Horse Taming Pictures and the Chan Buddhist oxherding pictures on which they are clearly based. Komjathy does provide a general overview of the similarities between the Horse Taming Pictures and the two contemporaneous editions of the oxherding pictures that remain extant, the eleventh-century composition by Puming 普明 and the twelfth-century work by Kuo'an 廓庵. The discussion is brief, however, and focuses more on the dissimilarities between the Horse Taming Pictures and the Chan oxherding genre than on their similarities. However, Gao's composition of a text based directly upon the Buddhist oxherding pictures suggests a deep interest and engagement with Chan Buddhist literature. Arguably, Gao's interest in Chan influenced the structure and contents of the Horse Taming Pictures as much as, if not more than, any interest that he had in horses and the particulars of their training, yet the latter topic is the subject of an entire chapter of Taming the Wild Horse while the former is given only a brief four-page treatment. Gao's Horse Taming Pictures could in fact be read as a sort of "contemplative criticism" of the corresponding Chan text(s) and the practices that it advocates, and thus a deeper engagement with Chan Buddhist literature in general and the oxherding pictures in particular would provide important context for Gao's work, and might reveal additional aspects of his...

Aerial Wanderings and Mountain Territorialities: Geographical Reflections on Cross-Country Paragliding

The present paper focuses on cross-country paragliding, a form of “aerial wandering” whose goal is to use the lift provided by rising air currents to accomplish long circuits or journeys. A detailed description of the sport is followed by an analysis of pilots’ singular relationship with airspace, which results from the paradoxes of cross-country paragliding and the fact that every flight inevitably includes detours: A straight line is never the most efficient or effective route, even in the air. Moreover, the conflict between the sport’s recreational and contemplative dimensions and its performance and competitive dimensions, combined with the intangible factors (air conditions, rules governing airspace) that constrain pilots’ liberty of movement, mean that paragliding is not quite as synonymous with freedom as one might think. Finally, the way in which pilots appropriate the areas over which they fly results in cross-country paragliding producing its own territorialities. These territorialities can be studied by analysing written and filmed accounts of long-distance flights, which express the experiential aspects of free-flying and of viewing the Earth from the sky.

Desarrollo Personal y Práctica Espiritual: Análisis Narrativo de Vivencias


 
 
 El objetivo de este trabajo es adentrase en la vivencia espiritual y contribuir a la comprensión de los efectos que aporta la práctica espiritual. El estudio se abordó desde el estudio de dos prácticas espirituales de la tradición cristiana: los Ejercicios Espirituales de San Ignacio de Loyola –una práctica intensiva de un mes de duración– y los Ejercicios de Contemplación del jesuita Franz Jalics, de 8 días. El método desarrollado fue un análisis narrativo exhaustivo de las experiencias en primera persona de diez participantes en dichos ejercicios espirituales. Los resultados hallados se presentan en forma de mapa conceptual y en macro-categorías de significado de la experiencia. El análisis dio lugar a la emergencia de un concepto nuclear al que denominamos Sensibilidad Espiritual, y para el que propusimos una definición a partir de las categorías halladas. Como conclusión se apunta hacia una psicología contemplativa, enfocada hacia la dimensión espiritual y contemplativa del ser humano y de los procesos que facilitan dicha dimensión.
 
 

The contemplative dimension of access to information in a 19th century bibliographic collection: the Baron of Guajará’s Library

O trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a dimensão contemplativa do acesso à informação em uma coleção bibliográfica do século XIX: os livros da biblioteca do Barão de Guajará. Esta coleção atualmente pertence ao Instituto Histórico e Geográfico do Pará (IHGP) e adquiriu o status de objeto de exposição (expôt). O estudo de caso é orientado pela discussão dos conceitos de acesso e comunicação, este último trabalhado na perspectiva museológica. Os dados qualitativos e quantitativos foram recolhidos entre março de 2018 e janeiro de 2020 na sede do IHGP. O estudo mostra que a passagem do status de biblioteca particular para o status de objeto de museu agrega valor à coleção bibliográfica. O novo status oferece aos visitantes outro tipo de experiência informacional, articulando os elementos livro, mobiliário, prédio e proprietário com a cultura, a história e a política no século XIX. Em conclusão, tem-se uma experiência estética e sensível que remete o observador a Belém Imperial com os seus modos de consumir a cultura impressa que escova das editoras e livrarias da França.

The Spiritual Exercises and Illuminism in Spain: Dominican Critics of the Early Society of Jesus

The recovery of important historical texts in the last half century has provoked a reevaluation of the features of Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises that have been described as “mystical” (especially their contemplative dimension and their implicit pneumatology), inviting us to reconsider the history of their composition and first reception, including the relationship between the spirituality of Ignatius to which they give expression, and the teachings of the illuminists or alumbrados. This article furthers this discussion by examining criticisms directed against the Spiritual Exercises during the last decade of Ignatius’s life by two Spanish Dominicans, Melchor Cano and Tomás de Pedroche, who found parallels between the Exercises and the theology of the illuminists. These criticisms were serious enough to affect the received interpretation of what we now call the mystical aspects of the Exercises leading up to its codification in the Official Directory of 1599, particularly regarding the place, if any, of contemplation in the lives of the laity, the role of consolation in prayer, and the experience of direct divine guidance.

Contemplation and Organization Studies: Why contemplative activities are so crucial for our academic lives

Contemporary emphases on calculating the impact of our scholarship can be deadening if they lead us to refrain from contemplation. Thus, in this essay, I show the importance of contemplation and what contemplative dimensions of our scholarship might include. Based on four lines from the poem “Sometimes” by the poet Mary Oliver, I summarize ways that many activities carried out by organizational scholars embody Oliver’s “Instructions for living a life,” which consist solely of “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” My summary shows some of the range of contemplative activities within our field, as well as integral relationships between contemplation and compassion. I conclude by highlighting the importance of the roles such activities play in our experiences of academic life and in our developmental journeys as scholars.

Liturgijska duhovnost bl. Ivana Merza

Today, experience is again valued in theology. In this respect, the need is stressed for truths and values, aside from abstract notions involving man’s rational dimension, to be transmitted by way of a „model“ which includes also the experiential–emotional dimension. Through the „model“ method a particular truth and value is presented in the manner in which it is embodied and lived by a specific person, thus gaining in appeal. In this article, Ivan Merz is depicted as the model which existentially brought to pass the sustainable idea of a liturgical movement, of which he was an adherent, and also of a conciliar liturgical reform: to reestablish the liturgy as the source of spiritual life. In doing so, he skillfully avoids any one–sidedness and exclusivity. He stresses, and rightly so, the primacy of the liturgy, but without entering into a kind of „panliturgism“. Furthermore, he values extra–liturgical devotions, as well as individual prayer, but does not detach them from the liturgical context. Finally, he is aware that the liturgy must shape our mentality and activites in our daily lives and in society, however, by giving primacy to the contemplative dimension, he avoids allowing Christian involvement to be transformed into just another type of social program. Therefore, Merz is an example to us of an integral approach in which all three dimensions are intertwined, this not always being the case in ecclesial practice. The paper uses the analytical method to examine Merz’s works, his experience and numerous testimonies about him. Some controversies over the liturgical spirituality of his time are presented through the historical–descriptive method.

O perfil do iconógrafo

Este artigo focaliza o perfil do iconógrafo que recebe o dom de escrever um ícone e mostra a importância da fé como fonte de inspiração na produção artística. O texto dividido em duas partes ressalta a arte como possibilidade de encontro e comunhão com o Divino. A primeira parte oferece uma reflexão sobre os requisitos do iconógrafo, artista que presta um serviço para humanidade tornando possível a irrupção do Divino no mundo através de um talento recebido e cultivado em sintonia com a Igreja. Segunda parte destaca a função ética e social da arte iconográfica, sua relação com a vida litúrgica, tendo como justificação o mistério da encarnação, rico horizonte de temáticas artísticas. Ressalta-se a espiritualidade do artista e sua dimensão contemplativa para que a obra de arte seja realmente uma mensagem divina. O iconógrafo e sua obra de arte devem estar a serviço da verdade.

Doing the Truth: Georg Kuhlewind and Pragmatism

I argue that Georg Kuhlewind's thought and pragmatism have a great deal in common. Both are a matter of activity, of doing truth, and pragmatism itself has nothing to do with being commercial or materialistic. Biblical and Greek notions of truth are discussed and related to pragmatism. Kuhlewind's discussion of noticing and forgetfulness of Self are related to Pilate and truth. The contemplative dimension of pragmatism - in James but especially in Dewey - is highlighted. In conclusion, the linguistic turn and pragmatism are connected to Kuhlewind's interest in language and in his teaching that I-beings are word-beings.

Odnowa życia zakonnego w świetle Soboru Watykańskiego II i w nauczaniu magisterium Kościoła

Discussion Document on the Church’s renewal of religious life in the light of Vatican II and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church.The article presents renewal of religious life in the light of the Vatican II and in the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church. An important consideration was paid to the decree on the adaptation and renewal of religious life Perfectae Caritatis, which deals directly with the religious life. Also, reference was made to the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, with particular emphasis on the fifth and sixth chapter, and to the teaching of the post-conciliar Magisterium of the Church on religious life.Through their teaching the popes and Vatican congregations unfolded the message of the Vatican II and re-ignited enthusiasm in making reflection on the renewal of religious life, which is constantly in progress. Various efforts were made to present this issue from different perspective. There is no doubt that there are two important issues concerning the renewal of religious life that appear in almost every document. I mean a contemplative dimension of religious life that should be in the center of every monk and nun life, and a return to the spring, the charism of the founder and the institute, which will help to face the signs of time and undertake new challenges. These two realities seem to be simple and straightforward, but in fact they required from the religious institutes a great deal of openness and fair cooperation.The post-conciliar vision of theology of religious life is different from the one presented before the Council. Currently it is based on the newly developed Christology, pneumatology and especially the renewed post-conciliar ecclesiology. This is reflected in many documents, most important of them were presented in this text. As you might notice a contemporary theology of religious life revolves around the following themes: the religious life as a gift to the Church and the world, religious consecration, radicalism in the imitation of Christ, the charismatic dimension of religious life, the contemplative dimension of religious life, prophetic presence in the world, witness to communion with God and man. Careful study of the documents presented here will help the religious people to understand better and love even more the mystery of vocation, the mystery of religious life.

The Promise and Perils of Inter-Religious Education

Abstract: History reveals that inter-religious dialogue does not come naturally. Yet it is so crucial to creating a peaceful world. If inter-religious dialogue is to flourish, then participants must be educated for it. At its best, inter-religious education involves an experience of “thin places” that arises from exploring ultimate truths in the presence of the religious other. It also requires the development of “thick religiosity,” that is, knowledge of sacred texts and the play of interpretations; commitment to the communal and transformative character of religion; awareness of the historical and cultural contexts in which the tradition originated and developed; sensitivity to the rich panoply of folk traditions, rituals, art, music, and devotions in which religion has been celebrated and communicated; and attentiveness to the contemplative dimension of life. Thick religiosity, in other words, is a “textured particularism” that forms persons in a religious identity that is simultaneously rooted and adaptive, assured and ambiguous—that is, an identity strong and supple enough to contribute to a responsible pluralism. Conversation between religious others with a thick religiosity is the threshold to thin places.

Tourism through the Eyes of the Holy See

Tourism through the Eyes of the Holy SeeThe Vatican's vision of tourism is based on Christian humanism, integral humanism and personalism. At the very core of the vision are human beings, who are not only the creators of tourism but also its ultimate goal, and for this reason all values of the natural world should be unconditionally subordinated to the good that are people. Consequently, the fundamental goal of tourism is to satisfy the needs of exploration, relaxation, entertainment and, first and foremost, the spiritual and intellectual needs of every person. Tourism has to help build a sense of community. It should also contribute to the elimination of poverty and foster the sense of responsibility for the environment. Tourism must not be exclusive to the rich and it should never be a time of depravity, promiscuity and, consequently, the degradation of people. Tourism should become an opportunity for all people to discover their contemplative dimension, giving them a chance to see God in nature and first of all, in other people.

Erlebnis, Erwartung und Ethik (Experience, Expectation, and Ethics)

The cover image, ‘Erlebnis, Erwartung und Ethik (Experience, Expectation, and Ethics)’ strives to combine the facts and possibilities of science, explanatory fictions, fantasies and fears of society, and contemplative dimensions of imagination, philosophy and ethics. The motifs seek to depict evolution and practices of neuroethics within the Circle of Sciences, to entail both the neurological basis of ethical thought, and the ethical consideration of neurosceintific progress. In this way, neuroethics merges classical notions of philosophy and ethics (viz.-the imagery of the antiquarian sculpted bust), our ongoing, however limited attempts and approaches to explain the mind (viz.-the phrenologic template and the circuitry of the computational model), and the impetus to engage, manipulate, and enhance our brain, mind and selves, both through novel uses of older, existing technologies (e.g.the optical lens-eye), and the yoking of these technologies—and the human being—to new inventions (as in human-machine interfacing, characterized by the cyborg). While many of the more extreme iterations of such ideas have transand post-human implications, and are the stuff of “Steampunk” and “Cyberpunk” fantasy, we cannot forget that our future visions, dreams and fears are often revealed in art. In fact, science, philosophy, ethics and the artifacts and societies we have created (and could create) are all the stuff of our mental capabilities, as is the potential for a utopian or dystopian future. At the core of each and all points of philosophical and neuroethical discussion is the human brain itself, which while the source of our thoughts and emotions thoughout history, remains only partially accessible to our investigations, and in this way reminds us of the contingent truths of neuroscience and the importance of neuroethics in negotiating these contingencies. Neuroethics (2009) 2:113 DOI 10.1007/s12152-009-9035-y

The Gift of Faith

Fear and Trembling explores an exceptional faith that goes beyond realm of human understanding, knowledge, and law. The story of Genesis serves as a narrative foundation through which S0ren Kierkegaard examines absurd ethics of a father's willingness to sacrifice his only child to an invisible God. Although scandalized and outraged by story, he is nevertheless still inspired by a father who chooses to sacrifice public morality for an intangible, private ethics. In The Gift of Death, Jacques Derrida too trembles at thought of Abraham's sacrifice and is also scandalized enough to contemplate unconventional ethics of his decision. Derrida's interpretation of story not only preserves spirit of Fear and Trembling but also takes it a step further in that invisible is not bound to religious belief or existence of God. Through making a comparative study of Fear and Trembling and The Gift of Death this essay will put into question ethics and subjectivity of an absolute faith and decision that is so wholly other that it escapes from earthly mediations of language, community, and law. The Genesis Story The story of Genesis is an unadorned parable of faith that tells of a father's willingness to sacrifice his only legitimate son because God asked: 'Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into land of Moriah: and offer him there for a burnt offering.1 The Almighty's words are teasing and vindictive in their repetition and focus on precious life of Isaac. Wordlessly showing obedience, rises early next morning, takes Isaac to mount of Moriah, prepares a woodpile, binds him and then raises his knife with intention to kill. At this crucial moment in story, an angel from Lord intervenes and stops him from going through with sacrifice. Through pseudonym of Johannes de silentio, a poetice et eleganter2 Kierkegaard breathes spirit and meaning into silences and secrets that structure and trouble this story of faith. He inhabits character of in order to preserve ethics of his decision. As Gillian Rose observes in The Broken Middle, Abraham is 'incommensurable,' which is why de silentio is so voluble.3 In The Gift of Death, Jacques Derrida too is keen to retain ethical dimension of Abraham's decision. Abraham's faith elevates him beyond sphere of ordinary human reason, morality, and law. Both Kierkegaard and Derrida assert that chooses to do what is most difficult and painful because in this particular case the temptation is ethical itself.4 It is understandable and morally reasonable that a loving father would want to save his only son but of course does not do this and what is more, he seeks neither justification nor external counsel in making such a decision. In both Fear and Trembling and The Gift of Death, privacy of his decision is central to preserving ethics of his sacrifice. The torment and pain of giving up what is most precious in world is intensified by isolation and secrecy of his sacrifice. At heart of each defense is a belief in Abraham's unfathomable interiority. In Fear and Trembling, Abraham's individual existence is integral to supporting supreme existence of God. Kierkegaard's motives are clear - he believes in Abraham's subjectivity because it upholds and parallels ultimate subjectivity of God. By contrast, Derrida's motives are not so obvious. Derrida is neither impassioned by religious crisis nor is he driven by need to affirm God's existence, and yet he still retains idea of ineffable in form of Abraham's incommensurable interiority. Kierkegaard's external creator is internalized as a wholly other who is so secret and inaccessible that he is even more intimate with me than myself''5 In The Gift of Death, contemplative dimension of Fear and Trembling is intensified in idea that it is neither limited by religious belief nor tied down by figure of God. …

Meditation, Social Change, and Undergraduate Education

This article argues that meditation guided by a competent teacher can be a positive influence in contemporary American society and even a force for progressive social change. A number of critical issues requiring further study are identified, including the need for a better understanding of meditation from the perspective of developmental psychology and of the relation between meditation and psychotherapy. The article proposes that American educational institutions can benefit from a deeper appreciation of the contemplative dimension of life. Special attention is given to how the American undergraduate college can provide students with opportunities to learn about and experience various forms of meditation. The role of teachers, chaplains, psychological counselors, and health care professionals in introducing meditation to students is discussed.

Meditation, Social Change, and Undergraduate Education

This article argues that meditation guided by a competent teacher can be a positive influence in contemporary American society and even a force for progressive social change. A number of critical issues requiring further study are identified, including the need for a better understanding of meditation from the perspective of developmental psychology and of the relation between meditation and psychotherapy. The article proposes that American educational institutions can benefit from a deeper appreciation of the contemplative dimension of life. Special attention is given to how the American undergraduate college can provide students with opportunities to learn about and experience various forms of meditation. The role of teachers, chaplains, psychological counselors, and health care professionals in introducing meditation to students is discussed.

Manzoni e Bossuet by Luciano Parisi (review)

264 Reviews Miguel da Silva, the apparently obscure Portuguese diplomat and humanist touched upon subtly and sporadically throughout Motta's volume. Obscure in our own time he may be, but, in much the same way that Motta had cleverly analysed the minor poetasters ofthe period to reveal contemporary attitudes to the Montefeltro, so his ex? amination of da Silva's reputation among his contemporaries as humanist and literary patron, both in Italy and elsewhere, shows that Castiglione's choice was intelligent and appropriate for his wider purpose. Motta's essay here contains much informa? tion concerning literary trends and figures useful to set the Cortegiano in context but almost forgotten nowadays by all but the most conscientious researchers into these minor writers. As Dionisotti and Weiss made clear, such figures were not so minor in the eyes of their contemporaries; the dedicatee Miguel da Silva is a similar case. Motta points out da Silva's influence in the cultural life of Rome and Florence, and notes his importance in his native Portugal, faced by literary and linguistic problems not dissimilar to those debated by Castiglione, in particular those associated with Italy's questione della lingua. Ties of scholarship and of friendship had linked Castiglione's interests to the activities of the Portuguese nobleman since their firstacquaintance in 1515. Da Silva provided a European figurewith no political baggage, whereas yet an? other dedication to some minor Renaissance princeling, sated with such sycophancy, would have few financial or political rewards to offerCastiglione, by 1528 Bishop of Avila. It was another way in which Castiglione could extend his ideas beyond the minor principates he had so long experienced, in order to target a wider European audience. The dedication, effected when the text of the Cortegiano had already been printed, was a further example of the author's newly invented disinvoltura, a move which set the seal on Castiglione's literary ambition and no doubt surprised his po? tential patrons as it does his readers today. Uberto Motta's erudite contribution to Castiglione criticism follows in a long and glorious Milanese tradition of studies on Renaissance and later courts, a tradition which entered the modern era with the work of the venerable Giuseppe Billanovich. The Department of Literature at the Universita del Sacro Cuore became renowned for its courses on courtly language and culture under the inspired leadership of Francesco Mattesini and more recently Claudio Scarpati, both of whom findworthy mention in the rich bibliography visible in the footnotes ofthis volume. To their illustrious names I would crave Professor Motta's indulgence in order to add my personal homage to Cesare Mozzarelli, three of whose important contributions also find mention here. Mozzarelli was another stalwart of the Sacro Cuore, though in the Department of History. For some thirty years he was the dynamic secretary and organizer of the Centro Studi Europa delle Corti, in whose fiftyor so volumes of essays and minutes he was a driving force as editor and contributor. He died tragically young in 2004. Magdalen College, Oxford J.R. Woodhouse Manzoni e Bossuet. By Luciano Parisi. (Saggi e testi di letteratura italiana, 7) Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso. 2003. 153 pp. ?15. ISBN 88-7694-673-x. Luciano Parisi's philosophical study of Manzoni (1785-1873) and Bossuet (16271704 ) proposes to analyse the influence of the French philosopher on the literary output of the Italian author. Manzoni's firstbiographers, Cantu, Giorgini, and his stepson Stefano Stampa, confirmed Manzoni's enthusiasm for Bossuet, Massillon, Nicole, and Pascal. Parisi claims to illustrate the place of Bossuet in Manzonian stu? dies with a greater degree of clarity than has been achieved in the past. Manzoni's Catholicism and its Jansenist tendencies have sparked discussion and disagreement among critics since his own times. In the firstpart ofthe Osservazioni MLR, ioi.i, 2006 265 sulla morale cattolica(i8ig), written as a reply to Sismondi's criticism of the Catholic Church, Manzoni defends the Church's authority. His declaration of the superiority of the moral over the contemplative dimension of spiritual life, and his treatment of divine grace alongside the themes of free will and providence, place him within a tra? dition advocated by his spiritual adviser, the...