Holy Ghost Research Articles

Resources for the History of Gabon in French Missionary Archives in Rome

The archives of two Roman Catholic congregations of French origin which have missionaries in Gabon are located in Rome: the Sisters of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Castres (commonly called the Blue Sisters) and the Brothers of Saint Gabriel of Saint Laurent-sur Sèvres. The Blue Sisters were founded by Emilie de Villeneuve in 1836 to improve the condition of women, in particular by educating poor and orphaned girls. The Brothers of Saint Gabriel were organized by Louis Grignion de Montfort in 1715 to provide a primary education for poor boys and were reorganized in 1821 by Gabriel Deshayes. Initially both congregations worked only in France. They entered Gabon at the request of the Holy Ghost Fathers-the sisters in 1849 and the brothers in 1900. The sisters had communities at most of the mission stations--in the Estuary at first and from the 1880s along the Ogooué river and other points in the interior. The brothers operated schools at Libreville and Lambaréné, and after the Second World War at Port-Gentil and Oyem as well. During the past century both congregations became primarily missionary bodies, with the sisters active in Africa and South America and the brothers in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. These international activities led to the transfer of their headquarters to Rome in the 1950s.The sisters who worked in Gabon prior to the Second World War included many with intelligence but few with much formal education beyond the primary grades. They spent their time in social service, health care, and elementary education. The latter included French as well as religion and the domestic arts. The sisters had much less contact with the government or the colonial administration than did the Holy Ghost Fathers, who were their ecclesiastical superiors. Though some sisters toured to provide medical aid to persons away from the mission stations, most of their contacts with Africans took place in or near the stations.

Eschatologische Wissenschaft und wissenschaftliche Eschatologik

AbstractEschatological science and scientific eschatology. ‐ The science which this speech is dealing with is almost extinct. Far apart from modern intellectual life it is surviving only in certain adventist sects, in religious subculture as it were, and thus, under the ban of both modern science and official churches as well. Through all of the Christian middle‐ages, however, eschatological science stood in full bloom and high esteem. The case of Joachim de Fiore, the Calabrian abbot (ca. 1135‐1202), is taken as a paradigm ‐ although he was concerned not so much with the apocalyptic Last Events than with a “trinitarian” construction of history and with the advent of the aeon of the Holy Ghost. Eschatological science proper is based on canonic and other authentic prophecies but it is not prophecy itself. It aims at revealing the revelation once more, taking biblical texts as secrets which are still to be decoded. ‐ The paper goes on describing some more characteristics of eschatological science: The tendency of stating definite periods within the history of salvation which is understood to form a coherent body and a definable mass of years; furthermore, the scholarly art of more or less precisely determining the time‐table of apocalyptic events which requires, of course, a good deal of numerical and chronological experimentation. In addition, the eschatological scientist has always been eager to read the ominous “signs of the time” out of or into current history of his own days, and this capacity particularly makes for his public prestige and influence.While eschatological science has always started from undoubted prophetic and apocalytic premises the other phenomenon which the present speaker terms “scientific eschatology” is, quite reversely, parading as an authentic independent science in the modern meaning of the word not realizing their own hidden eschatological schemes. This is briefly illustrated by the “Communist manifest” and Lenin's statements on the “world revolution”.

The Catholic mission and some aspects of assimilation in Senegal, 1817–1852

After the restoration of French rule in Senegal in 1817 the Congregation of the Holy Ghost undertook spiritual responsibility for the colony. But its members were unable to make any serious impact on a community that remained only nominally Christian. Their work was reinforced by the ‘Ploërmel Brothers’ who took over the schools in the 1840s, and by the ordination of three Senegalese priests, David Boillat, Arsène Fridoil and Pierra Moussa. Inevitably the three priests were drawn into acrimonious controversy. Under instructions from Governor Bouet, they opened a school in competition with the Ploërmel brothers, who became their implacable enemies. Eventually it had to close and the three priests were successively removed from the colony. Thus ended a brief experiment in educational assimilation.

“I Haven't Stopped Drinking, I Just Changed My Brand”

Pentecostalism is examined as an alternate “drug” that provides psychophysiological arousal, excitement, and euphoria through a trance state known as “having the Holy Ghost.” The amount of time, energy, and money devoted to Pentecostal activities provides another point of comparison to substance abuse “subcultures.” The multiplicity of activities results in the creation of a sense of community identification. This is enhanced by a belief system that dichotomizes people, objects, and events, and places counterposed values at opposite poles. Pentecostals who were substance abusers are interviewed in order to draw value comparisons between the Pentecostal “drug” and chemical substances. The comparison between these two focuses upon the rewards and fulfillments both life-styles offer to their adherents. It is felt that Pentecostalism is an effective substitute for substance abuse because it offers similar, if not superior, attractions to drugs and alcohol.

The World Council of Churches and Racism in Southern Africa

For many Christians the World Council of Churches (wcc) is a divine institution, inspired by the Holy Ghost; to a few Christians it is the work of the Devil. While not denying the capability of the spirit to listeth where it will, those of us dealing in international relationships must describe it more mundanely. It is an international non-governmental organization (ngo) which, through its agent, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (ccia),1 enjoys category n status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Whether inspired by the Holy Ghost or by the spirit of secular humanism, the wcc has had as one major area of concern the equality of human beings, more recently the equality of woman with man, but for many years the equality of races.

The Sex of Our Gods

Any number of jokes in recent years have been predicated upon fact that in this culture God is expected to be a male (When God made man, She made a mistake, Don't be surprised to arrive in heaven, meet your Maker, and find out that She's black, etc.). The image of God as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has of course been a part of Christian tradition since its inception. But although undeniably pervades most people's perception of their Deity in Western world, only a very few investigators have sought to explain this observation in any precise way. At first glance, explanation of why God is male may seem all too obvious, thus eliminating need for elaborate scholarly investigation: maleness of God reflects fact that ours is a patriarchal society. A male God is simply a projection of greater power and status that our society associates with males. But however reasonable this commonsense explanation may seem, it has been discredited by some cross-cutural evidence that has recently become available.

Book Review: Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary

Book Review: Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary

"The Holy Ghost in the Ink Bottle"

"The Holy Ghost in the Ink Bottle"

Reinhabiting a Separate Country: a Bioregional Anthology of Northern California ed. by Peter Berg

70 Western American Literature barns, schools, churches, first loves, weddings, and deathbed scenes as the hero’s days unroll to the climax. Piloting an open-cockpit airplane with a telescope pointing downwards over a patchwork of mid-America is a way of suggesting the experience this book offers. All the possible joys and sorrows of growing up seem to be here. And the moving growth to a vibrant, nurturing maturity of the hero’s mother just at the time the boy takes on the full mantle of self-responsibility makes for an interwoven ending as powerful as Manfred has ever written. Ada, the heroine, closely resembles the mother Manfred has described in his autobiographical poems. I know of no other author who has so thor­ oughly dissected the one who brought him into this world. She appears on the pages as out of an extended notebook of drawings by Leonardo — toes to soul. A sense of the overall basic strength of life itself floods the scenes — stronger than in any American story I remember reading. The reader walks the corn field rows or the schoolhouse floors as though he is growing up here himself. The presences of the Bible and the weather are constant referral points. The spread of experiences is enormous: After a flood the boy hero climbs a plum tree to come face to face with the open eyes of a dead girl hanging by her hair. And a few chapters later the boy sees and smells the endurance of past life as a well drilling bit brings up a mammoth’s bone, remnants of flesh still attached. The most intimate details — of boys and girls, men and women, death­ bed items, fecal colors and body sounds — are described with the same disarming openness. This scope — from Holy Ghost to outhouse — gives the space for a reader to experience a unity of beingness. Nothing is left out; as a result one feels easily, decently at home with it all. On reading the final page of this novel, I felt I had uncovered a time capsule containing the years 1909-1929 buried by a Homer in a hill cave at the point where Iowa, Minnesota and Dakota meet. Here are our sources, stories caught and preserved. The book we forgot to write — our diary. WARING JONES, Minneapolis Reinhabiting a Separate Country: a Bioregional Anthology of Northern Cali­ fornia. Edited by Peter Berg. (San Francisco: Planet Drum Foundation, 1978. 220 pages, $6.00.) Where the western frontier was once reflected back on itself by the Pacific Ocean, a lifestyle based on living-in-place is emerging. In opposition to the frontier mentality still present in American culture, and transcend­ Reviews 71 ing the skepticism, resignation and disillusionment which followed the frontier shift, this book is a reflection of third-level consciousness. The diverse contents, ranging from collision terracy to the complex personality of John Muir, are well integrated around the basic theme of reinhabitation, of living with the land in a manner which helps heal the wounds of past exploitations. Essays, poems, stories, prose, interviews, and oral histories speak of the region’s ecological integrity and biological and cultural history, as viewed through the senses and feelings of people who live there. Although a higher level of ecological consciousness exists in Northern California than in most areas of this continent, it is far from being a reinhabitory society. The book’s afterword discusses goals towards making such a society a reality. Since arbitrary political boundaries are insensitive to ecological continuities, it ends with a proposal for separate, bioregional statehood, allowing residents to redistrict the counties into watershed gov­ ernments. This book is important for its vision. Equally important are the means of realizing that vision. Advocating appropriate values should be reinforced by the redesigning of government policies and institutions so they respond to ecological conditions, and provide information and incentives that re­ ward environmentally sensitive behavior while deterring actions destructive of environmental quality. Through the complementary interplay of these two approaches a responsive and vital localism can be realized. KRAIG KLUNGNESS, Utah State University H, L. Davis. By Paul T. Bryant. (Boston: G. K. Hall & Co.; Twayne’s United States Authors...

The Beginning of the Maynooth Movement in Southern Nigeria and the Rise of the St. Patrick's Missionary Society, 1920-1930

AbstractThe Catholic mission in Southern Nigeria under the management of the Congregation of Holy Ghost Fathers was established in 1885 by French and Alsatian Spiritans. In 1905 the mission came under the charge of the Irish Province of the Congregation with Father Shanahan (later Bishop) as the chief of mission. As a result of the fact that the Province was entrusted with responsibility for the supply of missionary personnel for the Spiritans' missions in the vast English-speaking areas of the then British Empire, and also because of the Irish Spiritans' preoccupation with schools and colleges in Ireland and Trinidad, the Province was unable to meet its personnel responsibilities to the missions. The dire need for priests made Shanahan, the ecclesiastical head of the Spiritan mission in Nigeria, who had been charged sub gravi by Rome with the obligation for staffing his mission, to invite Maynooth trained secular priests to serve on a temporary basis in Southern Nigeria. The coming of the secular volunteers to Nigeria created a series of problems leading to their being constituted into an independent secular missionary society, and subsequently to the allocation to them of a part of the vicariate as their own mission field.

Prelude to the First Passage

Patriarchal society revolves around myths of Processions. Earthly processions both generate and reflect the image of procession from and return to god the father. According to christian theology, there are processions within the godhead, which is triune. The son, who is the second person, is said to proceed from the father, and the holy ghost is said to proceed from the father and the son. Moreover, all creatures proceed from this eternally processing god, who is their Last End, with whom the righteous will be united in eternal bliss. Thus, in this symbol system there is a circular pattern/model for muted existence: separation from and return to the same immutable source. Furthermore, according to this tradition, christians participate in the supernatural processions through the sacrament of baptism.1 That is, they officially join the of believers. It is significant that the word pagan is derived from a late Latin term paganus, meaning civilian, because the Christians reckoned themselves soldiers of Christ.2 The processions of christians, then, are profoundly connected with military parades, mythically as well as historically. What is ultimately sought by this salvation army is reconciliation with the father, for the human species has been alienated from him through the fault of the first parents, Adam and Eve, whose Original Sin has been transmitted to all. Thus the mythic christian procession toward god presupposes belief in possession by evil forces, release from which requires captivity by the church. Consequently the sacrament of initiation (baptism) explicitly contains a rite of exorcism, blatantly belying the fact that this is really a rite of entrance into the State of Posesssion. Western society is still possessed overtly and subliminally by christian symbolism, and this State of Possession has extended its influence over most of the planet. Its ultimate symbol of proces

Mountain Revival Methods

Baptism, Old Regular Baptist Church 22 cVVhmntain Revival Methods RICHARD A. HUMPHREY REVIVAL METHODS IN VARIOUS FORMS THATHAD THEIR ORIGIN IN THE FAMOUS REVIVALS OFNEARLY TWO CENTURIES AGO ARE STILL USED AS AN IMPORTANT MEANS OF SPREADING "THE WORD" AND OBTAINING CONVERTS IN MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES TODAY ? the Southern Appalachian region religious revivals have had an important place in the hearts of people since the Gasper River Sacramental Revivals of 1796 in Logan County, Kentucky. These early revivals and their methods have an integral place in the mountaineers' way of life, even today. This is illustrated by the fact that as late as 1962, 75% of the people surveyed in this same area thought churches should have more revivals. -^ If one cared to guess as to how many revivals occurred in a given mountain county today, most of us would underestimate how many actually take place. Even if the correct data, were available, it would not actually measure the influence revival methods have in the Southern Appalachian mountains. Revival methods are not limited simply to services that are labeled revivals, the religious settings for revivals are varied. They include sacramental meetings, regular worship services , homecomings, memorial and funeral services, the radio, and Association meetings. Five aspects of revival methods will be examined. These aspects are: (1) religious settings; (2) preaching; (3) prayer styles; (4) singing; (5) theology. The religious settings in which revivals occur have long been overlooked when one thinks of revival methods. Yet in the Appalachian religious heritage the setting is very important. Revivalism in Historical Context The importance of the religious setting is illustrated by James McGready's Great Revival which started in Kentucky in 1796.^ That series of Sacramental meetings held by McGready were not merely times to offer the Lord's Supper to a Presbyterian congregation. It was services in which isolated people could, in many cases, attend a worship service for the first time in years. Many of the people saw the coming of James McGready to Logan County as a time to have their marriages spiritually sanctified, their children baptized, their dead memorialized and their spiritual hunger filled. Accordingly, the people came with many spiritual needs and expectations and James McGready with his CaIvinist tripartite theology of repentance, faith and regeneration met both their needs and expectations. People responded to his call for repentance with an intense conviction of 23 sin. McGready hammered into their hearts a catalog of sins against the Ten Commandments and people fell under conviction of sin. Through his preaching and praying they groveled in humilation, after which they felt the grace of the Holy Spirit fill them with faith in the hope and promise of the Gospel. They knew they had been converted and were being regenerated by the Holy Ghost. By the year 1801 and the famous Cane Ridge Camp Meeting near Paris, Kentucky, word of these extraordinary revivals had spread throughout the mountains . Thousands came to witness these strange and mysterious happenings. Many of them also fell under the conversion theology and the preaching of McGready and his Presbyterian disciples. Baptist farmer preachers and Methodist circuit riders joined these Presbyterian clergy in calling sinners to face the fires of Hell and to see visions of the glory of Heaven. The Camp Meeting lasted four to six day *. People encamped around the meeting place and the preachers and other Christians had an extended period in which to convert the people. The pressure of the extended time period was very effective in bringing about conversions . Very quickly the doctrined preaching of the Presbyterians evolved into the exhortative style of the Baptist and Methodist. Preaching focused more on converting the sinner and less on correct doctrine. The emphasis of the Presbyterians upon conversion taking six months to two years under the guidance of the preacher was replaced by immediate conversion in the "twinkling of an eye." Preaching was now for immediate emotional effect. This preaching style called for personal conversion. Short, rapid, repetitive phrases punctuated with gaspings for breath, praising the Lord with Amens, evolved into a rhythmic chant. This same style was found in the pit before the platform in the camp meetings or on the mourner's bench...

Interlude with René Char

At dusk, the farmhouse walls thicken around us like an old woman hunched over some single loved possession: the sky stopped just above her neck, the rain unable to wound her rounded back.... My socks steam by the fire as if more alive than my bluish feetwhich do not feel mine. It crosses my mind they will lay me out with feet this cold, then take my gun for another. Comrades loom small in the lamplight's circle; La Tour, my painter, huddled his figures thus-intimates even when cheating each other. We are all of us his soldiers and whores in Christ; I see my face, by the dim mirror and hearthglow, become a sheep's mug, eyes drowned in the stubble I lop off for Sundays. I'm going to oil my rifle before I feed myself, then eat everything here. For if the Holy Ghost's done to a turn, don't deny Him-He might fly away with your luck. And if these thoughts should dare turn beautiful, I can use them for targets. Toilet paper. To light my pipe.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviews in this article: Maternity Care in the World. 2nd Edition. Present and Future of Diagnostic Ultrasound. Edited by Ian Donald and Salvator Levi. Paper Doctors. A Critical Assessment of Medical Research. Edited by V. Coleman. The Presentation of Original Work in Medicine and Biology. By H. Dudley. Immunobiology for the Clinician. Edited by Hugh R. K. Barber. Analysis of Intrauterine Contraception. Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Edited by S. J. H. Emans and D. P. Goldstein. Perinatal Medicine. 5th European Congress of Perinatal Medicine. Edited by G. Rooth and Lars‐Eric Bratteby. Blizzard and the Holy Ghost. By Joseph Blizzard. Clinics in Endocrinology and Metabolism. Vol 6. No. 1. Edited by G. M. Besser. The Biology of Human Fetal Growth. Edited by D. F. Roberts and A. M. Thomson.

“Sacra Doctrina” Revisited: The Context of Medieval Education

"SACRA DOCTRINA" REVISITED: THE CONTEXT OF MEDIEVAL EDUCATION T ROMAS GILBY COMPARES the Summa Theologiae to " a palimpsest, on which the original has been recast but not completely rubbed out." 1 His point, the components of the medieval lectio-disputatio method, is a guide to a reading that is attentive to the language and issues that the Summa borrows and incorporates into its discourse. The comparison to a palimpsest suggests the task, not of a recovery of texts, as though the Summa were a kind of Ephraem rescriptus1 but of a reading that is alert to how the underlay may shape the surface, the actual Summa text. That is not an exercise of precious erudition, but quite often the only way of grasping the plain sense of the text.2 The kind of reading required is not an original, historical exegesis of every word, but a reading informed by the historical research already done on the methods, language, and status of problems in the age of the Summa.3 In particular, specific difficulties occasioned by the 1 Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Latin Text and English Translation. Introductions, Notes, Appendices, Glossaries, 60 vol. (London, New York, 196476 ), Vol. 1, T. Gilby, ed., Christian Theology, p. xxii (hereafter cited as ST EngLat, with volume number, editor, title, page). •See, for example, ibid., Vol. 7, T. C. O'Brien, ed., Father, Son and Holy Ghost, p. 66, n. e; Vol. 14, idem, Divine Government, p. 82, n. c; pp. 65-66, n. l-r, with pp. 176-181; Vol. 31, idem, Faith pp. 205-218. •Such readily available works as: M.-D. Chenu, La theologie au xii• siecle (Paris, 1957); idem, La theologie comme science au xiii• siecle, 3d ed. (Paris, 1957); idem, Toward Understanding St. Thomas, tr. A. Landry, D. Hughes (Chicago, 1964), esp. pp. 79-96; Yves M.-J. Congar, History of Theology, tr. Hunter Guthrie (Garden City, 1968), esp. pp. 69-143; David Knowles, Evdution of Medieval Thought (pa., New York, 1962); Fernand van Steenberghen, Aristotle in the West (Louvain, 1955); also in A. Fliche, V. Martin, Histoire de l'Eglise (Paris, 1935-), Vol. 18; James A. Weisheipl, Friar Thomas d'Aquino: His Life, Thought and Work (New York, 1974). Also the less accessible but invaluable prefaces of R. A. Gauthier, ed. Sententia Libri Ethicorum and Tabula Ethicorum, in S. Thomae 475 476 T. C. O'BRIEN occurrence of terms unusual in St. Thomas's vocabulary, or by a passage where a literal reading simply yields no sense,4 demand reckoning with what has not been " completely rubbed out." Question One of the Summa is surrounded by an embarrassment of rich commentary. The claim of these pages, however, is that Question One calls for a first, surface reading that is guided by its historical, academic setting; that such a reading lessens the perplexities admitted by commentators, past and present.5 Yet another effort to interpret this opening Question i.s not a vain exercise, for the Summa Theologiae stands as a classic, and its introductory Question is " at once one of the keys to St. Thomas's thought, and one among the admissible conceptions of theological knowing." 6 The first and unmistakable indicator of the setting and purpose of Question One is the Prologue to the Summa, wherein the author immediately acknowledges his office as catholicae veritatis doctor, having the charge of teaching in a way suited ad eruditionem incipientium. The setting of the whole work, then, is the university lecture hall, the procedures of which Aquinatis, Omnia Opera, vol. 47 (Rome, 1969), esp. 1: pp. 179*-201*, and Vol. 48 (Rome, 1971), esp. pp. xiii-xxv. • Such an awareness would have prevented the birth of the hybrid English lexicon of St. Thomas Aquinas that takes its definitions of Latin terms from Lewis and Short, its citations (some without conversion to its own form of reference) of occurrences from L. Schlitz: Thomas Lexikon, 5 James A. Weisheipl, "The Meaning of Sacra Doctrina in the Summa Theologiae I, q. I," The Thomist 88 (1974): 49-80 provides a complete bibliographical background for understanding the problems and interpretations. His own thesis-signalled in such a statement as: " Sacra doctrina is not...

How Shall We Read Herbert?: A Look at "Prayer" (I)

How Shall We Read Herbert? A Look at "Prayer" (I) by Sidney Gottlieb The "Donne revival" came about at a time when the active, even shocking side of Donne's poems was emphasized. Herbert rode part way into popularity as a result of this revival, but his role has typically been that of Donne's foil: he is the calm after the storm, respected most for his piety, humility, and the quaint adventurousness of some of his verses. If there is to be a true "Herbert revival," however, we shall have to put aside for a morpent this notion of the quiet cleric at Bemerton and look instead to Herbert's complexity and restlessness. We would do well to describe Herbert's works as he describes God's: "Storms are the triumph of his art" ("The Bag"). The main thing we must do is simply read his poetry the way he meant it to be read. The source for much of Herbert's literary technique is the Bible, and by looking at his particular way of reading the Bible we see a model of the way he structures The Temple. In his prose work A Priest to the Temple he stresses the importance of a "diligent Collation of Scripture with Scripture": For all Truth being consonant to it self, and all being penn'd by one and the self-same Spirit, it cannot be, but that an industrious, and judicious comparing of place with place must be a singular help for the right understanding of the Scriptures. To this may be added the consideration of any text with the coherence thereof, touching what goes before, and what follows after, as also the scope of the Holy Ghost.1 As with his most unlikely bedfellow, William Blake, energy is the price of wisdom for Herbert. The Bible is a complex whole made up of many connected parts, and if it is to be rightly understood these connections must be vigorously traced out. This Is one of the basic meanings of Herbert's poem "The H. Scriptures" (II): 26 HOW SHALL WE READ HERBERT? Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine, And the configurations of their glorie! Seeing not onely how each verse doth shine, But all the constellations of the storie. This verse marks that, and both do make a motion Unto a third, that ten leaves off doth lie: Then as dispersed herbs do watch a potion, These three make up some Christians destinie. This way of reading is very demanding but it is the way that The Temple is written. I think ¡t is unlikely that any reader could completely ignore the many repetitions, verbal echoes, and other connections between poems in The Temple, but it is easy and traditional to minimize their significance. George Herbert Palmer, for example, one of the first modern editors of Herbert, sees these connections as inconsequential and thus feels justified in arranging the poems in the order that he feels is most revealing: In justification of the traditional order no grounds are known. Ferrar found it in the Bodleian Manuscript, and followed it in his own printing. The Williams Manuscript does not preserve it. The poems do not require it. Probably it was originally accidental. ... In the traditional order there is, therefore, nothing sacred, probably nothing expressive of Herbert's mind or wish, nothing to forbid whatever new arrangement is more luminous. The most instructive order for all poetry, it is agreed, is the chronological.' And yet in a crucial way, to change the order is to change the poem, as Herbert realized when he purposefully, not arbitrarily , reordered some of the poems from the early Williams Manuscript (W) when they were later incorporated in The Temple. A slight shift in the location of a poem can have a tremendous effect on our impressions of that poem. Perhaps a modern example will help illustrate the role of "context" in our perceptions: In one of his books on the art of montage, [Pudovkin] describes an experiment by his teacher, Kuleshov. You 27 Sidney Gottlieb see a close-up of the Russian actor Ivan Mosjoukine. This is immediately followed by a shot of...

Flannery O'Connor's Dragon: Vision in "A Temple of the Holy Ghost"

Flannery O'Connor's Dragon: Vision in "A Temple of the Holy Ghost"

A Confraternity of the Holy Ghost and a Series of Paintings of the Life of the Virgin in London and Munich

A Confraternity of the Holy Ghost and a Series of Paintings of the Life of the Virgin in London and Munich

Hume, The Causal Principle, and Kemp Smith

HUME, THE CAUSAL PRINCIPLE, AN'D KEMP SMITH When we say of a proposition that it is possible, we sometimes mean no more than that it is logically possible, that is, consistent with itself. A proposition can be possible in stronger senses than this, but not in any weaker one. For a sense of "p is possible" that did not entail "p is self-consistent , "would have to be a sense of "p is possible" which was consistent with "p is self-inconsistent" And it is obvious that there can be no such sense as that. One of the stronger senses in which a proposition can be possible is this: consistent (with itself and in addition) with every observation-statement. (I mean by an observationstatement , a proposition which, if it were true, could in principle be discovered by experience to be true.) If a proposition ? is contingent, (that is, neither necessarily true ??t necessarily false), then its negation (its contradictory) not-p is contingent too; and since contingent, not necessarily false; and since not necessarily false, consistent with itself. So, given any contingent propositions, its falsity is among those propositions which are possible in the first and weak sense mentioned above. If a proposition ? is not only contingent but unverifiable ,(that is, not deducible from any observation- statement) , then not-p is consistent both with itself and with every observation -statement. So, given any unverifiable contingent proposition , its falsity is among those propositions which are possible in the second and stronger sense mentioned above. Some stock examples. "Whatever is a raven is black" is contingent, and its falsity therefore possible in the first sense; so too is its contradictory "There are such things as non-black ravens" contingent, and its falsity possible in the first sense. But the latter proposition is not unverifiable , since there are observation-statements from which it is deducible . ("There are such things as green ravens", for example; or "A green raven was in captivity at Taronga Park Zoo in January 31st 1975".) The former proposition, on the other hand, is not only contingent but unverifiable; since there are no observation -statements from which it is deducible. Hence, "whatever is a raven is black" is a proposition the falsity of which is possible both in the first and in the second sense noticed above . A third and still stronger sense in which a proposition can be possible is the following: ? is possible if and only if (p is consistent with itself ,every observation-statement is consistent with p, and in addition) ? is neither more nor less probable in relation to the conjunction of e and n, where e is any observation-statement and ? any necessary truth, than it is in relation to ? alone. The last condition may be expressed, symbolically, as "P(p/n.e) » P(p/n) for all necessarily true ? and all observation-statements e"; or in Carnap' s phrase as, "every observation- statement is initially irrelevant to p." Some examples will quickly make the idea of initial irrelevance, and its opposite, more familiar; and hence will make the third sense of "p is possible" more familiar. Let ? be any necessary truth and e any observation-statement. Now let ? be, for- example,some necessarily false proposition; then, since P(p/n) « o = P(p/n.e), e is initially irrelevant to p. Or let ? be necessarily true; then, since P(p/n) ¦ 1 = P(p/n.e), e is again initially irrelevant to p. Again, let ? be "Whatever is a raven is black": then some observation- statements e are initially relevant to p. For if e is "This raven is black," for example, P(p/n.e)>P(p/n) ; or at any rate, that is what we think if we are not inductive sceptic?. Again, if ? is "The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son", it is at least very plausible to say that every observational e is initially irrelevant to p; since there appears to be no observational e such that P(p/n.e)>P(p/n) , or P(p/n.e)

Three Books on the Human Brain: The Brain Looks into the Mirror

The present view of our brain rests on a general belief in an evolutionary expansion of the primate forebrain along the lines of three basic patterns characterized as reptilian (the 'crocodyle' in us), paleomammalian (the 'horse' in us), and neomammalian (the 'human' in us). Thus, brain stem, limbic system and neocortex, which radically differ in structure and chemistry [4], replaced Father, Son and the Holy Ghost (in the Christian concept of the trinity) with that of the 'triune brain'. Note that the 19th century dilemma (Darwin versus the Church) has been revived but in a new variation. This sizable brain structure with its three evolutionary generation gaps [4] (which is believed to have grown from the 600 cm3 of Australopithecus about 1.7 million years ago to the full human size of 1500 cm3 some 100,000 years ago) is divided on its top into 'right' and 'left' cerebral hemispheres. In true Cartesian fashion most students of the brain believe now that the left (the 'major', dominant 'Aristotelian' or Apollonian) hemisphere is