John Bishop Research Articles

Secular Spirituality and the Hermeneutics of Ontological Gratitude

In his 2010 article, ‘Secular Spirituality and the Logic of Giving Thanks’, John Bishop recalls a striking theme in a recent address by Richard Dawkins in which he appeared to enthusiastically endorse the appropriateness of a ‘naturalised spirituality’ that involved ‘existential gratitude’, and this led him to investigate the notion of a naturalised or secular spirituality with particular reference to Robert Solomon’s Spirituality for the Skeptic (2002). This essay looks to pick up on Bishop’s engagements with both Dawkins and Solomon, but to extend the conversation well beyond them in order to defend the credibility and integrity of secular spirituality in its movement of ontological gratitude. In this way it looks to offer a first sketch of what might be termed a ‘hermeneutics of ontological gratitude’. To this end – and via a distinction between gratitude for existence and life – the essay considers Dawkins’ argument and Solomon’s work in further detail, before turning to consider various other perspectives on the problem including Kenneth Schmitz’s existential Thomist notion of ontological contingency, Hannah Arendt’s concept of primary natality, and Emmanuel Levinas’ sketch of the self in its interiority and economy. My claim is that any serious naturalistic spirituality needs to take into account not only a gratitude for one’s existence per se, but for the whole context of individual and collective being.

Literal Darkness: Finnegans Wake and the Limits of Print

This essay focuses on the role played by the medium of print in Finnegans Wake . Drawing on John Bishop’s influential reading of the Wake as Joyce’s “book of the dark,” I suggest that the work’s multi-lingual puns and portmanteaux—along with its sporadic typographical play—highlight the role of its “dark print” in the work’s mediation. My argument revolves around the discovery and exploration of the fragmented letter and also makes detours into the lengthy discussions of the kind of readerly acrobatics required by the work’s extreme linguistic performance. In doing so, it traces the Wake ’s own awareness of its printed status and explores how the sensory attention, which it draws to its own physical materiality, opens up a series of reconciliations between the conflicting polarities—eye versus ear, space versus time, Shaun versus Shem—that drive so much of the work’s dynamics. As the “dark print” of the Wake works to break down these oppositions, it also comes to index their more fundamental continuity in terms of the physical limits with which embodiment as such is necessarily bound.

Making Space in the Works of James Joyce edited by Valérie Bénéjam and John Bishop (review)

Making Space in the Works of James Joyce edited by Valérie Bénéjam and John Bishop (review)

Oss Tales edited by John Bishop and Sabrina Magliocco

Oss Tales edited by John Bishop and Sabrina Magliocco

Section News

Abstract:For your convenience, this month's Section News PDF includes bookmarks for each section. After opening the PDF, select the “Bookmark” tab on the left side of your screen, and click on the name of the section you are interested in reading.American Ethnological Society (AES): Caitrin Lynch, ed.Anthropology and Environment Section (A&E): Terre Satterfield, ed. “Environmental Anthropology and Sustainable Development in China” by Bryan TiltArcheology Division (AD): E Christian Wells, ed.Association of Black Anthropologists (ABA): Bianca C Williams and karen g williams, eds. “Global Circulations: A View from the Caribbean” by Tami NavarroAssociation for Feminist Anthropology (AFA): Damla Isik and Jessica Smith Rolston, eds. “Three Decades of Feminist Archaeology” by Colleen MorganAssociation of Indigenous Anthropologists (AIA): Valerie Lambert, ed. “On Firm Footing and Forward” by Jason YounkerAssociation for Latina and Latino Anthropologists (ALLA): Luis FB Plascencia and Pablo González, eds. “Una Red en Peces: Transborder Alliances Between US Chicanos and Indigenous Communities in Baja California” by Pablo GonzálezAssociation for Political and Legal Anthropology (ALPA): Mona Bhan and Noelle Molé, eds.“Law, Culture and the Boundaries of Geographical Indications” by Erica A FarmerAssociation for Queer Anthropology (AQA): David L R Houston, ed.Association of Senior Anthropologists (ASA): Paul Doughty, ed.Central States Anthropological Sociey (CSAS): Evelyn Dean‐Olmsted and Angela Glaros, eds.Council on Anthropology and Education (CAE): Steve Bialostok, ed. “Get Ready for the 2011 Annual Meeting” by Greg TanakaCouncil for Museum Anthropology (CMA): Margaret Bruchac, ed. “Answering a Grand Challenge by Transforming Access to Museum Collections” by Alex W BarkerCulture and Agriculture (C&A): Susanna Donaldson and Joan Mencher, eds. “Upcoming SfAA Meeting” by Joan MencherEvolutionary Anthropology Society (EAS): John P Ziker, ed.General Anthropology Division (GAD): Luke Eric Lassiter, ed. “2011 Call for Nominations” by Christopher A FurlowMiddle East Section (MES): Yasmin Moll, ed. “Recap of MES in New Orleans” by Gregory StarrettNational Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA): Eva Friedlander and Tara Eaton, eds. “Consulting: The Move to Practice from Academia” by Betty J HarrisNational Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA): Keri A Canada, ed. “Letter from the Field: Practicing Anthropology at Intel Corporation” by Kathi KitnerSociety for Anthropological Sciences (SAS): Stephen Lyon, ed. “Abstract of ‘Encrypted Humor and Social Networks in Rural Brazil’” by Thomas Flamson and H Clark BarrettSociety for Anthropology in Community Colleges (SACC): Lloyd Miller, ed.Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (SAC): Peter N Jones, ed.Society for the Anthropology of Europe (SAE): Vasiliki P Neofotistos, ed. “Message from the SAE President” by Deborah Reed‐Danahay; “What is Left for Anthropology to Say about Europe?” by Marcy Brink‐DananSociety for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN): Alyson Young and Kenneth Maes, eds. “Adolescent Culture and Food Consumption in Tanzania” by Elizabeth DanforthSociety for the Anthropology of North America (SANA): David Kamper, ed. “Augmenting Interaction: Design and Use of Assistive Communications Technologies” by Christopher R EngelkeSociety for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR): Jennifer Selby, ed. “2010 Clifford Geertz Prize” by Sue KenyonSociety for the Anthropology of Work (SAW): Theresa Preston‐Werner, ed. “Susanna Donaldson Receives Wolf Prize” by Ann Kingsolver; “SAW Welcomes Student Involvement” by Theresa Preston‐WernerSociety for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA): Anru Lee and Bridget Love, eds. “Material Asia: Join the Discussion in Jeonju, Korea” by Laurel KendallSociety for Humanistic Anthropology (SHA): Frederic W Gleach and Vilma Santiago‐Irizarry, ed.Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA): Annelou Ypeij, ed. “The Survival of Andean Pastoralism” by Ralph BoltonSociety for Medical Anthropology (SMA): Kathleen Ragsdale, ed. “The Medical Anthropologist as Interventionist: Culturally‐Based Approaches to Public Health Problems” by Stephen L SchensulSociety for Psychological Anthropology (SPA): Jack R Friedman, ed. “Boyer Prize Winner 2010” by Yehuda C Goodman; “Stirling Prize Winner 2010” by Claudia StraussSociety for Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology (SUNTA): Jayne Howell, ed. “Farming the Crescent City Tour” by Sandra McLeanSociety for Visual Anthropology (SVA): Wendy Dickinson, ed. “Anthropological Film Festival in Israel” by Nurit Kedar; “Introducing the Ultrashorts for the SVA Film and Interactive Media Festival” by John Bishop; “SVA Film and Interactive Media Festival” by Karen Nakamura

The final surgical examination: then and now

John Bishop Harman was the son of Katherine Harman, one of the first woman medical graduates in this country. Born and brought up in Harley Street, he qualified as a doctor in 1923 and immediately, as was permitted in those days, took the primary examination for the fellowship of The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The examination was in anatomy and physiology so that having recently passed his final examinations as a student, he had no difficulty in succeeding in this slightly more advanced test. Acquisition of the primary fellowship entitled him to enter for the final FRCS, which was the defining examination for a surgeon.

Joyce Illustrates <i>Finnegans Wake</i> and HCE Goes Tomb-Hopping

Joyce Illustrates Finnegans Wake and HCE Goes Tomb-Hopping Faith Steinberg (bio) Chapter I.4 of Finnegans Wake was first published in the April-July 1927 issue of transition. Ten years later in a letter dated August 6, 1937, Joyce writes to his Dublin friend Constantine Curran, “I am trying to finish my wip [Work in Progress]. (I work about 16 hours a day, it seems to me) . . .” (LI 395). What Joyce was working on in 1937 and 1938 was the editing and proofreading of the galleys for Finnegans Wake, including I.4. As he proofread, he continued expanding and embellishing the text, inserting directly into the galleys new words and phrases, which he culled from the notebooks that he had been amassing since 1922. Joyce’s intention was to obfuscate his night book further by introducing references to various artworks, such as Rembrandt’s The NightWatch (Figure 1), with the phrase, “Wacht even!,”1 (76.23). There are also references to Michelangelo’s Night statue (Figure 2) in the Medici Chapel in Florence. This latter work is suggested by the lyrics from the French song, “La femme à barbe,”2 as well as by other phrases that Joyce added to the galleys in 1937–38. Using the images of these artworks, and the words associated with them, Joyce sends HCE on a path emulating that of the Egyptian god Osiris. To establish the context for these events, we should recall that at the end of chapter I.3 of Finnegans Wake, HCE has been barraged with insults (71.10–72.16); rumors of his illicit behavior and crimes fly indiscriminately. Under the weight of these assaults, HCE finally succumbs and “Sdops” (74.19), i.e., drops, stops. As John Bishop points out, when I.4 opens, HCE reveals a “stream of unconsciousness of a man sleepily dead to the world.”3 He longs to be brought back to life, and Joyce portrays HCE seeking refuge in the Book of the Dead4 (BOD). This text was “believed to give the dead strength to resist the attacks of foes and to [End Page 248] withstand the powers of darkness and of the grave and enabled them to enjoy everlasting happiness” (Bishop 89). The circular nature of the BOD resonated with Joyce: it deals with the myth of Osiris—his trial by the gods as to his worthiness for resurrection, his descent into the underworld as he struggles with obstacles in his path, and his final resurrection. Book of the Dead The first words of chapter 4 immediately link us to some of the themes of the BOD, e.g., “teargarten” (75.1), which may represent a cemetery (among other things), thus immediately placing us in the appropriate realm of the dead. However, before HCE can proceed, he must pass muster, as the deceased do in the BOD. The Wake text reads as follows: Any number of conservative public bodies, through a number of select and other committees having power to add to their number . . . by a fit and proper resolution, following a koorts order of the ground-wet, 5 once for all out of plotty existence . . . so you maatskippey might to you cuttinrunner on a neuw pack of klerds,6 made him, while his body still persisted . . . (76.14–20 emphases mine; words and phrases in bold were added in 1937–38). Our hero must go before a court (“koorts”), as did Osiris Ani in “The Weighing of the Heart” scene (Figure 3). The corpse is elaborately decked out in new clothes (“neuw pack of klerds”) and then must be judged by the goddess Maat (“maatskippey”), the personification of the feather of truth, justice, and cosmic order. In the upper register of the Ani papyrus, a row of gods sits in judgment. Osiris Ani is then subjected to the weighing of the heart in which the heart and a feather are placed on a balance scale. If the heart is heavier than the feather, the deceased will not be eligible for the afterlife. It is this judgment scene that Joyce chose to illustrate in the guise of The Night Watch “Wacht even!”—hence the exclamation point: Judgment! The...

Conferring on Religion: Notes from the 2010 Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association Conference

In 2010, the third annual conference of the Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association (APRA)was held on the 17th and 18th of July at theUniversity ofMelbourne's Sidney Myer Asia Centre. Attracting 46 attendees travelling from as far away as the U.S.A. and the U.K., the conference once again provided an excellent opportunity for those interested in philosophy of religion to meet and learn from one another. The proceedings were opened by APRA’s first president, Dr. Bruce Langtry. With over 35 years of outstanding service to the field, Dr. Langtry is one of Australasia's most eminent philosophers of religion. APRA has benefited greatly from the time and energy that he devoted to this year's conference. A total of 32 speakers presented papers on a range of topics over the course of the conference four of which feature in this edition of Sophia. The keynote addresses were given by Prof. Raimond Gaita, Prof. Graham Oppy and Prof. Purushottama Bilimoria. Prof. Gaita's paper, entitled FLove, Reason and Realism’, examined Mark Wynn's discussion of the religious grounds for a certain type of moral goodness. Prof. Oppy’s paper, entitled FGod and the Causal Order’, investigates whether naturalistic explanations of the causal origin of the universe are more explanatorily powerful than theistic explanations. Prof. Bilimoria, in his paper FWhy is there Nothing rather than Something?’, considers how the notion of Radical Nothingness underpins various eastern religious and philosophical cosmologies. This year’s conference was organized chiefly by Dr. Nick Trakakis with the support of Deakin University, Charles Sturt University and the University of Melbourne's Sidney Myer Asia Centre. Dr. Trakakis is one of the founding members of APRA, and his energy, experience and good will not only ensured an interesting and enjoyable conference this year, but has also helped to give the association the momentum needed to ensure its continuation. In 2011, the APRA conference is to be held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The conference organizer is Dr. Chris Tucker, and APRA's new president will be Prof. John Bishop. We hope to see you there. SOPHIA (2010) 49:521 DOI 10.1007/s11841-010-0229-x

J. Bishop, Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology of Religious Belief

Since the collapse of logical positivism, natural theology and various other religious philosophies which put a greater emphasis on empirical evidence have become more prominent. Consequently, fideists, those who argue that belief in God does not require evidence, have had to deal with an increasing number of rivals. In his book Believing by Faith John Bishop challenges this trend by providing an extremely articulate defense of a moderate version of fideism. Bishop continuously compares his view with evidentialism. As their name might imply evidentialists argue that religious belief requires evidence. Bishop notes how tremendous debate currently exists within the philosophy of religion concerning the existence of God and the status of various other truth clams despite tremendous effort to resolve this debate. The lack of consensus amongst those who have studied the evidence relevant to the debate over religion does not bode well for those who believe people need evidence in order to accept theism. Note that Bishop does not argue that differing opinions amongst first-class intellectuals proves evidential ambiguity. It is possible that a significant number of educated people are objectively wrong. Still, he does argue that evidential ambiguity concerning religious belief is at least a reasonable possibility. Consequently, Bishop spends the rest of his pages addressing what happens to religious belief under evidential ambiguity. Bishop also notes that evidentialism cannot justify religious belief on moral or epistemic grounds if evidential ambiguity exists, thus making an examination of fideism even more important. One of Bishop’s central tenets in Believing by Faith is that religious belief is not just an epistemic question, but also a moral one. Bishop makes a distinction between what he calls the first and second locus of doxastic control, which are both related to a doxastic framework. For Bishop, a doxastic framework is ‘‘a framework of beliefs

Review: John Bishop: Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief

Review: John Bishop: Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief

John Bishop Borthwick

Grant Mooney writes: John Bishop Borthwick, or “Jake,” as he was affectionately known to patients and colleagues, achieved a remarkable, if not unique, “double” in 1938. He passed his MRCP...

Juan, obispo de Asiut, Manfalūt y Abū Tīǧ

In this article our aim is to offer new information about John bishop of Assiut (14th c.) and his religious activities and works.

Permissible Faith Ventures

Debates in religious epistemology have grown stale and the dialectic predictable. Certainly, some debates have assumed greater prominence and generated an interesting body of literature (e.g., the literature on divine hiddenness and skeptical theism). But the positions in the field have hardened. Like all other areas in philosophy, it occasionally takes an iconoclast to shake things up and breathe new life into moribund debates. John Bishop reinvigorates the field and hopefully redirects the debates with his recent book, Believing by Faith: An Essay on the Epistemology and the Ethics of Religious Belief. Bishop displays the care, rigor, and creativity those familiar with his work in the philosophy of action and the philosophy of religion have come to expect from him. What he offers is a wellcrafted development and defense of a modest fideism that takes believing and acting on beliefs in evidentially ambiguous circumstances to be epistemically and morally justified. Believing by Faith consists of a preface and nine chapters. But it can be divided into roughly three sections. Chapters one through four constitute prolegomena to the remaining chapters of the book in which Bishop develops and defends his own positive modest fideist account of the justifiability of holding and acting on what he calls ‘faith beliefs’ (i.e., existentially significant beliefs, practical commitment to which is a matter of choice, and are either framing principles of a doxastic framework or presuppose such a framing principle). In chapters five through seven, Bishop presents and refines his own account, which he christens ‘modest supraevidential fideism’ (p. 174)—a theory inspired by the work of William James (but not a theory that slavishly parrots James). Finally, chapters eight and nine are devoted to considering the case that can be made for his modest fideist religious epistemology. SOPHIA (2009) 48:85–90 DOI 10.1007/s11841-008-0082-3

Believing by Faith: an Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief - John Bishop

Believing by Faith: an Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief - John Bishop

Believing By Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief ‐ By John Bishop

<i>Believing By Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief</i> ‐ By John Bishop

Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief – By John Bishop

Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief – By John Bishop

&lt;i&gt;Oss Tales&lt;/i&gt; DVD, directed by John Bishop and Sabina Magliocco

&lt;i&gt;Oss Tales&lt;/i&gt; DVD, directed by John Bishop and Sabina Magliocco

Response to Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson's review of Oh, What a Blow that Phantom Gave Me!

Visual Anthropology ReviewVolume 23, Issue 2 p. 162-162 Response to Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson's review of Oh, What a Blow that Phantom Gave Me! John Bishop, John Bishop Media-Generation.comSearch for more papers by this author John Bishop, John Bishop Media-Generation.comSearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 January 2008 https://doi.org/10.1525/var.2007.23.2.162.1AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume23, Issue2September 2007Pages 162-162 RelatedInformation

Can Religious Beliefs be Justified Pragmatically?

One cannot prove the truth of theological statement, but perhaps one can justify believing them because of the good consequences of doing so. It is irrational to believe statements of which there are good reasons to think false, but those of which there is some, albeit inconclusive, evidence can be believed for pragmatic reasons. However, in the interest of simplicity, it must not be possible to achieve those good consequences without such faith. John Bishop and others have argued that one need only assume theological statements to be true to enjoy the good consequences of a religious life, but in fact, faith is needed for most of these consequences to be achieved.

Possible Worlds Theory and the Fantasy Universe of Finnegans Wake

Possible Worlds Theory and the Fantasy Universe of Finnegans Wake Margot Norris (bio) In the first chapter of his Narrative Design in "Finnegans Wake," Harry Burrell points to one of the central tensions in the history of Wake criticism by heading his discussion with the single word "Narrative?"1 He writes that "David Hayman, Bernard Benstock, John Bishop, and Margot Norris, for example, have all concluded that there is no underlying narrative and have evolved different systems of dealing with the dilemma" (8). In contrast, he notes, Fritz Senn and Clive Hart continue to yearn for the text's deep structural meaning to be disclosed (8). Burrell's study offers that deep structural meaning by treating the Wake as Joyce's rewriting of the Bible and creation of "a new theology" (7)—a claim that, in many respects, harks back to a founding text of Wake criticism: Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson's 1944 A Skeleton Key to "Finnegans Wake."2 But however provocative its argument, Burrell's study does not end the controversy over the "Narrative?" of Finnegans Wake nor does it engage the question of the Wake's narrative in a theoretical way. Yet the present moment in the early twenty-first century is particularly opportune for narratological study of avant-garde texts, thanks to a new development in the field that offers tools for more rigorously conceptualizing the nature of fiction itself. Called "Possible Worlds" theory, a branch of narratology that addresses "the fictionality of fictional worlds" has blossomed in the last fifteen years.3 Gerald Prince gives the following explanation of "possible worlds" in his Dictionary of Narratology: "Narratives comprise temporally ordered sequences of states of affairs that are taken to be actual/factual ('what happens') and that are linked to other states of affairs considered non-actual or counterfactual and constituted by the mental activity of various characters (their beliefs, wishes, plans, hallucinations, fantasies, etc.)."4 The posited separation between what theorist Marie-Laure Ryan calls a "[t]extual actual world" (n.p.) and the nonactual "worlds" that belong to the minds of characters in fiction can be readily recognized in a genre like realism. Ulysses is full of events that are assumed to be "factual" and to occur in the "actual" 1904 Dublin world posited within the novel—events like Bloom cooking breakfast at 7 Eccles [End Page 455] Street, the funeral of Paddy Dignam, or Stephen's Shakespeare lecture in the National Library, for example. These events are not, in fact, actual or factual in the sense that they historically occurred in the real world, but Joyce's novel Ulysses pretends that they did. This pretended textual actual world in Ulysses is simultaneously connected to the virtual worlds—or possible worlds—of its characters' ruminations, memories, fantasies, and stories. But how do actual and possible worlds function in the fictional realm of Finnegans Wake? Possible Worlds theory offers tools to analyze the Wake's narrative and fictional operation with greater rigor than before. This essay offers an introduction to such an analysis, though it defers exploring the content or significance of the ontological realms that the analysis discloses. The question of whether Finnegans Wake exhibits anything resembling an "actual" or "factual" textual world—analogous to the richly imagined 1904 world of Dublin and its inhabitants in Ulysses—has, of course, been an issue in Wake criticism from the very beginning. Edmund Wilson's 1939 essay, "The Dream of H. C. Earwicker," posited a model in which the tavern in Book III functions as the site of an actual world in the Wake: It is a Saturday night in summer, after a disorderly evening in the pub. Somebody—probably Earwicker himself—has been prevailed upon to sing a song: later, when it was closing time, he had to put a man outside, who abused him and threw stones at the window. There has also been a thunderstorm. Earwicker has been drinking off and on all day and has perhaps gone to bed a little drunk. At any rate, his night is troubled. At first he dreams about the day before, with a bad conscience and a sense of humiliation: then, as the night...