Creator Spirit Research Articles

From Stewardship to Creation Spirituality

The relationship between the Catholic Church and the world’s poor is complicated by the link between concern for the earth and concern for the poor. To historically situate this relationship, in this article I examine thirty papal encyclical letters and three other salient documents issued by six Popes, spanning a period between publication of Rachel Carson’s 1962 Silent Spring (a common starting-point for modern environmentalism) and Pope Francis’ 2015 Laudato si’ [‘Praise Be to You’]: On Care for our Common Home encyclical on climate change. Encyclicals were coded for changes in Catholic doctrine using a typology developed by sociologists of religion: from a ‘Stewardship Ethic’ rooted in individual sin, to an ‘Eco-Justice’ ethic, which bridges concern for the environment with concern for the poor, and finally, to an ethic of ‘Creation Spirituality’, which views humans and nature as inseparable. This analysis offered evidence of significant doctrinal shifts in Catholic social teaching toward a distinctively ‘greener’ reading of the tradition. Research on the religion–environment connection that focuses on describing and interpreting change over time offers robust means by which to assess whether, how, and to what extent religious organizations and their adherents engage with environmental issues.

The Holy Spirit and the Story of New Creation: How Pneumatology Makes Sense of Cosmology and Eschatology

ABSTRACT The relationship between science and theology is complementary, but some dissonance remains. Cosmology claims that the universe is either moving toward destruction or infinite expansion. However, eschatology claims the universe is destined for renewal. Recent scholarship attempts to resolve this dissonance by basing resolution in the bodily resurrection of Christ, but little work has been done in other areas of theology to resolve the dissonance. Pneumatology offers a possible resolution to the cosmological-eschatological dissonance. By examining the work of the Holy Spirit in creation compared to human redemption, we can provide one possible resolution to the cosmological-eschatological dissonance.

Chronotope Dynamics in M. Yu. Lermontov’s Poem Alone I Set out on the Road…

In this paper, the author studies the chronotope dynamics in Lermontov’s lyric poem Alone I Set out on the Road… in order to reveal the meaning-generation processes (the so-called “semantic plot” and its ramifications) in the evolution of the lyrical character’s spiritual trajectory, who is on his “meditative philosophical journey” (O. V. Zyryanov) and gradually transforms into the lyrical subject of the poetic text. The interpretation is based on the segmentation of the chronotope system into its main components, with the description of their correlation, whose dynamics defines the position of the lyrical character and the subject of the text in their process of transformation. This aims at clarifying the multi-valency of the system of spatial and temporal elements developing according to a logic contradicting the conceptualisation of dichotomic connections and an interpretative movement in the exclusive terms of thesis — antithesis — synthesis. In Lermontov’s lyrical text, within their motif development, both the upper and the lower spatial spheres are semantically doubled (cf. the earth, the desert, the sky, heavens), while the correlations between these and other elements forming an overall global space, as a consequence of each being addressed intensively by the lyrical character/subject in his role as an active initiator (agent) of chronotopic/textual communication, outline the character’s successful conquest of the total chronotope system as a whole universe, in which spiritual omnipraesentia is achieved. Instead of a model of unification with nature or another pre-existing ideal world ready to offer itself to be acquired through life/text experience, the poem elaborates a model of creation of spirituality in such forms as the acquisition of metaphysical values of existence which are bound to the earth as the centre of primary experience. There, human creative force in cultural eternity creates forms of mediation linking the internal and the external, the lower and the upper spheres, the human and the conceptualisation of divine essence, and also direct life experience and its textual transfiguration. All of these emerge in the chronotope system of Lermontov’s poem.

Birrarung Wilam: A Story from Aboriginal Australia

Birrarung Wilam:A Story from Aboriginal Australia Aunty Joy Murphy, Andrew Kelly, Lisa Kennedy, and Deborah Stevenson, Editor Murphy, Aunty Joy Birrarung Wilam: A Story from Aboriginal Australia; written by Aunty Joy Murphy and Andrew Kelly; illus. by Lisa Kennedy. Candlewick, 2020 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781536209426 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R* 4-9 yrs What's home, and how do you describe it? What's special about what lives there? Those are the questions answered about the great Australian river Birrarung, in English the river Yarra, by the partnership of Murphy (the Senior Aboriginal Elder of the Wurundjeri people, and a noted storyteller), Kelly (the Riverkeeper of the river Yarra), and Kennedy (descended from the Trawlwoolway people). Drawing on the Woiwurring language of the Wurundjeri, this gentle story chronicles a day in the life of the river and those who live in its habitat ("wilam" means "home"), traveling from its source to its mouth as the day goes on. Woiwurring terms for local flora, fauna, and geography combine seamlessly and unitalicized with English in what is essentially a bilingual text ("Deep in the yerin, wallert comes home. … Parnmin falls on djerang, flows down wirrup, and soaks into yeameneen beek"). It's a musical and well-crafted text that evinces Murphy's roots in storytelling, but the synthesis of languages immediately sharpens listener attention. Young audiences will enjoy scrutinizing the art and using their deductive skills to guess what the words mean (an appended glossary of the Woiwurrung words, keyed by thumbnail to each spread, offers a pronunciation guide as well as definitions for preparation of readers aloud and revelation of answers for those guessing youngsters). The text starts and ends with Bunjil, the wedge-tailed eagle that is the creator spirit of the Wurundjeri, in between noting birds, mammals, and fish, river, farmlands, and city. The result is an evocative depiction of an ecosystem that emphasizes the view of the people who have been there longest. The acrylic illustrations are intoxicatingly beautiful. Lush full-bleed doublepage spreads are packed with flora and fauna (including people) and they glow with saturated color. Kennedy's deft hand ensures that compositions are perfectly weighted, with white and light highlights lifting every page, patterned elements echoing traditional Aboriginal design, and easy visual rhythm suffusing every spread. Nor is it just the river that shapes the illustrations: in one, rhyming pale tree trunks provide vertical emphasis, in another, an underground burrow snakes across the page (a shape echoed by a bike trail on a subsequent spread); in all, plants grow and flower vigorously, bursting with life, and animals unusual to American eyes go about their riparian existence. There's an Edenic flavor to some scenes, like the one featuring kangaroos grazing alongside the winding river, knee deep in verdant flowering vegetation, but this is less Eden than a kindly post-industrial world with people biking alongside the river or rowing in it, and the gleaming city skyline is a geometric accent rather than an intrusion. [End Page 461] Kids who would normally snooze through a travelogue will find this inviting, and those already interested in in ecosystems may be encouraged to similarly document their own. It's also a book that offers many possible approaches. You can draw on it it for a discussion of place alongside books like Wheatley's My Place (BCCB 7/90), or as an introduction to Australian wildlife in partnership with Nic Bishop's photoessays such as Nic Bishop Marsupials (BCCB 11/09). Or bring it out as part of an exploration of rivers, alongside Cooper's River (BCCB 10/19) or even that old American classic, Holling's Paddle-to-the-Sea. However you use it, it's a dazzling literary journey. (See p. 489 for publication information.) Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

ПРОБЛЕМА СКІНЧЕННОСТІ ЛЮДСЬКОГО ІСНУВАННЯ В УКРАЇНСЬКОМУ ФОЛЬКЛОРІ

The article analyzes the existential problems of life, death and immortality in Ukrainian folklore (based on Ukrainian fairy tales). In the corpus of Ukrainian folk tales there are widely used topics, which in European philosophy and literature are called "tragic foundations of human existence" - awareness of the inevitability of death in the earthly existence of man, the search for forms of individual immortality. In Ukrainian fairy tales there is a dual attitude of the individual to the inevitability of his own death. On the one hand, there is the motive of reconciliation with the fate of human destiny, and in order to relieve the painful feeling of one's own finitude, the instruction on the higher meaning of the existence of death is forced. Death is justified because it appears as the prevention of the absurdity of infinite human existence or as an obstacle to the debauchery of the whims and dangerous wishes of the individual, or ultimately as the punishment of people for violating the commandments of the Supreme Spiritual Creature. In other words, death appears in a number of fairy tales as the expression of the highest world justice. At the same time, death mostly appears in fairy tales as an objectified pagan idea of Death as a concrete living creature with its whims, sympathies and weaknesses. The problem of finding ways to achieve immortality is traced in Ukrainian fairy tales in two ways. Most often, this search unfolds in the plane of the victory of the hero of the fairy tale over death, or through the imprisonment of death, or through the marriage of the hero to a divine being. This is a very common motive in the tales around the world. Less common is the motive of achieving immortality through the moral self-improvement of the hero, his compliance to the moral commandments of God. This is already a reflection in fairy tales of the influence of Christianity on the spiritual world of the ancestors of modern Ukrainians.

Spiritual renewal and the healing of creation

This article is a biblical exploration of the interplay between spiritual renewal of the people of God and the spirit’s work of renewing and healing creation. On the flip side, it highlights the biblical theme of environmental distress as a consequence of human disobedience. Beginning with God’s social covenant with Israel, the article moves to a primary focus on ecological texts in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah’s vision encompasses climactic catastrophes, the plight of animal species, the integrity and pollution of the soil, deforestation, and the languishing and flourishing of the entire created order. Isaiah’s pneumatology uniquely portrays the work of the Creator Spirit as one of renewing and breathing new life into a suffering world. This article offers a fresh exegesis of the ecological texts of Isaiah and considers a number of practical implications for mission in light of the environmental challenges particularly unique to Canada’s province of Alberta. It concludes by charting some of the ways people who exhibit the fruit of the spirit might alter their lifestyles and contribute to the spirit’s work of healing creation.

Exploring the Issue of Ecological Crisis Through the Four Paths Of Matthew Fox’s Creation Spirituality

This paper examined the causes that affect the people’s behavior toward the environment and their response to the increasing ecological crisis of our country. It explored the specific contributions of people to the crisis and the possible measures that each can do to help somehow lessen if not resolve the problem. The Four Paths in Matthew Fox’s Creation Spirituality were helpful tools in determining the various characteristics of people in relation to creation and the challenges that beset it. The VIA POSITIVA, VIA NEGATIVA, VIA CREATIVA AND VIA TRANSFORMATIVA are paths which bring us into the realities of our roles in this cosmos and can in turn help us reflect and realize our major role to bring about change. The analysis of this exploration include the problem of nonchalance, laziness, materialism, greed and a lack of knowledge on the interconnectedness of human beings and other living beings and non-beings. Anthropocentrism also poses a threat to the way we relate to the environment for we have comfortably became used to being the center of all creations and thus, tend to treat the other beings as immaterial. Each ‘crowning glory’ of creation is in no way superior to all others as to freely harm and abuse them in satisfying their self-centered desires. All are called to participate in a genuine stewardship, a sincere care and concern for the common good. Every ‘Juan dela Cruz’ must submit into renewal of perspectives, even changing paradigms in organizations if we truly desire a more harmonious relationship among all creations.
 References
 Books:Berry, Thomas & Swimme, Brian. The Universe Story, From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era-A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1994.
 Craine, Renate. Hildegarde, Prophet of the Cosmic Christ. New York, NY: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1998.
 Dejillas, Paul J. Our Cosmic Origins. USA: Tatay Jobe Elizes Publisher, 2017.
 Fox, Matthew. Creation Spirituality, Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth. Harper San Francisco, 1991.
 Fox, Matthew. Original Blessing, A Primer in Creation Spirituality. Bear and Company, Inc., 1983.
 Pope Francis. Laudato Si, Encyclical Letter ON Care for our Common Home. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2015.
 _______________. The New American Bible. Makati City, Philippines: St. Paul’s Philippines. 2004.
 Websites:
 Conserve Energy Future. Current Environmental Issues. Accessed January 11, 2017. http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/
 DENR. Eyeing Displaced Mine Workers For Bamboo, Mangrove Expansion Program. Accessed January 10, 2017. http://www.denr.gov.ph/
 Ecological Society of the Philippines. Environment Updates. Accessed January 11, 2017. http://www.esp.org.ph/
 Seed, John, et.al. Beyond Anthropocentrism, From Thinking Like a Mountain-Towards a Council of all Beings. Accessed June 14, 2019 from http://www.rainbowbody.net/Ongwhehonwhe/beyondanthro_seed.pdf

Capitalism vs. Creation Spirituality Resolve (C.S.R.): A Tete-a-tete of Two Cultural Consciousness

This research work argues that religious conviction is contributory to the making of the culture of Capitalism in the West. This was presented by annotating Max Weber’s Sociology of Religion. There, the study presents Capitalism’s cultural values influencing the behavior and attitude of the modern man. From here, the paper establishes how the values of Capitalism, in the global extent, became the main culprit in the destruction of the ecological system. To see both sides of the story, the paper examines how capitalists respond to this environmental crisis created mainly by them. At this point, the paper argues why the ‘method’ of most economic experts, including those of the philanthrocapitalists, fails in resolving the problem of sustainability vis-à-vis environmental wellbeing. After discoursing on what Capitalism has done and the illeffects it has produced, the paper presents a dialectic between Capitalism and Creation spirituality. There it argues why Creation spirituality, reflected from the different faith traditions, becomes the appropriate cultural consciousness that serves as antidote to the environmental malaise caused by Capitalism. While a synthesis between the two opposing values of each spheres could be made using a dialectical framework, the paper opts instead to take the position of Creation spirituality. The paper points out that the way to counteract the “colonizing” position of Capitalism is for religion to take charge. In the end, the paper argues that only in paradigm-shift where the position of Creation spirituality is taken, that genuine solution can be achieved in this pressing environmental crisis. Lastly, the paper recommends to utilize the principles and values of Creation spirituality via incorporation of it in religious academic curricula. Likewise, the study bids the same in the wider sphere of interreligious relations and communications that religious leaders, preachers and teachers should consider as a course of action to take. ReferencesBakan, J. (2004). The Corporation: The pathological pursuit of profit and power. NY: Free Press.Bhaktivedanta Vedabase. Retrieved from www.vedabase.com/en/bg/11Bowker, J. (2015). Beliefs that changed the world: The history and ideas of the great religions. London, United Kingdom: Quercus Publishing.Carroll, A. and Buchholtz, A. (2008). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability and stakeholder management. Cengage Learning.Chief Seattle. (2000). The speech of Chief Seattle. Carlisle, MA: Applewood Books.Clayton, P. (2004a). “Panentheism in metaphysical and scientific perspective”, in In whom we live and move and have our being: panentheistic reflections on God’s presence in a scientific world, P. Clayton and A. Peacocke (eds.), Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, pp. 249-264.de Chardin T. (1975). The human phenomenon. NY: Harper and Row.Fox, M. (1983). Original blessing. Santa Fe, NM: Bear and Company.Fox, M. (ed.) (1987). Hildegard de Bingen’s book of divine works: With letters and songs. Santa Fe, NM: Bear and Company.Friedman, M. (2002). Capitalism and freedom (40th Anniversary Ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Habermas, J. (1984). The Theory of communicative action vol. 1: Reason and rationalization of society. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Horkheimer, M. (1982). Critical theory selected essays. New York: Continuum Pub.IPerceptive: Ibn-Arabi Quotes. Retrieved from https://iperceptive.com/authors/ibn-arabi-quotes.htmlJung, C. G. (2006). The undiscovered self. New York, NY: New American Library.Knight, K. (2017). The Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas. Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1065.htmMarx, K. (1990) [1867]. Capital, Volume I. London: Penguin Classics.Nhat Hanh, T. (1999). Going home: Jesus and Buddha as brothers. New York, NY: Penguin Group.O’ Murchu, D. (2004). Quantum theology: Spiritual implications of the new physics (Revised Ed.). NY: The Crossroads PublishingCompany.Pope Francis (2015). Laudato Si: On care for our common home. Rome. Rasmussen, L. (2005). Earth community, earth ethics. Makati, Philippines: St. Paul’s.Rieff, D. (2015). The Reproach of hunger: Food, justice, and money in the twenty-first century. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.Smith, A. (1977). The wealth of nations: An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.The Meister Eckhart Site. Retrieved from https://www.ellopos.net/theology/eckhart_in-creatures.htmlWeber, M., & Kalberg, S. (2013). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of Capitalism. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Impact on Life of Estero de San Miguel

This research responded to the challenge of Pope Francis to do research that provides better understanding of how different creatures relate to one another in the ecosystem. Through semiotic analysis applied on the life sharing of the local people and some images, this research yielded a deeper appreciation of the impact on life of Estero de San Miguel. Accordingly, the estero is an abiotic component of the local ecosystem within the district of San Miguel, Manila. It had freely offered greater provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services before to local communities and other life forms within its immediate ecosystem than today, when it had been relegated only to serve as a tributary of Pasig River and sewer of human waste. The present status of the estero shows lesser impact on life within its local ecosystem. While there is still time to finally halt this local ecological catastrophe, people must actively contribute in creating a serious awareness of, respect, and love for the estero and the environment at large. A serious awareness that focuses more on their intrinsic value, apart from their services being offered. The compounded lingual and visual semiotic reflections provided several principles that served as underlying ideological reference for a new inspiration and commitment to value creation, like the estero, and practice responsible stewardship. ReferencesBerry, T. & Swimme, B. (1994). The universe story, from the primordial flaring forth to the ecozoic era-A celebration of the unfolding of the cosmos. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.Biblioteca National De Espana. (1870). Mga bahay sa San Miguel, Maynila sa Ilog Pasig. Picture.Biodiversity Information System for Europe (BISE). (2019). Ecosystems Services. Retrieved from https://biodiversity.europa.eu/topics/ecosystem-servicesBrockhaus, H. (2017). Pope: Caring for creation means caring for your brother and sister: Catholic News Agency. Retrieved from https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-caring-forcreation-means-caring-for-your-brother-and-sister-60815Catholic On Line. (2018). The Canticle of Creation (by Saint Francis of Assisi). Retrieved from https://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=3188City of Manila Waterways. (July 2014). Estero De San Miguel Reborn. The UrbanRoamer. Retrieved from http://www.theurbanroamer.com/estero-de-san-miguel-reborn/Piper, J. (February 1987). The Pleasure of God in His Creation. Retrieved from: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-pleasure-ofgod-in-his-creationDejillas, P. (2017). Our cosmic origins. USA: Tatay Jobo Elizes. Fox, M. (1983). Original Blessing, A Primer in Creation Spirituality. Bear and Company, Inc.Google Map of Estero de San Miguel. Retrieved from Hurault, B. (2004). Christian Community Bible. Catholic Pastoral Edition. Quezon City: Claretian Publications.Kapit Bisig Para Sa Ilog Pasig. Estero de San Miguel 2010 - 2012 Photos. Facebook.Macaubulletin. (2011). Christian Community Bible: Catholic Pastoral Edition. New Revised Edition 2013. Retrieved from https://ccbpastoralbible.wordpress.com/online-bible/englishversion/.Mansell, T. L. and Tewell, J. Nice home along the Pasig River, San Miguel. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/johntewell/36861568211.National Archives of the Philippines. Old map of Manila published by The Philippines company, express - passengers, freight, brokers and forwarders. Spanish Period Collection.Peñamora, A., et.al. (2017). Why, O God? (Disaster, Resiliency, and the People of God). Quezon City: OMF Literature Inc.Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (2004). Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Makati City: Word and Life Publications.Pope Francis. (2015). Laudato si, Encyclical Letter (On Care for Our Common Home). Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.Piper, J. (February 1987). The pleasure of God in His creation. Retrieved from https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-pleasure-of-godin-his-creationSaint Meinrad Seminary & School of Theology. (January 2018). Ecological environment. Retrieved from: https://www/saintmeinrad.edu/seminary-blog/echoes-from-the-bell-tower/posts/20154/environmental-stewardship/Tewell, J. San Beda College, Mendiola Street, looking north, Manila, Philippines, about 1930. Retrieved from http://www.flickriver.com/photos/johntewell/16572142004/.Warner, K. (2012). St. Francis: Patron of ecology. U.S. Catholic Faith In Real Life. Retrieved from https://www.uscatholic.org/church/2010/09/st.-francis-patron-ecology

Richness, Fatness, and Salvation: The Movement of the Holy Spirit in the Blessings of the Holy Oils and Consecration of the Chrism during the Chrism Mass

During the Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday, when the oils of the sick and of the catechumens are blessed and the chrism is consecrated, the whole church assembles to celebrate these symbols of the human journey to God. That the oils and balsam used in the rite are derived from creation signifies the role of creation (specifically nonhuman creatures) in salvation. Indeed, the holy oils, fashioned from creation and blessed and consecrated before the whole church, are destined to mark and enable the journey of human beings toward union with God through the church. The consecration of the chrism is considered the foundation of all other blessings in the church, making it an appropriate lens to consider the relationship among creation, the church, and salvation. These prayers of blessing and consecration during the Chrism Mass indicate the movement of the Holy Spirit in creation, drawing human beings into heaven.

Feathery Traces: The (Dis)appearance of the Angel in the Work of Mallarmé

Religion & Literature 186 Newman, John Henry. “The Powers of Nature: The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.” In Parochial and Plain Sermons. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997. —–. “The Dream of Gerontius.” In Verses on Various Occasions, by John Henry Newman. London: Longmans Green & Co., 1903 Nichols, Aidan. All Great Art is Praise: Art and Religion in John Ruskin. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2016. Pater, Walter. Appreciations: with an Essay on Style. London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1889. Potter, Dylan David. Angelology: Recovering Higher-Order Beings as Emblems of Transcendence, Immanence , and Imagination. Cambridge: James Clarke, 2017. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Jakob ringt mit dem Engel [Jacob Wrestling with the Angel]. C. 1659, oil on canvas, 4.6 x 3.10 in. Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen, Berlin. Rossetti, Christina.Christina Rossetti: The Complete Poems. Edited by R. W. Crump. London: Penguin, 2005. Ruskin, John. The Library Edition of the Works of John Ruskin. 39 vols. Edited by Cook and Wedderburn. London: George Allen, 1903-12. —–. Ruskin in Italy: Letters to his Parents. 1845. Edited by Harold J. Shapiro. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972. Stanford, Peter. Angels: A Visible and Invisible History. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2019. Tolkien, J. R. R., On Fairy-Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947. FEATHERY TRACES: THE (DIS)APPEARANCE OF THE ANGEL IN THE WORK OF MALLARMÉ1 Felix Schmelzer The Nicene Creed refers to God as “maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen,” words that imply a profound unity of the material and spiritual (invisible) universes.2 Within the Christian vision, neither would be complete without the other.3 Throughout the modern age, this vision is increasingly undermined by a materialist determinism, the key element of a one-sided scientific worldview. Placing themselves in opposition to an absolutist notion of scientific knowledge, many romantic writers have tried to reintegrate the spiritual dimension into European culture, with poetry especially becoming one means of doing so.4 This is, of course, a somewhat simplifying generalization, which nonetheless bears a tendential truth. Important to point out here is that Stéphane Mallarmé, though widely regarded as the most “modern” of all nineteenth-century poets, is still driven by this romantic impulse; in other words, the idea of a profound unity between matter and spirit, and the question of how to FORUM 187 express this unity in words to overcome a merely materialist vision of the world, is essential to his work. As we shall see, the motif of the angel, the spiritual creature per se, is closely related to that idea. In Mallarmé’s early work, the world still seems in order. Omnipresent and irresistible ties, such as a “virgin’s white thread” hanging down from the sky, hold together that which belongs together, celestial purity (always “white” for Mallarmé) and material existence.5 In Mallarmé’s own words: “The rose loves the lily.”6 The most important, or at least most frequent, tie between the two worlds is the angel. Mallarmé’s early poetry almost seems overcrowded by white-winged messengers mediating between Heaven and Earth. Marchal characterizes this period appropriately as an “ancient angelic dream.”7 Oftentimes, the angel is evoked metonymically by “feather” or “wing,” body parts that suggest the idea of an ascension to the invisible sphere—angels are invisible by definition—particularly well. Mallarmé would not be as modern as he is if this Christian and romantic conviction of continuous contact between the visible and the invisible worlds, or at least the possibility thereof, had not been placed severely in doubt. From 1862 onwards, the old Heaven (“Azur”) becomes, in the Baudelairian tradition, more and more unreachable.8 Angels still appear in the poems, but now in the form of featherless beings, incapable of ascending. The connection with heaven has been interrupted, the tie cut. These pitiful creatures can be read as a metaphor of poetic failure. In “Les fenêtres,” the poet, in an act of self-contemplation, recognizes himself as an angel (“je me mire et me vois ange” [I look at myself and see mysef as angel]), only to realize at the same time that he has lost his feathers...

Клинико-психопатологические особенности синдрома овладения религиозного содержания при шизофрении

Background : as it's insufficiently explored, the syndrome of possession with religious content (SPRC) in schizophrenia appears to be quite difficult problem. Severity of states that could be observed within the framework of this syndrome requests very careful research due to existing social risk and resistance to psychopharmacotherapy. The aim of the study : was to determine clinical-and-psychopathological features of the SPRC in schizophrenia to conduct psychopathological differentiation and apply specific diagnostic criteria and prognosis of the disease. Patients and methods: 36 patients suffering from the SPRC in schizophrenia (F20.0, F20.01, F20.02 according to ICD-10) were examined. The research methods were used in the study: psychopathological, follow-up and psychometrical (according to PANSS), statistical (Student's test). Results and conclusion : specific feature for SPRC is persistent delusional patient's conviction in the impact on him carried out by some immaterial spiritual creature, which involves control under his/her mind and body, and leads to destruction of personality. The syndrome of possession with religious content (SPRC) is developing according to pattern of paranoid syndrome and it's accompanied with massive mental automatisms. The obtained data contains differentiated criteria of personalized diagnostics and prognostic approaches in schizophrenia proceeded with syndrome of possession with religious content.

Eschatological Perspective of N. Berdyaev’s Philosophy of History

The fundamental insight that N. Berdyaev obtains in his historiosophical reflections is that history is antinomic and the historical process is catastrophic since it has to end, because “the world cannot exist eternally”. In its global, empirical (objective) dimension, history resembles an absurd comedy “in which nothing ever succeeds”. The idea of history as a long duration (long duree) and permanent progress misses its essence. According to Berdyaev, such history is meaningless, and it has to end. Its true meaning is revealed only in “its end” and “before the face of eternity”. Terrestrial history does not have its epilogue and the final solution in historical time but in celestial history when the boundaries between the immanent and the transcendent world disappear. History is the path to another and different, sublime and spiritual (noumenal) world that lies beyond the boundaries of everything historical. The destiny of man, which lies at the heart of history, assumes a meta-historical goal and a trans-historical solution to the destiny of history in a different, eternal time. To summarize, history has an eschatological meaning. Although there is an unsolvable tragic conflict between the individual human destiny and the destiny of humanity as a whole within the framework of history, Berdyaev, following the entire tradition of Russian religious philosophy, is convinced that the overcoming of that contradiction on the historical level is possible with love as the salvation and the main driving force of the soul and the source of all the spiritual creation of man.

A Taxonomy of Secondary School Athletic Team Names and Mascots in the United States

Athletic team names are a fascinating yet understudied topic in onomastics. Inspired by the work of Nuessel (1994) and Smith (1997) and framed by the extensive toponymy approach described by Tent (2015), this study proposes a taxonomy of team names and mascots used by high schools in the United States. A list of 20,853 schools procured from the Clell Wade Coaches Directory catalyzed the study, and content analysis of school websites and social media accounts determined the mascots of ambiguous team names. The results include seven general categories: humans, fauna, flora, inanimate objects and phenomena, deities and spiritual beings, mythological creatures and beings, and schools not using team names. Most schools use an animal or human mascot, and prevailing themes among all names include a strong degree of convention in their selection, a high frequency of bellicosity in their character, and a small but notable observance of local distinctiveness in their presence.

CLIMATE CHANGE, LAUDATO SI', CREATION SPIRITUALITY, AND THE NOBILITY OF THE SCIENTIST'S VOCATION

AbstractThis exploration into spirituality and climate change employs the “four paths” of the creation spirituality tradition. The author recognizes those paths in the rich teachings of Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si' and applies them in considering the nobility of the scientist's vocation. Premodern thinkers often resisted any split between science and religion. The author then lays out the basic archetypes for recognizing the sacredness of creation, namely, the Cosmic Christ (Christianity); the Buddha Nature (Buddhism); the Image of God (Judaism); the “Primordial Man” (Hinduism), as well as the premodern universal teaching of “God as Beauty.” He addresses the subject of evil which deserves serious attention in the face of the realities posed by climate change and the resistance to addressing them. In the concluding section, the author speaks of a new Order of the Sacred Earth that was launched in fall 2017 to gather persons of whatever spiritual tradition or none to devote themselves to preserving Mother Earth.

Environmental Crisis as The Ultimate Life Issue

Environmental Crisis as The Ultimate Life Issue

Korelacja między psychoterapią a spowiedzią

Artykuł obszernie ukazuje istotę sakramentu pokuty i pojednania oraz kluczowe kwestie związane z psychoterapią. Obecnie trwa moda na za- stępowanie sakramentu spowiedzi technikami czysto ludzkimi w ramach psychoterapii. Doszło do zmieszania obu posług także w obrębie Kościoła. Powyższe treści porządkują cele i zadania spowiednika oraz psychoterape- uty, ukazując przestrzenie w jakich zarówno jeden, jak i drugi winien się poruszać. Ideałem prowadzenia człowiek jako istoty cielesno-duchowej jest jego całościowy rozwój, zarówno psycho-fizyczny, jak i duchowy. Szeroko poruszona więc została także kwestia współpracy jednej nauki z drugą oraz połączenia spowiedzi z psychoterapią w jednej osobie kapłana.

Ecumenism for the Sake of the World

“Today's challenges are no longer defined by local or national borders. They are glocal, both global and local. Borders are no longer what they used to be. That should not scare us. Because at the center of Christianity, there is a God crossing the most dramatic border of all: the one between divine and human. Transgression of borders always entails ‘Berührungsangst,’ the anxiety of touching and being touched by what is different, strange, other. As people of faith, we can live with these anxieties, remaining centered in the Gospel of the incarnated Christ and open, very much open, to the world. And so, united in prayer for God's creation and the church of Jesus Christ, we say with confidence: Veni Creator Spiritus, Come Creator Spirit.”

Counselling in the Spirit: The Outworking of a Pneumatological Hermeneutic in the Praxis of Pentecostal Therapists

This article explores pentecostal spirituality and its formative influence upon the therapeutic praxis of pentecostal therapists. Central to pentecostal spirituality is a posture of openness and receptivity to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in creation. For the pentecostal therapist, this posture informs the therapeutic encounter. In dialogue with selected pentecostal interlocutors, the author explores the phenomenological accounts of a number of self-identified Pentecostal and charismatic licensed mental health professionals concerning their experiences of the Holy Spirit in their provision of therapy. These accounts speak to the ways in which the clinicians’ pentecostal spirituality has formed in them a particular manner of interpreting and being-in-the-world; a pneumatological hermeneutic that becomes outworked in their clinical praxis. In reflection upon these accounts, practical and theological implications are offered for pentecostal counsellors, and others concerned with practical theologies of care and counselling.

Come, Holy Spirit: Inner Fire, Giver Of Life, And Comforter Of The Poor by Leonardo Boff

Reviewed by: Come, Holy Spirit: Inner Fire, Giver Of Life, And Comforter Of The Poor by Leonardo Boff Gilberto Cavazos-González, OFM (bio) Come, Holy Spirit: Inner Fire, Giver Of Life, And Comforter Of The Poor. By Leonardo Boff. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2015. 222 pp. $28.00 Leonardo Boff is a Brazilian theologian and prolific author with over 60 books, including Francis of Rome & Francis of Assisi, Jesus Christ Liberator, and Holy Trinity, Perfect Community, to name a few. He is best known for his work with Liberation Theology and Base Communities (CEBs) as the source of his theology. He has received several honorary doctorates and awards including the Right Livelihood Award in 2001. His most recent reflection on the Holy Spirit has produced a small book comprised of 13 short chapters, plus a preface and a conclusion. It moves with inspiration, complexity, and at times confusion from our need for the Holy Spirit to come and rescue us to our experience of the Holy Spirit at work in the universe, the church, and ourselves. Chapter one reminds us that Creation, humanity, and especially the poor and oppressed, cry out "Come, Holy Spirit." Boff considers the presence of the Holy Spirit in history and creation's need to be delivered from great crises. He considers the action of the Spirit in the socio-political and religious events of the twentieth century, in the decay of modern reason, in the rise of world feminism, and in the Catholic Charismatic renewal. In his next chapter Boff affirms our "need to deepen our understanding of the word 'spirit'" (33). This chapter is an interesting recovery of the word "Spirit" in nature and life (plant, animal, and human). Spirit opens us up to the other and the "human spirit is touching the hem of the Holy Spirit's garment" through Charism, enthusiasm, prophetic action, and poetry (42). He does an interesting analysis of flesh and spirit in his section on the "Spirit in the face of oppression." Moving to theological reflection on the Spirit of God in Chapter 3, he calls for a need to interpret the foundational experiences of spirit and Holy Spirit. This chapter is both appealing and confounding as he tried to move from animism to modern cosmology, packing too much into only 11 pages. Having considered "the various meanings of the word 'spirit' (ruah, pneuma, spiritus, axé, and energy)" (61) he moves into his shortest chapter in the book. In 3 pages he considers "the spirit as Spirit of Creation" (60), moving quickly from [End Page 131] speaking of the human spirit as the "noblest expressions of human beings" (61) to the "spirit of holiness" as referring to God acting in creation and history. The fifth chapter considers the revelation of the spirit in the Second Testament. Reviewing the four Gospels, Boff sees the spirit revealed in Jesus, dwelling in Mary of Nazareth, and forming the community of disciples. He especially sees the "full revelation of the Spirit as Holy Spirit (God)" in John's Gospel (75). In the letters of Paul, Boff finds "a clear distinction between the Risen One and the Holy Spirt," leading him to declare Jesus and the Holy Spirit as the "two arms of the Father" through which "God reaches out to us" (77). Chapter 6 considers the sources of the Christian faith giving us a "development in the early Church's reflection and discourse on the Holy Spirit, toward accepting its divinity" (83). These sources are liturgical, lifestyles (martyrs and monks), and theological disputes. Chapter 7 is fascinating in its cultural distinctions between Greek and Latin ways of thinking as giving rise to the "controversy over the origin of the Holy Spirit." Also intriguing is Boff's use of the images of "love, the lover, and the beloved" (94) and of Speaker, Word, and Breath for the Holy Trinity, as well as the modern us of perichoresis (99) to speak of the interrelationship among the Divine Persons of the Trinity. Turning to the usual suspects (Joachim of Fiore, Hegel, and Tillich), in Chapter 8 Boff examines what various men have said about the Holy Spirit. To these Boff adds the work of...