“BEYOND FREEDOM AND DIGNITY”? HOMO RELIGIOSUS IN MIRCEA ELIADE: CONCEPT, CONTENT, CONTEXT (PART 1. WHAT IS MAN?)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6436323Keywords:
body, dignity, freedom, homo religiosus, Mircea Eliade, soul, spiritAbstract
Both human dignity and freedom of religion have come under attack in many countries over the past century, often including by their would-be champions. Moral relativism in democracies, Machiavellianism in dictatorships, and the New Man of totalitarianism seem desperately disparate threads. Their epochal condition of possibility however, weaving the fabric of modernity, obtains by contrast with the concept of homo religiosus, construed as body, soul, and spirit in dynamic dialogue, connecting Mircea Eliade to scientific, philosophical, and theological tradition. Reductionistphysicalist- atomist-behaviorist approaches jeopardize human dignity and freedom of religion. Theology, philosophy, and science should take concerted action in pursuit of truth.
References
• “About Jane”, https://www.janegoodall.org/our-story/about-jane/ (consulted on 16 September 2019).
• Arendt, H., “Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government”, Review of Politics 3 (1953, 15) 303-327.
• Anthony of Sourozh, “Preface”, in B. Ward (ed.), The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection, Cistercian Studies Series 59, Kalamazoo 19842, XIII-XVI.
• Archbishop Anthony Bloom, “Foreword”, in B. Ward (ed.), The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers: Apophtegmata Patrum from the Anonymous Series, Oxford 1975, VII. [Archbishop Anthony Bloom is actually the same person with the (later) Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh.]
• Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The Letter to Marcellinus, The Classics of Western Spirituality, Mahwah 1980. (Source text: Athanase d’Alexandrie, Vie d’Antoine, Sources Chrétiennes 400, Paris 1994.)
• Boule, P., La planète des singes, Paris 1963.
• Brodbeck, M., “Mind: From within and from without”, Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 45 (1971-1972) 42-55.
• Brown, P., The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity, Lectures on the History of Religions (New Series) 13, New York 1988.
• Chitty, D., The Desert a City: An Introduction to the Study of Egyptian and Palestinian Monasticism under the Christian Empire, Oxford 1966.
• Clebsch, W. A., “Preface”, in Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The Letter to Marcellinus, The Classics of Western Spirituality, Mahwah 1980, XIII-XXI.
• Collingwood, R. G., An Autobiography, Oxford 1939.
• Dancă, W., “Predici la Liturghia transmisă la Radio Iaşi: Anul C: Duminica a 6-a a Paştelui”, 13 May 2007, http://www.ercis.ro/biblioteca/pradiois.asp?zi=ps07c06 (consulted on 16 September 2019).
• DeRose, K., Knowledge, Skepticism, and Context (2 vol.), Oxford 2009-2017.
• Diamond, J., The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal, New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney, 20063.
• Dougherty, T., The Problem of Animal Pain: A Theodicy for All Creatures Great and Small, Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion, Houndmills 2014.
• Dunn, J., Political Obligation in Its Historical Context: Essays in Political Theory, Cambridge 1980.
• Eliade, M., The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion, Chicago 1969.
• Goehring, J. E., “The Encroaching Desert: Literary Production and Ascetic Space in Early Christian Egypt”, in Journal of Early Christian Studies, 1 (1993: 3) 281-296.
• Goodall, J., “Primate Spirituality”, in B. Taylor, Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, London and New York 2005, 1303-1306.
• −−−, “Learning from the Chimpanzees: A Message Humans Can Understand”, Science, 282 (18 December 1998: 5397) 2184-2185.
• Gregg, R. C., “Introduction”, in Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The Letter to Marcellinus, The Classics of Western Spirituality, Mahwah 1980, 1-26.
• Haggbloom, S. J. et al., “The One Hundred Most Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century”, Review of General Psychology, 6 (2002: 2) 139-152.
• Hansen, J. R., First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, New York, London, Toronto, Sidney, and New Delhi 2012.
• Lane, B. C., The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality, Oxford 1998.
• Leclercq, J., The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture, New York 19823. (Source text: Leclercq, J., L’amour des lettres et le désir de Dieu: initiation aux auteurs monastiques du Moyen Âge, Paris 19903.)
• Lonergan, B. J. F., Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan 3, Toronto, Buffalo, and London 19925.
• Loprieno, A., “Toward a Geography of Egyptian Literature”, Cadmo, 10 (2000) 41-56.
• Mann, J. (ed.), The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith, Framingham 1993.
• McGrew, W. C., “The Hero of Gombe”, Nature, 443 (25 October 2006) 915.
• −−−, Chimpanzee Material Cultures: Implications for Human Evolution, Cambridge 1992.
• Merton, Th. (ed.), The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century, New York 1970.
• Peterson, D., Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man, Boston 2006.
• Pocock, J. G. A., “The History of Political Thought: A Methodological Enquiry”, in P. Laslett – W. G. Runciman (ed.), Philosophy, Politics and Society (Second Series), Oxford 1962, 183-202.
• Popescu, C., “Freedom from What? Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Conscience, and Freedom of Religion in the Context of Power”, Journal for Freedom of Conscience, 6 (2018: 2) 493-554.
• Rotaru, I.-Gh., Aspecte antropologice în gândirea patristică şi a primelor secole creştine, Cluj-Napoca 2005.
• Ryle, G., The Concept of Mind, London and New York 2009.
• Senior, D. – Collins, J. J. – Getty, M. A. (ed.), The Catholic Study Bible, Oxford 20163. (Old Testament source text: * * *, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Stuttgart 19975.)
• Skinner, B. F., Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Harmondsworth 1971.
• Skinner, Q., “Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas”, in J. Tully (ed.), Meaning and Context: Quentin Skinner and His Critics, Cambridge 1988, 29-67.
• −−−, “A Reply to My Critics”, in J. Tully (ed.), Meaning and Context: Quentin Skinner and His Critics, Cambridge 1988, 231-288.
• Slater, L., Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century, New York & London 2004.
• Ward, B. (ed.), The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks, London 2003. (Source text: * * *, “De Vitis Patrum liber quintus, sive Vita Seniorum”, in J.-P. Migne (ed.), Appendix ad monumenta sex priorum Ecclesiae saeculorum: Vitae Patrum, sive Historiae eremiticae libri decem, Patrologia Latina 73-74, Paris 1849-1850, vol. 73, cols. 851-992).
• −−−, The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers: Apophtegmata Patrum from the Anonymous Series, Oxford 1975.
• Yamamoto, Ts., Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, Tokyo 1979