Download or read book Longing in a Culture of Cynicism written by Stephan van Erp and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2008 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through current expressions of religion, people are confronted with all kinds of longings and desires which have no place in a rationalised and alienated culture. At the same time, these longings are seeking and finding opportunities for expression. How to understand this cultural ambiguity? The authors in this volume explore the possibilities of a rationality beyond rationalism, reflecting beyond the borders of human imagination on the hidden God.
Download or read book The Culture of Cynicism written by Richard Stivers and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2023-06-22 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Stivers received an Earhart Foundation research fellowship to write this wide-ranging and thought-provoking book on American morality. The book places American morality in its historical and cultural context. His research uncovered an ersatz morality that has supplanted traditional Judaic-Christian and humanistic moralities, which placed some limitations on the exercises of power. It consists of technical and bureaucratic rules, public opinion and peer group norms, and visual images in the media. Technical and bureaucratic rules are technology’s power to organize society. Public opinion and peer group norms work to transform the normal into the moral, and visual images in the media make tangible what is normal and what is possible, both of which follow the lead of technology. This technological morality is exclusively about unleashing power and has no moral purposes: it is solely about efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, he discusses the social and psychological costs of living without a common morality.
Download or read book Beyond the Analogical Imagination written by Barnabas Palfrey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-30 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aimed at advanced students and upwards, this tightly organised international collection from theological experts forms a coherent and creative introduction to the most widely influential English-speaking Roman Catholic theologian of the past fifty years. It fills a gap in up-to-date commentary on the breadth and ambition of Tracy's ongoing thought.
Download or read book The Culture of Cynicism written by Richard Stivers and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 1994 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Culture of Cynicism" is the most wide-ranging and thought-provoking book yet written on American morality. It traces the intellectual history of American morality from its European origins in the Middle Ages to the 1990s.
Download or read book Edward Schillebeeckx and Contemporary Theology written by Lieven Boeve and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-12-09 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book T T Clark Handbook of Edward Schillebeeckx written by Stephan van Erp and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-09-05 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by leading experts on both the thought of Edward Schillebeeckx and modern theology, this handbook offers the first comprehensive study of the historical, philosophical, political and theological aspects of Schillebeeckx's work. As one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, he played a key role in the preparations for the theological revolution of the Second Vatican Council and the debates of the post-conciliar era. His engagement with critical theory, hermeneutics, and biblical scholarship culminated in his groundbreaking Christological trilogy, which marked Schillebeeckx as one of the most significant and innovative thinkers of his time. By building an overview of recent research into Schillebeeckx's writing, the contributors shed new light on his influence and ongoing relevance in contemporary theology. Beginning with the roots of Schillebeeckx's views on metaphysics, spirituality and faith, the essays then move to his work during and after the Second Vatican Council, and then to his engagement with new directions in philosophy and his renewal of classical topics such as creation, theological and soteriological anthropology, and eschatology. Culminating with an analysis of theology and culture, this handbook thoroughly explores the implications of Schillebeeckx's theology for a contemporary readership.
Download or read book Cultural Theory and Popular Culture written by John Storey and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 684 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether used on its own or in conjunction with Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction, this reader is a theoretical, analytical, and historical introduction to the study of popular culture within cultural studies. The readings cover the culture and civilization tradition, culturalism, structuralism and poststructuralism, Marxism, feminism, and postmodernism, as well as current debates in the study of popular culture. New to this edition: Four new readings by Stuart Hall, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Judith Butler, and Savoj Žižek Fully revised general and section introductions that contextualize and link the readings with key issues in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction Fully updated bibliography Ideal for courses in: cultural studies media studies communication studies sociology of culture popular culture visual studies cultural criticism
Download or read book Cynicism written by Ansgar Allen and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A short history of cynicism, from the fearless speech of the ancient Greeks to the jaded negativity of the present. Everyone's a cynic, yet few will admit it. Today's cynics excuse themselves half-heartedly—“I hate to be a cynic, but..."—before making their pronouncements. Narrowly opportunistic, always on the take, contemporary cynicism has nothing positive to contribute. The Cynicism of the ancient Greeks, however, was very different. This Cynicism was a marginal philosophy practiced by a small band of eccentrics. Bold and shameless, it was committed to transforming the values on which civilization depends. In this volume of the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Ansgar Allen charts the long history of cynicism, from the “fearless speech” of Greek Cynics in the fourth century BCE to the contemporary cynic's lack of social and political convictions. Allen describes ancient Cynicism as an improvised philosophy and a way of life disposed to scandalize contemporaries, subjecting their cultural commitments to derision. He chronicles the subsequent “purification” of Cynicism by the Stoics; Renaissance and Enlightenment appropriations of Cynicism, drawing on the writings of Shakespeare, Rabelais, Rousseau, de Sade, and others; and the transition from Cynicism (the philosophy) to cynicism (the modern attitude), exploring contemporary cynicism from the perspectives of its leftist, liberal, and conservative critics. Finally, he considers the possibility of a radical cynicism that admits and affirms the danger it poses to contemporary society.
Download or read book Ars Vitae written by Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the flood of self-help guides and our current therapeutic culture, feelings of alienation and spiritual longing continue to grip modern society. In this book, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn offers a fresh solution: a return to classic philosophy and the cultivation of an inner life. The ancient Roman philosopher Cicero wrote that philosophy is ars vitae, the art of living. Today, signs of stress and duress point to a full-fledged crisis for individuals and communities while current modes of making sense of our lives prove inadequate. Yet, in this time of alienation and spiritual longing, we can glimpse signs of a renewed interest in ancient approaches to the art of living. In this ambitious and timely book, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn engages both general readers and scholars on the topic of well-being. She examines the reappearance of ancient philosophical thought in contemporary American culture, probing whether new stirrings of Gnosticism, Stoicism, Epicureanism, Cynicism, and Platonism present a true alternative to our current therapeutic culture of self-help and consumerism, which elevates the self’s needs and desires yet fails to deliver on its promises of happiness and healing. Do the ancient philosophies represent a counter-tradition to today’s culture, auguring a new cultural vibrancy, or do they merely solidify a modern way of life that has little use for inwardness—the cultivation of an inner life—stemming from those older traditions? Tracing the contours of this cultural resurgence and exploring a range of sources, from scholarship to self-help manuals, films, and other artifacts of popular culture, this book sees the different schools as organically interrelated and asks whether, taken together, they can point us in important new directions. Ars Vitae sounds a clarion call to take back philosophy as part of our everyday lives. It proposes a way to do so, sifting through the ruins of long-forgotten and recent history alike for any shards helpful in piecing together the coherence of a moral framework that allows us ways to move forward toward the life we want and need.
Download or read book The Cynic Enlightenment written by Louisa Shea and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This original study reveals the importance of ancient Cynicism in defining the Enlightenment and its legacy. Louisa Shea explores modernity's debt to Cynicism by examining the works of thinkers who turned to the ancient Cynics as a model for reinventing philosophy and dared to imagine an alliance between a socially engaged Enlightenment and the least respectable of early Greek philosophies. While Cynicism has always resided on the fringes of philosophy, Shea argues, it remained a vital touchstone for writers committed to social change and helped define the emerging figure of the public intellectual in the 18th century. Shea's study brings to light the rich legacy of ancient Cynicism in modern intellectual, philosophical, and literary life, both in the 18th-century works of Diderot, Rousseau, Wieland, and Sade, and in recent writings by Michel Foucault and Peter Sloterdijk. Featuring an important new perspective on both Enlightenment thought and its current scholarly reception, The Cynic Enlightenment will interest students and scholars of the Enlightenment and its intellectual legacy, 18th-century studies, literature, and philosophy.
Download or read book Outlaw Culture written by bell hooks and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-09-03 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to the Washington Post, no one who cares about contemporary African-American cultures can ignore bell hooks' electrifying feminist explorations. Targeting cultural icons as diverse as Madonna and Spike Lee, Outlaw Culture presents a collection of essays that pulls no punches. As hooks herself notes, interrogations of popular culture can b
Download or read book The Power of Negative Thinking written by Benjamin Schreier and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2009-04-20 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benjamin Schreier is suspicious of a simple equation of cynicism with quietism, nihilism, selfishness, or false consciousness, and he rejects the notion that modern cynicism represents something categorically different from the classical outlook of Diogenes. He proposes, instead, that cynicism names the difficult position of not being able to recognize the relevance of democratic social norms in the future and yet being nonetheless invested in the power of these norms to determine cultural identity and to regulate social practices. In his readings of Henry Adams’s Education, Willa Cather’s The Professor’s House, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and Nathanael West’s Miss Lonelyhearts, the author affirms that cynicism is an important and under-appreciated current in mainstream modern American literature. He finds that, far from the simple selfishness or apathy for which it is so often dismissed, the cynicism in these texts is suffused by a desire for the certainty promised by norms such as national teleology, ethnic identity, and civic participation. But without faith in the relevance of these regulating terms, cynics lack ready accounts of America and of their place in it. Schreier’s focus is not only on the cynical characters in the texts but also on the textual and epistemological strategies used to render normative narratives recognizably legitimate in the first place. In his refusal to historicize cynicism away with generalized claims about American society, Schreier argues instead that cynicism stages an unanswerable challenge to the specific expectations through which normative accounts of history become visible. The Power of Negative Thinking makes a vital and wide-ranging contribution to our understanding of American literature, intellectual and cultural history, philosophy, ethics, and politics. Schreier’s close reading and his vigorous theoretical examination of analytical first principles combine to make a book that is valuable not only to the study of methodology but also to the scrutiny of the very assumptions the humanities bring to the exploration of the way we think.
Download or read book A Return to Innocence written by Jeffrey M. Schwartz and published by Harper. This book was released on 1998-09-23 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the verge of a new millennium, in an age of unprecedented affluence, personal freedom and scientific power, millions of us--young and not so young--find ourselves emotionally and morally adrift. Even as our mastery of the material world reaches new heights almost daily, mastery of the inner world--of our own actions, emotions, and deepest hopes--often tragically eludes our grasp. As families come apart, adults become bitter and emotionally detached. Children fall prey to a "culture" of sex and drugs, cynical materialism, and self-destructive nihilism. It increasingly seems that, in the piercing words of Jesus, we have "gained the whole world, and lost our own souls." In A Return to Innocence, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Jeffrey M. Schwartz--a Jewish student of both Buddhist meditation and Christian philosophy--combines 3,000 years of wisdom with cutting edge brain and behavioral research to guide us in recovering our souls, our safety, our integrity and our capacity to love. After a 35-year experiment in unbridled self-gratification that has left a burden of tremendous suffering in its wake, at last we are ready to understand that innocence--in its original meaning of "not harming"--is actually the highest and most difficult of human achievements. The lost art of self-command that empowers us not to harm ourselves or one another is the core teaching of humanity's greatest spiritual masters, including Moses, Jesus, and Buddha. If we value our children, our culture, even our very freedom, we must return to true innocence as our source of inner lightness, clarity and spiritual power. A practical path to this wellspring of inner purity was mapped out 2,500 years ago by Gotama Buddha--in Dr. Schwartz's view the greatest psychologist who ever lived--whose still-fresh insights into human nature can serve as a bridge joining the wisdom of the Bible to the discoveries of 21st century science. A deeply felt, thought-provoking exchange of letters between "spiritual coach" Dr. Schwartz and sixteen-year-old Patrick Buckley, the son of a single mother, frames this fascinating, powerful code for living that shows how the best in each of us can thrive. Spiritual and philosophical ideas become hands-on tools for dealing with real-life dilemmas as Dr. Schwartz addresses Patrick's urgent questions about morality, responsibility, and freedom of choice. This book offers an empowering combination of hope, inspiration, accurate information about the biology of human nature, as well as desperately-needed guidance for keeping that nature on a life-affirming path. To everyone--young and old--A Return to Innocence offers dynamic, concrete solutions for the pain in our hearts, the fear in our streets, and the cynicism that has corroded our ideals. It speaks directly to our longing for a decent, meaningful, and fulfilling life. The traditional values that made civilization possible were thought to be outrageously radical and daring when they were first introduced by revolutionaries like Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed. . . . Yet those codes of behavior became "traditional"--that is, they got handed down from generation to generation--for one simple reason: they work. And they work because they're based on a highly sophisticated and deeply wise understanding of human nature. We often hear the phrase "Knowledge is power"--but nowhere is it truer than when it comes to knowledge of ourselves. Are we humans primarily driven, or "drivers"? Are we blameless puppets of our genes, our hormones, our childhoods, or do we have the power, and so the responsibility, to choose what we will do? In our day and age, everyone wants to be, or at least appear to be, streetwise, experienced, cool, and cynical. What people don't realize is that the source of the word "innocent" is a place of great power. It comes from the Latin words for "not" and "to harm." True innocence is the highest of human accomplishments. Not doing harm requires the utmost in awareness, effort, and courage. The state of the world begins right here--in the state of your mind.
Download or read book Reading Management and Organization in Film written by Emma Bell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-12-08 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The advent of film has meant that we are able to capture in great detail - and often inadvertently - the enduring aspects of our working lives. Reading Management and Organisation in Film provides a new framework for understanding organizational theory and its development in a vital new way.
Download or read book The Gift of Disillusionment written by Peter Greer and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hope for Leaders Facing Burnout and Discouragement Around the world, discouragement erodes the vitality of organizations. Visionaries often succumb to cynicism. Zealous advocates give up. Leaders coast as their passion for the cause grows cold. Grounded in research, this book is an invitation for followers of Jesus to sustain hope in long-term service. It's about moving past the false hope of idealism and the faint hope of disillusionment to discover true Christian hope. You will gain encouragement through the study of the book of Jeremiah woven throughout as the authors explore how the Lord prophetically met and sustained Jeremiah during his lifetime of faithfulness despite literally nothing going as he'd hoped. Glean further inspiration by reading the stories of Christian leaders from around the globe: Zimbabwe, Haiti, Guatemala, Poland, Palestine, the Philippines, India, Zambia, and Lebanon. For this is a moment when we need the global Church's perspective and influence. Don't give up and don't check out. These are confounding and perilous days, yet God's sustaining presence can bring joy, hope, and encouragement even amid heartache and disappointment.
Download or read book Radical Relevance written by Laura Gray-Rosendale and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exemplifies the struggles of scholars to work toward a more shared agenda for social change. In an effort to rethink the left, this interdisciplinary collection weaves together some of today’s most powerful voices in contemporary left critical thought as they examine the fragmentation of American movements for social change, evaluate what critical scholarship might contribute to the task of renewing (or creating) a more unified and efficacious left, and explore the left’s possibly inadequate dealings with many marginalized groups. Representing a diverse range of theoretical perspectives within several “textual” disciplines, the essays assess historical, practical, or speculative models for a “whole left”—a left constituted by a broad range of complexly interwoven interests, including issues of class, environment, gender, sexuality, disability, race, and ethnicity. The book exemplifies the struggles of scholars to work toward a more shared agenda for social change. At Northern Arizona University, Laura Gray-Rosendale and Steven Rosendale are Associate Professors of English. Gray-Rosendale is the coeditor (with Gil Harootunian) of Fractured Feminisms: Rhetoric, Context, and Contestation and the coeditor (with Sibylle Gruber) of Alternative Rhetorics: Challenges to the Rhetorical Tradition, both also published by SUNY Press. Rosendale is the editor of The Greening of Literary Scholarship: Literature, Theory, and the Environment.
Download or read book Desire and Mental Health in Christianity and the Arts written by David Torevell and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-08-21 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers the connection between the world of mental health in the twenty-first century and the traditional concept of desire in Christianity and the Arts. It draws parallels between the desire for rest from anxiety among mental health sufferers with the longing for peace and happiness in Religion and the Arts. The author presents Biblical, philosophical and theological insights alongside artistic ones, arguing that desire for rest remains at the heart of spiritual living as well as mental health recovery. The chapters draw from historical and contemporary voices, including Plato, Augustine of Hippo, Julian of Norwich, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Simone Weil, Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams, Jean-Louis Chrétien, Eric Varden and others. The study demonstrates why longing continues to fascinate and grip individuals, creative endeavour and society at large, not least in the development of the understanding of mental health. It is valuable for scholars and advanced students of Christian theology and those interested in spirituality and the arts in particular.
