This collection features books and book contributions written by faculty in the Department of Religious Studies at Fairfield University.
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A New Handbook of Christian Theologians
Donald W. Musser, Joseph L. Price, and Paul F. Lakeland
Paul Lakeland is a contributing author, "Peter C. Hodgson" pp. 229-235.
Book description: In recent years, the flow of Christian theology has been channeled in diverse streams represented by such trends and movements as black theology, liberation theology, feminist theology, and womanist theology. To survey this abundance and diversity of current Christian theology, this book examines the theologies of representative theologians. Particularly to help students navigate the sea of information, the editors have identified various routes for reading, and have traced several threads or issues common to many of the essays, thus demarcating such recurrent concerns as the ways in which the theologians consider the sources and goals for theology, their variant assumptions and conclusions about the nature of God, their divergent approaches to understanding the person and purpose of the Christ, and their distinct expectations for the destiny of history and faith.
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The Promise of Critical Theology: Essays in Honour of Charles Davis
Marc P. Lalonde and Paul F. Lakeland
Paul Lakeland is a contributing author, ""For Whom Do We Write? The Responsibility of the Theologian", pp. 33-48.
Book description: Written in tribute to one of the foremost Catholic theologians in the English-speaking world, the essays in The Promise of Critical Theology address the question: Can critical theology secure its critical operation without undermining its foundation in religious tradition and experience? Is “critical theology” simply an oxymoron when viewed from both sides of the equation?
From Marc Lalonde’s introductory essay which delimits Davis’ fundamental position, that the primary task of critical theology is the critique of religious orthodoxy, the essays examine Davis’ distinction between faith and belief and build upon the promise of critical theology as inextricably bound to the promise of faith. They ask: What is its promise? What particular religious ideas, themes, stories are appropriate for its concrete expression? How can the community of faith receive its transformative message? What might be the contribution of other religious traditions and philosophies?
Essays by Paul Lakeland, Dennis McCann, Kenneth Melchin, Michael Oppenheim and Marsha Hewitt respond to these and other questions and critically relate Davis’ work to ongoing developments in modern theology, critical theory, philosophy and the social sciences. Their diversity attests to the comprehensive scope of Davis’ thought and exemplifies the progressive character of contemporary religious discourse. They honour Davis and illuminate the promise of critical religious thinking in itself.
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Buddhism: In Practice
Donald Lopez and Ronald M. Davidson
Ronald M. Davidson is a contributing author, "Atisa's A Lamp fo the Path to Awakening," and "Saramati's Entering into the Great Vehicle", pp. 290-301 and 402-411.
Book description: for 2007 abridged edition: This anthology, first published in 1995, illustrates the vast scope of Buddhist practice in Asia, past and present. Re-released now in a slimmer but still extensive edition, Buddhism in Practice presents a selection of thirty-five translated texts--each preceded by a substantial introduction by its translator. These unusual sources provides the reader with a sense of the remarkable diversity of the practices of persons who over the course of 2,500 years have been identified, by themselves or by others, as Buddhists. Demonstrating the many continuities among the practices of Buddhist cultures widely separated by both history and geography, Buddhism in Practice continues to provide an ideal introduction to Buddhism and a source of new insights for scholars.
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Religions of India: In Practice
Donald Lopez and Ronald M. Davidson
Ronald M. Davidson is a contributing author, "The Litany of names of Mañjusri" and "The Bodhisattva Vajrapani's Subjugation of Siva", pp. 547-555.
The inaugural volume of Princeton Readings in Religions brings together the work of thirty scholars of the religions of India in a new anthology designed to reshape the ways in which the religious traditions of India are understood. The book contains translations of forty-five works, most of which have never before been available in a Western language. Many of these highlight types of discourse (especially ritual manuals, folktales, and oral narratives) and voices (vernacular, esoteric, domestic, and female) that have not been sufficiently represented in previous anthologies and standard accounts of Indian religions. The selections are drawn from ancient texts, medieval manuscripts, modern pamphlets, and contemporary fieldwork in rural and urban India. They represent every region in South Asia and include Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, and Muslim materials. Some are written texts reflecting elite concerns, while others are transcriptions of oral narratives told by nonliterate peasants. Some texts are addressed to a public and pan-Indian audience, others to a limited coterie of initiates in an esoteric sect, and still others are intended for a few women gathered in the courtyard for a household ceremony. The editor has reinforced this diversity by arranging the selections within several overarching themes and categories of discourse (hymns, rituals, narratives, and religious interactions), and encourages us to make our own connections.
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The Encyclopedia of Catholicism
Richard P. McBrien and Nancy Dallavalle
Nancy Dallavalle is a contributing author, "Agnosticism," "Deposit of Faith," "Fundamental Theology," "Mystery," and sixteen other entries.
Book description: The faculty at Notre Dame University presents the most comprehensive, easy-to-use reference on the world's largest religious tradition--a must for all Catholics and anyone seeking to explore and understand the rich and fascinating world of Catholicism.
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Concilium 1994/6: Why Theology?
Claude Geffré, Werner Jeanrond, and John E. Thiel
John E. Thiel is a contributing author, "Pluralism in Theological Truth," pp. 57-69.
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Revision der Theologie - Reform der Kirche
Abraham P. Kustermann and John E. Thiel
John E. Thiel is a contributing author, "Naming the Heterodox: Interconfessional Polemics as a Context for Drey’s Theology," pp.114-139.
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Nonfoundationalism
John E. Thiel
Not so much as a movement or school as an emerging consensus about philosophical criteria of truth and reality, nonfoundationalism is the critical impulse associated with the work of Richard Rorty, Richard Berstein, and others. Increasingly its critique of the search for sure and impregnable foundations shapes the fundamental commitments that gird contemporary theology. John Thiel here assays a careful exploration of its assumptions and convictions, as well as ways nonfoundationalism has influenced contemporary theology.
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Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation
Steven D. Goodman and Ronald M. Davidson
Ronald Davidson, in addition to being co-editor, is a contributing author, “Preliminary Studies on Hevajra's Abhisamaya and the Lam-`bras Tshogs-bshad", pp.107-132.
Book Description: This volume consists of eight studies, each one bringing to light new material of use to comparative religionists and historians of religion, as well as to students of Tibetan Buddhism. These studies are based on critical scrutiny of indigenous sources and, in many cases, the learned opinion of native Tibetan scholars. The studies are organized around two dominant themes in Tibetan religious life -- the quest for clarity and insight via visionary exploration and philosophical exploration.
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Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha
Robert Buswell and Ronald M. Davidson
Ronald M. Davidson is a contributing author, "An Introduction to the Standards of Scriptural Authenticity in Indian Buddhism", pp. 291-325.
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Theology and Critical Theory: The Discourse of the Church
Paul F. Lakeland
In this groundbreaking volume, the critical theory of German philosopher Jurgen Habermas is brought intodialogue with the ecclesiology of the Roman Catholic Church in the years after the Second Vatican Council. Paul Lakeland asserts that the Roman Catholic Church has failed to enact the vision presented in the central documents of the Second Vatican Council because the Church lacks a critical theory of church and society. This critical theory would provie an intellectual context in which social teachings and praxis could give constant direction,and which would in addition invite a reflexive critique of the internal dynamics of church life. Lakeland finds precisely this much-needed critical theory in the work of Habermas, and brings this to bear in his examination of the contemporary church.
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Amalā Prajñā: Aspects of Buddhist Studies : Professor P.V. Bapat Felicitation Volume
Ronald M. Davidson
Ronald M. Davidson is a contributing author, "“Āśraya-parāvṛtti and Mahāyānābhidharma: some Problems and Perspectives".
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Barth and Schleiermacher: Beyond the Impasse?
James O. Duke, Robert F. Streetman, and John E. Thiel
John E. Thiel is a contributing author, "Barth's Early Interpretation of Schleiermacher," Chapter 1, pp. 11-22.
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The Politics of Salvation: The Hegelian Idea of the State
Paul F. Lakeland
The Politics of Salvation takes a radical stance: it focuses on the significance of the state in the Hegelian system when it is viewed as inspired and motivated by the Christian notion of God. The book thus makes connections between Hegel's political philosophy and his explicit appropriation of Christianity's incarnational mode of thinking. In unfolding the implications of this position, Lakeland shows how Hegel's thought can offer the basis for a non-dualistic account of the human being as religious and political. This conjunction allows for a theology which sees politics as the arena of salvation providing a practical religious outlook relevant to the contemporary world and, in particular, to the commitments of Latin America's liberation theology.
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Tantric and Taoist Studies in Honour of R.A. Stein, Mèlanges chinois et bouddhiques, vol. XX
Michael Strickmann and Ronald M. Davidson
Ronald M. Davidson is a contributing author, "“The Litany of Names of Mañjusri: Text and Translation of the Mañjusri-namasamgiti", pp. 1-69.
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Wind Horse: Proceedings of the North American Tibetological Society
Ronald M. Davidson
Ronald M. Davidson, in addition to editing, is a contributing author, "The Nor-pa Tradition".
Book description: The contents of this volume are: Herbert V. Guenther's translation of Zhalgdams slob-ma rdo-'ded-ma; Wayne Verrill, "The Interrelation of Fundamental Awareness and the Physical Body"; Hiroshi Sonami, "Go-ram bsodnams seng-ge's Commentary on the Zhen pa bzhi bral "; Kennard Lipman, "A Controversial Topic from Mi-pham's Analysis of Santaraksita's Madhyamakalamkara"; Steven D. Goodman on Mi-pham rgya-mtsho's life and his treatise entitled mKhas-pa'i tshul-la 'jug-pa'i sgo; Ronald M. Davidson, "The Ngor-pa Tradition"; Edward Todd Fenner, "Rasayana in the Tantras: What Is It?"; and Leslie S. Kawamura, "An Analysis of Mi-pham's mKhas'jug."
Book description: The contents of this volume are: Herbert V. Guenther's translation of Zhalgdams slob-ma rdo-'ded-ma; Wayne Verrill, "The Interrelation of Fundamental Awareness and the Physical Body"; Hiroshi Sonami, "Go-ram bsodnams seng-ge's Commentary on the Zhen pa bzhi bral "; Kennard Lipman, "A Controversial Topic from Mi-pham's Analysis of Santaraksita's Madhyamakalamkara"; Steven D. Goodman on Mi-pham rgya-mtsho's life and his treatise entitled mKhas-pa'i tshul-la 'jug-pa'i sgo; Ronald M. Davidson, "The Ngor-pa Tradition"; Edward Todd Fenner, "Rasayana in the Tantras: What Is It?"; and Leslie S. Kawamura, "An Analysis of Mi-pham's mKhas'jug."
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The Rainbow Book
Ronald M. Davidson
Ronald M. Davidson is a contributing author, "“The Sacred Art of Tibet,” pp. 190-193.
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Can Women Be Priests? Theology Today Series
Edward Yarnold and Paul F. Lakeland
Preface: I suspect that a common Catholic reaction to a book on women priests will be a mystified impatience. ‘Why waste time writing on the subject? We all know that women priests are just not on.’
But a female priesthood must be considered as a serious possibility for at least three reasons. First, there is a growing number of Christian Churches with female ministers who not only preach and perform pastoral service, but also celebrate the Eucharist; Catholics must make up their minds whether such a ministry is an obstacle to reunion or intercommunion. Secondly, some Churches which are faced with the question whether to adopt a female ministry are so ecumenically minded that they do not think it right to make the decision alone, but only in concert with other Christian bodies; accordingly there will be pressure on the Catholic Church to state a reasoned position. Thirdly, there are already needs and currents within the Catholic Church itself moving it towards the adoption of a female priesthood; the growing shortage of priests, for example, an increasing understanding of the potentialities of female ministries within the Church, and a spreading awareness that many elements in the Catholic system which in the past have been regarded sacrosanct owe their existence more to cultural than to theological factors and may therefore be open to revision.
The priesthood of women is an emotive issue, and both its advocates and its opponents often base their cases on irrational grounds. The author’s careful assessment of the arguments is therefore especially valuable. -- E. J. Yarnold, S.J.
