Articles and Book Chapters by Andrew Irvine
Philosophy of Culture as Theory, Method, and Way of Life, 2022
Philosophy Today, 2021
Crucial in Pierre Hadot's account of ancient philosophy as a way of life is the phenomenon of con... more Crucial in Pierre Hadot's account of ancient philosophy as a way of life is the phenomenon of conversion. Well before he encountered some of the decisive influences upon his understanding of philosophy, Hadot already understood ancient philosophy and its long legacy in later thinkers of the West as much more than a formal discourse. Philosophy is an experience, or at least the exploration and articulation of a potential for experience. The energy of this potential originates in a polar tension between epistrophe (return) and metanoia (rebirth). The two poles, which are grounded in primal experiences of the living organism, motivate and model the conversion which must be lived by the philosopher. The genius of Western philosophical experience lies in the effort to synthesize return and rebirth, and thereby recover the self as an ontological point of identification with and origin of the cosmos.
Eidos: A Journal for Philosophy and Culture, 2020
One aim of this essay is to understand why white evangelical Christians, more than any other reli... more One aim of this essay is to understand why white evangelical Christians, more than any other religious adherents in the United States, are deeply invested in denying the emergency of anthropogenic climate change and in obstructing action to address anthropogenic climate change. Michael S. Hogue, in his recent book, American Immanence, blames a religious imaginary he names the "redeemer symbolic." This symbolic complex inspires the devotion of the politically powerful white evangelical Christian and nationalist movement in the United States at the present time. A second aim of the essay is to analyze the redeemer symbolic. Through a reading of Maurice Sendak's much-loved illustrated children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, the essay suggests that U.S. white evangelical devotees of the redeemer symbolic share a kind of inability to come to terms with a vital and ineliminable wildness in persons and cultures; further, that this inability correlates with a political-theological failure, even refusal, to grasp the emergency of anthropogenic climate change. The essay first explicates the redeemer symbolic, with a particular focus on its implication in the legitimation of climate skepticism. Then, with the aid of key concepts from the psychoanalytic theory of D.W. Winnicott, it interprets the story of Max, the protagonist in Where the Wild Things Are, as a fable of healthy development of what Winnicott calls "transitional space" and a related "capacity to be alone." Unsuccessful development of those resources, it is suggested, contributes to an account of why adherents of the redeemer symbolic typically refuse wildness and thus may be prone to climate negligence. More importantly, though, recognizing the cultural-psychological importance of "wild things" (as by the "counter-fable" of Max) may help fire imaginative ways around the obstructiveness of the redeemer symbolic, to more effectively address climate change in particular, and human well-being in nature in general.
American Journal of Theology & Philosophy, 2019
A detailed review of the theory of religion presented by Robert Cummings Neville in <i>Religion</... more A detailed review of the theory of religion presented by Robert Cummings Neville in <i>Religion</i>, the third and concluding volume of his <i>Philosophical Theology</i>, leads into a critical response to Neville's notions of symbolic engagement of ultimacy and second naivete. The approach is framed by concern for our perilous ecological and human future. It is both philosophical and literary in form, and driven by the haunting role of nothing in Neville's account of the contingency of ultimate reality(ies). Neville's theory of religion is distinguished from and far superior to reigning ways of seeing the subject in confessional theology and religious studies. However, the present response comes to focus with a celebratory yet despairing appreciation of the possibility of second naivete in religion. It aims to show, as much as say, that the normative commendation of ontological faith, which consummates Neville's theology, may rest in part on personal dispositions that, hard though it is to believe, underplay the despair bred by religious life engaged with persistent nothing, the ultimate contingency of nature and being.
Teaching Theology & Religion, Jul 1, 2018
Sophia, 2014
Schilbrack begins this chapter characterizing ‘traditional philosophy of religion’ (TPR) in terms... more Schilbrack begins this chapter characterizing ‘traditional philosophy of religion’ (TPR) in terms of the task that the discipline sets for itself: to evaluate the rationality of theism. In an illuminating decision tree, Schilbrack analyzes and organizes the variety within TPR, including counter-traditions in Continental and feminist philosophy. More importantly, this procedure helps substantiate the author’s overall critique of TPR as inadequate to the ‘full task’ of philosophy of religion because it is narrow, intellectualistic, and insular. Schilbrack identifies three subordinate tasks or three sets of questions, one for each of these problems with the aim to redressing them. The first of those tasks is to overcome narrowness. By its focus on questions to do with the rationality of theism, TPR unjustifiably omits a massive amount of material relevant to religion from its purview. This omission dramatically weakens warrants for traditional philosophers’ claims regarding theism, especially the implicit claim that SOPHIA (2014) 53:367–372 DOI 10.1007/s11841-014-0432-2
Teaching Theology & Religion, 2015
The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teach... more The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teachers of comparative religion in study abroad settings. We try to make familiar ideas fresh and strange, in settings where students may find it hard not to take “fresh” and “strange” as signs of existential threat. The author explores this delicate pedagogical situation, drawing on several years' experience directing a study abroad program and on the thought of figures from the Western existentialist tradition and Chinese Confucian philosophy. The article focuses particularly on “oh events” – defined as moments when one learns one has something to learn and something to unlearn. The author argues that the experience of shame that is typical of oh events can become a valuable resource for cross-cultural learning and personal transformation, if teachers assist students to reflect on the experience as a sign of differing, but potentially harmonizable, cultural expectations. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture
One aim of this essay is to understand why white evangelical Christians, more than any other reli... more One aim of this essay is to understand why white evangelical Christians, more than any other religious adherents in the United States, are deeply invested in denying the emergency of anthropogenic climate change and in obstructing action to address anthropogenic climate change. Michael S. Hogue, in his recent book, American Immanence, blames a religious imaginary he names the "redeemer symbolic." This symbolic complex inspires the devotion of the politically powerful white evangelical Christian and nationalist movement in the United States at the present time. A second aim of the essay is to analyze the redeemer symbolic. Through a reading of Maurice Sendak's much-loved illustrated children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, the essay suggests that U.S. white evangelical devotees of the redeemer symbolic share a kind of inability to come to terms with a vital and ineliminable wildness in persons and cultures; further, that this inability correlates with a political-theological failure, even refusal, to grasp the emergency of anthropogenic climate change. The essay first explicates the redeemer symbolic, with a particular focus on its implication in the legitimation of climate skepticism. Then, with the aid of key concepts from the psychoanalytic theory of D.W. Winnicott, it interprets the story of Max, the protagonist in Where the Wild Things Are, as a fable of healthy development of what Winnicott calls "transitional space" and a related "capacity to be alone." Unsuccessful development of those resources, it is suggested, contributes to an account of why adherents of the redeemer symbolic typically refuse wildness and thus may be prone to climate negligence. More importantly, though, recognizing the cultural-psychological importance of "wild things" (as by the "counter-fable" of Max) may help fire imaginative ways around the obstructiveness of the redeemer symbolic, to more effectively address climate change in particular, and human well-being in nature in general.
Page 1. Purushottama Bilimoria Andrew B. Irvine Editors Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion Page ... more Page 1. Purushottama Bilimoria Andrew B. Irvine Editors Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion Page 2. Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion Page 3. Purushottama Bilimoria Andrew B. Irvine Editors Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion 123 Page 4. ...
Theology in Global Context: Essays in Honor of Robert Cummings Neville, ed. Amos Yong and Peter Heltzel (New York and London: T & T Clark International), 59-74., 2004
Australian Religion Studies Review, 2012
The liberation theology of Gustavo Gutiérrez has offered an effective postcolonial critique of th... more The liberation theology of Gustavo Gutiérrez has offered an effective postcolonial critique of the conditions of life of the Latin American poor, and of a theological method that legitimated them. The present article studies early writings of Gutiérrez that show his critique taking form. In the first instance, Gutiérrez argued, theological truth is not something beheld in philosophical theoria, but is rather a performance of agonistic practice. One may usefully abstract to theoretical expressions of the truth about divine matters; however, the abstractions are only useful if—indeed only true if— they play back upon that practice to effect greater freedom for the poor. So Gutiérrez drew upon and pointed toward a ‘new spirituality’—a theological and practical reorientation away from the spirit of a Eurocentric faith, enmeshed in the geopolitics of colonialism and neocolonialism under which most Latin Americans have suffered for centuries, toward the spirit in which the poor whom he served live. Eventually, in pursuing this reorientation himself, Gutiérrez became persuaded that methodology is not the primary mode of critique, and began a turn from conceiving theology as ‘critical reflection on practice’ to conceiving it as ‘thought about a mystery’. This study’s limited purpose is to understand Gutiérrez’ development to this pivotal moment.
American Journal of Theology & Philosophy, 2012
ABSTRACT
Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion, 2009
... It regularly plays out in such topics as, Hinduism and the Problem of Evil, or, Daoism and... more ... It regularly plays out in such topics as, Hinduism and the Problem of Evil, or, Daoism and Natural Law, or The Spiritual Conquest of ... The secularity of much contemporary philosophy of religion has been the basis for purporting the neutrality and universality of its judgments. ...
This past April in Knoxville, Tennessee, Andrew Irvine was one of three speakers at a “Table of A... more This past April in Knoxville, Tennessee, Andrew Irvine was one of three speakers at a “Table of Abraham” dialogue dinner among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The dinner was organized by the Atlantic Institute, a non-profit organization inspired by the Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gülen. The evening’s theme, “Art and Faith: Freedom of Expression vs. Respect for Religion,” seemed prompted — at least in part — by the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris on January 7, 2015. What follows is an expanded and edited version of his remarks.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2015
The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teach... more The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teachers of comparative religion in study abroad settings. We try to make familiar ideas fresh and strange, in settings where students may find it hard not to take "fresh" and "strange" as signs of existential threat. The author explores this delicate pedagogical situation, drawing on several years' experience directing a study abroad program and on the thought of figures from the Western existentialist tradition and Chinese Confucian philosophy. The article focuses particularly on "oh events"defined as moments when one learns one has something to learn and something to unlearn. The author argues that the experience of shame that is typical of oh events can become a valuable resource for cross-cultural learning and personal transformation, if teachers assist students to reflect on the experience as a sign of differing, but potentially harmonizable, cultural expectations. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).
It is an exciting time to pursue philosophy of religion, not least because of an earnest and wide... more It is an exciting time to pursue philosophy of religion, not least because of an earnest and widening conversation about what philosophers of religion should be doing in the future. This conversation is driven by factors including the growing presence of philosophers who do not presume as normative the subject position of so-called western traditions of thought, the relentless historicization-especially along Foucaultian lines-of the modern study of religion (or 'religion') by critics working across the range of implicated disciplines, and by newly energized emphases in existing methods of the study of religion upon embodiment and upon materiality more generally.
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Articles and Book Chapters by Andrew Irvine