Papers by Rafael Reyes III
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OJS | OCS | OMP | OHS PKP Wiki Forum. Home. The Journal of World Christianity. Submitted by Anony... more OJS | OCS | OMP | OHS PKP Wiki Forum. Home. The Journal of World Christianity. Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2009-02-19 20:12 URL: http://www.journalofworldchristianity.org. Type: OJS. Submitter's name: Rafael Reyes III. Submitter's email: rafaelr3@gmail.com. Submitter's affiliation: New York Theological Seminary. Search this site: About; Sponsorships; Community; Software; Hosting/Support Services; Research; Publications; Contact.
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"The past century has witnessed the growth of about three million Diaspora Jains, spreading throu... more "The past century has witnessed the growth of about three million Diaspora Jains, spreading through out the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, East Africa as well as West-South and South-East Asia. This has led to the emergence of thought, the prehension of multifarious ideas and experiences. As a result, there are visible differences between traditions of Orthodox Jains and Diaspora Jains. This difference may be expressed Anne Valley’s chapter, "From liberation to ecology: Ethical discourses among Orthodox and Daispora Jain." Here he deals with differences between the two.
For its treatment, the present paper takes the basis of the philosophy of organism (the constructive metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead), treated in his work "Religion in the Making." This paper has underlined the marked differences through the respective version of famous story of 22nd Tirthankar Neminath. Through the analysis of both the version it is derived that the emphasis of Orthodox Jainism is on ahimsa, aparigraha and anekantavada, with central focus on liberation, while Diaspora Jains are socio-centric. The response of Neminath to the cry of animal is also different. The probelms discussed here are marked differences between traditional and Orthodox Jains: creativity, tradition and novelty, ontology and relationality.
I argue that Whitehead’s constructive metaphysics provides a dynamic process to experience, defining and refining the Diaspora Jain philosophy as well as religion, developing a way of life that espouses the three views of ahimsa, aparigraha, and anekantavad."
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Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series, a 6-part science fiction novel that explores the roles ... more Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series, a 6-part science fiction novel that explores the roles religion, politics, ecology, technology, corporations and economics meld together around a certain planet and a distinct commodity, the spice melange, has written an astounding work. There have been various attempts at turning it into a film, the first being a cult classic, yet never able to achieve the essence of the book. The second, a mini-series that further accomplished the goal of the book, still missed the essential portions of the series, that of fate, and of the loss of the most precious book which is one of the most celebrated of science fiction novels that discusses and critiques the venture of a society that is inundated by religion, in particular a universe run by a religious society of a God with their priests and priestesses. A recurring theme throughout Frank Herbert's six titles is quite prevalent: In a place where manipulation is the key to control, and fate is the ultimate outcome, can a god-like being produce a more positive outcome? Can the will of god and god's fate prove better for society? How does one break away from the inevitable future, the path laid out for us? Can one escape fate, or are they doomed to accept it? Can it be controlled? What are some of the ways in which one can break free from the fate of destiny? Is there only one destiny?
In a similar vein, the postmodern work within the last 50 years has dealt with the same issue, albeit in diverse ways. In a move away from the modern enlightenment perspective, what does the world look like when the notion of the metanarrative is held suspect? How can we account for the various perspectives in society? How can one be individual, yet maintain oneself within society? How can one survive as a distinct individual, subversing the labels brought on by the virtual realities that seek to override who we are and what we should be thinking of? Postmodern thought provides a framework for discussing the issues in Frank Herbert Dune series, discussions on how systems of theory can in many ways end up controlling our perspectives, thus becoming like god. It is god-like because it controls how we see and how we proceed from that event. In controlling everything it can lead us to a dark future. This is what postmodernity pushes against, the reign of a singular view of the world, creating a system that encompasses all things, labeling them, domesticating them, and thus controlling them. Postmodernity, at least in its positive reception, pushes and pulls for a future that is open, that introduces uncertainty, difference/differance, and novelty, creating a world that is sustaining, a hope for the future. In order for this to happen, fate needs to be changed; an apoc/alypse, an un/covering of the virtual to the real, a world of webs of connection with multiple meanings and futures moving forward. However, the deeper realization is not to remove the virtual, but also see its connections in that web, opening itself to the process.
So in this paper I will explore Dune and its interplay with postmodern thinkers on the subject of fate. In particular, I will look at the lives of the protagonists Paul Atreides, his father Leto Atreides (albeit briefly), his son Leto Atreides II. This lineage of generations provides a key to what I am trying to get to in this paper. That only through the process of connections, through difference, novelty, in the hope of the next generation in all its differences, is the removal of fate as a single trajectory.
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"In the eschatological readings of both Jurgen Moltmann and Karl Rahner, I focus on the question ... more "In the eschatological readings of both Jurgen Moltmann and Karl Rahner, I focus on the question of time. What is their understanding of time? How does time play out when we try to understand it in light of anthropology, philosophy and the christian religion? Are there different notions of time, or is there one notion of time? Both Moltmann and Rahner describe in their discussion of eschatology a notion of time that is quite complex to encompass their belief system. Karl Rahner's ``this-wordly'' future and ``absolute'' future tells of a unique notion of time. Moltmann's time as ad-vent inaugurating the novum is another notion of the coming in eschatology, of the coming of God. This leads one to some very interesting issues for other fields, such as science, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. The reason for this is that they deal with a rather linear notion of time, one which allows them to understand history through a trajectory from one point to the next, from one event to the next. Linear time portrays time as an absolute physical reality, and the passage of time is independent of consciousness.
However, because of the flatness of linear time, these disciplines in some way abstract from the whole of life to come about their findings. How does one include God when God has been systematically removed from a field such as science? That is not the question in this paper. However, both Moltmann and Rahner, in their own field, have to contend with many of the sciences in their abstraction of time, and to creatively encompass time, to give it a new meaning that allows for, in Rahner's case, time to be subject to human history, and in Moltmann's case, time to be taken seriously but always leading to the advent of the novum.
Does it work? Does their understanding of time coincide with the rest of the sciences? Or does it come into conflict? That answer sways depending on the science you ask. This paper will look into both Moltmann and Rahner's notion of time in the doctrine of eschatology. However, I will include a third partner, Alfred North Whitehead's notion of time. Whitehead is also concerned on the future, the infinite, however it is at every moment of existence, not an end point far into the future, which would offer a different notion of what awaits us in the future. His notion of time, in one sense, falls within both theologians range of time, and would be a good conversation partner in describing an appropriate notion of time, and in the spirit of process, the continual act of novum, the new at every moment."
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This paper analyzes and critique's Nicholas Wolterstorff's notion of Command and Free Will Determ... more This paper analyzes and critique's Nicholas Wolterstorff's notion of Command and Free Will Determinism using Augustine's Conversion Experience. I use the works of C. S. Peirce, C. Hartshorne, and A. N. Whitehead that provide an alternative notion of epistemology, of knowing and how a decision comes to fruition.
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An overview and comparison between feminine goddesses and Hindu women and their roles in society ... more An overview and comparison between feminine goddesses and Hindu women and their roles in society as given in Hindu sacred texts.
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Book Reviews by Rafael Reyes III
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Thesis Chapters by Rafael Reyes III
Claremont School of Theology Dissertations, 2019
This dissertation is a study on the significance of imagination as it engages in the areas of tru... more This dissertation is a study on the significance of imagination as it engages in the areas of truth formation and religious pluralism. In the field of Philosophy of Religion, the question of religious pluralism becomes a problem when engaging the multiplicity of truths. If one's reasoning is strictly held to a method of logic alone, it creates a hierarchicalization of religions or the exclusion of particular religious experience which does not fit its criteria. My argument is that when one moves from logic alone to a methodology of imagination, both logic and aesthetics, this problem becomes an adventure. By engaging with the imagination, and using Whitehead's understanding of immanence and creativity, religious pluralism becomes an integral aspect of truth formation, religious experience, and a deeper understanding of the experience of the Divine. Imagination is integral to this process. My first chapter looks specifically at Mortimer J. Adler's argument that Religious Pluralism is not possible because it is not consistent with Aristotelian logic. I argue that Adler's development of logic as a methodology is problematic. Adler's logic cannot accept anything but a singular outcome, thereby marginalizing other possibilities of truthmaking.
My second chapter provides a history of the imagination in three areas: Greek, Medieval, and Modern Thought. This section highlights how the imagination is viewed in a pejorative manner and is used in a very narrow sense. The third chapter looks at Continental thinkers who return to the imagination as a mode of knowledge formation and meaning-making. The fourth chapter looks at the work of Henry Corbin and the study of the Imaginal Realm. Here Corbin argues that the divine is the impetus for the difference of religions, and makes the place of the Imagination the center to finding truth and meaning, while also relating it to the divine. Corbin pushes for an "Active imagination," a mystic perception, which allows one to see the Divine in creative and multiple ways. This multiplicity of the divine is the "Divine Names." For Corbin, there is a parallel process of discovery between one's search of self, mirroring the divine. My final chapter centers on the work of Alfred North Whitehead. I argue that his work on Mutual Immanence and Creativity could be understood as the relational space and activity of the imagination. By doing so, all things are given the imaginative potential for becoming what they are. But their becoming presupposes all other things. Any progress of religious advancement cannot be done in the narrowness of one's own religious knowledge and experience, but by opening up to the imaginative interplay of multiple religions. This process of Imagining opens up one's awareness of the divine, as well as calls one to rethink their dogmatic ideals.
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Papers by Rafael Reyes III
For its treatment, the present paper takes the basis of the philosophy of organism (the constructive metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead), treated in his work "Religion in the Making." This paper has underlined the marked differences through the respective version of famous story of 22nd Tirthankar Neminath. Through the analysis of both the version it is derived that the emphasis of Orthodox Jainism is on ahimsa, aparigraha and anekantavada, with central focus on liberation, while Diaspora Jains are socio-centric. The response of Neminath to the cry of animal is also different. The probelms discussed here are marked differences between traditional and Orthodox Jains: creativity, tradition and novelty, ontology and relationality.
I argue that Whitehead’s constructive metaphysics provides a dynamic process to experience, defining and refining the Diaspora Jain philosophy as well as religion, developing a way of life that espouses the three views of ahimsa, aparigraha, and anekantavad."
In a similar vein, the postmodern work within the last 50 years has dealt with the same issue, albeit in diverse ways. In a move away from the modern enlightenment perspective, what does the world look like when the notion of the metanarrative is held suspect? How can we account for the various perspectives in society? How can one be individual, yet maintain oneself within society? How can one survive as a distinct individual, subversing the labels brought on by the virtual realities that seek to override who we are and what we should be thinking of? Postmodern thought provides a framework for discussing the issues in Frank Herbert Dune series, discussions on how systems of theory can in many ways end up controlling our perspectives, thus becoming like god. It is god-like because it controls how we see and how we proceed from that event. In controlling everything it can lead us to a dark future. This is what postmodernity pushes against, the reign of a singular view of the world, creating a system that encompasses all things, labeling them, domesticating them, and thus controlling them. Postmodernity, at least in its positive reception, pushes and pulls for a future that is open, that introduces uncertainty, difference/differance, and novelty, creating a world that is sustaining, a hope for the future. In order for this to happen, fate needs to be changed; an apoc/alypse, an un/covering of the virtual to the real, a world of webs of connection with multiple meanings and futures moving forward. However, the deeper realization is not to remove the virtual, but also see its connections in that web, opening itself to the process.
So in this paper I will explore Dune and its interplay with postmodern thinkers on the subject of fate. In particular, I will look at the lives of the protagonists Paul Atreides, his father Leto Atreides (albeit briefly), his son Leto Atreides II. This lineage of generations provides a key to what I am trying to get to in this paper. That only through the process of connections, through difference, novelty, in the hope of the next generation in all its differences, is the removal of fate as a single trajectory.
However, because of the flatness of linear time, these disciplines in some way abstract from the whole of life to come about their findings. How does one include God when God has been systematically removed from a field such as science? That is not the question in this paper. However, both Moltmann and Rahner, in their own field, have to contend with many of the sciences in their abstraction of time, and to creatively encompass time, to give it a new meaning that allows for, in Rahner's case, time to be subject to human history, and in Moltmann's case, time to be taken seriously but always leading to the advent of the novum.
Does it work? Does their understanding of time coincide with the rest of the sciences? Or does it come into conflict? That answer sways depending on the science you ask. This paper will look into both Moltmann and Rahner's notion of time in the doctrine of eschatology. However, I will include a third partner, Alfred North Whitehead's notion of time. Whitehead is also concerned on the future, the infinite, however it is at every moment of existence, not an end point far into the future, which would offer a different notion of what awaits us in the future. His notion of time, in one sense, falls within both theologians range of time, and would be a good conversation partner in describing an appropriate notion of time, and in the spirit of process, the continual act of novum, the new at every moment."
Book Reviews by Rafael Reyes III
Thesis Chapters by Rafael Reyes III
My second chapter provides a history of the imagination in three areas: Greek, Medieval, and Modern Thought. This section highlights how the imagination is viewed in a pejorative manner and is used in a very narrow sense. The third chapter looks at Continental thinkers who return to the imagination as a mode of knowledge formation and meaning-making. The fourth chapter looks at the work of Henry Corbin and the study of the Imaginal Realm. Here Corbin argues that the divine is the impetus for the difference of religions, and makes the place of the Imagination the center to finding truth and meaning, while also relating it to the divine. Corbin pushes for an "Active imagination," a mystic perception, which allows one to see the Divine in creative and multiple ways. This multiplicity of the divine is the "Divine Names." For Corbin, there is a parallel process of discovery between one's search of self, mirroring the divine. My final chapter centers on the work of Alfred North Whitehead. I argue that his work on Mutual Immanence and Creativity could be understood as the relational space and activity of the imagination. By doing so, all things are given the imaginative potential for becoming what they are. But their becoming presupposes all other things. Any progress of religious advancement cannot be done in the narrowness of one's own religious knowledge and experience, but by opening up to the imaginative interplay of multiple religions. This process of Imagining opens up one's awareness of the divine, as well as calls one to rethink their dogmatic ideals.
For its treatment, the present paper takes the basis of the philosophy of organism (the constructive metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead), treated in his work "Religion in the Making." This paper has underlined the marked differences through the respective version of famous story of 22nd Tirthankar Neminath. Through the analysis of both the version it is derived that the emphasis of Orthodox Jainism is on ahimsa, aparigraha and anekantavada, with central focus on liberation, while Diaspora Jains are socio-centric. The response of Neminath to the cry of animal is also different. The probelms discussed here are marked differences between traditional and Orthodox Jains: creativity, tradition and novelty, ontology and relationality.
I argue that Whitehead’s constructive metaphysics provides a dynamic process to experience, defining and refining the Diaspora Jain philosophy as well as religion, developing a way of life that espouses the three views of ahimsa, aparigraha, and anekantavad."
In a similar vein, the postmodern work within the last 50 years has dealt with the same issue, albeit in diverse ways. In a move away from the modern enlightenment perspective, what does the world look like when the notion of the metanarrative is held suspect? How can we account for the various perspectives in society? How can one be individual, yet maintain oneself within society? How can one survive as a distinct individual, subversing the labels brought on by the virtual realities that seek to override who we are and what we should be thinking of? Postmodern thought provides a framework for discussing the issues in Frank Herbert Dune series, discussions on how systems of theory can in many ways end up controlling our perspectives, thus becoming like god. It is god-like because it controls how we see and how we proceed from that event. In controlling everything it can lead us to a dark future. This is what postmodernity pushes against, the reign of a singular view of the world, creating a system that encompasses all things, labeling them, domesticating them, and thus controlling them. Postmodernity, at least in its positive reception, pushes and pulls for a future that is open, that introduces uncertainty, difference/differance, and novelty, creating a world that is sustaining, a hope for the future. In order for this to happen, fate needs to be changed; an apoc/alypse, an un/covering of the virtual to the real, a world of webs of connection with multiple meanings and futures moving forward. However, the deeper realization is not to remove the virtual, but also see its connections in that web, opening itself to the process.
So in this paper I will explore Dune and its interplay with postmodern thinkers on the subject of fate. In particular, I will look at the lives of the protagonists Paul Atreides, his father Leto Atreides (albeit briefly), his son Leto Atreides II. This lineage of generations provides a key to what I am trying to get to in this paper. That only through the process of connections, through difference, novelty, in the hope of the next generation in all its differences, is the removal of fate as a single trajectory.
However, because of the flatness of linear time, these disciplines in some way abstract from the whole of life to come about their findings. How does one include God when God has been systematically removed from a field such as science? That is not the question in this paper. However, both Moltmann and Rahner, in their own field, have to contend with many of the sciences in their abstraction of time, and to creatively encompass time, to give it a new meaning that allows for, in Rahner's case, time to be subject to human history, and in Moltmann's case, time to be taken seriously but always leading to the advent of the novum.
Does it work? Does their understanding of time coincide with the rest of the sciences? Or does it come into conflict? That answer sways depending on the science you ask. This paper will look into both Moltmann and Rahner's notion of time in the doctrine of eschatology. However, I will include a third partner, Alfred North Whitehead's notion of time. Whitehead is also concerned on the future, the infinite, however it is at every moment of existence, not an end point far into the future, which would offer a different notion of what awaits us in the future. His notion of time, in one sense, falls within both theologians range of time, and would be a good conversation partner in describing an appropriate notion of time, and in the spirit of process, the continual act of novum, the new at every moment."
My second chapter provides a history of the imagination in three areas: Greek, Medieval, and Modern Thought. This section highlights how the imagination is viewed in a pejorative manner and is used in a very narrow sense. The third chapter looks at Continental thinkers who return to the imagination as a mode of knowledge formation and meaning-making. The fourth chapter looks at the work of Henry Corbin and the study of the Imaginal Realm. Here Corbin argues that the divine is the impetus for the difference of religions, and makes the place of the Imagination the center to finding truth and meaning, while also relating it to the divine. Corbin pushes for an "Active imagination," a mystic perception, which allows one to see the Divine in creative and multiple ways. This multiplicity of the divine is the "Divine Names." For Corbin, there is a parallel process of discovery between one's search of self, mirroring the divine. My final chapter centers on the work of Alfred North Whitehead. I argue that his work on Mutual Immanence and Creativity could be understood as the relational space and activity of the imagination. By doing so, all things are given the imaginative potential for becoming what they are. But their becoming presupposes all other things. Any progress of religious advancement cannot be done in the narrowness of one's own religious knowledge and experience, but by opening up to the imaginative interplay of multiple religions. This process of Imagining opens up one's awareness of the divine, as well as calls one to rethink their dogmatic ideals.