The Fragility of Consciousness
Faith, Reason, and the Human Good
Published on 20. January 2017
Book
Hardback
456 pages
978-1-4875-0132-7 (ISBN)
Description
Frederick G. Lawrence is the authoritative interpreter of the work of Bernard Lonergan and an incisive reader of twentieth-century continental philosophy and hermeneutics.
The Fragility of Consciousness is the first published collection of his essays and contains several of his best known writings as well as unpublished work. The essays in this volume exhibit a long interdisciplinary engagement with the relationship between faith and reason in the context of the crisis of culture that has marked twentieth- and twenty-first century thought and practice. Frederick G. Lawrence, with his profound and generous commitment to the intellectual life of the church, has produced a body of work that engages with Heidegger, Gadamer, Habermas, Ricoeur, Strauss, Voegelin, and Benedict XVI among others. These essays also explore various themes such as the role of religion in a secular age, political theology, economics, neo-Thomism, Christology, and much more. In an age marked by social, cultural, political, and ecclesial fragmentation, Lawrence models a more generous way - one that prioritizes friendship, conversation, and understanding above all else.
The Fragility of Consciousness is the first published collection of his essays and contains several of his best known writings as well as unpublished work. The essays in this volume exhibit a long interdisciplinary engagement with the relationship between faith and reason in the context of the crisis of culture that has marked twentieth- and twenty-first century thought and practice. Frederick G. Lawrence, with his profound and generous commitment to the intellectual life of the church, has produced a body of work that engages with Heidegger, Gadamer, Habermas, Ricoeur, Strauss, Voegelin, and Benedict XVI among others. These essays also explore various themes such as the role of religion in a secular age, political theology, economics, neo-Thomism, Christology, and much more. In an age marked by social, cultural, political, and ecclesial fragmentation, Lawrence models a more generous way - one that prioritizes friendship, conversation, and understanding above all else.
Reviews / Votes
'Lawrence is a great scholar whose influence has been felt primarily in the classroom. The Fragility of Consciousness, his first book, lets the wider world know what his students have long had the benefit of.'- Grant Kaplan (First Things July 2017) 'Any who are interested in Lonergan studies will find this text a valuable resource.'
- Daniel Lendman (Reading Religion July 2017) "Any serious-minded person who has accepted the dual risk of honestly engaging with contemporary thought, on the one hand, and of living into intellectual, moral, and religious inheritance of the broad Christian tradition, on the other hand will find a friend and a guide in these essays. While the erudition of these essays places them beyond most under graduates, decades of students, fellow theologians, and every library will find something new and vital here."
- Benjamin J. Hohman (Horizons: The Journal of the College of Theological Society June 2018)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
798 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4875-0132-7 (9781487501327)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Frederick G. Lawrence is an American hermeneutic philosopher and theologian, and a specialist in Bernard Lonergan, teaching in the Department of Theology at Boston College.
Randall S. Rosenberg is an assistant professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University.
Kevin M. Vander Schel is an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University.
Randall S. Rosenberg is an assistant professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University.
Kevin M. Vander Schel is an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University.
Content
Frequently Cited Works
Foreword by Frederick G. Lawrence
Editor's Introduction
Part One: The Hermeneutic Revolution and the Crisis of Culture
1. Martin Heidegger and the Hermeneutic Revolution
2. Hans-Georg Gadamer and the Hermeneutic Revolution
3. Gadamer and Lonergan on Augustine's Verbum Cordis - the Heart of Postmodern Hermeneutics
4. A Jewish and a Christian Approach to the Problematic of Jerusalem and Athens: Leo Strauss and Bernard Lonergan
5. Voegelin and Gadamer: Continental Philosophers Inspired by Plato and Aristotle
6. Transcendence from Within: Benedict XVI and Juergen Habermas on the Dialogue between Secular Reason and Religious Faith
Part Two: Theology and the Human Good
7. The Fragility of Consciousness: Lonergan and the Postmodern Concern for the Other
8. The Recovery of Theology in a Political Mode: The Example of Ernest L. Fortin, AA
9. The Economic Good of Order and Culture in Relation to Solidarity, Subsidiarity, and Responsibility
10. The Human Good and Christian Conversation
11. Grace and Friendship: Postmodern Political Theology and God as Conversation
12. Growing in Faith as the Eyes of Being-in-Love with God
The Writings of Frederick G. Lawrence
Index
Foreword by Frederick G. Lawrence
Editor's Introduction
Part One: The Hermeneutic Revolution and the Crisis of Culture
1. Martin Heidegger and the Hermeneutic Revolution
2. Hans-Georg Gadamer and the Hermeneutic Revolution
3. Gadamer and Lonergan on Augustine's Verbum Cordis - the Heart of Postmodern Hermeneutics
4. A Jewish and a Christian Approach to the Problematic of Jerusalem and Athens: Leo Strauss and Bernard Lonergan
5. Voegelin and Gadamer: Continental Philosophers Inspired by Plato and Aristotle
6. Transcendence from Within: Benedict XVI and Juergen Habermas on the Dialogue between Secular Reason and Religious Faith
Part Two: Theology and the Human Good
7. The Fragility of Consciousness: Lonergan and the Postmodern Concern for the Other
8. The Recovery of Theology in a Political Mode: The Example of Ernest L. Fortin, AA
9. The Economic Good of Order and Culture in Relation to Solidarity, Subsidiarity, and Responsibility
10. The Human Good and Christian Conversation
11. Grace and Friendship: Postmodern Political Theology and God as Conversation
12. Growing in Faith as the Eyes of Being-in-Love with God
The Writings of Frederick G. Lawrence
Index