The God Who May Be: A Hermeneutics of Religion

The God of Religion and the God of Philosophy

PHILOSOPHY Ever since the time of Pascal men have feared that the 'God' worshipped by believers and the 'God' contemplated by philosophers were somehow different. The former was personal, historically active, slow to anger and plentiful in mercy: the latter was dubiously able to be described in personal terms at all, and infinite in such a way as to baffle the imagination. The 'God' of the form...

Leibniz and China: Religion, Hermeneutics, and Enlightenment

The “Kingdom of Heaven/God” and the Church: A Case Study in Hermeneutics and Theology

There is considerable debate over the meaning of the expressions kingdom of Heaven and kingdom of God used in the Gospels and in the rest of the New Testament and the relationship of this kingdom to the church. The debate addresses three related questions. The first question concerns the nature of the kingdom. When used in the Gospels and in the rest of the New Testament, do these expressions r...

Newfound Religion: Mothers, God, and Infanticide

This essay focuses on cultural constructions of infanticide and psychosis, especially cases in which the mother heard delusional commands to kill her children. Part I examines the background of the Yates, Laney, and Diaz cases. Part II explores whether these mothers can be seen paradoxically as feminist subjects of empowerment rather than as victims. This essay argues that psychotic mothers hav...

God and the Government: Women, Religion, and Reproduction in Nicaragua

The context of this paper is my long-term research project analyzing the role of Catholicism in contemporary Nicaragua in defining women, women ́s roles, and their rights, especially reproductive rights. I am looking at the role of the Catholic Church as an institution in national policies in Nicaragua and its influence on the country ́s international policies, especially in the context of the mo...