Crusader churches in the Latin East : expressions of medieval theology

The Latin invaders of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 12th-14th Centuries were on a mission to retrieve and protect the Christian Holy Land from Muslim occupation. They encountered a consistent, Eastern approach to the architectural expression of the Christian faith which the physical remains of their churches show they adopted. Previously, I have shown how it can be deduced from the archaeological remains of churches from the 4th-6th C that early church architecture was influenced by the theological ideas of the period. This paper argues that the Eastern approach to church architecture as adopted by the Crusaders was compatible with the medieval European theological context and can be seen as a legitimate expression of medieval theology.

Admissible Christianity : a study of Christian fundamentalism in the writings of James Barr

An attempt to set forth the essential nature of a theology is a notoriously difficult task. This thesis addresses two questions to a contemporary study of fundamentalism. It asks to what extent has James Barr been able to describe the theology of fundamentalism and to what extent his critical analysis of that theology is philosophically valid? The first chapter identifies the inherent difficulties in a phenomenology of fundamentalism and includes an historical survey of the theology of the movement. This chapter is supported by appendix one which identifies the philosophical culture associated with fundamentalist thought. Barr's description of the theological and religious character of fundamentalism is accepted within the identified limitations. The second and third chapters give an account of Barr's theological evaluation of fundamentalism. He argues the fundamentalists espouse an aberrant form of Christianity. Their religion represents a projection onto the biblical text of a religion foreign to the theological character of the Old and New Testaments. This projection is achieved by an intellectually sophisticated hermeneutical procedure. The doctrines of inerrancy, verbal inspiration and infallibility establish an understanding of Christianity which does not represent the essential character of the Christian faith. Fundamentalist hermeneutics, Barr concludes, allows for a theology indigenous neither to the biblical text nor to the Christian tradition. It attempts to afford biblical justification to the doctrines of a human religion extraneous to the biblical text. The fourth chapter considers the philosophical basis of Barr's understanding of the Bible. He takes the idealist view that the biblical text possesses a theological meaning whose boundaries can be delineated and whose essential content defined. This chapter is supported by appendix two which locates Barr's writings on fundamentalism within his wider concerns about the hermeneutical problems raised by the biblical text and the religious authority of the Bible. The penultimate chapter surveys the insights of contemporary literary theory concerning the perception of written texts. The philosophical validity of an idealist view of the biblical text is questioned. Two major conclusions are drawn. Barr's assessment of fundamentalism is philosophically dependent upon his idealist perception of the biblical text. This conclusion leads to the more general conclusion that the biblical text contains no essential description of Christianity but is capable of being read according to a range of theological interpretations some of which are more defensible than others.

The mystical theology of Michael Ramsey

Explains the tradition of Christian mystical theology and ecndevours to highlight its contemporary importance and relevance. Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1961-1974, was seriously concerned with mystical theology and argued for its greater appreciation within the Church in the West.

An historical critique of philosophical universalism through Foucault and Rorty

This thesis examines the critiques of modern philosophy by Foucault and Rorty, which use genealogical and philosophical arguments against the notion of universal truths being fundamental to knowledge. They promote the idea of the autonomy of the self, and the use of discourse to generate pragmatic action within society.

The philosophical notion of property

This thesis reveals the Being of man through the conditions which man creates for his own existence as the result of his level of apprehension of himself embodied in the social structure of society.

Study of 'post-critical' thought and religious epistemology : with special reference to Michael Polanyi, Paul Tillich and Thomas F. Torrance

Explores the foundational problem in epistemology posed by Immanuel Kant and illustrates, from the 'post-critical' position, with special reference to Michael Polanyi, Paul Tillich and Thomas F. Torrance, how they serve as alternative philosophical and religious responses to the Kantian critical philosophy.

Being philosophical regarding the evidence of 'what works'.

In this paper I am arguing that the debate regarding ‘what works’ in education practice should become more philosophical. By becoming more philosophical professional educators will be enabled to further recognise how unscientific and undemocratic the research which claims to represent ‘what works’ currently is by understanding more clearly the nature of its ‘evidence-base’ and its relation to education. This paper is structured into three parts. The first will address the philosophical aspect which is intrinsic to the discourse of education itself. The second section will offer a differentiation between empiricism and science which is important if we are to recognise the limitations of empirical ‘evidence’ regarding ‘what works’. The third and final section will draw upon Biesta’s notion of the ‘democratic deficit’ to make the case that if the evidence regarding ‘what works’ is only empirical rather than scientific then it is not the sort of evidence appropriate to the discourse of education.