Religion, Truth, and Social Transformation : Essays in Reformational Philosophy

A lucid introduction to a living philosophical tradition and a creative contribution to change-oriented scholarship. Reformational philosophy rests on the ideas of nineteenth-century educator, church leader, and politician Abraham Kuyper, and it emerged in the early twentieth century among Reformed Protestant thinkers in the Netherlands. Combining comprehensive criticisms of Western philosophy with robust proposals for a just society, it calls on members of religious communities to transform harmful cultural practices, social institutions, and societal structures. Well known for his work in aesthetics and critical theory, Lambert Zuidervaart is a leading figure in contemporary reformational philosophy. In Religion, Truth, and Social Transformation – the first of two volumes of original essays from the past thirty years – he forges new interpretations of art, politics, rationality, religion, science, and truth. In dialogue with modern and contemporary philosophers, among them Immanuel Kant, G.F.H Hegel, Martin Heidegger, Theodor Adorno, Jürgen Habermas, and reformational thinkers such as Herman Dooyeweerd, Dirk Vollenhoven, and Hendrik Hart, Zuidervaart explains and expands on reformational philosophy's central themes. This interdisciplinary collection offers a normative critique of societal evil, a holistic and pluralist conception of truth, and a call for both religion and science to serve the common good. Illustrating the connections between philosophy, religion, and culture, and daring to think outside the box, Religion, Truth, and Social Transformation gives a voice to hope in a climate of despair. Cover Copyright Contents Preface Note about Citations and Revisions Introduction: Transforming Philosophy Part One Critical Retrieval 1 The Great Turning Point: Religion and Rationality in Dooyeweerd’s Transcendental Critique (2004) 2 Reformational Philosophy after Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven (2006) 3 Dooyeweerd’s Conception of Truth: Exposition and Critique (2008) 4 Dooyeweerd’s Modal Theory: Questions in the Ontology of Science (1973) 5 Fantastic Things: Critical Notes toward a Social Ontology of the Arts (1995) Part Two Reforming Reason 6 God, Law, and Cosmos: Issues in Hendrik Hart’s Ontology (1985) 7 Artistic Truth, Linguistically Turned: Variations on a Theme from Adorno, Habermas, and Hart (2001) 8 The Inner Reformation of Reason: Issues in Hendrik Hart’s Epistemology (2004) 9 Metacritique: Adorno, Vollenhoven, and the Problem-Historical Method (1985) 10 Defining Humankind: Scheler, Cassirer, and Hart (1988) Part Three Social Transformation 11 Good Cities or Cities of the Good? Radical Augustinian Social Criticism (2005) 12 Religion in Public: Passages from Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (2010) 13 Macrostructures and Societal Principles: An Architectonic Critique (2011 / 2015) 14 Unfinished Business:Toward a Reformational Conception of Truth (2009) 15 Science, Society, and Culture: Against Deflationism (2007) Epilogue Earth’s Lament: Suffering, Hope, and Wisdom ICS Inaugural Address, 21 November 2003 Publication Information Notes Works Cited Index "Reformational philosophy has roots in the Reformed tradition of Christianity. "Reformed," in this sense, refers to a worldwide movement that stems from the Calvinist Reformation in sixteenth-century Europe. Ecclesiastically it includes Presbyterians of various persuasions, the various Reformed churches in or from continental Europe, and twentieth-century ecumenical formations such as the United Church of Canada and what used to be called the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The term "reformational" indicates an intellectual and social current from within Reformed Christianity whose main impetus comes from the nineteenth-century Dutch educator, church leader, and politician Abraham Kuyper. It holds that members of religious communities and their organizations are called to be agents of renewal in culture and society, and that such renewal is not just personal but involves criticizing and changing cultural practices, social institutions, and the very structure of society where these impede the interconnected flourishing of all Earth's inhabitants. So reformational scholarship tends toward a comprehensiveness of social vision and a depth of cultural engagement that do not harmonize easily with either political liberalism or spiritual individualism. The preferred discipline for reformational scholars has tended to be philosophy, not theology."-- Provided by publisher