Abhiṣiktānanda: A Reception History1

In this article, I present an evaluation of the scholarly reception history of Abhiṣiktānanda. I argue for an identifiable threefold division in Abhiṣiktānanda scholarship: the earliest biographies and appraisals focused on his ‘spiritual search;’ a second wave of scholarship stressed Abhiṣiktānanda’s role as a pioneer in the interreligious dialogue; and, most recently, a third ‘turn’ has emerged in which a generation of scholars are concentrating on ‘internal’ Christian doctrinal critiques of Abhiṣiktānanda’s theology. I also suggest that today’s escapable and perplexing Abhiṣiktānanda is not necessarily the same Abhiṣiktānanda who inspired scholars in the past

Transnational Identities and Religious Traditions: A Case of Religious Double Belonging in India

This article addresses the emerging subject of religious “double belonging”: what does it mean to belong to two religious traditions? The lives of two French Roman Catholic priests, who moved to India for spiritual search and mission, work as a prism to deepen understanding of the subject, specifically regarding the relationships among identity, religious tradition, and faith. While these priests had their identities transformed as a mutable construct of negotiations in India, a more complex process occurred at the level of religious tradition. If Monchanin’s perfect and undefiled faith manifested itself in insulating the original Christian tradition from Indian influences, then the recipients of le Saux’s writings were invited to embrace the imperatives of faith as pure “being” over hybrid religious tradition. This article argues that if religious tradition is relegated to the level of the cultural, a religious double belonging emerges as a possibility

The Church of Abhishiktananda (Henri le Saux)

This dissertation concerns the contribution of Abhishiktånanda / Henri Le Saux OSB, to the modern Catholic ecclesiology. The dissertation frames this contribution within the life of Abhishiktånanda and the more general process in the Church of his day. The main contribution of this dissertation lies in having chosen ecclesiology as the angle of observation. While there are an increasing number of studies on Abhishiktånanda’s theology, a work focusing on his thoughts on the Church does not yet exist. The perspective chosen for this thesis has been fruitful. Abhishiktånanda’s ecclesiology is clearly monastic in character. The nouvelle théologie and Vatican II, together with his monastic vocation, were the main sources of Abhishiktånanda’s ecclesiology. At the end of his life, Abhishiktånanda was able to incorporate all these influences, and elaborate a synthesis, where monastic spirituality and theology merged in short, dense thoughts about the Church. His ecclesiology is well-founded not only in the theological work before the Council, but also in Vatican II’s documents

Freedom Budget for all Americans and Economic Equality

Abstract. The Freedom Budget for All Americans, written under the supervision of Bayard Rustin and released in 1966 by the A. Philip Randolph Institute, was a well developed policy program to secure full economic citizenship for all Americans thanks to an unprecedented government investment. The program challenged the classic definition of civil rights and linked increased government spending to economic justice.  It never earned traction and remained at the margins of historical memory by the end of the Johnson Presidency. The recent literature on the Freedom Budget focuses on its ideological milieu and political implications and identifies the strategic errors in coalition building as the main cause of the Freedom Budget defeat. This paper concentrates on a specific element of the plan, the notion of economic equality, and states that the disagreement between radicals and liberals on such a notion ultimately caused the undoing of the coalition.Keywords. Freedom Budget, Philip Randolph, Johnson Administration, economic equality.JEL. B29, B31, B59

Race, Capitalism, and Power: The Economic Thought of the Young Jesse Jackson

Abstract. Fifty years ago, Jesse Jackson joined the S.C.L.C. and rose rapidly to become one of this country’s major advocates of black capitalism. Far less well known is his interest in finance and credit for African Americans that suggests his prescience about the decline of industrial capitalism. Focusing on Jackson’s early civil rights activity in Chicago, this paper charts the initial stages through which Martin Luther King’s young pupil rapidly became a staunch supporter of black economic power, strongly committed to a wealth-transfer agenda, while most of the other civil rights and labor leaders showed more interest in a just distribution of income. Abandoning the stereotypical image of Jackson in his early years, an image limiting him to an ambitious activist interested in bargains and with little inclination for analysis of the economic reality of his times, this paper addresses Jackson’s forward way of thinking. His growing expertise in money and finance made him one of the few civil rights leaders who genuinely grasped the functioning of the post-industrial economy and constituted the true wellspring of his later pan-Africanism and economic policies.Keywords: Jesse Jackson, Economic thought, Operation Breadbasket, S.C.L.C., Black capitalism.JEL. B10, B20, B59

The Government of Evil Machines: an Application of Romano Guardini’s Thought on Technology

In this article I propose a theological reflection on the philosophical as-sumptions behind the idea that intelligent machine can be governed through ethical protocols, which may apply either to the people who develop the machines or to the machines themselves, or both. This idea is particularly relevant in the case of machines’ extreme wrongdoing, a wrongdoing that becomes an existential risk for humankind. I call this extreme wrong-doing, ‘evil.’ Thus, this article is a theological account on the philosophical assumptions behind the possibility of evil machines, machines that can create an existential risk for humankind, and the ethical remedies that limit that risk. After discussing these assumptions, I argue for the ineffectiveness of these ethical remedies to prevent the possibility of evil machines. The article is an application of Romano Guardini’s thought on technology to evil machines

Lopez, Jr., D.S. & Thupten Jinpa. Dispelling the Darkness: A Jesuit’s Quest for the Soul of Tibet. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017.

Book review

S.C.L.C. OPERATION BREADBASKET, FROM ECONOMIC CIVIL RIGHTS TO BLACK ECONOMIC POWER

Operation Breadbasket was a Southern Christian Leadership Conference project that was founded in 1962, and was dedicated to improving the economic conditions of black communities across the United States. This thesis shows how the economic agenda of the early Operation Breadbasket - to facilitate integration in the workplace - gave way to its later counterpart which embraced a friendlier attitude toward capitalism and was more solicitous of the black middle class. In particular, this thesis identifies the personalities and events responsible for this transformation while pointing to me broader trends in American capitalism that made the advocacy of workplace integration increasingly less important than access to capital and mass consumption. Since there is not a dedicated study on Operation Breadbasket, this thesis begins to fill that gap in historiography. Drawing on archival research and original oral histories collected through interviews with veterans, this thesis reconsiders Jesse Jackson's historical role in the success of Operation Breadbasket as an empowerment organization enlarging economic opportunities for black workers and entrepreneurs, In particular, it 'argues that Operation Breadbasket was a remarkable program that contributed to the convergence of me Black Church-driven Civil Rights Movement and the activist-based Black Power struggle in the economic arena. To fully appreciate the transformation of Operation Breadbasket's activities from a more traditional Civil Rights program pursuing job desegregation to a militant, innovative campaign addressing issues such as black business development, the more recent scholarly work on Black Power and its intersection with the Civil Right Movement has been taken into account.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Between Dualism and Immanentism Sacramental Ontology and History

How to deal with religious ideas in religious history (and in history in general) has recently become a matter of discussion. In particular, a number of authors have framed their work around the concept of ‘sacramental ontology,’ that is, a unified vision of reality in which the secular and the religious come together, although maintaining their distinction. The authors’ choices have been criticized by their fellow colleagues as a form of apologetics and a return to integralism. The aim of this article is to provide a proper context in which to locate the phenomenon of sacramental ontology. I suggest considering (1) the generation of the concept of sacramental ontology as part of the internal dialectic of the Christian intellectual world, not as a reaction to the secular; and (2) the adoption of the concept as a protection against ontological nihilism, not as an attack on scientific knowledge