Jones, Michael S.

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Liberty UniversityDigitalCommons@LibertyUniversityFaculty Publications and Presentations Department of Philosophy10-2014Review: Filosofie și Religie: O AbordareMultidisciplinară (Philosophy of Religion: AnInterdisciplinary Approach) (by Sandu Frunza)Michael S. JonesLiberty University, msjones2@liberty.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/phil_fac_pubsPart of the Philosophy Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy ofReligion CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Philosophy at DigitalCommons@Liberty University. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Liberty University. For moreinformation, please contact scholarlycommunication@liberty.edu.Recommended CitationJones, Michael S. Book Review of Sandu Frunzã’s Filosofie şi Religie: O Abordare Multidisciplinarã (Philosophy and Religion: AnInterdisciplinary Approach). Religion in Eastern Europe 24:5, October 2004, 47-49.RELIGION IN EASTERN EUROPE XXIV, 5 (OCTOBER 2004) page 47.Sandu Frunzã, editor, Filosofie Õi Religie: O Abordare Multidisciplinarã (Philosophy and Religion:An Interdisciplinary Approach). (Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Editura Limes, 2001. 244 pages,paper.) Reviewed by Michael S. Jones.It seems that in Western Europe and America the interdisciplinary approach to knowledge hasof late been gaining in popularity. This is particularly true in two domains of knowledge that are ofinterest to the readers of REE, religion and philosophy. Philosophy has virtually ceased to have anindependent identity, and has largely become the discipline of analyzing other disciplines. This is seenin the very names of many of the philosophy courses taught at most universities: philosophy of science,philosophy of religion, medical ethics, philosophy of law, etc. The interdisciplinary study of religion haslikewise become commonplace. Religious thought has been stimulated by interdisciplinary interactionwith philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, historiography, the natural sciences, aesthetics,text-critical studies, and other intellectual disciplines. This growth in interdisciplinary thought mayreflect a growing liberalization of the Western mind (the term “liberal” is used here in its classical sense,without reference to political or theological positions). When a mind is given increased freedom, andwhen it becomes more used to this freedom, it becomes more open to hearing what other disciplineshave to say about its own area of interest and specialization. When it discovers that other disciplines canmake valuable contributions to its own projects, it embraces interdisciplinary study.An interesting question is whether or not the growth of interdisciplinary study seen in WesternEurope and America has any counterpart in Eastern Europe and the republics formed from the SovietUnion. Several factors might incline one to expect a lack of interdisciplinary thought in this region,including the lack of intellectual freedom under the former socialist governments of the region, thepresent political uncertainties and economic hardships, and the more conservative nature of the popularculture and religious institutions. However, there are also factors that contribute to a positive climate forinterdisciplinary thought. These include the intellectual freedom now enjoyed in many of the countriesof this region, the increased ability to travel outside of the region, and perhaps most of all, the ability tocommunicate quickly and affordably with people from around the world via email and the World WideWeb.My own impression, formed while living in Eastern Europe for 21 months, is thatinterdisciplinary study of philosophy and of religion does exist, and that it is growing. One piece ofevidence for this is the book under review. It is an orchestrated collection of articles united by two mainelements: the shared topic of religion, and the relationship of all of the contributors to the city Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Each of the contributors to the volume has some close connection to Cluj-Napoca, aprinciple Romanian educational center, most of them living in Cluj at the time of publication. Eachcontributor also has a unique area of academic specialization, thus making the book a pluriperspectivalexamination of religion by authors within the same geographical and cultural region.The articles reflect the specializations of the various contributors. Each author has contributedan article that in some way brings his or her own specialization to bear on the study of religion. Many ofthe contributors are from the philosophy department of Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, while othersare from other departments of the same university or other schools within the city.  The contributorsfrom the philosophy department of BBU are, first, Marcel Bodea, who is a doctoral candidate at theUniversity of Bucharest and instructor of epistemology in the Chair of Systematic Philosophy in theDepartment of Philosophy of BabeÕ-Bolyai University. Bodea writes about the differences andsimilarities between scientific knowledge and religious knowledge. Second, Aurel Codoban, who is aprofessor of philosophy of religion in the Chair of Systematic Philosophy at BBU, writes about theGnostic elements in popular Romanian Christianity. Third, Vasile Frãteanu, who is a professor ofphilosophy of culture and chairs the Systematic Philosophy section of the philosophy department ofBBU, contributes an article arguing that philosophy is in a unique position to make possible aRELIGION IN EASTERN EUROPE XXIV, 5 (OCTOBER 2004) page 48.knowledge of God. Fourth, Mihaela Frunzã, who is a professor of feminist thought in the Chair ofSystematic Philosophy, contributes an article on the integration of religion and philosophy in the thoughtof Maimonides. Fifth, Sandu Frunzã, who is a professor of philosophy of religion in the Chair ofSystematic Philosophy and is the editor of this volume, discusses the relationship of philosophy andJewish tradition in the thought of two leading 20  century Jewish thinkers, Buber and Levinas. Finally,ththe author of this review, Michael S. Jones, who at the time the book was published was a doctoralcandidate at Temple University and an adjunct professor of philosophy in the Chair of History,Philosophy, and Logic in the Department of Philosophy at BBU, contributes an article explainingWilliam James’ proposal for a pragmatic justification of religious belief.Of the contributors who are not from the philosophy department of BBU, four are professors ofreligion. Father Ioan Chirilã, professor of Old Testament in the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at BBU,contributes another article attempting to reconcile philosophy and theology, this time through adiscussion of the Romanian philosopher D. D. RoÕca and the Romanian theologian Isidor Todoran.Father Ioan-Vasile Leb, professor of church history and chair of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology atBBU, presents an essay on the early 4 -century Christian apologist Lactantius, using Lactantius’thwritings as the basis for a warning against pagan philosophy and an argument for a Christian approachto philosophy. Father Ôtefan Iloaie, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Orthodox Theology of theUniversity of Sibiu and lecturer on ethics in the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at BBU, contributes anarticle that attempts to define the basic characteristics and strengths of a Christian philosophy. CãlinSãplãcan, doctoral candidate and instructor of ethics in the Faculty of Greek Catholic Theology at BBU,discusses the differences and similarities between religious ethics and philosophical ethics and arguesfor a dialogue between the two.The remaining contributors are professors or researchers in various other domains atinstitutions located in Cluj-Napoca. Ôtefan Angi is a professor of aesthetics at the Gheorghe DimaAcademy of Music. Angi’s article discusses the role of aesthetic contextual elements in religious (aswell as non-religious) interpretation. Vasile Boari, professor of political science at BabeÕ-BolyaiUniversity and chair of the Faculty of Political Science and Administration, investigates the philosophyof the author of the Biblical book Ecclesiastes, finding pieces of wisdom that he deems equal to theinsights of the great philosophers. Camil MureÕanu, who is director of the Institute of History at the Clujbranch of the Romanian Academy (and also professor in the philosophy department of BBU), providesan analysis of the concepts of certainty and doubt that attempts to uncover a zone of reciprocity andtolerance between the two. Marius Jucan, professor of American Studies in the department of EuropeanStudies at BBU, contributes a study on the relationship between the religious and the political inliterature. Lastly, Andrei Marga, the president of BBU and a former professor of philosophy, writes onthe return of contemporary philosophy to the contemplation of religion, using the Jewish philosophy ofFranz Rosenzweig as his example.Many of the articles that comprise this volume are truly pluriperspectival: they involve not onlythe study of religion from some perspective outside of religion, but also the embracing of the insights ofone religious tradition by an author from another tradition. An example of this is the contribution by Dr.Sandu Frunzã. Frunzã’s article combines a historical and philosophical analysis of certain religiouselements in the philosophies of Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas. Dr. Frunzã is well qualified towrite about Jewish philosophy, having studied in Israel and having taught courses on Judaism at BBU.Frunzã opens his article with a discussion of the essence of Jewish philosophy. He then turns toan analysis of the relation of philosophy and religion in the thought of Buber and Levinas. Then followsan exegesis of the philosophy of relationality as found in each thinker, including discussion of thesimilarities and differences between human-human relationships and the human-divine relationship.Along the way Frunzã points out how the Jewishness of their thought is reflected in their philosophicalproposals. He reflects positively on the conceptualization of relationality found in these thinkers andsuggests that in addition to illuminating the natures of the subject-subject relationship, the subject-objectrelationship, and the subject-God relationship, this conceptualization may also provide a clarification ofthe philosophy-theology relationship.Frunzã’s appropriating of elements of the philosophies of Buber and Levinas, which accordingto Frunzã’s analyis are at least in part a product of their Jewishness, is particularly interesting becauseRELIGION IN EASTERN EUROPE XXIV, 5 (OCTOBER 2004) page 49.while Frunzã views the Jewish elements in the thought of Buber and Levinas as a positive contribution,Frunzã is not himself Jewish. To the contrary, Frunzã is Romanian Orthodox, and has writtenextensively on the philosophical elements in the thought of that greatest of Romanian Orthodoxtheologians, Dumitru Staniloae. This is an outstanding example of the intellectual openness and theinter-ideological profundity that can now be found in Eastern Europe.The articles of which this book is composed are fitted together loosely, held together by thecommon interest in the interdisciplinary study of religion and by common cultural elements, but distinctin their specific topics and in many cases in their methodologies. In reading them one gets an impressionof unfettered intellectual freedom, each author arguing for his or her own perspective or conclusion withcare for neither overt nor covert political consequences. While the articles and the subjects that theyaddress are interesting, the intellectual freedom evidenced in these articles may be as interesting as whatthe articles actually say about religion. To those who have an interest in the development of EasternEurope, this book may be one welcome sign of the progress of intellectual freedom in the region.This broad array of experts bringing their diverse expertise to bear on topics of religion andphilosophy is compelling evidence that the interdisciplinary study of philosophy and of religion existsand is thriving in at least one part of Eastern Europe. Since the political and intellectual freedoms thathelped to bring about this community of liberal-minded scholars and their work are now foundthroughout most of Eastern Europe, it seems likely that such interdisciplinary efforts can be found inother Eastern European educational centers as well.Michael S. Jones, PhD, associate editor, Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies

Review: Filosofie și Religie: O Abordare Multidisciplinară (Philosophy of Religion: An Interdisciplinary Approach) (by Sandu Frunza)

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Review: Filosofie și Religie: O Abordare Multidisciplinară (Philosophy of Religion: An Interdisciplinary Approach) (by Sandu Frunza)

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