Abstract: James Greenaway Eric Voegelin’s philosophy of history is both intellectually illuminating and evocative. It is also voluminous. Therefore, this essay selectively discusses some of the main themes of his mature thought. It begins with an exploration of what Voegelin found to be meaningful patterns in history. Then it elucidates the connection between his discovery of such patterns and the underlying theory of consciousness that he developed earlier, but which acted as a catalyst for his later thought. Voegelin’s concern to account for the emergence of historical consciousness was a key part of his philosophy of history, and is discussed here. Finally, the essay concludes with a brief meditation on the significance of his symbol, “universal humanity.”
Abstract: Jean-François Méthot There exists an epistemological tension, seen as a dilemma, in current philosophy of history. History as a human science aims to explain past events, but as a narrative discourse, it seems ill fitted for any kind of formal epistemological justification. This dilemma seems artificial in a way inasmuch as we give meaning to the events of our lives by inserting them in narratives. We spontaneously use narrative to explain what has happened. We consider narrativity here as a range of “language-games” bound to a variety of forms of life, and on which we rely to understand actions and events. If we are worried about the contamination of the logos by the mythos, we revisit the Aristotelian distinction between poetic and historical narratives to support the idea that history can remain in narrative discourse and that narrativity participates in explanation and understanding.
Abstract: Rémi Caucanas «Is the past intelligible other than as persisting in the present'» asked Paul Ricoeur in a chapter of Time and Narrative. The French philosopher thus introduced an author still little known in the French-speaking world: Robin G. Collingwood. At the time of the Cancel Culture however, Collingwood’s work invites us to question the relationship between past and present in an original way, and to follow a path of writing history that is not without interest today. In the face of the current debunking of the past, this article therefore also aims at making known the career of this British philosopher, before approaching his “idea of history” and analyzing the central concept of re-effectuation.
Abstract: Louis Roy, o.p. This article presents views of universal history taken from the Bible and from two Christian authors. Those religious and theological interpretations of history are characterized by the concern to highlight a factor that is transcendent. This factor is seen as the overall meaning that underpins human existence in our world.
Abstract: Daniel Marguerat Theories on social memory have greatly contributed to renew how to approach Christian historiography, particularly Luke’s work (Gospel and Acts). They explain how, after the crisis of the sixties, which saw the disappearance of many apostolic figures, writing became imperative in order to stabilize the believing communities’ identity. The author of Ad Theophilum writes a kerygmatic historiography, in which the kerygma forms the narrative and apostolic tradition becomes history. Passage from a religion of conversion (Paul’s) to a religion of tradition can be detected. Three hints point to that: the way the title of apostle is used, the normative status given to apostolic teaching and the figure of Paul presented as a model.
Abstract: Patrick Craine The temptation to radical apocalypticism has plagued the Church in every age since the time of the apostles. Yet some moments, such as the recent COVID-19 crisis, are especially ripe for such tendencies. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas had to confront radical apocalypticism on two fronts: from the followers of Joachim of Fiore and from the mendicants’ opponents among the secular priests at the University of Paris. These confrontations gave Aquinas occasion to articulate a balanced approach to eschatology, rooted in Scripture and the tradition of the Fathers. In this paper, I examine Aquinas’ critique of radical eschatology in the context of a broader examination of his theology of history. Aquinas’ sober analysis, I maintain, can serve us well in confronting our own struggles with radical eschatologies.
Abstract: Jean-Jacques Lavoie This article aims at answering the following questions: How does Qohelet conceive of the relationship between the human world and the animal world' Is it a relationship that emphasizes the differences between these two worlds or their similarities' Are these relations envisaged from the angle of peaceful or conflictual coexistence' Between humans and animals, is there a relationship of cohabitation or domination' The answers to these questions will make it possible to discover, on the one hand, that the borders between the animal world and the human world are porous and, on the other hand, that there are relations of domination in each of the two worlds, and between these two worlds, these relations being moreover not foreign to the theology of Qohelet.
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