Learning to Trust in Freedom: Signs from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Traditions
by David B. Burrell, C.S.C.
University of Scranton Press, 2010 Paper: 978-1-58966-195-0 Library of Congress Classification BT55.B88 2010 Dewey Decimal Classification 202.2
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
True religious faith cannot be confirmed by any external proofs. Rather, it is founded on a basic act of trust—and the common root of that trust, for Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, is a belief in the divine creation of the universe. But with Learning to Trust in Freedom, David B. Burrell asks the provocative question: How do we reach that belief, and what is it about the universe that could possibly testify to its divine origins? Even St. Augustine, he points out, could only find faith after a harrowing journey through the lures of desire—and it is that very desire that Burrell seizes on as a tool with which to explore the origin and purpose of the world. Delving deep into the intertwinings of desire and faith, and drawing on St. John of the Cross, Edith Stein, and Charles Taylor, Burrell offers a new understanding of free will, trust, and perception.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
David B. Burrell, C.S.C., is the Hesburgh Professor Emeritus in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is currently professor of ethics and development at Uganda Martyrs University in Nkozi, Uganda.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface: Time and Freedom
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Freedom as Response
1. Learning from Traditions to Overcome the Pastness of the Past: From Modernity to
Postmodernity
2. Contrasting Acting as Initiating with Acting as Responding: A Classical View of Will
3. Creation and Cosmic Trust in Abrahamic Faith Traditions
4. Philosophical Presumptions and Strategies Clarified by Theology
5. How Narrative Contextualizes and Articulates Freedom: Augustine and Etty Hillesum
6. Beyond Optimism to Hope: John of the Cross and Edith Stein Responding to Charles Taylor
Learning to Trust in Freedom: Signs from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Traditions
by David B. Burrell, C.S.C.
University of Scranton Press, 2010 Paper: 978-1-58966-195-0
True religious faith cannot be confirmed by any external proofs. Rather, it is founded on a basic act of trust—and the common root of that trust, for Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, is a belief in the divine creation of the universe. But with Learning to Trust in Freedom, David B. Burrell asks the provocative question: How do we reach that belief, and what is it about the universe that could possibly testify to its divine origins? Even St. Augustine, he points out, could only find faith after a harrowing journey through the lures of desire—and it is that very desire that Burrell seizes on as a tool with which to explore the origin and purpose of the world. Delving deep into the intertwinings of desire and faith, and drawing on St. John of the Cross, Edith Stein, and Charles Taylor, Burrell offers a new understanding of free will, trust, and perception.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
David B. Burrell, C.S.C., is the Hesburgh Professor Emeritus in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is currently professor of ethics and development at Uganda Martyrs University in Nkozi, Uganda.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface: Time and Freedom
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Freedom as Response
1. Learning from Traditions to Overcome the Pastness of the Past: From Modernity to
Postmodernity
2. Contrasting Acting as Initiating with Acting as Responding: A Classical View of Will
3. Creation and Cosmic Trust in Abrahamic Faith Traditions
4. Philosophical Presumptions and Strategies Clarified by Theology
5. How Narrative Contextualizes and Articulates Freedom: Augustine and Etty Hillesum
6. Beyond Optimism to Hope: John of the Cross and Edith Stein Responding to Charles Taylor