Authors & Affiliations: Hsieh L.C., Holy Light Theological Seminary, Taiwan

Pages: 7 - 46

Abstract: This paper argues that the phrase "works of the law" found in Paul's letters is best interpreted as "functions of the law" or the "characteristic activities of the law." This paper is divided into two parts: First, this paper will show that in the Greco-Roman philosophical tradition often takes the meaning of "function." Second, this paper will examine how "works of the law" interpreted as "functions of the law" might cohere with the overall argument of Paul's letters. © 2018 Chung Yuan Christian University. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Function of the law; New perspective on Paul; Works of the law

Authors & Affiliations: Lin H.-C., Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, China

Pages: 47 - 92

Abstract: Excerpting exempla is a common rhetorical device for Jesuits in their expounding of Christian doctrine, and is also an efficient instrument in the reasoning and verification of religious tenets. Well versed in Rhetoric, Alfonso Vagnone (c. 1566-1640) was outstanding among his Jesuit peers in making use of analogous comparisons as exemplifications to reason things out. Within his Chinese writings and translations-either works of religious literature, e.g., Shengmu xingshi [Vita of the Virgin Mary, 1629], or works introducing Western Ethics, e.g, Tongyou jiaoyu [On the Education of Children, c. 1631]- exempla can be seen all over in this wise. Most of Vagnone's works were completed during his mission in Jiangzhou, Shanxi (1624-40); among these works, the target texts here, Zesheng shipian [Ten Discourses of Gao Ze-sheng, c. 1628-30] and Shiwei [Ten Consolations, c. 1628-30], are still wanting of in-depth research. The archetype of exempla quoted in these two works include plots of Greek mythology and epics, and Renaissance European collections of exempla or historical anecdotes, etc Some of those exemplary conducts and illustrative personages were making their debut to late-Ming readers, while some others already showed up and would appear in later Jesuits' works, or even, in the rest of Vagnone's works again. This paper aims at groping for the archetype of some exempla excerpted by Vagnone in Zesheng shipian and Shhvei, and at sorting out the interrelationship between these recurring variants and adaptations of a same archetype. What is more, this paper tries to explicate the aforementioned phenomenon of a cross-referencing network by the theory of intertextuality. © 2018 Chung Yuan Christian University. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Alfonso Vagnone; Exemplum; Intertextuality; Shiwei; Zesheng shipian

Authors & Affiliations: Dingan W., School of Humanities, Zhejiang University of Technology, China

Pages: 93 - 128

Abstract: During the heated period of Chinese rites controversy in mid Qing dynasty, the Jesuits conducted questionnaires in several places in China to survey Chinese funeral and sacrifices. The article centers on Yan Mo's "Li Shi Tiao Wen." By comparing several answers' opinions, analyzing their prejudice and research, furthermore, taking Aquinas' Religious Acts as the frame, the article tries to display the religiosity of Confucian rites. © 2018 Chung Yuan Christian University. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Confucianism; Religiosity; Sacrificial rites; Yan Mo

Authors & Affiliations: Zhen L., School of Social Development, Yangzhou University, China

Pages: 129 - 150

Abstract: In his Philosophy and Law Leo Strauss published his comments on Julius Guttmann's Die Philosophie des Judentums. Strauss considers Guttmann's "philosophy of religion" as intended to reconcile the antagonism between the orthodoxy and the Enlightenment by virtue of the medieval Jewish philosophy. Guttmann, however, can not truly return to the medieval Jewish rationalism as exemplified by Moses Maimonides because his philosophy of religion is determined by the tradition of philosophy since the Enlightenment, especially Hermann Cohen's Neo-Kantianism. By arguing with Guttmann Strauss reveals the root of the modern theologico-political predicament and its possible solution. Strauss believes that Plato's conception of divine laws is the very essence of Maimonides' rationalism which, as a rationalism understanding revelation by means of that conception, suggests the original horizon of understanding the challenge of revelation to philosophy. For Strauss only this original horizon that transcends the enlightenment rationalism supplies the possibility of overcoming the modern theologico-political predicament. © 2018 Chung Yuan Christian University. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Guttmann; Philosophy; Plato; Strauss; Theology

Authors & Affiliations: Ho P.-S., Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-Sen University, China

Pages: 151 - 166

Abstract: The Christian tradition holds both that God is ineffable and that God can be named. Scholastic philosophers seek to reconcile these claims. This paper investigates Francisco Suarez's contribution to this issue and identifies its problems. Suarez's strategy focuses on the communicative aspect of language, and emphasizes that in imposing a name, the speaker must aim at making the hearer understand his intention. The emphasis on linguistic communication enables Suarez to correct Aquinas' and Scotus' respective theories of divine ineffability. Aquinas holds that man is incapable of speaking of the infinitely perfect God because of his finite intellect. But Suarez argues that even God with His perfect intellect cannot speak of Himself to human beings, because the spoken content would be incomprehensible to them. Scotus maintains that although no human language can describe the divine nature, God can still be given a name insofar as the human speaker intends to use it to refer to Him. But Suarez argues to the contrary that the speaker cannot impose the name at will and should endeavor to make the hearer understand his intention. Nevertheless, this paper argues that Suarez misunderstood Scotus, because the latter explicitly held that the imposition of name is not an arbitrary affair but should be based on the correct understanding of the object named. Furthermore, Suarez confuses concept as such with the formation of concept in auditory experience, thereby exaggerating the role of the hearer's understanding in constraining the imposition of names. © 2018 Chung Yuan Christian University. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Francisco Suarez; Ineffability; John Duns Scotus; Thomas Aquinas

Authors & Affiliations: Luh J.-J., Graduate Institute of Philosophy, National Central University, Taiwan

Pages: 167 - 188

Abstract: The Reformation has just celebrated its Five Hundredth Anniversary, the discussion of its impact on Europe, Western culture and even the history of the worid is currently full of enthusiasm, but this essay will explore a unique line of thought in this regard, namely the relationship between the Reformation and contemporary hermeneutic philosophy. This will be performed in the following way. First of all, it deals with the general context of the process of the occidental classical philosophy through the Reformation to the turn of the philosophical hermeneutics, thus the paradigm shift from the ancient greek apxh-philosophy to the Germanic-mysticistical theological philosophizing, from which the doubled hermeneutic turn arises. One is the turning of Western philosophy to hermeneutic philosophizing, the other the turning of Western hermeneutics to philosophical hermeneutics. Thereafter it treats with the twofold key in the history of the genesis and development of contemporary German hermeneutics: the hermeneutic turn that is originated from Heidegger and executed through Gadamer, especially their original ideas and the resulting controversy of European-continental hermeneutics. Finally, this controversy shall be resolved by the innovative conception of systemic hermeneutics, which can transform such hermeneutic disputes into reciprocally complementary hermeneutical ways of thinking, modes, and approaches. © 2018 Chung Yuan Christian University. All rights reserved.

Keywords: German mysticism; Hermeneutic philosophy; Philosophy; Reformation; Systemics