Leonard Swidler
Biographic Data
| ID | 1503781 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leonard Swidler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Leonard |
| FAMILY NAME | Swidler |
| SIGNATURE | SWIDLER L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Temple University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 25 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1962 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
A Reflection on Josef Ratzinger
A Reflection on Josef Ratzinger:"Say Nothing Malicious about Our Fellow Humans" Leonard Swidler Many wonderful things can be said of Pope Benedict XVI (Professor Josef Ratzinger), and many have been said in the wake of his recent death (on December 31, 2022, at the age of 95). I think that it will also be worthwhile to share a few things with the general public, particularly other Catholics, about my very limited—yet, I think, insightful—contacts…
A Review-Reflection
A Review-Reflection Leonard Swidler Rebecca Moore, A Blessing to Each Other: A New Account of Jewish and Christian Relations. Pearl River, NY: Crossroad Publishing Co., 2021. Pp. 293. $32.95, paper. Rebecca Moore, A Blessing to Each Other: A New Account of Jewish and Christian Relations. Pearl River, NY: Crossroad Publishing Co., 2021. Pp. 293. $32.95, paper. This book is the work of a Christian scholar about the relationship between Christianity…
A Call to All the Earth
A Call to All the Earth Leonard Swidler Laudato si, Pope Francis’s Circular Letter (in Greek, “Encyclical”), is meant to encircle the whole Earth and every one on it.1 In a way, like his namesake Francis of Assisi, he also is addressing not only us humans but also all the animals, as well as Sister Water and Brother Wind. For all of its abundance of sage wisdom, deep philosophical insight, and manifold knowledge about scientific matters, I find t…
How the Idea of a "Global Ethic" Arose-And a Catholic Christian's Reading of the Qur'ānic Basis for It
This essay strives to achieve two main purposes. First, it records the personal and historical story of the movement for a global ethic. Asked to write it for an Iranian publication, the article also addresses Christian-Muslim relations. Growing out of World War II, the history includes records of the Una Sancta movement, the formation of the World Council of Churches, Vatican II, and the friendship between Hans Küng and the author that initiated…
Juden und Christen-das eine Volk Gottes by Walter Kasper
Reviewed by: Juden und Christen—das eine Volk Gottes by Walter Kasper Leonard Swidler Walter Kasper Juden und Christen—das eine Volk Gottes, Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag, 2020. Pp. 160. This is an important book. But first some pertinent—and perhaps some may also think, "impertinent"—background information. Reviewing this "must read" contribution to Jewish-Christian relations by Cardinal Professor Walter Kasper brings me back to when I was…
"The "Golden Rule
The “Golden Rule”: The “Best Rule” Leonard Swidler I. Background The “Golden Rule”—“Love your neighbor as yourself”—is doubtless the most widely known and affirmed ethical principle worldwide. At the same time, it has its serious, quasi-serious, and jocund critics. There are also variations of the Golden Rule, such as the so-called “Silver Rule” (the negative articulation: “You should not do to your neighbor what you do not want done to yourself”…
Humanization
Humanization:Reason—Freedom—Dynamism—Dialogue Leonard Swidler I. Slow Steps at First How did we humans become human? Everything is somehow a development of what preceded it. However, there are also times and situations where it is possible to perceive that not just another step has been taken in a seemingly endless series of steps—that a breakthrough has happened. We see this on the physical level, for example, when gradual step-by-step changes o…
The Movement for a Global Ethic
The Movement for a Global Ethic Leonard Swidler I. What the Global Ethic Is and Is Not The "Global Ethic" is the articulation of the basic principles of right and wrong, which in fact are found to be affirmed by all major—and not so major—religions and ethical systems of the world, past and present. It does not go beyond the existing commonalities. However, this de facto existing broad basic agreement on ethical principles unfortunately is largel…
Dialogue
Dialogue:The Latest Mark of Modernity* Leonard [email protected] Modernity, as historians customarily use the term today starts with the eighteenth century and is characterized by two terms: the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. As the "Age of Reason" indicates, Modernity has several "marks," and one foundational Mark is reason. Before the Enlightenment, the test questions about what is true were "Does the Tradition prescribe it?" or …
From Reformation to Transformation
From Reformation to Transformation:The "Age of Global Dialogue"* Leonard Swidler Five hundred years ago, on October 31, 1517, the Western world in the person of Martin Luther started on the road of Christendom's Reformation, which has led to today's unforeseen and amazing global transformation: the "Age of Global Dialogue."1 I want to look briefly at what happened back then, where we are today, and how we got from there to here. Then, we can ask …
Where in the World Are We Going
Where in the World Are We Going? Leonard Swidler I. Setting Aquarter of a century ago I wrote a small book about the meaning of life. 1 It was even translated into Portuguese. 2 I had proposed as the title: Does Life Have Meaning? Some Answers at the Edge of the 21st Century, but the publisher presumed that a positive title would exercise a stronger sales draw. Basically, all the engines of change that are operating today were in place already th…
Dialogue Dimensions, Directions, and Degrees
Dialogue Dimensions, Directions, and Degrees Leonard Swidler I. Presuppositions1 Dialogue is at the very heart of the universe, of which we humans are the highest expression: from the macro level (the interaction of matter and energy) to the micro level (the interaction of protons and electrons in every atom) to the human level (the symbiosis of body and spirit in every human) to the interpersonal level (the dialogue between woman and man) to the…
Focus on Jewish-Christian-Muslim Commonalities
Focus on Jewish-Christian-Muslim Commonalities Leonard Swidler Today the press and the internet emblazon the differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Sadly, however, such an initial focus on differences produces a gross distortion. At times, even scholars who should know better embark on this wrong-headed path that leads to an Alice-in-Wonderland view of these three intimately related and deeply similar religions. There is vastly more …
Religion
Religion:Fading or Flourishing? Leonard Swidler With the rise of scientific thinking in the seventeenth century in the West, and then its spread throughout the world, many claimed that religion was fading from the human scene. In recent years, with the rapid spread of various forms of conservative/fundamentalist religion (mostly Muslim, but also Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.), many are arguing that religion is not only not gasping its …
The "Dialogue of Civilizations" at the Tipping Point
The "Dialogue of Civilizations" at the Tipping Point:The "Dialogosphere" Leonard Swidler Keywords dialogue of civilizations, "dialogosphere", religion and idolatry, dialogcie, cosmic dance of dialogue, Axial Period, global dialogue The year 2015 marks in general a number of milestones that lead me to reflect on how much has happened in the past half century or so—while I am still around to do so. It is now seventy years since the end of World War…
Three Paths-Whither
Three Paths—Whither? Leonard Swidler Keywords Alan Race, Kenneth Rose, exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism, baptism, salvation We are celebrating the thirty-third anniversary of a then-new articulation of the religious understanding of the ultimate meaning of life as coined by Alan Race: exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism.1 This tablature has been both insightful and inciteful, as can be seen by its almost universal reference among theologians. …
Vatican II-The Catholic Revolution from Damnation to Dialogue
Like most, if not all, ancient religions, Catholic Christianity was sure that it alone had all the answers to the meaning of life (the different answers to that question-What is the meaning of life, and how to accomplish it?-is what produced the different religions). Although most Christian writers before Constantine adopted Christianity for the Roman Empire in the early fourth century argued in favor of religious freedom for all, after Constanti…
Religious Diversity and a Global Ethic
Heutige Implikationen des jüdisch-christlichen Dialogs über Jesus Christus
Toward a Universal Theology of Religion
A “Just,” A Human Society
Buddhism Made Plain. An Introduction for Christians and Jews
Women Priests in the Catholic Church? A Theological Historical Investigation
Freedom and the Catholic Church
“It is in the nineteenth century—the century of freedom and liberalism—that we witness an extraordinary growth of arch-conservative authoritarianism, of Catholic ghettoism. ... If the first session of Vatican Council II can be said to mark the wedding anew of the Catholic Church and freedom, the Catholic University affair of the spring, 1963, was its consummation. ... The issue of freedom in the Catholic Church is one that suddenly and providenti…
German Protestantism and Ecumenism
Dialogue
Dialogue:The Latest Mark of Modernity* Leonard [email protected] Modernity, as historians customarily use the term today starts with the eighteenth century and is characterized by two terms: the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. As the "Age of Reason" indicates, Modernity has several "marks," and one foundational Mark is reason. Before the Enlightenment, the test questions about what is true were "Does the Tradition prescribe it?" or …
The "Dialogue of Civilizations" at the Tipping Point
The "Dialogue of Civilizations" at the Tipping Point:The "Dialogosphere" Leonard Swidler Keywords dialogue of civilizations, "dialogosphere", religion and idolatry, dialogcie, cosmic dance of dialogue, Axial Period, global dialogue The year 2015 marks in general a number of milestones that lead me to reflect on how much has happened in the past half century or so—while I am still around to do so. It is now seventy years since the end of World War…
German Protestantism and Ecumenism
Freedom and the Catholic Church
“It is in the nineteenth century—the century of freedom and liberalism—that we witness an extraordinary growth of arch-conservative authoritarianism, of Catholic ghettoism. ... If the first session of Vatican Council II can be said to mark the wedding anew of the Catholic Church and freedom, the Catholic University affair of the spring, 1963, was its consummation. ... The issue of freedom in the Catholic Church is one that suddenly and providenti…
Women Priests in the Catholic Church? A Theological Historical Investigation
Buddhism Made Plain. An Introduction for Christians and Jews
Toward a Universal Theology of Religion
A “Just,” A Human Society
Heutige Implikationen des jüdisch-christlichen Dialogs über Jesus Christus
Religious Diversity and a Global Ethic
The "Dialogue of Civilizations" at the Tipping Point
The "Dialogue of Civilizations" at the Tipping Point:The "Dialogosphere" Leonard Swidler Keywords dialogue of civilizations, "dialogosphere", religion and idolatry, dialogcie, cosmic dance of dialogue, Axial Period, global dialogue The year 2015 marks in general a number of milestones that lead me to reflect on how much has happened in the past half century or so—while I am still around to do so. It is now seventy years since the end of World War…
Three Paths-Whither
Three Paths—Whither? Leonard Swidler Keywords Alan Race, Kenneth Rose, exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism, baptism, salvation We are celebrating the thirty-third anniversary of a then-new articulation of the religious understanding of the ultimate meaning of life as coined by Alan Race: exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism.1 This tablature has been both insightful and inciteful, as can be seen by its almost universal reference among theologians. …
Vatican II-The Catholic Revolution from Damnation to Dialogue
Like most, if not all, ancient religions, Catholic Christianity was sure that it alone had all the answers to the meaning of life (the different answers to that question-What is the meaning of life, and how to accomplish it?-is what produced the different religions). Although most Christian writers before Constantine adopted Christianity for the Roman Empire in the early fourth century argued in favor of religious freedom for all, after Constanti…
Dialogue Dimensions, Directions, and Degrees
Dialogue Dimensions, Directions, and Degrees Leonard Swidler I. Presuppositions1 Dialogue is at the very heart of the universe, of which we humans are the highest expression: from the macro level (the interaction of matter and energy) to the micro level (the interaction of protons and electrons in every atom) to the human level (the symbiosis of body and spirit in every human) to the interpersonal level (the dialogue between woman and man) to the…
Focus on Jewish-Christian-Muslim Commonalities
Focus on Jewish-Christian-Muslim Commonalities Leonard Swidler Today the press and the internet emblazon the differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Sadly, however, such an initial focus on differences produces a gross distortion. At times, even scholars who should know better embark on this wrong-headed path that leads to an Alice-in-Wonderland view of these three intimately related and deeply similar religions. There is vastly more …
Religion
Religion:Fading or Flourishing? Leonard Swidler With the rise of scientific thinking in the seventeenth century in the West, and then its spread throughout the world, many claimed that religion was fading from the human scene. In recent years, with the rapid spread of various forms of conservative/fundamentalist religion (mostly Muslim, but also Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.), many are arguing that religion is not only not gasping its …
From Reformation to Transformation
From Reformation to Transformation:The "Age of Global Dialogue"* Leonard Swidler Five hundred years ago, on October 31, 1517, the Western world in the person of Martin Luther started on the road of Christendom's Reformation, which has led to today's unforeseen and amazing global transformation: the "Age of Global Dialogue."1 I want to look briefly at what happened back then, where we are today, and how we got from there to here. Then, we can ask …
Where in the World Are We Going
Where in the World Are We Going? Leonard Swidler I. Setting Aquarter of a century ago I wrote a small book about the meaning of life. 1 It was even translated into Portuguese. 2 I had proposed as the title: Does Life Have Meaning? Some Answers at the Edge of the 21st Century, but the publisher presumed that a positive title would exercise a stronger sales draw. Basically, all the engines of change that are operating today were in place already th…
The Movement for a Global Ethic
The Movement for a Global Ethic Leonard Swidler I. What the Global Ethic Is and Is Not The "Global Ethic" is the articulation of the basic principles of right and wrong, which in fact are found to be affirmed by all major—and not so major—religions and ethical systems of the world, past and present. It does not go beyond the existing commonalities. However, this de facto existing broad basic agreement on ethical principles unfortunately is largel…
Dialogue
Dialogue:The Latest Mark of Modernity* Leonard [email protected] Modernity, as historians customarily use the term today starts with the eighteenth century and is characterized by two terms: the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. As the "Age of Reason" indicates, Modernity has several "marks," and one foundational Mark is reason. Before the Enlightenment, the test questions about what is true were "Does the Tradition prescribe it?" or …
"The "Golden Rule
The “Golden Rule”: The “Best Rule” Leonard Swidler I. Background The “Golden Rule”—“Love your neighbor as yourself”—is doubtless the most widely known and affirmed ethical principle worldwide. At the same time, it has its serious, quasi-serious, and jocund critics. There are also variations of the Golden Rule, such as the so-called “Silver Rule” (the negative articulation: “You should not do to your neighbor what you do not want done to yourself”…
Humanization
Humanization:Reason—Freedom—Dynamism—Dialogue Leonard Swidler I. Slow Steps at First How did we humans become human? Everything is somehow a development of what preceded it. However, there are also times and situations where it is possible to perceive that not just another step has been taken in a seemingly endless series of steps—that a breakthrough has happened. We see this on the physical level, for example, when gradual step-by-step changes o…
Juden und Christen-das eine Volk Gottes by Walter Kasper
Reviewed by: Juden und Christen—das eine Volk Gottes by Walter Kasper Leonard Swidler Walter Kasper Juden und Christen—das eine Volk Gottes, Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag, 2020. Pp. 160. This is an important book. But first some pertinent—and perhaps some may also think, "impertinent"—background information. Reviewing this "must read" contribution to Jewish-Christian relations by Cardinal Professor Walter Kasper brings me back to when I was…
How the Idea of a "Global Ethic" Arose-And a Catholic Christian's Reading of the Qur'ānic Basis for It
This essay strives to achieve two main purposes. First, it records the personal and historical story of the movement for a global ethic. Asked to write it for an Iranian publication, the article also addresses Christian-Muslim relations. Growing out of World War II, the history includes records of the Una Sancta movement, the formation of the World Council of Churches, Vatican II, and the friendship between Hans Küng and the author that initiated…
A Review-Reflection
A Review-Reflection Leonard Swidler Rebecca Moore, A Blessing to Each Other: A New Account of Jewish and Christian Relations. Pearl River, NY: Crossroad Publishing Co., 2021. Pp. 293. $32.95, paper. Rebecca Moore, A Blessing to Each Other: A New Account of Jewish and Christian Relations. Pearl River, NY: Crossroad Publishing Co., 2021. Pp. 293. $32.95, paper. This book is the work of a Christian scholar about the relationship between Christianity…
A Call to All the Earth
A Call to All the Earth Leonard Swidler Laudato si, Pope Francis’s Circular Letter (in Greek, “Encyclical”), is meant to encircle the whole Earth and every one on it.1 In a way, like his namesake Francis of Assisi, he also is addressing not only us humans but also all the animals, as well as Sister Water and Brother Wind. For all of its abundance of sage wisdom, deep philosophical insight, and manifold knowledge about scientific matters, I find t…
A Reflection on Josef Ratzinger
A Reflection on Josef Ratzinger:"Say Nothing Malicious about Our Fellow Humans" Leonard Swidler Many wonderful things can be said of Pope Benedict XVI (Professor Josef Ratzinger), and many have been said in the wake of his recent death (on December 31, 2022, at the age of 95). I think that it will also be worthwhile to share a few things with the general public, particularly other Catholics, about my very limited—yet, I think, insightful—contacts…
Philosophy (25 works) · Theology (19 works) · Religious studies (17 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Law (13 works) · Political science (13 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · History (9 works) · Classics (7 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (7 works)