Spiritual Reflections
The Trinary Formula for Spiritual Unification as Illustrated in the Phenomenological Approaches of Father Pavel Florensky and Philosopher Edith Stein
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sally Stocksdale
In this paper I discuss the Trinary formulae of the great religious philosophers, the Russian polymath, Father Pavel Florensky, and the German-Jewish philosopher of Phenomenology, Edith Stein. Both were deeply religious and wholly believed in mystical Christianity. Although there was no overlap in terms of their influences, I seek to show how Florensky’s theological explanation of transfiguration and Stein’s theory of spiritual community building are both rooted in a deeply spiritual interpretation of life, and that each was contingent upon a triad. In Florensky’s case, this was a trinary formula of "from one, to a dyad, to a triad," which replicated via an irresistibly contagious aspect of a “triad of lovers (as in agapē love), whereby the end result is unity on a cosmic level; where everyone embraces and is embraced by one “Godhuman organism.” Stein applied a trinary formula of “From I, to You, to We” to her definition of and prescription for a perfect, spiritual community. For both, the underlying causation for a community is the urge, the need for, the pursuit of unity, which all individuals possess. Stein's formula is interesting because it is at once both an explication of her formula and an illustration of a classic phenomenological analysis of the process and experience of community. The latter helps us to understand Florinsky's formula. I conclude that we must assume that the coincidence of their triune methodologies is an example of the statement that the existence of this concept is found in the mind of humankind.
A Comparison of the Incidence and Function of Female Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Deborah Gruber
Although the Hebrew Bible devotes a predominance of space and context to male prophets there are nevertheless notable females who emerge in the Bible as exceptional intermediaries who interpreted the word of the Divine, influencing both monarchy and nation. This paper compares and contrasts the status and influence of female prophecy in the Hebrew Bible with female prophecy simultaneously existing throughout the Ancient Near East in a polytheistic environment.
