Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Scope and Content
Parameters of the Study
1. Significant Moments in the Historical Development of the Study of Religion and Religious Experience
Introduction
1. Schleiermacher and The Feeling of Absolute Dependence
2. Rudolf Otto and The Idea of the Holy
Mysterium tremendum et fascinans
3. Gerardus Van der Leeuw: Phenomenology of Religion
4. Mircea Eliade and the Study of the Sacred
Conclusion
2. Lonergan on the Relationship between Theology and the History of Religions
Introduction
1. Lonergan's Encounter with Eliade
2. The Turn to the Subject's Religious Horizon
3. The Relationship between Theology and the History of Religions
4. The Coming Convergence of World Religions
5. Eliade's New Humanism
Conclusion
3. Lonergan's Theory of Consciousness as Hermeneutic Framework
Introduction
1. Patterns of Operations
2. Patterns of Experience
3. Differentiations of Consciousness
4. Transformations of Consciousness—Conversion
5. Lonergan's Theory of Consciousness as Hermeneutic Framework
The Upper Blade
4. The Experience of the Sacred
Introduction
1. The Encounter with the Sacred
1.1 Coincidentia Oppositorum
1.2 Hierophany
1.3 The Paradoxical Relationship between the Sacred and the Profane
2. The Experience of the Sacred: A Lonergan Perspective
2.1 Coincidentia Oppositorum: An Analysis
2.2 The Sacred and Profane and Lonergan's Theory of Consciousness
Conclusion
5. Understanding the Sacred through Religious Symbols
Introduction
1. Sacred Symbols
1.1 Recovering Sacred Symbols
1.2 The Symbolism of the Center
2. Lonergan and Symbolism
2.1 Elemental Symbols in Lonergan's Theory of Consciousness
2.2 Psychic Conversion and the Recovery of Sacred Symbols
Conclusion
6. The Sacred as Real: An Analysis of Eliade's Ontology of the Sacred
Introduction
1. The Ontological Status of the Sacred
1.1 The Sacred as "the Real"
1.2 Sacred Myth and Reality
1.3 A Platonic Ontology?
2. Lonergan's Philosophy and the Sacred and the Profane
2.1 The Unrestricted Act of Understanding
2.2 The Subject's Full Religious Horizon
Conclusion
7. Living in the Sacred
Introduction
1. Eliade: Living in the Sacred
1.1 The Transformative Power of the Sacred
1.2 Homo Religiosus
1.3 The Sacred Life of the Shaman
2. Living in the Sacred and Lonergan's Notion of Self-Transcendence
2.1 Transformations of Consciousness and the Sacred
2.2 Differentiations of Consciousness
Conclusion
8. Eliade and Lonergan: Mutual Enrichment
Synopsis
Prospects
Toward a Fuller Philosophy of God
Toward the Foundations for Religious Convergence
A Final Note
Notes
Bibliography
Index