Date of Award
4-1983
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Matthew Lamb
Second Advisor
William J. Kelly
Third Advisor
Keith J. Egan
Fourth Advisor
Dean R. Fowler
Fifth Advisor
Daniel C. Maguire
Abstract
This work is an interpretive investigation. The topic of investigation is the development of Bernard Lonergan's thought on the notion of conversion, For Lonergan, the notion of conversion is the foundation of a contemporary theological method. He writes: "Foundational reality, as distinct from its expression, is conversion: religious, moral, and intellectual." Again, he writes: "What is normative and foundational for subjects stating theology is to be found, I have suggested, in reflection on conversion, where conversion is taken as an ongoing process, concrete and dynamic, personal, communal, and historical." Lonergan's prolonged intellectual labor can be understood as a search for a contemporary theological method and one of the chief results of that search has been the establishment of the notion of conversion at the very heart of contemporary method. Consequently, I felt that the time and effort needed to penetrate more deeply into Lonergan's understanding of the notion of conversion would be well spent.
...