The Relevance of Louis Dupré's Works

345 Pages·2017·2.19 MB·English

The Relevance of Louis Dupré's Works for Addressing Today's
Challenges in Australia's Secular Culture
Author
O'Brien, Kevin James
Published
2009
Thesis Type
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
School
School of Arts
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2770
Copyright Statement
The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
Downloaded from
http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366799
Griffith Research Online
https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au
The relevance of Louis Dupré’s works
for addressing today’s challenges
in Australia’s secular culture

Kevin James O’Brien
B.Th. (BCT), B.A. with First Class Honours (Griffith)

School of Arts
Faculty of Arts
Griffith University

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements
of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

November 2008

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FRONTISPIECE

Emeritus Professor Louis Dupré

Phenomenologist, Philosopher,
Metaphysician, Epistemologist,
Theologian and Teacher
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Eminent scholars extol Louis Dupré’s works for their relevance to
ABSTRACT
spirituality. The purpose of this thesis is to show that his writings also should be
recognised as providing a framework for helping Australians understand and
address today’s challenges in Australia’s secular culture, and to highlight and
rectify this Australian (and possibly global) oversight to demonstrate the
significance of his total authorship. This requires not only an investigation of
Dupré’s works in relation to the topic of this thesis, but also a demonstration of
how his works can be relevant to, and can enhance the value of, the current
Australian dialogue about responding to those challenges. It is necessary to take
serious account of Dupré’s deep, cultural analyses of modernity, modernity’s
process of construction, and his responses to its secular challenges, together with
the convergences and divergences of that framework in dialogue with
contemporary authors on Australian culture. Their reflections are presented in the
chosen schema of this dissertation to show how to understand more easily the
relevance of, and the implications in, those writers’ works, especially Dupré’s, in
relation to this thesis’ task.
Although this study has been completed within the School of Arts, it began
under the School of Theology and continues, broadly speaking, to be a thesis in
the field of theology. As such, its primary focus is on the Roman Catholic Church,
while not excluding Protestant and other Churches generally.
To achieve the objectives of this thesis, firstly, an examination is made of
Dupré’s Historical deconstruction of modernity from the 13th Century to the
present time, to show how today’s deep, cultural worldview came about, and to
highlight what options are available to take its people forward.
Secondly, further investigation demonstrates Dupré’s framework as
consisting of at least two types of reflections. To facilitate this study, the first are
categorised as analytical, which are deemed to be masterly reflections;
examination of Dupré’s and indeed many overseas scholars’ works shows that this
type of reflection provides an accurate understanding of that current worldview and
its secular challenges. The second, as responsorial, are implied as being simply
profound reflections — not solutions; the above examination further indicates that
this type of profound reflection only can help pave the way towards solutions for
addressing and overcoming those challenges. This investigatory study scrutinises
Dupré’s and those overseas authors’ reflections via seven topics especially
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chosen to help elucidate this thesis’ argument, with each topic depicting a different
aspect, while highlighting its following challenge as assessed from Dupré’s
framework, of that worldview: today’s godlessness; the sense of meaninglessness
of human existence in the current immanent humanistic world; secular
anthropocentrism’s dominance of the universe nowadays; the supreme reign of
economic consumerism in today’s secular society; the uncertainty and loss of truth
through the prevalent antagonistic forces of the dualisms of faith and
reason/nature and grace; religion being no longer essential to world culture; and
some of today’s Evangelical/Pentecostal-type religions perpetuating superficial
‘spirituality’.
Thereafter, an understanding of the current Australian perspective and its
secular challenges is gleaned through the analyses of 10 principal and numerous
other selected Australian authors, and how they address these challenges is
evidenced in their responses to them. Their reflections about the above seven
topics are examined, but with each topic depicting a different aspect of Australia’s
current, cultural perspective. Then, these analytical and responsorial reflections
are compared with Dupré’s more robust assessments of today’s worldview and its
secular challenges and are classified as either ‘almost identical’, or ‘similar’, or
‘varied’, or ‘unlike’. This process demonstrates how and why Dupré’s works are
relevant to the Australian context and this thesis’ purpose.
Subsequently, appropriations from Dupré’s framework and from other
authors with compatible frameworks are made showing how Australians might
address and overcome the secular challenge in each of the seven topics.
Finally, having narrated the specific and important functional issues played
in its argument, this thesis shows and recognises that Dupré’s works have very
definite relevance and implications for helping Australians understand and address
Australia’s current secular challenges, and that rectifying the omission of this
recognition is also necessary to give full significance to Dupré’s total writings.
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This work has not been submitted previously for a degree or diploma in any
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material
previously published or written by another person except where due reference is
made in the thesis itself.
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PAGE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FRONTISPIECE iii
ABSTRACT v
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xiii
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Thesis 1
2. Origin and motivation 1
3. Thesis outline 4
4. Chapter outlines 6
CHAPTER 1 HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE IN THE WORLD TODAY 9
1. Blumenberg, Dupré, Moses and others 9
2. The 13th Century 15
3. The 14th Century 19
4. The 15th Century 25
5. The 16th Century 29
6. The 17th Century 33
7. The 18th Century 37
8. The 19th Century 47
9. The 20th Century and today 55
10. Moving forward 66
CHAPTER 2 TODAY’S DEEP CULTURAL WORLDVIEW 69
1. Methodology 69
2. Topic 1: Today’s secular society is virtually a ‘godless’ one 70
3. Topic 2: Life in today’s immanent humanistic world simply means the
human being’s ‘will to power’ and need to survive for self-affirmation 83