John Little:Lonergan's Intentionality Analysis and the Foundations of Organization and Governance
The thesis explores the nature of organization and governance by applying a method of intentionality analysis as elaborated by the Canadian philosopher and theologian, Bernard Lonergan, in his two monumental works, Insight a study of human understanding, and Method in Theology. The project arose from the writers own experience in management education and consultancy.Admittedly, intentionality analysis has not been a major theme in the management
literature. However, the late Sumantra Ghoshal drew attention to the consequences of neglecting the dimension of intentionality in business education and management theory, such consequences as unethical practices and even the collapse of corporations, as was the case with Enron. In a paper published by the Academy of Management Learning and Education in 2005, Ghoshal raised a number of crucial and epistemological questions, though he offered no easy answers.
In the effort to rise to Ghoshals challenge, this thesis argues that Lonergans method
of intentionality analysis opens new ways to approach the theory and practice of
management. It thereby suggests a model relevant to all managerial tasks. Hence, it
repeatedly stresses the value of asking questions and of attending to data. It indicates
what is involved in the understanding of a given situation, in the making of judgments based on experience, and in the deciding on particular courses of action.
In so doing, the thesis clarifies a number of intricate epistemological questions, while
emphasising throughout the vital role of self-knowledge and self-possession.
The thesis is essentially a step-by-step discussion of the various elements in
intentionality analysis in the context of corporate management. Hence, for the sake of
brevity, it designates its intentionality analysis method with the acronym, IAM
(and in reference to organisational operations, IAMO). To illustrate various aspects of
intentionality analysis for the purposes of management education, the author draws
on exercises previously used in his involvement in executive workshops. The usefulness of the IAM developed in this thesis is highlighted by comparing and contrasting it with selected management theories on learning and strategy as found in the writings of, for example, Belbin, Janis, Kegan, Revans, Argyris, Nonaka, Takeuchi, Senge, Mintzberg, Ansoff, Lewis and Jaques. The project concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical challenges involved in presenting such material to managers, with reference to some contemporary developments in business education.
Leo Serroul:A New Divine Perfection: An Interpretation of Bernard Lonergan's THE TRIUNE GOD: SYSTEMATICS from the Viewpoint of Order
This is a revised edition of a dissertation successfully defended at Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto, 2004. The author's abstract:Sapientis est ordinare. Ordering is the work of the wise. This interpretation of Bernard
Lonergan's systematic theology of God pursues throughout the Pars systematica of his De Deo trino (1964) an idea he does not advert to as constitutive of his method as such, namely the idea of order.
The idea of order, I argue, does function methodically in the Pars systematica. As he moves systematically from the nature of God, from God to us, and back to God, Lonergan variously specifies the idea of order in ways integral to both the form and content of his theology, a trinitarian theology of comprehensive scope. These specific instances of order--relating to fundamentals of trinitarian theory, soteriology, subjectivity, intersubjectivity, the natural world, history, and culture--can be related intelligibly to one another. Thus the idea of order informs an emergent viewpoint that facilitates synthetic understanding of Lonergan's complex, sometimes very difficult, systematics of the Trinity. Furthermore, I argue, the explanatory process of interpreting the Pars systematica from the single viewpoint of order can give students means, not too difficult to grasp, whereby they too might gain a synthetic understanding of Lonergan's theology of God sufficient to affirm its comprehensiveness, unity, value, and openness to organic development.
My interpretation also aims to provide the student of Lonergan's thought with data sufficient to answer adequately the question of meaning posed by this text from the Pars systematica:
Although all other goods of order imitate ad extra [external to God] that supreme good of order to be perceived in the Holy Trinity itself, it is nonetheless fitting that the economy of salvation, which is ordered to participation in the very beatitude of divinity, not only imitate the order of the Holy Trinity but also in some manner participate in that same order.
The centerpiece of the Augustine-Aquinas-Lonergan tradition of trinitarian theology is the psychological analogy. Drawing from the integral relationship between the intentional operations of the enquiring subject and theological method, I seek to demonstrate that in the Pars systematica and other writings to 1964, especially Insight, Lonergan provides a way to express from the viewpoint of order the intelligible unity among God quoad se (the immanent Trinity), God quoad nos (the economic Trinity), and the "everything else" comprised by the category Creation. My argument also emphasizes the relevance of Lonergan's theology of God to Christian living, especially to the subjectivity and work of the theologian.
James G. Duffy:The Ethics of Lonergan's Existential Intellectualism
Mary Patricia Utzerath:Full, Conscious, and Active Participation: The Laity as Ecclesial Subjects in an Ecclesiology Informed by Bernard Lonergan
Darren J.E. Dias:The Contibutions of Bernard J.F. Lonergan to a Systematic Understanding of Religious Diversity
John Volk:Lonergan on the Historical Causality of Christ
Jeremy Blackwood:Love and Lonergan's Cognitional-Intnetional Anthropology
From the abstract:This dissertation addresses a controversial question among those who study the work of Bernard J.F. Lonergan, SJ (19041984): To what extent and with what intent did Lonergan affirm a fifth level of consciousness? He used the spatial image of levels of consciousness to express the relations among key operations of the conscious human subject, and the image remains common currency for those familiar with his work. However, the precise number of levels shifted and developed throughout Lonergans career, beginning with three, moving to four, and finally including some mention of a fifth. As the level of love, this fifth level would seem to play a central role in theology, but if one affirms both the theological centrality of love and the importance of Lonergans analysis of human subjectivity, then the lack of a full, systematic presentation of the fifth level of human subjectivity hampers the development of systematic theology.
Lonergans own comments on the topic did not give that full understanding, as evidenced by the controversy among Lonergan scholars, and there is a demand for a sustained effort to understand and evaluate Lonergans understanding of the relation of the fifth level of love to human subjectivity. The first half of this study examines Lonergans own work on the matter. In a chronological arrangement, Chapters One, Two, and Three engage both published and unpublished primary materials in which Lonergan developed his thought on love and its relation to intentional consciousness. The second half of this study moves beyond Lonergans contribution and into the contemporary controversy. Chapter Four synthesizes Lonergans development. Chapter Five addresses and evaluates major works in the controversy in the light of Lonergans whole development on the matter. Chapter Six suggests an account of the fifth level of consciousness that brings to theology a systematic understanding of the relations between love and subjectivity. Ultimately, it is affirmed that human subjectivity is constituted, in part, by a fifth level of consciousness that is a realm of interpersonal relations, which, when fully authentic, is the subjective locus of self-transcending human subjects in community.
Jonathan Heaps:An Under-tow in Retrospect: A Philosophy of Religious Experience in the Thought of Bernard Lonergan
The thesis aims to express directly, systematically, and at length the philosophy of religious experience Bernard Lonergan employs in service of his collaborative theological method found in Method in Theology. How Lonergan conceived "philosophies of," experience in general, and religious experience specifically are explored in depth. "Philosophy of" is considered as sets of terms and relations with a basic orientation. Lonergan's cognitional theory is also presented and explicated, both as an example of "philosophy of" and as a means of explaining how Lonergan means the term "experience." In addition to the three cognitional levels of consciousness articulated in the "early" Lonergan, the fourth, existential level of the "later" Lonergan is explicated in order to gain access to the meaning of Lonergan's explanatory definition of religious experience: the basic or proper fulfillment of our capacity for self-transcendence at the fourth level of consciousness. A distinction is also drawn and developed between first and second order religious experiences. Second order religious experiences are encounters with expressed objectifications of religious experience. First order religious experiences are the "proper fulfillment" as consciously given in the experience of the subject as subject.Mary Josephine McDonald:BODY-PSYCHE-MIND IN THE SELF-APPROPRIATION OF THE SUBJECT
In the opening pages of Method in Theology, Bernard Lonergan expresses a concern that theology would understand its role at this important juncture in history--a time when the modern world enters a new realm of meaning, one that represents a shift from classicism to interiority. In order to fulfill its task of mediating "between a cultural matrix and the significance and role of a religion in that matrix," Lonergan states that theology must understand that it is no longer a "permanent achievement," but rather "an ongoing process."In proceeding, therefore, theology must become acquainted with the "framework for collaborative creativity" in the "ongoing process" that Lonergan calls method. In addition, Lonergan emphasizes that "a contemporary method would conceive those tasks in the context of modern science, modern scholarship, modern philosophy...."
This thesis has sought to "collaborate creatively" with "modern science" in order that both theology and the cultural context might be mutually enriched. By drawing on the insights of the science of neuroplasticity, this thesis undertakes the methodological task involved in developing an understanding of the bodily aspect of the human person in an interiority analysis. Within the eight functional specialties that Lonergan outlines in a contemporary method of theology, this work performs tasks within Foundations. While inclusive of Foundations, the primary goal of this work is the development of a theological anthropology. Development occurs by bringing to light the significance of the body in a theological anthropology.
Lonergan's question, "What in terms of human consciousness is the transition from the natural to the supernatural?" in "Mission and the Spirit," along with his articulation of the body-psyche-mind relations in his principle of correspondence in Insight, provide the framework for this development. A developed understanding of the body's role in the transition from the natural to the supernatural furthers Doran's work on psychic conversion by including "body data" in the self-appropriation of the unconscious. Such an integration of the organic and psychic spontaneities with conscious operations increases the probability of authentic agency in the unfolding of the Reign of God.
William F.J. Ryan:The Notion of Objectivity in Edmund Husserl and Bernard Lonergan
Some time before his death, Fr William Ryan happily gave me permission to have his dissertation scanned and uploaded to this website. It has taken longer than I had hoped, but I am happy to make this important work available.Robert M. Doran
Marquette University
James Maher:The Christian Songwriter as Theologian
An M.A. thesis which "explores the theological function of Christian song within the framework of Bernard Lonergans theological method."Alan Wade:The Theologian as Authentic Subject: Lonergan and the Centrality of Method
This thesis is concerned with understanding the relation between transcendent fulfilment of human life through relation to God, as declared in Church teaching, and finite fulfilment through knowing and loving.It is dependent on the work of Bernard Lonergan SJ in arguing that understandings of the cognitional connection between subjectivity and objectivity have direct foundational implications for theology. Comparison and contrast is used to demonstrate the effect of conceptualist and intellectualist approaches. Authenticity of meanings and values is understood as resulting from sustained faithfulness to transcendental precepts of being attentive, intelligent, reasonable and responsible.
Religious conversion, theologys foundational reality, adds the further precept of complete self-transcendence through unconditional being-in-love which involves ongoing conversion towards authenticity and consistent renunciation of unauthenticity.
It is maintained that since conceptual formulations bear the marks of an originating context, theology must always be contemporary and authenticity in regard to raising and answering questions is vital, requiring openness to collaboration, further knowledge, and further questions by religious traditions and theologians. The manner in which Christian faith is held to be true is as fundamental as truth itself.
Christina Kheng Li Lin:The Church and Management: Synthesis of a Reorientation Framework for Management Theories Through a Theological Engagement with Management Science
This doctoral project is an inter-disciplinary study that brings together theology and management science. Its goal is to synthesize, through an appropriate theological method, a framework to reorientate management theories so as to render them more suitable for management in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as more conducive for human flourishing in all organizations. It is hoped that this project will contribute towards the theological scholarship that is much needed amidst an increasing influence of the managerial culture in both Church and society.Chapter 1 begins with a survey of pastoral management literature in the Catholic Church, noting the ways in which theories from management science have been applied. The survey reveals that much of the pastoral materials adopt business management ideas in a direct and uncritical manner, leading to conflicts with the Churchs values, ecclesiology, and worldview. A key issue highlighted in this thesis is the need for proper methodology in inter-disciplinary work. Based on current debates regarding theological and pastoral engagement with the social sciences, Chapter 1 argues that management theories need to be reoriented with the aid of theology before they can be fruitfully applied in church management. It proposes that a reorientation framework can be synthesized for this purpose, and that the synthesis can aim more broadly at a framework which would reorientate management theories to better promote human flourishing in all types of organizations, without compromising its suitability for church management. In this way, the internal challenge of management in the Church can be turned into an opportunity to collaborate with others towards improving management in society as a whole.
Chapter 2 proceeds with the frameworks synthesis by conducting a critical examination of the management field. It analyzes the historical development of the field as well as its current internal debates. The analysis reveals that the main problems in the field include its lack of normative values, its reductionist assumptions about the human person, the organization, and society, its over-optimism about technique, its top-down nature, and its current fragmentation and lack of integration. Although alternative principles for management have been proposed by scholars within the field, Chapter 2 points out that these alternatives lack an adequate account of the human person and society, human flourishing, epistemology, and the religious horizon. The chapter proposes that these gaps can be fruitfully addressed through dialogue with a faith tradition.
To this end, Chapter 3 examines the Second Vatican Councils Pastoral Constitution on the Church and the World Today, Gaudium et Spes (hereafter GS), to draw insights and principles for management. After outlining the documents suitability for this project and establishing principles for its interpretation, the chapter discusses GSs teachings on the human person and society, the nature and purpose of human work, and the Churchs vision of human finality. It also examines GSs view of truth and human knowledge, and draws implications for management theories. The analysis reveals that GSs teachings have much to contribute to management science. Nevertheless, like the management field, the document is also not without internal conflicts, nor does it provide a full account of management. Hence, a central argument of this thesis is that resources from the secular sciences and the faith tradition do not function directly as foundations but as data, in the dialogue between both sides. The resolution of this dialogue requires a higher viewpoint that would provide the foundational criteria with which to evaluate resonances and conflicts emerging from the dialogue.
Chapter 4 establishes that this higher viewpoint can be found in intellectual, moral, and religious conversions as expounded by Bernard Lonergan. The chapter points out the suitability of these conversions for management science, and their ability to provide objective and normative foundations for management. It highlights that the implications of intellectual, moral, and religious conversions include adoption of a critical realist stance in management, incorporation of a normative teleology, replacement of the deterministic and empirical approach in management science with a probabilistic and heuristic one, and inclusion of the religious horizon. These implications are then used to evaluate the resonances and conflicts arising from the comparison of management science with the teachings of GS. Based on this evaluation, normative principles for management are identified and consolidated to form the reorientation framework. The chapter also points out how this framework is suitable for management in the Church as well as in all other organizations.
The workings of the reorientation framework are illustrated in Chapter 5 by applying it to two management tools which are frequently recommended in Catholic pastoral management literature: performance management systems, and marketing and customer service strategies. It is shown that the reorientation results in adjustments being made to these tools such that they better align with the nature and mission of the Church, while also facilitating more effective management and human flourishing when applied in all other organizations. The practical viability of the reoriented tool is also pointed out. Thereafter, based on the reorientation framework, a revised topical structure for Catholic pastoral management materials is proposed. Finally, a self-evaluation of this research project is presented, underscoring not only its contribution of the reorientation framework but also its demonstration of a systematic and fruitful inter-disciplinary method.