Stander Symposium abstract book - University of Dayton

9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
The American Technological Imagination: A Critical Evaluation of Thomas Edison In A
Secular Age
Presenter(s): Adam D Sheridan
Advisor(s): Vincent J Miller
Religious Studies
3:40 PM-4:00 PM
Graduate Research Kennedy Union - 331
The purpose of this project was to apply key aspects of the contemporary discourse regarding technology and secularization to the life and work of
Thomas Alva Edison. In terms of discourse, the research relied on the works of philosopher Charles Taylor and social theorist Bruno Latour. Briefly
stated, Taylor argues that the modern social imaginary is locked into an immanent frame that is marked by disenchantment and the perceived
absence of transcendence in everyday life. Latour affirms that modernity asserts such claims. Yet, once one looks at technology the claims of disenchantment,
perhaps, becomes dubious. Between these competing claims lies an opening for examining the social, philosophical, and theological
assumptions embodied in technological artifacts. Through an examination of Edisonâs life, thought, and work it was concluded that Edisonâs work
and thought complicates a casual interpretation of modern disenchantment. While deeply embedded in Taylorâs secularization thesis, Edison
simultaneously supports Latourâs critique of modern disenchantment theories. For Edison electricity occupied a theological space once reserved
for concepts such as Divine Providence and the immortal soul, while also maintaining a disavowal of supernatural referent. Thus, while overtly
embedded in the immanent frame, Edison also represents a kind of enchantment through technology. Thus, the work and thought of Edison could
be rightly called immanent enchantment. Ultimately, an analysis of Edison gestures towards a fresh locus for contemporary discourse concerning
technology and secularization.
The Crisis of Suffering: An Exposition of Chalcedonian and Non-Chalcedonian Christology
through the Interpretive Lens of Saint Cyril of Alexandria
Presenter(s): John J Allen
Advisor(s): Matthew W Levering
Religious Studies
4:00 PM-4:20 PM
Graduate Research Kennedy Union - 311
The Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon took place in A.D. 451 but it was the last council that all Christians would find themselves able to accept.
Those at the council proposed the doctrine of the hypostatic union: Christ having two natures in one person. The disagreement was “solved”
by the Christology of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, but in reality it was only division and disagreement that was solidified by the Council’s decision.
Interestingly enough, both sides claim to defend St. Cyril’s Christological formulations, yet both sides have accused the other of falling short of
the theological mark. This indicates to me and to other scholars that the differences in Christology stem largely from linguistic and cultural misunderstanding
rather than any viable theological heresy. Hence, a tragic separation occurred between the non-Chalcedonian, Oriental Orthodox
Churches, and the Chalcedonian Churches (e.g. the Roman Catholic Church, Byzantine Orthodox Church). This rift has never been successfully
bridged, but in the estimation of many scholars and in light of certain ecumenical ventures, such as that of Paul VI, the differences between the
two sides have never seemed so inconsequential. If ostensibly the two churches were on the verge of an ecclesial union, then why has so little
progress been made in the last thirty or forty years? It is the purpose of this research project to better understand what divides these two churches
so as to more effectively speak to the issues that can unite them.
The Mystery of the Social: On the Origin of Social Ethics and the Nature of the Social in
Catholic Moral Theology
Presenter(s): Justin J Menno
Advisor(s): William Portier
Religious Studies
4:00 PM-4:20 PM
Graduate Research Kennedy Union - 331
The use of the term ‘social’ to modify reflection in doctrinal and moral theology is one of the more significant developments in Catholic theological
inquiry in the latter half of the twentieth century. This term has not only served to modify recent reflections on the Trinity, but has even, in the
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