Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the modern religion of conscience

Author/Creator:

Mathes, Adam P., author

Publication/Creation:

Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2020

Resource Type:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the modern religion of conscience / Adam P. Mathes

Related Names

Additional Author/Creators:

Pacini, David S., degree supervisor
Emory University. Department of Religion, degree granting institution

Subjects/Genre

Genre:

Electronic dissertations
Academic theses

Description/Summary

Summary:

When read as a variant of Fichte's philosophical psychology and philosophical theology, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1825 Aids to Reflection is an exercise in developing a habit of mind that can discern the distinction between freedom of the will and genuine freedom. I argue that freedom of the will is a type of negative freedom qualified as a capacity to choose independent from constraints, which I differentiate from genuine freedom, which is a type of positive freedom qualified as the alignment of oneself with the ordering of God. By guiding the reader through a progressive series of reflective practices, Coleridge assists the reader in moving from a condition of self-estrangement (described as spiritual dearth and aridity) to one of self-acquaintance, (described as richness and wholeness). Coleridge responds to the possibility of relating psychology to faith by fashioning a method of rational self-realization and placing it in service to spiritual cultivation. For these reasons, Aids to Reflection stands in the Christian theological tradition that finds knowledge of God related to-if not disclosed through-self-knowledge. Moreover, as a work concerned with the relation of freedom and subjectivity for the sake of religion, Aids to Reflection also belongs within the family of discourse described as the modern religion of conscience.I make this argument primarily through expository readings of Coleridge's major prose and religious writings of roughly 1817 to 1825. Secondarily I interpret The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and "The Wanderings of Cain" as illuminating some of the challenges Coleridge hoped to resolve through his method of spiritual cultivation.

Language:

English

Language Note:

English

Physical Type/Description:

1 online resource (229 pages)

General Note:

Source of abstract: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 82-08, Section: A.
Advisors: Pacini, David; Committee members: Don Saliers; Jonathan Strom.
Keywords: Philosophy; Coleridge, Samuel Taylor; Fichte, Johann Gottlieb

Local Note:

Available to current Emory faculty, students and staff.
ProQuest digital dissertation copies of Emory dissertations may be downloaded free of charge by Emory faculty, students, and staff unless the author has chosen to embargo the work.

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

9937349831902486

ISBN:

9798691273230