Scholarly Journal Articles by Aaron James Weisel
Verbum Vitae, 2025
Verbum Vitae 43, no. 1 (2025): 165–184.
In a postmodern linguistic turn, Paul Ricoeur pays great... more Verbum Vitae 43, no. 1 (2025): 165–184.
In a postmodern linguistic turn, Paul Ricoeur pays great attention to the subject and the Biblical text itself. This helpfully presents a very pristine text, one which can move and recreate the subject who encounters the text with humility. However, when it comes to Biblical exegesis specifically, Ricoeur's method is immanentist, a historical, and unhelpfully rejects any interpretive authority. Olivier-Thomas Venard, like Ricoeur, pays great attention to the sign-character of the Bible's language, but offers a more holistic exegesis which takes the Bible on its own terms and is metaphysically and historically grounded. In this article, I first lay out Ricoeur's poetical exegetical project and offer interpretive and metaphysical critiques; specifically, I contend that his "distanciated" reading of the Bible and his rejection of authority fail to interpret the Bible on its own terms. I then turn to Venard, who sympathizes with Ricoeur's subjective and linguistic turn while remaining grounded in interpretive authority, history, and providence, offering what Matthew Levering calls a "participatory exegesis."
Read the whole article at https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/vv/article/view/17573
Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 2023
Logos 26, no. 1 (2023): 119–152.
The apocalypse is a motif in the novels of Michael D. O’Brien. ... more Logos 26, no. 1 (2023): 119–152.
The apocalypse is a motif in the novels of Michael D. O’Brien. Not only an author but also a painter, O’Brien pays close attention to the nature of beauty. Beauty’s relation to the theme of apocalypse plays out in O’Brien’s novels through the “immolation of the will” through which his characters march. Brought low by the destruction of worlds, by trusting absolutely in grace, O’Brien’s characters are forged into saints. As von Balthasar puts it, “glory is the splendor of holiness.” Saints, then, are the ultimate work of art and the most powerful word of beauty the Church can present to a world starved for true beauty. For more info, go to https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/82/article/875232.
Analecta, 2022
Analecta 9 (2022): 95–113.
Much ill will has been directed at Karl Rahner's idea of the "Anonymo... more Analecta 9 (2022): 95–113.
Much ill will has been directed at Karl Rahner's idea of the "Anonymous Christian" in light of the drop in evangelistic fervor in the post-Vatican II era. Yet Rahner is emphatic in his assertions that this phenomenon's existence is a necessary implication of Vatican II's developed articulations on interreligious theology and the Church's perennial attribution of the sole salvific mediatorship to Jesus Christ. Rahner finds an implicit ally in Yves Congar, who carried a particular interest in the salvation of non-Christians and the legitimacy of non-Christian religions. He agrees in substance with Rahner, but objects to the name his Jesuit counterpart chooses. This paper brings several relevant Vatican II documents into discussion to draw out the significance and rightful value of Rahner's thesis.
Find full info at https://nz-theology.ucu.edu.ua/en/editions/naukovi-zapysky-uku-bogoslov-ya-8-2022/nadiya-shho-vsi-mozhut-spastysya-pereosmyslennya-i-spilne-chytannya-z-kongarom-anonimnogo-hrystyyanyna-karla-ranera/
Co-Authored Book Chapters by Aaron James Weisel
Ecos Literários, 2025
Michael D. O’Brien pays special attention to trees in his novels, as he describes their appearanc... more Michael D. O’Brien pays special attention to trees in his novels, as he describes their appearance
and their place in his stories with an artist’s eye. This essay considers O’Brien’s arboreal
symbolism in two of his novels, A Cry of Stone (2003) and The Fool of New York City (2016).
O’Brien believes it is the artist’s task to manifest this truth of man—and this task requires
suffering and a coherent cosmological and eschatological vision. O’Brien uses the symbol of a
tree to argue this. We argue that, for O’Brien, trees stand as cosmological and anthropological
symbols—that is, they are a whole world—a microcosm—that manifests to man the truth about
creation and human nature: specifically, that man is created to die so as to be reborn. O’Brien’s
work is heavily influenced by the Roman Catholic tradition and the fantastical Middle-Earth of
J.R.R. Tolkien’ Lord of the Rings saga, both of which have much to say on the image of a tree and
its symbolic potential.
Ecos Literários, 2025
This study, which is the second section of a three-part essay, explores the arboreal imagery in M... more This study, which is the second section of a three-part essay, explores the arboreal imagery in Michael D. O’Brien’s The Father’s Tale and Voyage to Alpha Centauri in light of J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary and philosophical frameworks. Forests and trees appear as sanctuaries, bridges to the divine, and symbols of spiritual renewal. By comparing O’Brien’s use of nature with Tolkien’s mythopoeic principles, the analysis highlights their shared focus on faith, transcendence, and the deep interconnectedness between humanity, creation, and the divine.
Ecos Literários, 2025
In this three-part study we seek to explore the arboreal symbolism in the literary works of Micha... more In this three-part study we seek to explore the arboreal symbolism in the literary works of Michael D. O’Brien by examining its roots in theological, philosophical, and mythological contexts, noting the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien. By analysing novels such as The Father’s Tale, Voyage to Alpha Centauri, A Cry of Stone, and The Fool of New York City, this essay’s first part examines the tree as a cosmic symbol as it unites the natural and supernatural realms. Highlighting the theological underpinnings of both authors, our study reveals how O’Brien’s narratives reflect Tolkien’s imaginative ethos by employing trees as metaphors for spiritual transformation, sacramental beauty, and the tension between mortality and renewal. The comparative approach illuminates the dynamic interaction between literary imagination, symbolic language, and ultimate truths, thus offering fresh insights into how symbolic artistry bridges temporal and eternal dimensions.
Conference Presentations by Aaron James Weisel
Patristics, Medieval, & Renaissance, 2023
In the epilogue of The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy, Michael Frede avers the follo... more In the epilogue of The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy, Michael Frede avers the following: "It is not surprising that it came to be thought that Stoicism had not lived up to its promise, and that something else was needed. It was in this way that the future came to belong to Platonism and then to Christianity." Frede argues that Christianity swiped the philosophical throne from the Stoics because "what was appealing about it [that is, Stoicism] had been absorbed by Platonism … it [Stoicism] refused any belief that this life is not the real life, that this world is not the real world, and that God is not part of this world." I think we could accept this conclusion in broad strokes (at the very least), and, as I intend to argue here, I think a decisive factor in the way things played outnamely, Christianity's rise to prominence over Stoicism and Platonism-was the philosophy of desire at play in all these camps.
Written originally for THEOL 695: The Anthropology of the Greek Fathers, under Dr. Gerald Boersma, and revised for PMR.
American Maritain Association, 2023
On the heels of a 19th century dealing with the profound anthropological and epistemological impl... more On the heels of a 19th century dealing with the profound anthropological and epistemological implications of the Enlightenment, both Jacques Maritain and Hans Urs von Balthasar agree that the Church moving forward cannot become again exactly what She once was in the Middle Ages—for Maritain, politically and civically; for Balthasar, theologically; for both, spiritually. Here, I propose that, as Maritain lays out his hopes for what he calls the "New Christendom" in the Modern age, Balthasar's ressourcement methodology is actually more suited to bringing this phenomenon about than is Maritain's own, preferred Aristotelian-Thomism.
Presented at the American Maritain Association's 2023 Conference: Commemorating the Legacy of Jacques Maritain on the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Death, 29 April. To be published in a volume of the conference proceedings.
Drafts by Aaron James Weisel
In this essay I will engage two recently published books about the development of doctrine and th... more In this essay I will engage two recently published books about the development of doctrine and the concept of Christian tradition: David Bentley Hart's Tradition and Apocalypse: An Essay about the Future of Christian Belief, and Anne M. Carpenter's Nothing Gained Is Eternal. I suggest here that Carpenter’s account is preferable. Where Hart’s account suggests that doctrine is susceptible to substantial change, Carpenter emphasizes doctrine’s continuity yet looks forward in confidence to the surprises of the future which, though they might be impossibly un-anticipatable, nonetheless retain a continuity with the past. Her’s is a decidedly Christological and so incarnational account very much concerned with the instantiation of tradition and is, as such, immediately practical as it is theoretical.
In this essay I first consider Kendrick Lamar's musical and theological predecessor, Tupac Shakur... more In this essay I first consider Kendrick Lamar's musical and theological predecessor, Tupac Shakur (2Pac), and the latter's influence on the former. Specifically, 2Pac, in the throes of U.S. racism, labors to create a new kind of Christ and theology for the oppressed of the 21 st century. I then lay out the narrative of Lamar's award-winning To Pimp a Butterfly and analyze its theological language. Concluding, I suggest that, in Butterfly-and as confirmed in the very recently released GNX-that Lamar's understanding and articulation of God is deeply Christian and yet ongoing and in flux, intertwined as it is with his conversion away from the violent tendencies within himself. I suggest also that, because of the kind of God Lamar comes to articulate, Lamar's project is a critique of 2Pac's: where the latter died in a cycle of violence, the former looks for a new way to peace.
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Scholarly Journal Articles by Aaron James Weisel
In a postmodern linguistic turn, Paul Ricoeur pays great attention to the subject and the Biblical text itself. This helpfully presents a very pristine text, one which can move and recreate the subject who encounters the text with humility. However, when it comes to Biblical exegesis specifically, Ricoeur's method is immanentist, a historical, and unhelpfully rejects any interpretive authority. Olivier-Thomas Venard, like Ricoeur, pays great attention to the sign-character of the Bible's language, but offers a more holistic exegesis which takes the Bible on its own terms and is metaphysically and historically grounded. In this article, I first lay out Ricoeur's poetical exegetical project and offer interpretive and metaphysical critiques; specifically, I contend that his "distanciated" reading of the Bible and his rejection of authority fail to interpret the Bible on its own terms. I then turn to Venard, who sympathizes with Ricoeur's subjective and linguistic turn while remaining grounded in interpretive authority, history, and providence, offering what Matthew Levering calls a "participatory exegesis."
Read the whole article at https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/vv/article/view/17573
The apocalypse is a motif in the novels of Michael D. O’Brien. Not only an author but also a painter, O’Brien pays close attention to the nature of beauty. Beauty’s relation to the theme of apocalypse plays out in O’Brien’s novels through the “immolation of the will” through which his characters march. Brought low by the destruction of worlds, by trusting absolutely in grace, O’Brien’s characters are forged into saints. As von Balthasar puts it, “glory is the splendor of holiness.” Saints, then, are the ultimate work of art and the most powerful word of beauty the Church can present to a world starved for true beauty. For more info, go to https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/82/article/875232.
Much ill will has been directed at Karl Rahner's idea of the "Anonymous Christian" in light of the drop in evangelistic fervor in the post-Vatican II era. Yet Rahner is emphatic in his assertions that this phenomenon's existence is a necessary implication of Vatican II's developed articulations on interreligious theology and the Church's perennial attribution of the sole salvific mediatorship to Jesus Christ. Rahner finds an implicit ally in Yves Congar, who carried a particular interest in the salvation of non-Christians and the legitimacy of non-Christian religions. He agrees in substance with Rahner, but objects to the name his Jesuit counterpart chooses. This paper brings several relevant Vatican II documents into discussion to draw out the significance and rightful value of Rahner's thesis.
Find full info at https://nz-theology.ucu.edu.ua/en/editions/naukovi-zapysky-uku-bogoslov-ya-8-2022/nadiya-shho-vsi-mozhut-spastysya-pereosmyslennya-i-spilne-chytannya-z-kongarom-anonimnogo-hrystyyanyna-karla-ranera/
Co-Authored Book Chapters by Aaron James Weisel
and their place in his stories with an artist’s eye. This essay considers O’Brien’s arboreal
symbolism in two of his novels, A Cry of Stone (2003) and The Fool of New York City (2016).
O’Brien believes it is the artist’s task to manifest this truth of man—and this task requires
suffering and a coherent cosmological and eschatological vision. O’Brien uses the symbol of a
tree to argue this. We argue that, for O’Brien, trees stand as cosmological and anthropological
symbols—that is, they are a whole world—a microcosm—that manifests to man the truth about
creation and human nature: specifically, that man is created to die so as to be reborn. O’Brien’s
work is heavily influenced by the Roman Catholic tradition and the fantastical Middle-Earth of
J.R.R. Tolkien’ Lord of the Rings saga, both of which have much to say on the image of a tree and
its symbolic potential.
Conference Presentations by Aaron James Weisel
Written originally for THEOL 695: The Anthropology of the Greek Fathers, under Dr. Gerald Boersma, and revised for PMR.
Presented at the American Maritain Association's 2023 Conference: Commemorating the Legacy of Jacques Maritain on the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Death, 29 April. To be published in a volume of the conference proceedings.
Drafts by Aaron James Weisel