Josiah Royce´s "Beloved Community" Philosophy of Christianity As a Foundation for "Integrity Theology"

Josiah Royce´s philosophy of religion observed that God´s immaterial reality only had its alternative expression through human form and needs. In addressing Nietzsche´s pessimism about Christianity, he asserted instead a notion of the historical construction of “mutually interpretive activity which requires shared memory and hope,” "people´s interest in and valuing of objectives and ideals beyond immediate gratification that has moral effect," and forming the "beloved community." Royce left UCal Berkeley in 1882 to teach at Harvard, where Wm James was his philosophical antagonist. Royce´s discussion of Christian community makes a quick survey of some contemporary figures helpful, such as earlier personalities like Lucretia Mott, Harriet Tubman, Elias Hick, Washington Gladden, and others who were engaged in social reform Christian activism. Other more secular figures of the Progressive era like W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Samuel Gompers, Mother Jones, and John Muir. It is worth noting that while Quakers like Lucretia Mott practiced silent waiting worship, Harriet Tubman had been injured as a victim of a violent act. Her injury is reported to have left her with a kind of epilepsy, but a coherent experience of visions that gave her a passionate religious attitude. Jane Addams is worth mentioning as an activist who became a public philosopher. Also of note is that judge and Swedenborgian CC Bonney initiated the organizing of the 1893 Chicago Parliament of World Religions in that era.

Royce´s ideas can be correlated with Sigmund Freud MD´s accomplishments in therapeutic psychology and their diversifying legacy. Before his less than empirical "Oedipus Complex" terminology, Freud had observed the benefits of simple hypnotic relaxation and talk therapy which led him to observe two primary results: first, "abreaction" emotional reconnection with forgotten traumatic events. Second, "catharsis" or alleviation followed. His first successful patient was "Anna O.", now known to be the woman who went on to be the successful social worker Bertha Pappenheim. Based on these concepts from empirical observations, Freud inferred psycho-neurological conversion and repression as the causal processes. Additional observations can be identified in the work of others like Wilhelm Reich MD and Carl Jung, whose notion of Higher Self in terms of the Imago Dei and Jesus Christ provides a spiritual high level context resulting from Freud´s "catharsis." Beyond William James´ initial efforts, Jung´s technique of "active imagination" thus might be an additional level of explanation to understand Harriet Tubman´s actual benefit in having transpersonal experiences. In addition, Francis C. Sumner was a pioneering Afro-American psychologist who contributed at a Vienna psychology of religion conference at that time, with his paper, "The Mental Hygiene of Religion." It is also worth noting that philosophies of history like Joseph Priestley´s in the late 1700s had been rationalist. Priestley became limited by his avalaible resources, since rationalism meant materialism. He thought science alone could illuminate people for a Deist God. Hegel , who was active until 1831 on the other hand, took Kant´s Freedom vs. Nature duality, and argued that the Spirit goes beyond Nature. William James in his work also began to recognize the importance of individuals, along with validating religious experience. Those combinations of views already opens possibilities more coherent with Freud´s early empirical ideas of abreaction emotional reconnection and catharsis in talk therapy. Royce had discussed the human individual taking action in relation to Christianity, and Jesus´ morality, in particular. With Jesus´ teachings based on his loving Commandments, Freud´s insights begin to demonstrate an empirical foundation for the healing power of love, and with Jung´s Higher Self idea, can be taken to imply the way the transcendent interacts with the transpersonal psychology of love, that provides a crucial orientation to advanced social capacities. Thomas of Aquinas in the 1200s, for example, had been able to take Aristotle´s First Cause idea and diversify it into five "vias" that provide insight into God´s nature, including God as the Uncaused Cause. Aquinas also organized epistemology, identifying through ethics the four basic categories of law: Eternal, Natural, Human, and Divine/Scriptural. With Divine/Scriptural law, Aquinas captured the manner in which Jesus´ teachings, represented by his 2 loving Commandments as ethical foundations, were relevant in Western thought. Jung´s Higher Self refers to the Imago Dei, the view of humanity being created in the image of God, with Jesus Christ having a key role. (Aion, 1951)

In a comparative perspective, we might look at the Buddha´s non-Judeo-Christian experience in ca. 500 BCE, and Anthony the Great´s experience after 270 AD/CE. First, Buddha spent six years as a seeker who left luxury and observing introspectively in frequent meditation the process that illustrated the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth of suffering includes such insights as living with what we hate or being separated from what we love. Afterwards, he experienced nirvana, or enlightenment, as a form of high level catharsis. We can also go back to the experience of Anthony of the Desert, the Father of Christian Monks, after 270 AD. In his asceticism, he passed through cycles in which he identified "demons" of loneliness, boredom, and lust. After some 30 years and repeating episodes of crises, he had a notable crisis that was followed by exceptional tranquility and rejuvenated vigor and energized youthful appearance. Freud´s observations of talk therapy processes appear comparable in defining a spiritual growth process. Anthony´s legacy of Christian monks began developing their understanding of these processes, with Evagrius noting eight vices, and Benedict of Nursia confirming John Cassian´s earlier three stages: Purgatio, Illuminatio, and Unitio. The result of following the spiritual path was then "divinization" or "theosis." Again, Harriet Tubman´s experience, and the legacy of James´ and Jung´s broader observations, help revive recognition of that level of spiritual-religious experience.

Are you familiar with Josiah Royce´s name or ideas in response to Nietzsche? What about the other ideas and figures mentioned?