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Transdisciplinarity and Christian Thought
Otniel L. Vereş (Babeş-Bolyai University)Ioan G. Pop (Emanuel University of Oradea)
 A New Methodology
Our approach starts from the conceptual and logical frame of Transdisciplinaritywhich implies two aspects. The first one takes into account what Transdiciplinarity claimsto be, and the second one what Transdisciplinarity doesn’t claim to be. Transdisciplinarityis not another discipline, even though at first sight and in the absence of a proper description it may seem to be. At the same time, Trasndisciplinarity is not the secret key,nor is it a magic wand which can solve obscurity and all the difficulties that knowledgedeals with in the present context of hyperspecialization and the division into fragments of knowledge. If we borrow a term used by the catholic theologian Hans Küng to describehis fundamental epistemological method of approaching Christian theology in the contextof globalization, we may say that Transdisciplinarity is a “critical rationality”, a new kindof thinking and attitude, antagonistic to the classical and reductionist rationalism whichemphasizes objectivity,
1
 technicality and profit that led to the inward impoverishment of the man and his turning into a simple object that has to bring profit. The human factor,the inward side and subjectivity are increasingly missing aspects from the academiceducation and from the general approach to knowledge at any level. Because of the factthat Transdisciplinarity may be considered to be rather a methodology grounded on ageneral survey, approaching a certain field from the perspective of synergistic synthesis,we are in fact making use of 
logic, mode
and
working tools
of Transdisciplinarity bywhich we can undertake the desired task.
2
What needs to be avoided at any cost – anaspect which is valid for any field approached from the trandscisciplinary point of view – 
1
We are talking about a misunderstood objectivity, in its positivistic acceptation which cannot be upheld inthe present context.
2
For a description of the methodology and Transdisciplinary approach to education, see Basarab Nicolescu,
 Noi, particula şi lumea,
Junimea, Iaşi 2007, pp. 314-342, and
Charter of Transdisciplinarity,
translatedfrom French by Karen-Claire Voss,http: //nicol.club.fr/ciret/english/charten.htm. 
1
 
is the drawing of far-fetched parallels between the respective field and thetransdisciplinary thought. Usually such parallels occur relying on some
apparent
and
formal
similarities.
3
The mistake consists in a comparison of a certain
methodology
witha specific
domain regarding the knowledge
or 
the spirituality
. We cannot
compare
Transdisciplinarity to any cultural-spiritual domain of mankind because, when it is properly understood, Transdisciplinarity implies a
way of knowing
that needs to penetrate and to be integrated in any other domain. “Human knowledge as entity istransdisciplinary, intelligence being transdisciplinary as well, as one of the essentialconditions of existence”.
4
 The attempt to avoid the trap of formal parallels between Transdisciplinarity andChristian thought entails by itself necessarily a selection of the terms and conceptsemployed when we study the text of the Scriptures from this perspective. What we meanwhen we refer to the procedure of selecting is the fact that not all the aspects thatTransdisciplinarity imply can be equally applied to Christian thought. However, Christianthought manages to keep the general frame and the logic of Transdisciplinarity. Theinterpretative proposition consists in a general view of the way in which Christianitymanifests itself from a transdisciplinary perspective but in a specific or applied way, i.e.starting from dogmas and biblical texts. This first section will be then followed by a brief case study which aims at restricting the general frame of the problems brought forward inJohn’s Gospel, particularly the first twelve chapters. In other words, we will try toobserve even more specific the way in which the logic of Transdisciplinarity may beapplied to the biblical text and how this logic can help to decode and interpret the text ina debating transdisciplinary context given the interrogations of Transdisciplinarity.
3
For example, one could try to find such a similarity between transdiciplinary thought, based on the logicof the included middle and Hegelian philosophy, and the three fundamental formal aspects: thesis,antithesis, and synthesis. Likewise we can find similarities with some oriental religion trends. As a matter of fact, formal correspondences can be found with a lot of fields.
4
Pop, I.,
The Semiophysical Communicational Model and Transdisciplinary Knowledge
, ENECInternational Conference, Hyperion University, Bucharest, May 2008.
2
 
Christian Thought and Transdisciplinarity
 
We daresay that Christian thought is pre-eminently transdisciplinary,
 because it best succeeds in raising to the level of the ideals of Transdisciplinarity, a factwhich results even at a once-over of the “Charter of Transdisciplinarity”. Our positionand next proposition is not a reiteration of the approaching error mentioned before, i.e. aformal comparison, based on skin-deep similarities between the Christian thought and thetransdisciplinary perspective. We need to mention from the beginning that our assertionshave their ground in the firm beliefs of the Christian believer, not only those of a one thatembraces Christianity as a theoretical alternative more viable than others.
Christianity as the totality of the human being 
Christianity as a way of life is transdisciplinary because it implies the dealing of human being as
a whole,
 by way of integrating all the dimensions that define humanity
:the psychological, conative-volitional, intellectual and physical dimension,
meaningthe assuming of subjectivity, because it implies a volitional and trusting act, of active andresponsible involvement. In Christianity each aspect of life and human knowledge isfiltered by its central perspective represented by faith in God, every aspect of existence being determined and influenced by it. Christianity starts from the inside out, having as aknowledge instrument the faith and it comprises all these aspects of the human existence, being transdisciplinary because it searches the final unity of knowledge and humanexistence. In Christianity
the level of thought does not mean an exclusion of the levelof living,
respectively
objectivity doesn’t imply the rejection of subjectivity.
On thewhole, as the French theologian and physicist, Thierry Magnin emphasizes the end of thescientistic thinking in the XXth century has led to the formulation and development of anew epistemology, in which the knowing subject holds a central role. In the knowledge process, man becomes an integrating and integrative part. The Christian thinksobjectively by assuming subjectivity, therefore
the subjective objectivity
and
objective subjectivity
of the contemporary science, about which Basarab Nicolescu
5
speaks, echoes
5
Basarab Nicolescu,
 Noi, particula şi lumea
, pp. 195-199.
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