Regis College

Professor, Spirituality
m.stoeber@utoronto.ca
Room 208; ext. 255

Michael Stoeber was born in Calgary. He received a BA in philosophy (1980) and an MA in religious studies (1986) from the University of Calgary, as well as Alberta Permanent Teaching Certification (1983). After studies at McMaster and University of Toronto, he received a PhD in philosophy of religion through the Centre for the Study of Religion at University of Toronto (1990) and a SSHRCC Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1990-1992). He is professor of Spirituality at Regis College.

Research & Teaching Interest

Areas of Research

Philosophy of Comparative Spirituality (especially Christian and Hindu): Nature of Religious Experience, the Problem of Evil, Eschatology, Theological Anthropology, Ethics and Spirituality.

Current Courses

• Classics of Christian Spirituality
• Comparative Mystical Traditions
• Issues in the Philosophy of Religion and The Brothers Karamazov
• Religious Experience in the World's Religions
• Spiritual Theology of Evelyn Underhill
• Spirituality and Suffering
• Spirituality and Sexuality
• Themes in Hindu Spirituality

Publications

Essays and Articles

"Tantra and Śāktism in the Spirituality of Aurobindo Ghose", Studies in Religion 38/2 (2009) pp.293-321.

"Reflections on the Virtues and Dangers of Sexuality and Celibacy in the Roman Catholic Tradition", Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, Issue 2 (2009) pp.11-32. http://irdialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Engaging-the-Taboo-October-1-2009.pdf

"Transformative Suffering, Destructive Suffering, and the Question of Abandoning Theodicy", Studies in Religion, vol. 32, no. 4 (2003 [2004]) 429-447.

"Evelyn Underhill on Magic, Sacrament, and Spiritual Transformation", Worship, vol. 77, no. 2 (2003) 132-151. Reprinted in the Evelyn Underhill Association Newsletter (November, 2003): http://www.evelynunderhill.org/newsletter/EUA_2003/newsletter_2003_final_final.PDF

"Roderick Ninian Smart", New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed.., vol. 13, Berard Marthaler, ed. (New York: Thomson-Gale and CUA, 2002) 228-229.

"Wilfred Cantwell Smith", New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 13, Berard Marthaler, ed. (New York: Thomson-Gale and CUA, 2002) 235-236.

"Amoral Trickster or Mystic-Saint? Spiritual Teachers and the Transmoral Narrative", Crossing Boundaries: Essays on the Ethical Status of Mysticism, G. William Barnard and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds. (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2002).

"Mysticism and the Spiritual Life: Reflections on Karl Rahner's View of Mysticism", Toronto Journal of Theology, vol. 17, no. 2 (2001) 263-275.

"Hell, Divine Love, and Divine Justice", Logos, vol. 2, no. 1, (1999) 176-199.

"World's Parliament of Religion", New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 14, Berard Marthaler, (New York: Thomson-Gale and CUA, 2002) 845-847. Also in the first edition, vol. 19 (1996) 407-409.

"Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and Hindu-Christian Dialogue", Hindu-Christian Studies, vol. 8 (1995) 28-35.

"Dostoevsky's Devil: The Will to Power", The Journal of Religion, vol. 74, no. 1 (1994) 26-44.

"From Proclamation to Interreligious Dialogue: The Parliaments of Religion", The Living Light, vol. 30, no. 1 (1993) 32-41.

"Introvertive Mystical Experiences: Monistic, Theistic and the Theo-Monistic", Religious Studies, vol. 29 (1993) 169-184.

"Constructivist Epistemologies of Mysticism: a Critique and a Revision", Religious Studies, vol. 28 (1992) 107-116.

"Phaedrus of the Phaedrus: the Impassioned Soul", Philosophy and Rhetoric, vol. 25, no. 3 (1992) 271-280.

"Personal Identity and Rebirth", Religious Studies, vol. 26 (1990) 493-500.

Books

Reclaiming Theodicy: Reflections on Suffering, Compassion, and Spiritual Transformation (London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

This book proposes a narrative of life within which one might understand suffering in relation to a personal God of ultimate power and love. It seeks to interpret suffering within a fundamentally compassionate and redemptive understanding of the Christian God. It explores various themes of theodicy -- theology that defends God in the face of evil – creatively developing a distinction between transformative and destructive suffering. Some suffering has positive effects on people who struggle with it, but certain kinds of suffering are bitterly destructive. In response to such suffering, the book analyses the dynamics of human and divine compassion. It suggests basic principles toward developing a politics of compassion and illustrates how various spiritual experiences of God are healing and life-giving. Within a religious view that stresses compassion, healing, and spiritual growth, the book also explores the relevance of the ideas of heaven, hell, purgatory and rebirth in responding to suffering. See http://us.macmillan.com/reclaimingtheodicy.

Co-editor with Hugo Meynell, Critical Reflections on the Paranormal (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1996).

The anthology is a collection of essays that discuss various aspects of paranormal phenomena, such as telepathy, psychokinesis, trance-mediumship, near death experiences, and past-life memories. In response to recent research and studies, both critical and supportive of the subject, they reflect on what is reasonable to believe about this phenomena, and why, Also, the essays suggest what changes might be demanded in our worldview, if these phenomena are accepted as genuine. The collection includes essays by Susan Armstrong, Heather Botting, Stephen Braude, Don Evans, David Ray Griffin, James Horne, Terence Penelhum, and the editors.

Theo-Monistic Mysticism: A Hindu-Christian Comparison (London: Macmillan Press; New York: St Martin's Press, 1994).

In response to current explanations of mystic phenomena, this book proposes a novel interpretive framework for understanding mysticism. It explores various kinds of mystical experience, suggesting that they are not wholly determined by subjective categories of interpretation and illustrating how they can be related and integrated within a narrative of spiritual transformation. In this view, radically non-dual experiences of unity or oneness are understood to culminate in 'theo-monistic' realizations - experiences which include dynamic and personal elements that are creative and moral - and to which other kinds of mysticism might also be related. This position is illustrated through a comparative study of Ramanuja, Aurobindo, Shankara, Ruusbroec, Eckhart, Boehme, and other Christian and Hindu mystics.

Evil and the Mystics' God: Towards A Mystical Theodicy (London: Macmillan Press; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992).

Theodicies are systems of philosophy that attempt to rationalize the existence of evil in a God-centered world. They do not normally take into account the responses to evil by mystics - people who speak of encountering divine reality in an immediate or direct fashion that transcends normal categories of experience. Evil and the Mystics' God analyses the contribution that mystical thought makes towards establishing a reliable theodicy. Major subject figures include F. Dostoevsky, J. Hick, E. Underhill, J. Boehme, Eckhart, Shankara, and Aurobindo Ghose. http://www.utppublishing.com/product.php?productid=970&cat=0&page=1