Module 1-2 Philosophy of Religion

essential definitions of religion

substantive or functional

substantive

content of substance of religious belief, such as the belief in God or the supernatural

functional

defines religion in terms of social or psychological functions it performs for individuals or society

cluster definitions

analogy of family; there may be no set of traits that are both necessary and suffiecient but there are traits that allow us to group them in the same family; religion is like a family

religio

piety or reverence for gods; vertical; has a transcendent element or dimension; correct worship of NOT BELIEF IN the gods; practice not belief

relegre

refers to people who are careful in their ritual actions; possible origin of the word religio

religare

to bind under an obligation; possible origin of the word religio

William James

suggested that spirituality is a quest for transformation from a state of perceived wrongness to a state of perceived rightness by making contact with a higher power

John Hick

thinks that spirituality is a transformation from a selfish to a selfless state

orthodoxy

holding correct beliefs; most religions do not focus on this

orthopraxy

correct practice; higher focus is put on this

abrahamic religions

judaism, christianity, and islam

rabbinic judaism

leadership of rabbis who study and interpret the commandments and lead worship in local synagogues

oriental orthodox church

refuse to agree that Jesus has two separate natures, divine and human ceoxist in Jesus as one nature

core component of western religion 1

religion is primarily a matter of beliefs

core component of western religion 2

religious beliefs are about a creator God

core component of western religion 3

these beliefs form a structured whole that does not vary much through space and time

core component of western religion 4

each religion is constituted by a different, mutually exclusive set of beliefs

core component of western religion 5

religion is one of many distinct and universal elements of culture

core component of western religion 6

believing or not believing in some particular religion is a matter of private, individual choice

four corners of thick description

logical form, conceptual meaning, contextual setting, political use

logical form

representation of the logical form of the argument

conceptual meaning

meaning of the key concepts in the argument

contextual setting

knowledge of the cultural-historical setting of the argument

political use

awareness of how the argument serves or contests structures of power

personalized

spirituality is religion _______

institutionalized

religion is spirituality _______

historically, spirituality

what came first, spirituality or religion?

Immanuel Kant

Morality leads to religion; deontological morality; categorical imperative

Iris Murdoch

Morality has always been connected to religion, and religion to mysticism

mysticism

non-dogmatic, unformulated, faith in the reality of Good, occasionally connected with experience

Religion reduced to heightened morality

what kant and murdoch subscribed to

religion reduced to socio-cultural reality

what geertz, and durkheim subscribed to

Clifford Geertz

religion as a cultural system of symbols which act to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-standing moods and motivations in men

Emile Durkheim

God is society writ large; religion is the cement of society. a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things; whatever is sacred, it becomes exclusive

religion reduced to personal piety

what schleiermacher and huxley subscribed to

Friedrich Schleiermacher

the essence of religion consists in the feeling of an absolute dependence

Julian Huxley

The essence of religion springs forth from a man’s capacity for awe and reverence…the feeling of sacredness

Ludwig Wittgenstein

argues that a certain concept is actually a cluster of conecpts accomodating differences but not to the extent that it is no longer identifiable; family resemblances

philo

love,friend, lover

sophia

wisdom

philosophy etymology

love of wisdom

philosophy definition

rational investigation of truths and principles of being, knowledge, and conduct

philosophy of religion definition

the branch of philosphy which takes the claims of established religions and of religious believers and subject them to critical scrutiny

senses, reason, intuition, imagination,principles,

philosophy involves

senses/ sensory experiences

the faculty by which the body perceives external stimuli

reason

the intellectual facultry by which we think, understand, and form judgement

intuition

the intellectual ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning; logic without discursive reasoning

imagination

the faculty or action of forming new ideas, images, or concepts or external objects not present to the senses; perceptions of possibility

principles

propositions that serve as the foundation for a system of belief, behavior or reasoning

theodicy

1 of 5 main areas of inquiry; philosophical or speculative proofs for the existence of God; Is it reasonable to believe in God(s)?

philosophical theology

1 of 5 main areas of inquiry; study about the coherence in the description of God’s nature

religious epistemology

1 of 5 main areas of inquiry; inquires into the rational justification of religious beliefs and the strength of evidence that warrant beliefs

religious language

1 of 5 main areas of inquiry; analysis of logical characters of theological terms

religious experience

1 of 5 main areas of inquiry; philosophical stidy of how ordinary experience becomes revelatory of the transcendent dimension of reality

classical cosmocentrism

god is dependent on man such that man is dependent on nature and nature on god, there is harmony

medieval theocentrism

god is transcendent and is the cause behind man and nature as its creator; to understand nature and man is to understand why god created us

modern anthropocentrism

Renee Descartes; the humans are just souls and our body is not part of our identity but nature; body as an extension of who we are; god = infinite, anture = extended, man = thinking; body is secondary to humanity

Democritus

Atomism provided a mechanistic explanation of the universe

Plato

metaphysical dualism; philosophy is seen as a "lifelong quest for salvation" in which knowledge of divine Forms makes the soul more and more like these objects; use of Forms

metaphysicians

most ancient philosophers were…

parmenides

basis of reality is reason

heraclitus

basis of reality is the senses

Forms

the non-physical, timeless, absolute, and unchangeable essences of all things, of which objects and matter in the physical world are merely imitations; the divinity of this does not mean they need to be worshipped, only that they have an unparalleled excellence

Aristotle

metaphysical realism; usage of Primum Movens; the soul dies with the person

Etienne Gilson on Aristotle

"with Aristotle, the Greeks had gained indisputable rational theology, but they had lost their religion"

Blaise Pascal on Aristotle

made the distinction between "God of philosophers" and the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob"

Primum Movens

the unmoved mover moves other things, but is not itself moved by any prior action.; there never was a time when there was not motion, and never will be a time when there will not be motion; immutable and divine, because it is beyond the natural order; can only think of itself

theory of hylomorphism

everything in reality is constituted by two things: intelligible world and sensible world (form and matter)

"God of philosophers" and the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob"

referring to this Aristotellian concept of divinity: if you say you have understood God, you have completely lost God because God cannot be understood

One (divinity)

Parmenides (divinity)

Nous (Divinity)

Anaxagoras (divinity)

Good (divinity)

Plato (divinity)

First Mover (divinity)

Aristotle (divinity)

Nihil ex nihilo

Greek (Athens); it is absurd for something to come from nothing

creatio ex nihilo

Christianity; matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act; question of creation; question of resurrection; salvation

metempsychosis

reincarnation; when the body dies the soul endures

resurrection

the body comes back when the soul comes back

Moises Maimonides and Roger Bacon

medievals who argue that it is most important to study philosophy before theology

Moises Maimonides

rebuked a student who wished to skip philosophy in order to reach theology

Roger Bacon

said that nothing can be known about God without prior study of languages, mathematics, optics, experiential science, and moral philosophy

St. Augustine

denied the divinity of the Pagan Gods; God is mind, eternal, incorporeal, indivisible, and immutable; God is intimately involved with the word; God is entirely independent of the world; you cannot truly know God

St. Anselm of Canterbury

God is that which nothing greater can be thought; God + world is not more than God alone; fides quaerens intellectum; faith has nothing to fear from rational inquiry; did not intend to prove that God exists in Proslogion; “The fool said in his heart that there was no God. Why would he say that? Because he is foolish”

fides quaerens intellectum

faith seeking understanding; faith has nothing to fear from rational inquiry

St. Thomas Aquinas

used Aristotle’s theory of knowledge; praises faith but warns that there are other ways to access knowledge of divine thingsl; twofold theology; doctrine of transubstantiation; exitus-reditus; inspired the Dominicans

religion is a virtue

1 of 4 aspects of exitus reditus; rendering to God what is due to him

religion relates only and directly to god

1 of 4 aspects of exitus reditus, reestablishing a lost bond with god

religion is a habit

1 of 4 aspects of exitus reditus; must be practiced regularly

religion involves external acts

1 of 4 aspects of exitus reditus; we cannot just think that we praise God, we need toa actually do things to praise God

natural theology

1 of 2 of the twofold theology of Aquinas; God is known as the first cause of the world

sacred theology

1 of 2 of the twofold theology of Aquinas; God is known in the light of his self-revelation in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures

Doctrine of Transubstantiation

Thomas' description of _______________ as involving no change in the material accidents of bread and wine, as opposed to the substance of the bread which is changed into the body and blood of Jesus.

transubstantiation

refers to the belief that during the celebration of the Eucharist, the substances of bread and wine are transformed into the actual body and blood of Christ, while the outward appearances (the "accidents") of bread and wine remain unchanged.

substance

what something is fundamentally; _______ makes a chair a chair; that which requires nothing else but itself to exist; ultimate metaphysical category; relation/togetherness

accidents

properties or characteristics that can change without altering its essence; color and size of a chair are ____________

John Dus Scotus

refused to accomodate Aristotle; his Augustinianism is a mix of Augustine, Platonism, reactions to his contemporaries such as Henry of Ghent, and an Aristotelianism filtered by Latin Averroism; inspired the Franciscans

conceived

Mary was ________ without original sin

Latin Averroism

the assertion that reason and philosophy are superior to faith and knowledge founded on faith

The Christian reform movements of the Reformation were often sharly critical of the use of philosophy in discussions of God and creation

The legacy of fides quaerens intellectum was complicated in 3 ways; way 1

Rene Descartes

cogito ergo sum; res cogitans, res extensa, res infinita; penial gland is the connection between the body and soul