DECK E — Philosophy of Religion (PoR)

Philosophy of Religion

Rational reflection on religion. |

Critical, outsider’s analysis of religious beliefs, practices, and language.

Natural Theology

Knowledge of God by reason.

Theology based on observation and logic, independent of revelation.

Sacred Theology

Knowledge by revelation.

Theology grounded in divine revelation (Scripture, tradition).

Theodicy

Problem of evil.

Reconciliation of God’s omnipotence/omnibenevolence with existence of evil.

Epistemology of Religion

Justification of belief.

Asks whether religious claims are rational and justified.

Semantics of Religious Language

Meaning of religious talk.

Analyzes logical character of theological statements (e.g., analogy, symbol, metaphor).

Phenomenology of Religion

How experience becomes religious.

Describes religious phenomena from the perspective of lived experience.

Faith Seeking Understanding (Fides quaerens intellectum)

Anselm’s motto.

Faith is primary, but reason deepens comprehension.

Ontological Argument (Anselm)

God as “that than which nothing greater can be conceived.”

Existence of God deduced from concept of God itself.

Five Ways (Aquinas)

Proofs for God.

Motion, causality, contingency, degrees of perfection, teleology.

Ralph Cudworth

Early PoR.

Distinguished philosophy of religion from theology in 17th century.

Hegel (Lectures on PoR)

Religion as Spirit.

Saw religions as historical manifestations of Absolute Spirit.