Religion without doctrine, religion without creed, religion without belief in another, spiritual world we live in - that is what Cupitt is striving for since he denies the literal truth of virtually all the elements of religious creed: the afterlife, heaven and hell and the resurrection of Jesus Christ." are comments made by Julian Baggini after an interview with Cupitt. Cupitt is seen as "a man who wants to dispense with all religion's claim to truth, yet who sees something in religion that is worth preserving as religion supplies us with poetry and myths to live by and we need stories to live by because our existence is temporal and we always need to construct some kind of story of our lives and that story needs to have a religious quality." (TPM Online). On the other hand, Cupitt sees "the world before us is all there is. There is no God, no heaven, no mind and no language that exists outside our human biological sphere. In short, the world is `outsideless' and "is not a preparation for something better and as such we should live as if these were the last days" (Faithorg., U.K.). Against the backdrop of these Cupitt's claims, this essay seeks to critically evaluate the efficacy of his cultural-linguistic approach to religious language and to argue that his ever-changing position on religion, one, he says, should be without all doctrines, creeds and beliefs, only leaves his readers with the puzzle of why it should be called religion at all (Baggini, TPM Online).
Religion as Created by Language
This essay agrees with Malantschuk's belief that the spiritual crisis at the beginning of the twentieth century triggered off philosophers and theologians to seek enlightenment and assistance in Kierkegaard's dialectics of hu...
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...al development and to operate as a collective agency for progressive social change. Regrettably, this imaginative vision, this essay argues, betrays an important weakness in this thought: paradoxically the very strong eastern flavour of his philosophy may betray his true religion as what his religion actually is always seems strangely evasive (foundtain.btinternet.co.uk).
To sum up, Cupitt accepts and affirms the world despite viewing it as nihilistic and sees the world as entirely language-formed and thus inevitably involving distinctions. Though advocating that religion should be without doctrine or creed, he is similarly regarded by some of his critics as dogmatic and willfully destructive. If religion should be without doctrine or creed or belief in another, spiritual world, the nagging doubt remains: why call it religion at all? (Baggini, TPM Online).
Religion has been a controversial topic among philosophers and in this paper I am focusing
As the world becomes increasingly more interconnected, differences among the many religions prove to be obstacles to the global society. In an effort to overcome these obstacles, religious authorities propose the essential sameness of all religions (that all religions point towards the same goal); however, this hypothesis oversimplifies all religions to an arbitrary base. On the other hand, Stephen Prothero’s, the author of God Is Not One, proposal for the acknowledgment of the differences preserves the multidimensional aspects of religions. By rejecting the hypothesis of a basic and similar structure of religion, Prothero allows for them to exist as complete entities; however, Prothero also creates false barriers that over differentiate religions.
Peterson, Michael - Hasker, Reichenbach and Basinger. Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
Richard Madsen, William Sullivan, Ann Swidler and Steven Tipton, eds. Meaning and Modernity: Religion, Polity and Self. University of California Press. Berkeley, CA. 2002.
Kierkegaard, Søren, Howard V. Hong, Edna H. Hong, and Søren Kierkegaard. Philosophical Fragments, Johannes Climacus. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1985. Print.
The growth of religious ideas is environed with such intrinsic difficulties that it may never receive a perfectly satisfactory exposition. Religion deals so largely with the imaginative and emotional nature, and consequently with such an certain elements of knowledge, the all primitive religions are grotesque to some extent unintelligible. (1877:5)
In the following pages I will discuss this metaphor, as well as Rudolf Otto and his theories on the creation of religion, Peter L. Berger’s theory of “the sacred canopy,” and finally the intermingling of these two theories in the evolution of religion.
Religion is too rigid and has many definitions with just as many denominations. Each religion has its own set beliefs, as well as its own way to worship. Pope Francis, who was elected as the world’s top religious leader said, “The Church is or should go back to being a community of God’s people, and priests, pastors and bishops, who have the c...
In Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, the concept of the Knight of Faith is an exalted one, a unique title awarded to those whose devotion to God goes far beyond what is even comprehensible or expected for the average man, who has an aesthetic or ethical life. We are told by Kierkegaard that this Knight of Faith, when in a situation where resignation appears to be the only solution to a problem, puts his faith in what appears to be the absurd, and believes that the solution that he desires lies in God. This fuels his faith, and makes him better than the aesthetic man, who simply abandons or ignores the problem, or the ethical man, the Knight of Infinite Resignation, who accepts the problem and resigns himself to a life of despair. The Knight of Faith exists as a shining beacon of devotion to the will of God, and, according to Kierkegaard, there exist only two known examples of the Knight of Faith: Abraham, and Mary. These exemplary figures in history put their faith in God, and believed that God would provide a solution to their problems. This unconditional faith in their creator is supposed to be inspirational, and in a sense, make the reader feel incredibly pitiful and resentful of their own wavering faith. In the following paragraphs, I aim to argue that a moment of absolute faithlessness can prove to be just as powerful as a moment of pure faith, and that Mary and Abraham serve as God-given examples of an absolute faith that is inaccessible to all but a few humans who serve very specific purposes in this world. Finally, I will propose a different mode of existence, one in which a man’s free will allows him to find joy in whatever God provides for him.
Utopia achieves great universality by evincing great understanding and sympathy with all men (Surtz, vii). It presents the hope for far better things, sustained by the view that man may shape and mold himself in any chosen form, (viii) thus creating the best earthly state possible. Redfield’s text focuses on nine insights to a spiritual transformation. When all nine insights are understood, an exciting new image of human life, and a positive vision of how we can save this planet, it’s creatures and it’s beauty will be attained (Redfield). According to Redfield, upon reaching the new millennium, human culture will shift as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on earth. In order to understand where we are today, we must take ourselves back to the year 1000 and move through the millennium as we lived through it. Imagine yourself being alive in the year 1000, the Middle Ages. The first thing you must understand is that the reality of this time is being defined by the powerful churchmen of the Christian church (22). Because of their position, these men hold great influence over t...
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Oxtoby, Willard G., and Alan F. Segal. A Concise Introduction to World Religions. Oxford, Canada: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Religion is a guiding light that shines into all factors of life. It builds one’s character and personality, and affects one’s perspective on his surroundings. Religion wears many hats, as it can range from a loosely set philosophy to a strict, taxing code of conduct. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s religion was a non-traditional one which emphasized self-reliance (Rowe 5), individuality (St. John 6), and the natural goodness of man (Jue 7). He saw religion as a relative, personal set of beliefs which can change and vary widely between practitioners, and even within one person over a period of time. In fact, Emerson began his religious journey as a Calvinist in Harvard’s School of Divinity, then held a career as a minister of a Unitarian church in Boston (Leude 1). His beliefs as a Unitarian were similar to his Transcendentalist philosophies (1), discovered soon after his resignation as a minister. When analyzed from a biblical perspective, Emerson’s literary works clearly reflect the influences of eastern religion and mysticism in their depiction of nature as well as God, the human spirit, and religion.
Religion is an organized collection of beliefs and cultural systems that entail the worship of a supernatural and metaphysical being. “Religion just like other belief systems, when held onto so much, can stop one from making significant progress in life”. Together with religion come traditions that provide the people with ways to tackle life’s complexities. A subscription to the school of thought of great scholars
Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.