Why was it significant that men like Söderblom and Otto argued for understanding religions on their own terms?
The significance of Söderblom's and Otto's work stems from how they approached religion with earnest and the methods used for comparing the various forms of religion. Unlike previous comparativists, both men sought to understand the various religions of the world on their own terms. Th purpose of this method was to reach out and attempt to seize the "richness" found within them. In doing so, they hoped to better grasp their forms as well as be able to explain them in a manner that could be recognizable to any religious adherent. However,this method does have its flaws. It does not allow for the addressing of elements that a religions
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In order to better understand these daily adherents, Otto theorized that symbols, metaphors, and figurative language were possible methods for conveying what word cannot. Otto would unify these various tools to develop the concept of ideograms. The ideogram allowed for a sort of false image that could temporally replace a concept that is too difficult to explain or wholly ineffable. Why this is important when speaking about religion is that the very concept of religion itself can be ineffable. Various depictions of gods and goddesses found throughout history range from simplistically mundane to stunningly incomprehensible. Take for instance Hinduism and Daoism. There are an astonishing amount of deities found within Hinduism and many have characteristics that are almost impossible to fully realize. With the help of ideograms, however, we can at the very least gain some insight as to whether the god is something within the realm of man or beyond it. With respect to Daoism, ideograms allow for the image of the dao to be better understood. The Dao is permanent, nameless, and exist entirely within a void of nothingness. It is empty, formless, and smooth for its emptiness gives it usefulness, its lack of distinction gives it possibilities and its smoothness prevents complete comprehension. The use of ideograms help make it intelligible through understanding specific areas and characteristics of the Dao that have no
They denied the importance of the Church or Bible but had a naïve faith in reason and nature
1. The Schleitheim Confession, authored by Michael Sattler, served as a point of unification for the Anabaptist community during the sixteenth century
Religions are broad in their scope of history, beliefs, and rituals, using many systems to support their individual ideologies. Rituals, such as baptism within Christianity and Judaism, are markers for the distinct values and meanings that are associated with specific doctrines, and can be viewed and interpreted in several different ways. Theorists often view religion with different outlooks, classifying the institution as having a social background or a cultural emphasis, such as what Clifford Geertz defined. Geertz focused on the importance of symbols in religion, their cultural perceptions, the meanings that are attributed to the act, and how it relates to the the society’s value systems. By applying his theory about religion as a culture to the baptismal ceremonies in Judaic and Christian religions, the ritual can be viewed as an important cultural symbol, signs of various cultural views, and as a reinforcement of an ethos.
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Peterson, Michael - Hasker, Reichenbach and Basinger. Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
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.
The vastly different traditions of religion forms in the United States show that how diversity of worldwide people merged into one society and formed separate traditions all while dealing boundaries between religions in America. The mystery of religious belief beyond the definition is still and will always be a much-debated topic. Regardless of whether these arguments are ever resolved, it is important to bear in mind about the powers from Albanese‘s theory, which is a system of symbols by means of which people orient themselves in a world with reference to both ordinary and extraordinary powers, meanings, and values (Albanese). She also identified
Oxtopy, W., & Segal, A. (2007). A concise introduction to world religions. (1st ed., p. 258). New York: Oxford University press.
Religion is known to be difficult to define as it transcends so many boundaries in human experience and from an academic perspective; it is difficult to find any distinction between the world religions 1, 2, 3. Ninian Smart approached religion as a religious studies specialist and instead of trying to define religion, he identified certain recognizable elements that religion in general possess and focused on studying them 3, 4, 9. He identified seven such elements or dimensions for the religion; practical and ritual, experimental and emotional, narrative or mythic, doctrinal and philosophical, ethical and legal, social and institutional and material dimension 3. The purpose of this paper is to use three of Smart’s dimensions and describe the three western religions. An example from each of the three religion pertaining to a chosen dimension will be provided and explained in the context of the religion and how it informs one of the core aspects of the chosen religion.
Geertz defines religion as ‘(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.’ In this essay, I will focus on the Geertz’s idea, and Asad’s subsequent critique, of symbols. (Geertz, Clifford, and Michael Banton. "Religion as a cultural system." (1966).)
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
The first chapter is about possible reasons why humans have felt the need to create religion, according to Freud, as humans became separate from wild animals, they felt the need to look into their past and attempt to discover their collective past and to predict where they will be in the future.
Oxtoby, Willard G., and Alan F. Segal. A Concise Introduction to World Religions. Oxford, Canada: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Religion was seen from the perspective of its impact on society and life. It was broken down into sacred and profane then beliefs and rites. He looks at the division of labor by looking at solidarity. He discusses two types of solidarity which are mechanical and organic solidarity.
When first looking at the relationship between philosophy and religion, I found it easier to explain the differences rather than the similarities. I began this paper the same way I do others. This generally involves a profound amount of research on the topic at hand. However, in contrast to the other papers I have done, the definitions of philosophy and religion only raised more questions for me. It was fascinating how the explanations differed dramatically from author to author.