Religious sentiment had long been thought to be inferior to natural religion. The arguments of natural religion were widely accepted as self-evident from the middle ages throughout parts of the enlightenment. Only after these arguments were questioned and their self-evidence evaporated, did the pious philosophers find recourse with religious sentiment. The psychologist William James exemplifies this; he transformed religious discourse by denouncing natural and institutionalized religion. At the same time, he embraced and vigorously defended religious sentiment and experience. William James thoroughly explains religion's meaning and value, and adequately defends it from rationalist critics.
Religion's meaning is predominantly one of subjective
James holds that the concepts of objectivity or truth are too vague and indefinable, along with being inconsistent with human nature. Human beings do not base their beliefs on pure reason, but rather base it upon their intuitive core. Knowledge is based upon this intuitive core, we do not give assent to beliefs that contrast these inarticulate feelings. If beliefs make people happy, they are going to accept them, as happiness is mankind's fundamental goal. The basis of religious thinking are the subconscious over-beliefs that shape us and our opinions. It's this intuition that allows us to assent to any religious argument in the first place. This subconscious does not care for reasoned dictation, but rather operates on these principles of subjective feeling and use. James is not arguing that this is any morally better, but simply gives a descriptive account. To James, natural religion is subservient to subjective religious
James' problem with their reasoning is simple; every idea is the result of organic functioning. Even the ideas of science, which is the basis of medical materialism, is in some way dependent on organic functioning. This reasoning that any form of religious experience should be invalidated because of some psychological or organic flaw is a fallacy. The origin of an idea does not determine its validity. James makes this contention clear when he looks at the medical materialist perspective on genius. They clearly seem to indicate that genius results from some form of psychological and organic deficiency, but they do not bother to criticize the results of genius. James points out that a double-standard that is given to religion in this context. Spiritual insight can still be gained by those with psychological ailment. These conditions may allow these individuals to access parts of reality that are separate from the domain of pure reason. James is not saying that everything the mentally disturbed should be taken as true, rather that they should not be instantly rejected. Medical materialism does reject this, by simply explaining religious experience away. As long as the idea is not utterly implausible, it still has some sort of value to life. The medical materialist confuses an existential judgement with one of value. The truth is that religion has very real and noticeable effects on people. James'
Religion and opinions are both products of humans. Our intelligence gifts us with the freedom of thought and capability to apply it to our views on deep life questions. Intelligence provides us the right to believe in any sort of God, afterlife, or way of living. Brad Gregory describes the Protestant Reformation’s effects on the present society’s Christian qualities in a book he wrote titled “The Unintended Reformation.”1 (After my awareness of the outcome of the western history of the Protestant Reformation, I gained an opinion on today’s religious views that do not completely agree with Gregory’s valuation.) The Protestant Reformation was vital to the progress in the knowledge about the Christian faith.
“Religion is the backbone of evolution.” Without the cultural differences and belief systems we would not have a regulated religious base. It is evident some religions can be both alike but yet still very different. The historical William Bradford and Jonathan Edwards demonstrate this theory. William Bradford portrays more leniencies while allowing for more religious tolerance within the puritan community. With some contrasting beliefs but familiar goals, Jonathan Edwards, pursued a stricter religious background. Both of these author’s play an important role in sculpting the puritan way of life.
The principle of credulity, the will to believe and the role of rationality and evidence all play crucial roles while attempting to explain religious experience. The principle of credulity states that religious experiences should be taken at their face value when we have no positive reason to doubt them. William James' The will to believe suggests that perhaps proof, rationality, and scientific investigation are not the appropriate or relevant methods for deciding issues raised by religious experience. Lastly, religious experience claims direct and immediate awareness that is not dependent on direct sense experience or on reason. We will take a closer look at each of these principles as illustrated by William James and Soren Kierkegaard, to see how these concepts effect our views of religious experience.
The Christian perspective on psychopathology is that all psychological aspects of an individual have been affected in some way by the fall. The Christian perspective sees us all as broken, deceitful who have been blemished from the fall. However, we are also created in the image of God. Therefore, through His redemptive grace, we can be restored. Also, “a Christian understanding of sin and psychopathology should be based on a holistic view of the person in relation to self, other, God and one’s physical surroundings” (Yarhouse, p97). This Christian perspective can be used to explain several aspects of pathology, or what contributes to psychopathology. These aspects are; human nature, human incompleteness, the effects of others sin, the effects of the client’s own sin, and the effects of sin on society as a whole. All of these aspects show that sin is at the root of psychopathological
Scientism is the view that knowledge of reality should only be gained or is best gained through the scientific process or research. This statement though sounds logical; it implies that something cannot be known or believed if it is not scientifically gained knowledge. Scientism is not science; it is a view about knowledge. Scientific statements are facts, but statements of facts cannot explain moral and ethical judgments that evaluate facts claims as being good or bad. It is therefore important to distinguish between scientific claims (90% of Americans think racism is wrong) and values (racism is wrong). Science forms a part of ethical or ought statements but these statements goes beyond what science offers. Not making this distinction leads to the fallacy of obtaining an ought from an is. Relativism is another viewpoint that upholds that there is no concept such as “the ultimate truth” and every belief or knowledge is relative to how it is perceived by an individual or culture. For, example things that Americans value or prioritize like independence or equality might be irrelevant in another culture. The adverse effects of concepts such as scientism and relativism has led to nonscientific claims being trivialized in the healthcare system. However new interest has been generated in spirituality in the healthcare system and Duke University has formed a center in 1998 to promote religion and spirituality in health through research (Grand Canyon University, 2015). This in my opinion is a much needed venture resolve these tensions as the Bible reminds us that in the last days even the elect may be
I agree more with James who argues that it is appropriate to have individual beliefs on non-
Entwistle’s book explores the links and integration between psychology and Christianity. As the title explains this book paints a picture of the conflicting worldviews and philosophical foundations that people perceive about how they can be integrated. Entwistle provides research through scholarly reflection and various models that link both psychology and Christianity together. Entwistle remarked by saying “There are many events that raise both theological and psychological questions and such events serve as useful springboards to investigate links between Christian theology and other disciplines” (Entwistle, 2015, p. 8). This statement sets the stage for the readers to understand how some events throughout history have laid the
Religion and morality exist together in parallel according to Alan Keyes. Alan Dershowitz stated that if religion and morality are not separated, it could have negative discourse. James Fowler followed Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erickson when selecting the stages to his development of faith across the life span. These three men all selected different ways to look at religio...
A framework of five models is shared: Enemies, Spies, Colonialists, Neutral Parties, and Allies. The Enemies model either associates no relationship between Christianity and psychology. The Spies model focuses on what works best for them from both Christianity and psychology. Colonialists use psychology only to the degree that it fits theology. Neutral Parties model holds that psychology and theology are independent with possible correlation between findings of the two, however that is about as far as one discipline may encroach on the other. Allies, the model considered by Entwistle, acknowledges that while psychology and theology are separate, they are still dependent, based upon the underlying unity of truth of God’s written word and His Works (Entwistle, 2010). The underpinning of the integrative approach to psychology and Christianity appears to be that of anthropology; this may be seen in the two books, God g...
Nash, Ronald H., (1999). Life‘s ultimate questions: an introduction to philosophy, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530, page 257, note 13 quoting Hume’s Natural History of Religion in The Philosophical Works of David Hume (London, 1874-1875), 4, 309.
After much haggling and several smoke-filled back room discussions, an agreement was reached. The Church would maintain it’s jurisdiction over "the mind" for that is were the personality and soul "truly" resides and science could have the body, which is just a "machine for the mind" and upon death, would become simply an empty vessel. Furthering the rift, more recent science has discovered that specific diseases can be "cured" through specific medicinal formulas or drugs. This "magic bullet" mentality spread throughout medicine and science.
Rather than create a historical impact by making accurate assertions about the psychology of religion, Freud’s minimally researched and somewhat narcissistic theory has only tarnished his scholarly credibility. Works Cited Freud, Sigmund. “Civilization and its Discontents.” The Major Works of Sigmund Freud. Ed.
William James’s, “Lecture XX, Conclusions” wants us to understand that the nature of the universe is perfect because it’s what creates everything. He addresses that the universe is what creates everything like the sun, which lets people see and gives light to everything in that the universe contains. In James’s “Lecture XX, Conclusions,” he mentions that the universe created the sun, which “contributes to the primary purpose of creation: without it the race of man could not be preserved or continued.” From this I understood that the universe is perfect because it creates everything that we need to survive. Without the creations of the universe, human beings could not be able to exist. The universe is perfect since it is able to give humans,
Although it turned out secular modern science, the aim of natural philosophy was to understand God’s power and purposes in the creation of nature. This relationship between natural philosophy and religious studies was strengthened by the clergy, especially in Protestant churches. They aimed to create a ‘reasonable Christianity’ by supporting the irrational sources of it, such as ...
Coyne describes that religion has three qualities: theism, moral system, and supernatural agent. With the claim of theism, he explains that God is always in contact with the world. With this notion, he understands that religion has one God in which watches everything that his followers perform in and proceeds to reward or punish their behavior. The second characteristic is the institution of a moral system. Considering this, Coyne depicts that based on the reward and punishment system based on behavior, religion is to believe that there are certain actions in which God considers to be right or wrong. This is a major component of most religious practices. The third feature is the interpersonal relationship with God. By making wrong decisions, we are spared from our wrongdoing by having an association with God. With these three components, Coyne defines religion. Now with this information, he dissects religion and tries to determine if religion looks for truth, similar to the field of science. In his findings he has concluded that theologians believe that the existence of God is indeed considered factual information. When pressed on this issue for evidence, many theologians claim that God cannot be described and is