This is only for Philosophy of Religion (Nartatez) class. This is strictly for class members only.

Please
do not disseminate outside of the class.

Understanding “RELIGION”

Problems in defining “religion”:

>Too broad

>Too narrow

(Recall the discussion on this.)

The Phenomenology of the Religious Experience (its immediate thought/state of mind and feeling)—

"Religion is that which is of ultimate or supreme concern to individuals or groups." Robert D. Baird

Faith (and broadly, religion) as a condition of being "ultimately concerned.”Paul Tillich

Religion is “any system of thought and action shared by a group which gives the individual a frame of orientation and an
object of devotion (i.e., the ultimate concern).”Erich Fromm’s

"ultimate concern“ – Two characteristics:

1) makes unconditional demands in life, dictating decisions, choices, and lifestyle.

2) make promises of complete fulfillment (though this promise of complete fulfillment may not always be clearly
defined).

"Someone who surrenders to the demand of the concern believes that complete fulfillment follows…There are people in
the world who experience some concern for which they feel the need to make a complete surrender. In doing so, they
believe they are doing what will bring final fulfillment." David Johnson

The value of this definition is that it avoids either being too wide or too narrow, and captures the essence or the
phenomenology of the religious experience. This is how an individual or group experiences the religious feeling.

Ultimate Concern as Sacred

E Durkheim’s adds that the religious capacity is the unique human ability to make things sacred.(E. Durkheim
http://girardianlectionary.net/learn/durkheim-definition-religion/ )

“sacred,” that which is held to be of supreme importance, separate what’s common, worthy of reverence and awe.

“sacred” in traditional terms is associated with the divine presence (eg, an object, place), but in today’s modern secular
ethos the divine is replaced with something more humanistic (eg, flag, cause, idea, position of power), even materialistic
(eg, money, stuff).

Recall Wallace: everybody worships, and what we worship will “eat us up” (it’s our ultimate concern)
WORLDVIEW

For the quiz, prepare to formulate a full definition of the concept of “worldview”.

(Not discussed in class) WORLDVIEW THEMES: A worldview covers the following deep questions--

1. The Cosmos (universe/the created order/God): What is reality? How does society understand the nature of the
universe in which it exists? Is the material world all that exists, or is there a non-material reality?

2. The Self: What is human? How does the society answer the question, "Who am I?" What model do members of that
society have to understand themselves as persons?

3. Knowing: What is truth? How does one come to know things about reality? Philosophers call this area of thinking
epistemology.

4. The Community: What is society? How do people understand their involvement within the communities in which they
exist?

5. Time: What is time? How is this most obscure component of our existence perceived by the society? How does
time/history move?

6. Value: What is good? In every area of human activity, values are involved: moral values, aesthetic values, economic
values, religious values, and so on. The word value is here defined as good ends, ideals we ought to pursue.

(Not discussed in class) Worldview Paradigms(Models) (From Timothy Philips & Dennis Okholm, ‘Worldview
Catalog’)

“A worldview is a way of seeing or picturing the world and everything in it. It’s a conceptual framework. It determines
how we interpret our experience and it guides our actions—whether we are conscious of it or not.” (Timothy Philips &
Dennis Okholm)

Worldviews involve the total person—we think, act, and view life and the world according to our worldview.

People all over the world, and even people that we associate with everyday, have differences in their beliefs and ideas.
These differences range from minor, to major and even to totally conflicting beliefs and ideas.

On a surface level the diversity of beliefs and ideas are legion.

However, at a deeper level, at the level of worldview paradigms, there are generally only three models of reality, and
the many diverse ideas and beliefs can be categorized under these three conceptual paradigms.

MONISTIC

From the Greek adjective monos, only alone.

The monistic worldview holds that there is only one level, or kind of reality.

Naturalism – the worldview paradigm of secularism, humanism (or secular humanism), and atheism, assert the ff.

-all reality is material/physical reality.

-Nature is all that exist. All reality is natural, ‘What you “see” is what you get.’

“The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” Carl Sagan

“The world is simply a bundle of physical occurrences with random side effects… The cosmos is a self-contained system;
nature does not need explanations beyond itself to account for the reality of natural objects. Whatever exists is in
principle explicable by means of science.” (p.25)

Thus, no supernatural, no spiritual, no miracles, no Spirit/s, no God. We are alone in this universe.

Well known proponents: Ancient Greek philosopher such as Democritus, modern thinkers e.g. Thomas Hobbes, Ludwig
Fuerbach, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Bertrand Russel, B. F. Skinner; contemporary thinkers e.g. the so-called New
Atheists: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens (deceased), Daniel Dennett et. al.

Pantheism

From the Greek pan (all) and theos (God).

Pantheism holds that “God and the world are one; everything is God and God is everything.”

Ultimately there is no distinction between God and the world, “there are no ultimate boundaries between God, human,
cauliflower, and rock, regardless of what reason and sense perception tell us about reality. All is one in the end.” (p. 27)

God is not thought of as a person, but an “it”, a force or energy that engulfs and animates everything in the universe
(from rocks to plants to animals to humans to planets to stars to galaxies).

Behind all the distinctions and differences we perceive with our senses (e.g. human versus rock) is an underlying primary
reality that unifies all things into one i.e. God.

Thus all our perceptions of differences and distinctions are superficial and illusions.

Panentheism

From the Greek pan (all) en (in)theos (God)

God is in everything, or everything partakes of or is part of God.

Difference between…

Pantheism: God is the wind, the stars, thehumanity etc

Panentheism: God is in the wind, in the stars, in humanity etc.

DUALISTIC

Latin dualis> duo, "two"

Dualism asserts that there are “two fundamental eternal principles of reality that are equal and independent. They are
eternally opposed to each other on the battleground of history and therefore mutually limiting.” (p. 32)

These two opposing realities existed alongside each other from eternity. They can be categorized as the good force
versus the evil force.

Ancient proponents:

-Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism

-Some forms of animism/tribalism that view the world as dominated by good and evil supernatural beings more or less
equal in power and are locked in an eternal conflict, with humans being in the middle, some siding with the good and
others with the evil.

Modern: Finite Theism

Process philosophy/theology that assert a good but not an omnipotent God; God is limited by the actions of his creation.
In a way God is helpless as he watches the evil that is happening all over the world.

Rabbi Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, says,

“I worship a God who hates suffering but cannot eliminate it.”

“Why then do bad things happen to good people? One reason is that our being human leaves free to hurt each other,
and God can’t stop us…”

The dualistic worldview behind Star Wars’ dark and light side of the Force. The Force (basically God) is not a personal
moral being, but an impersonal power or energy that can be utilized or harnessed by humans either by the means of the
light (good) or by darker means (evil).

God does not have the power to guarantee His will for the future. The struggle of good and evil in history is an open
question.

THEISTIC

In contrast to monism the theistic worldview asserts that there are at least two different levels or kinds or reality:

God – Creator, Ground of Being, Ultimate Reality, Infinite Personal Spirit, eternal realm (a supernatural, non-material
reality, spiritual dimension exists)

Creation – the created order, physical/material reality, finite realm

Deism

“God created the universe and humans with a moral conscience, but he is no longer active in history. God is letting
history run on its own, maintaining a hands off approach until the end when human vice will be judged and human
virtue will be rewarded… God is viewed as a sort of “celestial watchmaker” (who starts the watch running but leave it on
its own)… Meanwhile, human beings are responsible to live moral lives that are based on sound rational principles.”

This view arose in 17th century France and thru England was imported to the US.

Prominent America figures Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

Theism

There are three major theistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity,Islam (there are critical differences between these faiths, but
they share the same basic worldview)

God is the original and ultimate reality that existed before anything else existed.

“God is not the world. God is the creator of the world and is intentionally, personally, intimately, and continuously
involved with the world he brought into being… God both transcends the world and is immanent within it. He is other
than but present to the world at the same time.”

God is the archetypal or prototypical Person, and human personhood are patterned after God’s personhood and is to be
subservient to Him.

Human persons are rational and moral creatures responsible for their acts in this life, and will answer for them in the
coming age.