PAPER NO. 89

HISTORY OF RELIGION

  1. Definition of religion: the beliefs or set of beliefs we use to give meaning to our experience.

Religion cannot be defined as belief in a higher power, or as belief in a Scripture, or as a set of practices. Many religions do not have these features.

Implications of this definition of religion:

  1. All persons are religious since all persons give meaning to their experience.

Both theism and atheism are formally paired beliefs which are used in the same way to interpret experience.

  1. Religion is fundamentally cognitive.

It has to do with beliefs which are either true or false.

Religion is not fundamentally mystical/experiential or a set of social rules.

  1. No experience is meaningful without interpretation.

One’s basic belief cannot arise from experience.

Experience has meaning when interpreted in light of one’s basic belief using reason.

  1. As truth cannot be separated from meaning so faith cannot be separated from reason. 

It is by reason that meaning is grasped. Reason is the test for meaning. 

Faith grows as understanding grows. Faith is tested as understanding is tested. 

Faith is contrasted with sight; it is not contrasted with reason, proof, or understanding.

  1. No one is fully conscious of or consistent in their basic beliefs.

All have a mixture of the two basic beliefs (all or only some is eternal), with one being more at one’s core. 

History is an outworking of the conflict of these two beliefs in each person, each culture, and in world history.

  1. Definition of basic belief
    1. Our most basic belief has to do with our most basic concept—that of eternal existence.
    2. There are two basic beliefs: all is eternal and only some is eternal.
    3. None is eternal cannot be held since it implies being came from non-being.
    4. Under ‘all is eternal’ are the following religions:

Secular Humanism (all is matter, matter is eternal, there is no spirit or soul)

Hinduism (all is one, atman is brahman, Advaita: the world is maya/illusion)

Buddhism (all is dukkha, all is an eternal process)

Dualism (matter and spirit are both eternal: Greek, Persian, Indian, Mormon)

Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism

Shamanism (belief in spirits in nature, and magical powers)

  1. Under ‘only some is eternal’ (or God the creator) are the following religions:

Judaism (Orthodox, Reformed, Conservative, Reconstruction, Hasidic)

Christianity (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant)

Islam (Sunni, Shi’a, Sufi)

Deism (God created the world but does not actively rule in the world)

  1. Definition of ‘God’

    1. In theism, God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchanging in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.
    2. In atheism, there is no God as spirit. ‘God’ has sociological or psychological meaning only, if at all.
    3. In deism, God is creator but not ruler.
    4. In pantheism, God is all and all is God.
    5. In polytheism, there are many gods, each having rule over a particular function of nature. Or, the god is connected to the local people.
    6. In dualism, God is maker but not creator.
    7. In Shamanism, the gods are local spirits or impersonal forces.
    1. Levels of religion

      1. Popular (95+%):

    Concerned mostly for practical and psychological needs.

    Generally unaware of historical creeds.

    1. Historical (4-5%):

    What the best minds have agreed upon after much discussion.

    This understanding is summed up in the great creeds of the faith.

    1. Philosophical (1% or less):

    Addresses questions that have not yet been discussed historically.

    Addresses questions that remain from internal and external challenges.

    1. Recent developments in religion: the move from theism to shamanism

      1. The ongoing conflict between impersonal/natural explanations and personal/supernatural explanations beginning with the Greeks.
      2. The shift from the Dark Ages and Medieval Christianity to the Renaissance and the Reformation.
      3. The development of science from theism and from the Reformation view of work.
      4. The shift to deism and the extension of natural explanations; the collapse of the Old Order in the revolutionary period.
      5. The naturalism of Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.
      6. The miracles of technology and the trust in science.
      7. World War I, World War II, The Cold War, and the collapse of Modernism: post-colonialism and post-modernism.
    2. Meaning, faith, and reason in popular religion

      1. Liberals and conservatives
      2. Fundamentalism and literalism
      3. The concept of hell—4 contrasts
      4. The concept of heaven—4 contrasts
      5. The concept of the second coming of Christ—4 contrasts
    3. Meaning, faith, and reason in science, religion, and philosophy

      1. Does the soul exist?
      2. Creation and Evolution—geology
      3. Creation and Evolution—biology
      4. Creation and Evolution—astronomy
      5. Creation and Evolution—theistic evolution

    This paper was originally developed for a World Religions course.


© 1992 Logos Papers Press