Stephen T. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199284597
- eISBN:
- 9780191603778
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199284598.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
According to the Christian faith, the reason why certain people do not believe in God is willful unbelief, i.e., spiritual blindness. Christians hold that God is ultimate reality and that God makes ...
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According to the Christian faith, the reason why certain people do not believe in God is willful unbelief, i.e., spiritual blindness. Christians hold that God is ultimate reality and that God makes covenants with human beings. People become convinced of God’s presence through the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit, although natural theology can show that religious belief is warranted. Belief in God, even if it is based on private evidence, can be rational.Less
According to the Christian faith, the reason why certain people do not believe in God is willful unbelief, i.e., spiritual blindness. Christians hold that God is ultimate reality and that God makes covenants with human beings. People become convinced of God’s presence through the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit, although natural theology can show that religious belief is warranted. Belief in God, even if it is based on private evidence, can be rational.
Stephen Bullivant
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199652563
- eISBN:
- 9780191740725
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199652563.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Church History
Since the Second Vatican Council (1962–5), the Catholic Church has formally declared the possibility of salvation for atheists: ‘those who, without fault, have not yet arrived at an express ...
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Since the Second Vatican Council (1962–5), the Catholic Church has formally declared the possibility of salvation for atheists: ‘those who, without fault, have not yet arrived at an express recognition of God’ (〉i〈Lumen Gentium〉/i〈 16). However, in the very same document, the Council reiterates the traditional doctrine of the necessity of faith, baptism, and the mediation of Church in order for someone to be saved (〉i〈LG〉/i〈 14). This monograph explores how these two, seemingly contradictory claims may satisfactorily be reconciled. Specifically, it asks – and ultimately answers – the question: 〉i〈How, within the parameters of Catholic dogmatic theology, is it possible for an atheist to be saved?〉/i〈As the first full-length study of this topic since Vatican II, the book discusses crucial foundational issues – the understanding of ‘atheist’ in Catholic theology; the historical and theological background to the Council’s engagement with unbelief – before interrogating the conciliar teaching itself. Considerable attention is then given to the classic solution of imputing an ‘implicit’ faith to righteous atheists, best known from Karl Rahner’s theory of ‘anonymous Christianity’ (though the basic idea was advocated by many other major figures, including Ratzinger, Schillebeeckx, de Lubac, Balthasar, and Küng). After discussing Rahner’s specific proposals in detail, this kind of approach is however shown to be untenable. Instead, a new way of understanding Vatican II’s optimism for atheists is developed in detail, in light of scripture, tradition, and magisterium. This draws principally on Christ’s descent into Hell, a renewed understanding of invincible ignorance, and a literal interpretation of Matthew 25.Less
Since the Second Vatican Council (1962–5), the Catholic Church has formally declared the possibility of salvation for atheists: ‘those who, without fault, have not yet arrived at an express recognition of God’ (〉i〈Lumen Gentium〉/i〈 16). However, in the very same document, the Council reiterates the traditional doctrine of the necessity of faith, baptism, and the mediation of Church in order for someone to be saved (〉i〈LG〉/i〈 14). This monograph explores how these two, seemingly contradictory claims may satisfactorily be reconciled. Specifically, it asks – and ultimately answers – the question: 〉i〈How, within the parameters of Catholic dogmatic theology, is it possible for an atheist to be saved?〉/i〈As the first full-length study of this topic since Vatican II, the book discusses crucial foundational issues – the understanding of ‘atheist’ in Catholic theology; the historical and theological background to the Council’s engagement with unbelief – before interrogating the conciliar teaching itself. Considerable attention is then given to the classic solution of imputing an ‘implicit’ faith to righteous atheists, best known from Karl Rahner’s theory of ‘anonymous Christianity’ (though the basic idea was advocated by many other major figures, including Ratzinger, Schillebeeckx, de Lubac, Balthasar, and Küng). After discussing Rahner’s specific proposals in detail, this kind of approach is however shown to be untenable. Instead, a new way of understanding Vatican II’s optimism for atheists is developed in detail, in light of scripture, tradition, and magisterium. This draws principally on Christ’s descent into Hell, a renewed understanding of invincible ignorance, and a literal interpretation of Matthew 25.
Johannes Quack
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812608
- eISBN:
- 9780199919406
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812608.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
In academic no less than popular thought, India is frequently represented as the quintessential land of religion. Disenchanting India qualifies this representation through an analysis of the ...
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In academic no less than popular thought, India is frequently represented as the quintessential land of religion. Disenchanting India qualifies this representation through an analysis of the contemporary Indian rationalist organisations (those that affirm the values and attitudes of atheism, humanism or free-thinking).To understand the genesis of organised rationalism in India the book addresses the rationalists’ emphasis on maintaining links to atheism and materialism in ancient India and outlines their strong ties to the intellectual currents of modern European history. At the heart of Disenchanting India lies an ethnography of the organisation “Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti” (Organisation for the Eradication of Superstition) based in Maharashtra. This account describes the organization’s efforts to promote a scientific temper and combat the beliefs and practices it regards as superstitious. It also includes an analysis of rationalism in the day to day lives of its members and in relation to the organization’s controversial position within Indian society.The book outlines the distinguishing characteristics of this organisation through a depiction of the rationalists’ specific “mode of unbelief” in comparison to “modes of religiosity”. Alongside a critical engagement with the work of Max Weber and Charles Taylor, the theoretical discussion of modes of unbelief further provides an original basis for comparative studies of similar movements in a trans-cultural perspective. Finally, Disenchanting India can be situated within the contemporary debates about the nature of rationalism in Indian intellectual life and cultural politics. It thereby engages with debates that are as crucial for Anthropology and Religious Studies as they are for Post-colonial Studies, Sociology and History.Less
In academic no less than popular thought, India is frequently represented as the quintessential land of religion. Disenchanting India qualifies this representation through an analysis of the contemporary Indian rationalist organisations (those that affirm the values and attitudes of atheism, humanism or free-thinking).To understand the genesis of organised rationalism in India the book addresses the rationalists’ emphasis on maintaining links to atheism and materialism in ancient India and outlines their strong ties to the intellectual currents of modern European history. At the heart of Disenchanting India lies an ethnography of the organisation “Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti” (Organisation for the Eradication of Superstition) based in Maharashtra. This account describes the organization’s efforts to promote a scientific temper and combat the beliefs and practices it regards as superstitious. It also includes an analysis of rationalism in the day to day lives of its members and in relation to the organization’s controversial position within Indian society.The book outlines the distinguishing characteristics of this organisation through a depiction of the rationalists’ specific “mode of unbelief” in comparison to “modes of religiosity”. Alongside a critical engagement with the work of Max Weber and Charles Taylor, the theoretical discussion of modes of unbelief further provides an original basis for comparative studies of similar movements in a trans-cultural perspective. Finally, Disenchanting India can be situated within the contemporary debates about the nature of rationalism in Indian intellectual life and cultural politics. It thereby engages with debates that are as crucial for Anthropology and Religious Studies as they are for Post-colonial Studies, Sociology and History.
Johannes Quack
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812608
- eISBN:
- 9780199919406
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812608.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The Introduction provides an overview of the structure and arguments of the book. On the basis of a brief description of the Indian rationalist movement and the relevance of the work of Ulrich ...
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The Introduction provides an overview of the structure and arguments of the book. On the basis of a brief description of the Indian rationalist movement and the relevance of the work of Ulrich Berner, Charles Taylor, Max Weber and various post-colonial scholars, the introduction highlights the ways in which Disenchanting India makes an important empirical as well as theoretical contribution to a field of study that has widely been neglected: the spectrum of non-religiosity and unbelief in India, from religious indifferences to outright criticism of religion(s).Less
The Introduction provides an overview of the structure and arguments of the book. On the basis of a brief description of the Indian rationalist movement and the relevance of the work of Ulrich Berner, Charles Taylor, Max Weber and various post-colonial scholars, the introduction highlights the ways in which Disenchanting India makes an important empirical as well as theoretical contribution to a field of study that has widely been neglected: the spectrum of non-religiosity and unbelief in India, from religious indifferences to outright criticism of religion(s).
Johannes Quack
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812608
- eISBN:
- 9780199919406
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812608.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This theoretical chapter builds upon the argument of Ulrich Berner that it is often more fruitful to heuristically structure religious fields not just along the lines of religion, but by ...
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This theoretical chapter builds upon the argument of Ulrich Berner that it is often more fruitful to heuristically structure religious fields not just along the lines of religion, but by distinguishing different “modes of religiosity”. It is argued that despite the important criticism against the concept of “belief,” as for example outlined by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, the notion “modes of unbelief” helps to not just capture the distinguishing characteristics of the Indian rationalists. It also provides the basis on which to conceptualize similarities and differences between specific modes of religiosity and unbelief, undermining thereby, the opposition between religion and atheism, as well as religiosity and unbelief.Less
This theoretical chapter builds upon the argument of Ulrich Berner that it is often more fruitful to heuristically structure religious fields not just along the lines of religion, but by distinguishing different “modes of religiosity”. It is argued that despite the important criticism against the concept of “belief,” as for example outlined by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, the notion “modes of unbelief” helps to not just capture the distinguishing characteristics of the Indian rationalists. It also provides the basis on which to conceptualize similarities and differences between specific modes of religiosity and unbelief, undermining thereby, the opposition between religion and atheism, as well as religiosity and unbelief.
Michael Hunter and David Wootton (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198227366
- eISBN:
- 9780191678684
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227366.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, History of Religion
The rise of atheism and unbelief is a key feature in the development of the modern world, yet it is a topic which has been little explored by historians. This book presents a series of studies of ...
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The rise of atheism and unbelief is a key feature in the development of the modern world, yet it is a topic which has been little explored by historians. This book presents a series of studies of irreligious ideas in various parts of Europe during the two centuries following the Reformation. Atheism was illegal everywhere. The word itself first entered the vernacular languages soon after the Reformation, but it was not until the 18th century that the first systematic defences of unbelief began to appear in print. Its history in the intervening two centuries is significant but hitherto obscure.Less
The rise of atheism and unbelief is a key feature in the development of the modern world, yet it is a topic which has been little explored by historians. This book presents a series of studies of irreligious ideas in various parts of Europe during the two centuries following the Reformation. Atheism was illegal everywhere. The word itself first entered the vernacular languages soon after the Reformation, but it was not until the 18th century that the first systematic defences of unbelief began to appear in print. Its history in the intervening two centuries is significant but hitherto obscure.
Thomas Dixon
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264263
- eISBN:
- 9780191734816
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264263.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
The 1880s were the pivotal years in Victorian moral thought. A new wave of awareness of the plight of the urban poor was expressed in a range of both practical and intellectual activities. Some, such ...
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The 1880s were the pivotal years in Victorian moral thought. A new wave of awareness of the plight of the urban poor was expressed in a range of both practical and intellectual activities. Some, such as Charles Booth, committed themselves to a vast project of social-scientific surveying and classifying of the urban poor. The 1880s was also the decade that saw the flourishing of respectable unbelief. The atheist Charles Bradlaugh took his seat in Parliament, and the agnostic Thomas Huxley became president of the Royal Society. The best-selling novel of the decade, Mrs Humphry Ward’s Robert Elsmere (1888), told the story of an Anglican clergyman losing his faith and founding a new religious brotherhood in the East End of London based on a humanistic reinterpretation of Christianity.Less
The 1880s were the pivotal years in Victorian moral thought. A new wave of awareness of the plight of the urban poor was expressed in a range of both practical and intellectual activities. Some, such as Charles Booth, committed themselves to a vast project of social-scientific surveying and classifying of the urban poor. The 1880s was also the decade that saw the flourishing of respectable unbelief. The atheist Charles Bradlaugh took his seat in Parliament, and the agnostic Thomas Huxley became president of the Royal Society. The best-selling novel of the decade, Mrs Humphry Ward’s Robert Elsmere (1888), told the story of an Anglican clergyman losing his faith and founding a new religious brotherhood in the East End of London based on a humanistic reinterpretation of Christianity.
Paul Helm
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199256631
- eISBN:
- 9780191698330
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199256631.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
Faith requires beliefs of two sorts: beliefs which depend upon evidence of what is true, and beliefs about what the believer wants or needs, his goals and ideals. This chapter explores the idea that ...
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Faith requires beliefs of two sorts: beliefs which depend upon evidence of what is true, and beliefs about what the believer wants or needs, his goals and ideals. This chapter explores the idea that one reason for failure to believe may be that the one who fails to believe has an interest in not believing. It examines the connection between having an interest and the appreciation of evidence and looks at how unbelief is to be accounted for. Three questions are considered: whether at least some failures to believe are like the failure to recognise an obligation like having a moral block; whether other failures are like situations where one recognises an obligation but, due to weakness of will, fails to honour it; and whether it is always rational, in the interests of objectivity, to suppress the influence of our moral nature as far as possible in our assessment of evidence. The fact of moral bias and the connectedness between facts and values are also discussed.Less
Faith requires beliefs of two sorts: beliefs which depend upon evidence of what is true, and beliefs about what the believer wants or needs, his goals and ideals. This chapter explores the idea that one reason for failure to believe may be that the one who fails to believe has an interest in not believing. It examines the connection between having an interest and the appreciation of evidence and looks at how unbelief is to be accounted for. Three questions are considered: whether at least some failures to believe are like the failure to recognise an obligation like having a moral block; whether other failures are like situations where one recognises an obligation but, due to weakness of will, fails to honour it; and whether it is always rational, in the interests of objectivity, to suppress the influence of our moral nature as far as possible in our assessment of evidence. The fact of moral bias and the connectedness between facts and values are also discussed.
Andrew Lincoln
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183143
- eISBN:
- 9780191673948
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183143.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter examines The Four Zoas and the developments in its narrative that can be compared to developments in natural philosophy during the 17th and 18th centuries wherein the principle of ...
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This chapter examines The Four Zoas and the developments in its narrative that can be compared to developments in natural philosophy during the 17th and 18th centuries wherein the principle of ‘Unbelief’ lent powerful support to religious faith of the kind that true Epicurean philosophers sought to undermine. This chapter focuses on the pattern of reconstruction in the poem's myth which reflects Blake's sense of relationship between the scientific world-view of his own age and the cosmic order it replaced. The myth in the poem explores the ontological and epistemological foundations that needed to be formed before the scientific world-view could be developed. In the study presented in this chapter, Blake's use of biblical symbolism suggests that he saw the assumptions that underlie modern science inscribed in the Mosaic vision of the Old Testament.Less
This chapter examines The Four Zoas and the developments in its narrative that can be compared to developments in natural philosophy during the 17th and 18th centuries wherein the principle of ‘Unbelief’ lent powerful support to religious faith of the kind that true Epicurean philosophers sought to undermine. This chapter focuses on the pattern of reconstruction in the poem's myth which reflects Blake's sense of relationship between the scientific world-view of his own age and the cosmic order it replaced. The myth in the poem explores the ontological and epistemological foundations that needed to be formed before the scientific world-view could be developed. In the study presented in this chapter, Blake's use of biblical symbolism suggests that he saw the assumptions that underlie modern science inscribed in the Mosaic vision of the Old Testament.
Murray A. Rae
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269403
- eISBN:
- 9780191683633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269403.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter investigates the account of transition from unbelief to faith and account of how one learns the Truth presented in Chapter 1 of Søren Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments. In this ...
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This chapter investigates the account of transition from unbelief to faith and account of how one learns the Truth presented in Chapter 1 of Søren Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments. In this chapter, the problem of becoming a Christian, the difficulty of distinguishing Christianity and culture and the difficulty in understanding what Christianity is are discussed and analyzed within the context of Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments. The chapter also discusses the connection between Søren Kierkegaard and Johannes Climacus and to what extent Kierkegaard himself approves the ordo salutis proposed by his pseudonym.Less
This chapter investigates the account of transition from unbelief to faith and account of how one learns the Truth presented in Chapter 1 of Søren Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments. In this chapter, the problem of becoming a Christian, the difficulty of distinguishing Christianity and culture and the difficulty in understanding what Christianity is are discussed and analyzed within the context of Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments. The chapter also discusses the connection between Søren Kierkegaard and Johannes Climacus and to what extent Kierkegaard himself approves the ordo salutis proposed by his pseudonym.
Michael Hunter and David Wootton
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198227366
- eISBN:
- 9780191678684
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227366.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, History of Religion
This book deals with the early history of the process that advanced atheism, agnosticism, and religious unbelief. This chapter discusses the coverage of the book and provides a brief background of ...
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This book deals with the early history of the process that advanced atheism, agnosticism, and religious unbelief. This chapter discusses the coverage of the book and provides a brief background of the individuals who overtly rejected religious faith from 1520 to 1780. That period saw the fears that unbelief and irreligion were on the rise, as well as sustained and systematic attacks on Christianity mounted by many philosophers, building on the intellectual changes of the seventeenth century and the Enlightenment. Alongside the problems posed by the study of unbelief, it notes its relationship to the process of secularization that has taken place since the Reformation. The multifaceted character of unbelief and the varied nature of the sources in the early modern period suggest that there is no single history of atheism.Less
This book deals with the early history of the process that advanced atheism, agnosticism, and religious unbelief. This chapter discusses the coverage of the book and provides a brief background of the individuals who overtly rejected religious faith from 1520 to 1780. That period saw the fears that unbelief and irreligion were on the rise, as well as sustained and systematic attacks on Christianity mounted by many philosophers, building on the intellectual changes of the seventeenth century and the Enlightenment. Alongside the problems posed by the study of unbelief, it notes its relationship to the process of secularization that has taken place since the Reformation. The multifaceted character of unbelief and the varied nature of the sources in the early modern period suggest that there is no single history of atheism.
Alan C. Clifford
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198261957
- eISBN:
- 9780191682254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198261957.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, History of Christianity
This chapter argues that neither Owen nor Wesley could solve their theological dilemmas without resorting to a dualistic conception of grace, this vindicating Richard Baxter's via media. His scheme ...
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This chapter argues that neither Owen nor Wesley could solve their theological dilemmas without resorting to a dualistic conception of grace, this vindicating Richard Baxter's via media. His scheme embraces many of the emphases of Owen and Wesley to the exclusion of others. In his view the Bible's message is an inscrutable, paradoxical blend of particularism and universalism; accordingly, Owen and Wesley were wrong to stress one aspect of the paradox at the expense of the other. From Baxter's perspective the theologies of the main contestants are — at their biblical best — different sides of the same coin. Thus, if Baxter's balanced position makes him the true heir of Calvin, there is a sense in which Owen and Wesley may be regarded as ‘semi-Calvinists’, albeit from differing (though complementary) points of view.Less
This chapter argues that neither Owen nor Wesley could solve their theological dilemmas without resorting to a dualistic conception of grace, this vindicating Richard Baxter's via media. His scheme embraces many of the emphases of Owen and Wesley to the exclusion of others. In his view the Bible's message is an inscrutable, paradoxical blend of particularism and universalism; accordingly, Owen and Wesley were wrong to stress one aspect of the paradox at the expense of the other. From Baxter's perspective the theologies of the main contestants are — at their biblical best — different sides of the same coin. Thus, if Baxter's balanced position makes him the true heir of Calvin, there is a sense in which Owen and Wesley may be regarded as ‘semi-Calvinists’, albeit from differing (though complementary) points of view.
David. Cressy
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207818
- eISBN:
- 9780191677809
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207818.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Cultural History
This chapter deals with John Mynet, a Nottinghamshire landowner who was accused in 1590 of a slate of offences including atheism, slander, brawling, and conjuring. His gravest offence, which set him ...
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This chapter deals with John Mynet, a Nottinghamshire landowner who was accused in 1590 of a slate of offences including atheism, slander, brawling, and conjuring. His gravest offence, which set him at odds with the parish minister, was his reading of a midsummer sermon or homily which perpetuated an unreformed Catholic theology and a discredited devotion to the saints. The incident raises questions about the progress of the Reformation and the practices of popular religion. The exchange between Mynet and his enemies opens a window onto parochial relations, popular culture, and the world of competing truths in early modern England.Less
This chapter deals with John Mynet, a Nottinghamshire landowner who was accused in 1590 of a slate of offences including atheism, slander, brawling, and conjuring. His gravest offence, which set him at odds with the parish minister, was his reading of a midsummer sermon or homily which perpetuated an unreformed Catholic theology and a discredited devotion to the saints. The incident raises questions about the progress of the Reformation and the practices of popular religion. The exchange between Mynet and his enemies opens a window onto parochial relations, popular culture, and the world of competing truths in early modern England.
Melchor Sánchez de Toca
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226474
- eISBN:
- 9780823236640
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226474.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter discusses the need to examine carefully the visible phenomenon of religious indifference and its partner—the new religiosity. This thesis is based on an ...
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This chapter discusses the need to examine carefully the visible phenomenon of religious indifference and its partner—the new religiosity. This thesis is based on an inquiry carried out by the Pontifical Council for Culture on atheism, unbelief, and religious indifference in the whole world. The fruits of that inquiry, discussed during an international conference in Rome in March 2004, have now been published in the form of a reflection entitled Where Is Your God? Following a brief presentation of the survey and comments on some of the more relevant and meaningful elements for the youth in the United States, the chapter considers some of the pastoral means available to respond to the phenomenon.Less
This chapter discusses the need to examine carefully the visible phenomenon of religious indifference and its partner—the new religiosity. This thesis is based on an inquiry carried out by the Pontifical Council for Culture on atheism, unbelief, and religious indifference in the whole world. The fruits of that inquiry, discussed during an international conference in Rome in March 2004, have now been published in the form of a reflection entitled Where Is Your God? Following a brief presentation of the survey and comments on some of the more relevant and meaningful elements for the youth in the United States, the chapter considers some of the pastoral means available to respond to the phenomenon.
V. S. Soloviev
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300079951
- eISBN:
- 9780300128376
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300079951.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
The essay reprinted here offers a critique of Russian religion and dogma as a function of the political situation. It states that the cultic heresies that reflected pre-millennial anxieties and ...
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The essay reprinted here offers a critique of Russian religion and dogma as a function of the political situation. It states that the cultic heresies that reflected pre-millennial anxieties and recorded and monitored closely by the Orthodox Church presented a reason for questioning why peasants had become alienated from the official church. It argues that freedom of conscience is absolute and that the peasants had a right to adopt any views, however bizarre and heretical, without being harassed by the authorities. This explains why Russia at the end of the nineteenth century appeared to be similar to Russia at the end of the twentieth. The text also talks about Russia as a harmonious family of nations, the Russian language, intellectual temptations, faith and conscientious unbelief, Christianity, and women's rights.Less
The essay reprinted here offers a critique of Russian religion and dogma as a function of the political situation. It states that the cultic heresies that reflected pre-millennial anxieties and recorded and monitored closely by the Orthodox Church presented a reason for questioning why peasants had become alienated from the official church. It argues that freedom of conscience is absolute and that the peasants had a right to adopt any views, however bizarre and heretical, without being harassed by the authorities. This explains why Russia at the end of the nineteenth century appeared to be similar to Russia at the end of the twentieth. The text also talks about Russia as a harmonious family of nations, the Russian language, intellectual temptations, faith and conscientious unbelief, Christianity, and women's rights.
John Lardas Modern
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823249800
- eISBN:
- 9780823252480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823249800.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter demonstrates that the concept of feedback—as a technological condition, historical ontology, and theoretical frame—challenges traditional ways of conceiving of religion and writing its ...
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This chapter demonstrates that the concept of feedback—as a technological condition, historical ontology, and theoretical frame—challenges traditional ways of conceiving of religion and writing its history. This essay dwells within 1920's America, a moment when the capacity of machines to regulate both nonhuman and human systems reached a point of critical mass and intensity. The chapter addresses responses to this changing technological atmosphere among Anglo-Protestant leaders, American Dada, as well as leaders of the infamous “Revival” of Herman Melville and his long-forgotten Moby-Dick (1851). Historically, the chapter demonstrates how Protestant strategies of self-centering, so pervasive in the early twentieth century, failed to contain the billowing nature of feedback technology. Theoretically, the chapter argues that the principle of feedback allows us to redefine religion not as something primarily ideological—that is, not exclusively about ideas, beliefs, creeds, nor simply as some lived extension or revision of such ideas, beliefs, and creeds. The chapter concludes by arguing that attention to feedback pushes us to consider that religion is not about the freedom to believe but rather about the possibilities that condition our unbelief.Less
This chapter demonstrates that the concept of feedback—as a technological condition, historical ontology, and theoretical frame—challenges traditional ways of conceiving of religion and writing its history. This essay dwells within 1920's America, a moment when the capacity of machines to regulate both nonhuman and human systems reached a point of critical mass and intensity. The chapter addresses responses to this changing technological atmosphere among Anglo-Protestant leaders, American Dada, as well as leaders of the infamous “Revival” of Herman Melville and his long-forgotten Moby-Dick (1851). Historically, the chapter demonstrates how Protestant strategies of self-centering, so pervasive in the early twentieth century, failed to contain the billowing nature of feedback technology. Theoretically, the chapter argues that the principle of feedback allows us to redefine religion not as something primarily ideological—that is, not exclusively about ideas, beliefs, creeds, nor simply as some lived extension or revision of such ideas, beliefs, and creeds. The chapter concludes by arguing that attention to feedback pushes us to consider that religion is not about the freedom to believe but rather about the possibilities that condition our unbelief.
Mark C. Taylor
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231160414
- eISBN:
- 9780231531641
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231160414.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter presents a reading of William Gaddis's The Recognitions (1955), one of the most theologically sophisticated novels ever written and one of the richest and most difficult works of fiction ...
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This chapter presents a reading of William Gaddis's The Recognitions (1955), one of the most theologically sophisticated novels ever written and one of the richest and most difficult works of fiction in any language. Gaddis' ambition was to write the last Christian novel. To read this prescient work is to gaze into a mirror and discover ourselves anew. The events recounted in The Recognitions take place in the time between belief and unbelief. While modernization and secularization make belief impossible for many erstwhile faithful, the memory of belief and the assurance it brings defer the advent of a thoroughly postmodern age of unbelief. Though never explicitly stated, Gaddis suspends his narrative between a series of polarities: pagan/Christian, Devil/Christ, Catholic/Protestant, Europe/America, completion/incompletion, original/counterfeit, transcendent/immanent, depth/surface, negation/affirmation, Homoiousian/Homoousian, unbelief/belief, and fake/real. Gaddis sought to subvert such simple oppositions by showing how each term folds into the other to create a nonsynthetic third that joins without precisely uniting differences. Far from merely dismissing religion, Gaddis recognizes that the convolutions of contemporary society and culture cannot be understood apart from the ancient theological preoccupations from which they have emerged.Less
This chapter presents a reading of William Gaddis's The Recognitions (1955), one of the most theologically sophisticated novels ever written and one of the richest and most difficult works of fiction in any language. Gaddis' ambition was to write the last Christian novel. To read this prescient work is to gaze into a mirror and discover ourselves anew. The events recounted in The Recognitions take place in the time between belief and unbelief. While modernization and secularization make belief impossible for many erstwhile faithful, the memory of belief and the assurance it brings defer the advent of a thoroughly postmodern age of unbelief. Though never explicitly stated, Gaddis suspends his narrative between a series of polarities: pagan/Christian, Devil/Christ, Catholic/Protestant, Europe/America, completion/incompletion, original/counterfeit, transcendent/immanent, depth/surface, negation/affirmation, Homoiousian/Homoousian, unbelief/belief, and fake/real. Gaddis sought to subvert such simple oppositions by showing how each term folds into the other to create a nonsynthetic third that joins without precisely uniting differences. Far from merely dismissing religion, Gaddis recognizes that the convolutions of contemporary society and culture cannot be understood apart from the ancient theological preoccupations from which they have emerged.
Michael Lackey
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813030357
- eISBN:
- 9780813039459
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813030357.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
This chapter discusses and focuses on Touchstone narrative, an atheist's response to the traditional conversion narrative. Traditional conversion narratives are composed of three stages: the ...
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This chapter discusses and focuses on Touchstone narrative, an atheist's response to the traditional conversion narrative. Traditional conversion narratives are composed of three stages: the meaninglessness and emptiness of lives without God; the conversion through contact with a community of believers; and the presence of God that constitutes and completes the happiness of people. Touchstone narratives on the other hand, consist of four stages. The first stage comprises expression of unbelief, the second consists of unpleasant experiences with a community of believers, the third stage is an emphatic declaration of unbelief, and the final stage comprises an interrogation of the socio-cultural consequences of religious belief. Consistent with the Touchstone narratives, this chapter examines the claim that the God concept is personally debilitating and culturally destructive. This new genre of writing allowed black atheists to produce some of the most insightful analyses of oppressive socio-political functions of the God concept.Less
This chapter discusses and focuses on Touchstone narrative, an atheist's response to the traditional conversion narrative. Traditional conversion narratives are composed of three stages: the meaninglessness and emptiness of lives without God; the conversion through contact with a community of believers; and the presence of God that constitutes and completes the happiness of people. Touchstone narratives on the other hand, consist of four stages. The first stage comprises expression of unbelief, the second consists of unpleasant experiences with a community of believers, the third stage is an emphatic declaration of unbelief, and the final stage comprises an interrogation of the socio-cultural consequences of religious belief. Consistent with the Touchstone narratives, this chapter examines the claim that the God concept is personally debilitating and culturally destructive. This new genre of writing allowed black atheists to produce some of the most insightful analyses of oppressive socio-political functions of the God concept.
Robert O. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199993246
- eISBN:
- 9780199346394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199993246.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
After exploring how apocalyptic prophecy interpretation changed after the American Revolution, this chapter explores three expressions of millenarian thought which took hold among American Christians ...
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After exploring how apocalyptic prophecy interpretation changed after the American Revolution, this chapter explores three expressions of millenarian thought which took hold among American Christians in the nineteenth century. After briefly discussing the Latter-day Saints and the Millerites, attention turns to the theology of John Nelson’s Darby’s Plymouth Brethren movement. Through Judeo-centric, Darby’s theology of premillennial dispensationalism, focused on the Rapture event, results in an anti-Jewish teaching of contempt. A primary question is whether Darby’s intentionally non-political thought can be considered the sufficient cause of twenty-first century Christian Zionism.Less
After exploring how apocalyptic prophecy interpretation changed after the American Revolution, this chapter explores three expressions of millenarian thought which took hold among American Christians in the nineteenth century. After briefly discussing the Latter-day Saints and the Millerites, attention turns to the theology of John Nelson’s Darby’s Plymouth Brethren movement. Through Judeo-centric, Darby’s theology of premillennial dispensationalism, focused on the Rapture event, results in an anti-Jewish teaching of contempt. A primary question is whether Darby’s intentionally non-political thought can be considered the sufficient cause of twenty-first century Christian Zionism.
Dominic Erdozain
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199844616
- eISBN:
- 9780190267384
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199844616.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Histories of unbelief typically emphasize external challenges to religious faith, such as the natural sciences, historical criticism, or changes in social conditions and lifestyle. This study accepts ...
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Histories of unbelief typically emphasize external challenges to religious faith, such as the natural sciences, historical criticism, or changes in social conditions and lifestyle. This study accepts much of the chronology of the traditional account of “secularization” but it proposes a very different cause: conscience. Tracing the liberation and expansion of the Protestant conscience from Martin Luther to Karl Marx, this book argues that Christian concepts of moral equity and personal freedom have consistently acted as the most powerful solvents of religious orthodoxy. Revealing links between the radical Reformation and early modern philosophers such as Baruch Spinoza and Pierre Bayle, this study demonstrates that the dynamism of the Enlightenment, including the very concept of “natural reason” espoused by philosophers such as Voltaire, was rooted in Christian ethics and spirituality. The final chapters explore similar themes in the era of Darwin and Marx, showing how moral revolt preceded and transcended the challenges of evolution and “scientific materialism” in the unseating of religious belief. The picture that emerges is not of a series of secular challenges to Christian faith, but a pattern of ethical protest against divisive renderings of religious orthodoxy. Conscience, not science, was the motor of unbelief.Less
Histories of unbelief typically emphasize external challenges to religious faith, such as the natural sciences, historical criticism, or changes in social conditions and lifestyle. This study accepts much of the chronology of the traditional account of “secularization” but it proposes a very different cause: conscience. Tracing the liberation and expansion of the Protestant conscience from Martin Luther to Karl Marx, this book argues that Christian concepts of moral equity and personal freedom have consistently acted as the most powerful solvents of religious orthodoxy. Revealing links between the radical Reformation and early modern philosophers such as Baruch Spinoza and Pierre Bayle, this study demonstrates that the dynamism of the Enlightenment, including the very concept of “natural reason” espoused by philosophers such as Voltaire, was rooted in Christian ethics and spirituality. The final chapters explore similar themes in the era of Darwin and Marx, showing how moral revolt preceded and transcended the challenges of evolution and “scientific materialism” in the unseating of religious belief. The picture that emerges is not of a series of secular challenges to Christian faith, but a pattern of ethical protest against divisive renderings of religious orthodoxy. Conscience, not science, was the motor of unbelief.
