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Archive for the ‘Philosophy of Religion’ Category

#35 The art of forgiving God

Posted in God, Philosophy of Religion, Religious Philosophy, Theology, tagged , , , , on October 4, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Yom Kippur just passed, that Jewish day of atonement and of human-granted and God-granted forgiveness. But what about God’s atonement for God’s sins of omission and of commission? After all, many of us hold God responsible for the tragedies that plague our world.  “Look God,” we might say, “Take a good look around will You?  [...]

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#33 Theology: it’s all about conversation

Posted in God, Philosophy of Religion, Theology, tagged , , , on September 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

The work of Paul Tillich (1886-1965), who is considered by many to be the leading Protestant theologian of the 20th century, offers an intriguing perspective on the God-musings of religion-scholar Karen Armstrong (see Post #32).   If nothing else, taking a look at Karen Armstrong’s views from the perspective of his work reminds us that theology [...]

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#30 Deists of the world, unite!

Posted in God, Philosophy of Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged , , , on July 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Deist, deist, theist—say those words in Jersey (pronounced Joy-zie) and they all sound the same.  Fortunately, spelling will help us keep tabs on which is which.  Besides spelling, there are important differences.  Of note: Deists (capital D) went the way of the dodo bird and deists (lowercase d) are rarer than diamonds.  Theists rule–like it [...]

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#28 And the newest convert from atheism is…

Posted in Philosophy of Religion, Religion, tagged , , , on July 8, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Atheists, you’re about to get a lot more attention.  In Turkey, a new game-show will soon pit clergy from various faith traditions against each other by letting them have a go at trying to coax “sworn” atheists into their respective folds.  The show, called “Penitents Compete,” will give an imam, a Buddhist monk, a rabbi, [...]

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#26 No theology, no science–no joke!

Posted in God, Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Theology, tagged , , , , , on June 18, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Science and theology are perceived, by some, as sitting on opposite banks of an abyss.  They assume that the twain never can (or should) meet.  But the separation between science and theology is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of the West.  Until the Renaissance, science was barely more than a descriptive discipline, while theology, [...]

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#24 Everybody goes to heaven, right?

Posted in Ethics, God, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged , , on May 31, 2009 | 9 Comments »

Most Americans agree that yes, everybody goes to heaven after they die.  Not buying it?  The part about most Americans agreeing that everybody goes to heaven? Here’s the empirical evidence.  A few months ago, a study conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (mentioned by Charles Blow in a New York Times editorial) showed that 70 [...]

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#19 Theology is to spirituality what honeycomb is to honey

Posted in God, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Spirituality, Theology, tagged , on April 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »

For some, spirituality trumps theology any old day.  For those who call themselves ‘spiritual’, the word ‘theologian’ brings to mind self-styled intellectuals who have stepped into a self-made ivory tower from which they engage in a fruitless search for knowledge of God.  Too bad these theologians look for God in abstract commentaries written by other bookish-types [...]

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#18 God and the Devil duke it out in the john

Posted in Ethics, God, Philosophy of Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged , , , , on April 14, 2009 | 3 Comments »

WC.  Water Closet.  Privy.  Crapper.  Must stripped-down theology sink to the level of the toilet?  But this is precisely where the ‘father’ of Protestant Christianity, Martin Luther (1483-1546), claimed he had been given his most important of realizations. Luther didn’t stop at the marketplace when talking about the presence of God (and the Devil).  If God [...]

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#17 Out with the old God, in with the new

Posted in God, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Religious Philosophy, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged , , , on April 6, 2009 | 2 Comments »

For Jews, Passover is supposed to be historically real.  The Haggadah (the text that sets the order of the Passover meal) commands Jews to consider themselves to have gone forth in exodus from Egypt.  The Haggadah emphasizes this absolute demand lest Jews be tempted to reduce it to the level of a metaphor.  “The authority [...]

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#16 Will there be anyone left to speak out?

Posted in Ethics, God, Philosophy of Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged , , on March 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »

According to the New Testament, Jesus entered Jerusalem without any illusion about what lay in store for him:  arrest, torture and crucifixion.  Prophesying and calling for reform have always been dangerous, but undeterred by the risks, Jesus headed to the temple with his controversial teachings.  Was he afraid?  In the gospel of Mark, the oldest [...]

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