Illicit Naturalizing of Religion
1. The discussion starts with four propositions: (1) that we are bound to think about religion; (2) that the usual result of thinking about religion is to naturalize it; (3) that religion resists being naturalized; (4) that we cannot let religion go. 2. Starting from the fundamental experience of re...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Chicago Press
1923
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| In: |
The journal of religion
Year: 1923, Volume: 3, Issue: 6, Pages: 561-589 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | 1. The discussion starts with four propositions: (1) that we are bound to think about religion; (2) that the usual result of thinking about religion is to naturalize it; (3) that religion resists being naturalized; (4) that we cannot let religion go. 2. Starting from the fundamental experience of religion, viz, worship, it is discovered that worship (1) secures freedom, by breaking through the determinisms of habit, mood, and thought; (2) promotes the meeting of minds in such a way as to make differences of view fruitful instead of merely combative. 3. Although worship promotes useful ends in human social life, it must not be made a mere means to a utilitarian end. It demands a metaphysical object of worship. To leave religion with merely psychological attitudes or social task is illicitly to naturalize it. The object of worship must be worthy of worship; it must be God. 4. The existence of evil is the chief obstacle to objective worship. The refusal to be content to let evil remain an unexplained fact in the universe involves an attempt to see it in other relations. There is an implicit or explicit appeal to a reality transcending our experience of evil. Realism refuted. 5. The possibility of worship is thus opened. But the justification of worship depends on the validity of the experience of the mystics. The prospect in this direction. |
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| ISSN: | 1549-6538 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/480394 |