William James- Varieties of religious experience podcast

In our time- Varieties of religious experience.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s9ftw

Unnecessary colour - Soren Kierkegaard

Soren Kierkegaard

Pre Notes:

Catholic natural theology claims that belief in God is not opposed to reason. Indeed the existence of God is something you can argue for-see Aquinas' Five ways and other ways such as Anselm's ontological argument.

Natural theology, it is claimed by the catholic church, is able to arrive at the existence of God and certain basic knowledge of Gods attributes by the use of the reason alone. Revealed theology (theology based on the doctrine that all religious truth is derived exclusively from the revelations of God to humans.) can further amplify the findings of natural according church.

This position however, was rejected by Kierkegaard and Karl Barth who in protestant tradition, rejected any attempt to arrive at the existence of God using reason.

Faith went beyond reason.

Kierkegaard thought that the entire premise of Christianity is based on an Absolute Paradox. This is the paradox of how Jesus is both man and God. He asks the question:

How can the creator be the created ? How can the infinite be finite   ?

Philosophy and reason he claimed, cannot understand why this paradox occurs. When reason comes into contact with the absolute paradox only two approaches are possible .  

1) Offense

In which case reason rejects the absolute paradox and says that this cannot be true. Jesus was one or the other but not both. This as a result is also a rejection of the key creeds of Christianity and ultimately the religion its self.

The above does not have to necessarily have to be true. Gnosticism is the heresy of Christianity believes that Jesus is a messenger of God rather than God himself. Gnosticism however has the problem of-  if Jesus is not the son of God. then is Gnosticism really Christian ?

There is the example of paradox in nature, the electron when not observed exists in a super position. This means it has no set state of matter it is a partial it is a wave and it is other things. If Aquinas' 5 ways comes from observations of nature then why can't God exhibit the same properties as something which is inside nature. If the creator created something which such a paradox then why can't he exhibit such a feature himself.

2) Faith

In which case reason accepts that it cannot understand something that goes far beyond reason i.e. God. This is where faith comes in it involves the acceptance that reason is limited and that it to believe in God you are always going to have to take a intellectual leap of faith.  

Kierkegaard would say that faith is not irrational but may however be Non-rational . The faith may be based within reason but this does not mean that it is reasonable. Faith goes beyond reason.

Mark Steel Lectures

Aswell as very helpful these are also funny so thats always a plus.

Karl Marx (Part one of three)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByOKZmQ72m4


Rene Descartes
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G_kHtfDdwc

Sigmund Freud
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxBdidos-xg

Atrisotel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slMpJvt6b0I

Freud and God

Freud and God

Basic claims:

1.       Religion is a projection, an objectification, an externalization of subconscious desires. Once this desire is objectified into ‘’God’’ it is mistakenly taken to be an autonomous existence independent of its human creators

2.       Religion is therefore a coded way for human beings to talk about their desires. Human’s beings have desires and human beings with their desires invent Gods who are able to fulfil these desires. If the fundamental human desire is happiness then religion offers happiness- if not in this world then in the next.

3.       Religion is therefore born if wish fulfilment. It is desire fulfilled.

4.       Freud believed that by exposing these revelations he would liberate humans to act in a more informed freeway.

 Freud was interested in what the triggers for religion within the personality were, and what drove the subconscious motivations behind religious ideas, rituals and doctrines.

Freud believed his method of psychoanalysis could uncover these triggers. For Freud religion is nothing more than his product of a psychological process. Indeed Freud did not hate religion but rather view its time as having helped human society to developed and now it was inhibiting a new age of science and psychoanalysis.

Freud and Religion

Freud’s first attempt to explain religion in physiological terms can be found in Totem and Taboo (1915) where he suggests that religion arose during pre-historic man as an act of expiation (the act of making amends or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing; atonement.) for the primeval murder of the father by the male adolescents because they desire the mother. The adolescent males then begin to feel guilt about the killing of the farther and so erect a totem in his honour. The Totem takes on the attributes of the farther and the males in time worship it. In doing so the adolescent males are able to relive their feelings of guilt while future generations are prevented for committing such crimes.

For Freud the religious response to the world is neurosis which has its roots in childhood. If the problem area can be identified by psychoanalysis then the religious neurosis should disappear.

1.       Religion is the defence mechanism of the religious person to the experience of living in a hostile world. The world is a fearful place for a child and if learning how to deal with the world is not accomplished in childhood it reveals itself later in life in the form of religious neurosis. The child creates a great farther figure as he remembers from childhood how his dad represented the protector. God is therefore the magnified farther figure that the religious person wishes to depend on throughout the rest of their lives.

This is why, Freud argued, that young people often lose their faith in God when they realise that their own fathers are as perfect as they view God and to make mistakes.

2.       Religion is a form of wish fulfilment – This is the wish of the child for a loving farther in a hostile world who will look after them and upon they can depend leads them to create God. God is the ideal projection of what the farther should be.

The existence of God is therefore an illusion and religion is a mass delusion that shapes the reality for believers.  Individuals feel the need for one upon whom they can rely and create a God with whom they can share all their troubles. Religion enables people to feel comforted and secure as the God they worship is all-powerful, loving and total trustworthy so whatever happens during the individual’s life they can feel confident that it will work out in the end

3.       Freud noted that in religion there are repetitive patterns of behaviour in rituals and services. He considered these to be similar to the neurotic behaviour patterns that some of his clients exhibited. Freud believed that religious rituals provide a mechanism for man to work out early tensions which have developed as a result of the Oedipus complex.

The Oedipus complex is the male desire to kill his farther and have sexual intercourse with his mother; this like most things by Freud has its origins in the childhood. He said that babies developed very complexed feelings about their parents. They see their parents as a threat as the farther often takes over the priority which the mother initially gives to the baby and thus creates a feeling of jealously. The farther as a result is seen as a rival or a threat to the baby and the love given to it by the farther.

language

If in logic
A > C
B > C
then we can conclude that A > C

 However in language

Nothing is better than pizza
Stale bread is better than noting
then we can conclude that
Stale bread is better than pizza

To be continued....
Sometime next week !

Christian Creed, Heresy Keywords and Etymology

Christian Creed, Heresy Keywords and Etymology

1.     Ecumenical

·         Representing a number of different Christian churches.

·         Promoting or relating to unity among the world’s Christian churches.

               The word is derived from Greek οἰκουμένη (oikoumene), which means "the whole inhabited world", and was historically used with specific reference to the Roman Empire. The ecumenical vision comprises both the search for the visible unity of the Church (Ephesians 4:3) and the "whole inhabited earth" (Matthew 24.14) as the concern of all Christians.

2.     Heresy

·         Someone who actively chooses a different interpretations of faith than that which is proclaimed in the creed of the church

From the Latin word ‘haeresis’ meaning ‘’act of choosing’’

3.     Incarnation

·         The embodiment of God the son in the human flesh of Jesus Christ

Etymology

The noun incarnation derives from the ecclesiastical Latin verb incarno,^[4] itself derived from the prefix in- and ''caro, "flesh", meaning "to make into flesh" or "to be made flesh".

4.     Modalism

·         The view that the Holy Trinity is like an Actor playing three different roles; this has the implications that when God was Jesus, he was not the father. The Godheads of the Trinity is made up of three different ‘’aspects’’ or ‘’modes’’ of a single God rather three distinct beings.

5.     Trinitarianism

·         The belief that God exists as three hypostases – The father, the son and the holy ghost but is still just one being with each of them having the one identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures.

6.     Universalism

·         The belief that all humans may or will be saved through Jesus Christ and will eventually come to harmony in Gods kingdom.

7.     Gnosticism

·        The view that God is fully transcendent, the world was created by a demiurge. Jesus was a messenger of God but not actually God, the holy spirit was inside Jesus but left his mortal body shortly before his death.

Gnosticism (from gnostikos, "learned", from Ancient Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge)

8.     Homoiousios

·         Meaning ‘’Similar essence’’. Although essence can be interchanged with ‘’substance’’

9.     Homoousios

·        Meaning ‘’Same essence’’ again with essence being interchangeable with substance

10.                         Hypostases

·         A Greek term which translates into Latin as ‘’personae’’ or ‘’persons’’. Example: God is made up of the three Hypostases.

Comes from the Greek word hypostasis which means ‘’sediment’’. Hypostasis is the result of the words ‘’Hupo’’ which means under and ‘’Stasis’’ which means standing. 

11.                        Personae

·         A Latin word which translates to persons. Example God is made up of three personae.

12.                        Substantia

A Greek word than translates to the Latin word Ousia which means ‘’True being’’ or ‘’True essence’’.

13.                        Ousia

A Latin word which translates to ‘’True being’’ or ‘’True essence’’

Early Christians used Ousia in defining God as one genus of Ousia with three distinct hypostasis.

The generally agreed-upon meaning of ousia in Eastern Christianity is "all that subsists by itself and which has not its being in another’’ (i.e. necessary existence)  - in contrast to hypostasis, which is used to mean "reality" or "existence".^[8]

Christian theologians began to use the greek term ‘’hypostases’’ which translated into latin as ‘’personae’’ or persons. They posited that God is three hypostases of one ousia 

Heresy’s of Christianity

Heresy’s of Christianity

The word heresy comes from the Latin word ‘haeresis’ meaning ‘act of choosing. A heretic is therefore someone who actively chooses a different interpretation of the faith than the one that the church has proclaimed in its creeds.

Arianism

Alexandrian Presbyter Arius (AD 256–336) first proposed this heresy after the writing of the initial apostle’s creed (see the creed and notes on it as well as relationship to the heresy’s in a coming post) . Arius proposed that Christ is not truly divine but created because    

·         God alone is self-existent and immutable; the son who is not self-existent, cannot be God

·         The son as of the Gospels is subject to growth and change (e.g. He is born a child and dies as a man )

·         The son must, therefore, be deemed a creature that has been called into existence and has a beginning.

 Arius’ opposition to Trinitarian Christology, made him a primary topic of the First Council of Nicea, convened by Roman Emperor Constantine in AD 325.

Modalism

Modalism is the nontrinitarian belief that the Heavenly Father, Resurrected Son and Holy Spirit are different modes or aspects of one monadic God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons within the Godhead, ,much like one actor playing three different parts.  Modalism differs from Unitarianism by accepting the Nicean doctrine that Jesus is fully God.

The heresy that modalism commits is that since there is no co-existence in the trinity. This means that when God was Jesus he was just Jesus not God which massively limits Gods power.

Gnosticism

Gnosticism is influenced by the philosophy of Plato and is the view that:

·         God is completely transcendent

·         The universe was not created by God but by a demiurge and therefore the existence of evil cannot be the fault of God

·         We are all little droplets of God or that we all hold a part of God inside our souls, salvation for humanity is to be returned to God and discard our worldly bodies (which are evil and corrupt) a view that is similar in ways to Hinduism. (expand)  

·         Jesus is a messenger of God not God. The Holy Spirit was inside Jesus’ body when he was on earth but left his body shortly before he died.

·         The incarnation is rejected because that would mean that God would no longer be transcendent, God is perfect and so cannot come into contact with the world which is evil.

This presents problems as if Jesus was not divine then his dying for our sins has no meaning, it stops Christianity being Christianity, Indeed Islamic belief accepts that Jesus was a prophet.

Massive problems are also presented as God is not the creator of the world, a heresy that completely contradicts the book of genesis furthermore it begs the questions- why would God care about humans and if God is omnipotent then why can he not come into contact with the universe, it also leads to the question why should we care about the world ? If God did not create the world then the concept of stewardship is complety removed.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's witnesses believe that the bible was inspired by God and that it is historically accurate. Jehovah's witnesses test any religious believe against the idea's or teachings of the bible if an idea or teaching doesn't agree with the bible then it is wrong. Jehovah's witnesses have their own translation of the bible known as 'The New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures' which is divided into the Hebrew Scriptures (old testament ) and the Christian Greek Scriptures (new testament )

God

Jehovah's witnesses believe that :

·         God the father (Jehovah) is the only true God.

·         Jesus Christ is his son who Jehovah created and is inferior to God.

·         The Holy Spirit is not a person it is Gods 'active force'

Rejection of Nicene creed as well as parallels with the Arianisn heresy

The Father

·         God is a single being whose name is Jehovah (other translations such as Yahweh are accepted)

·         Jehovah is alone and above all beings.

·         Jehovah created everything that exists.

·         Jesus was Gods first creation (How did they get that from the book of Genesis ? It would be intresting to try to find a copy of the 'The New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures' )

·         Jesus is not GOD and is not equal to GOD

·         Jehovah, after creating Jesus, created everything else through Jesus (Again where in the bible does it say/suggest this ? I'll probably do another post on the specific quotations)

Jesus Christ

·         Is a mighty being, but is NOT GOD

·         He is not equal to God in power or eternity

·         Jesus is inferior to Jehovah but superior to angels

·         Jesus Christ rules as part of Gods heavenly kingdom

·         Jesus is a lesser and SEPARATE SPIRIT being

·         When Jesus came to earth from heaven he was a perfect human being but not divine in anyway. His sacrifice while not divine was enough to make human salvation possible

·         Jesus' resurrection was a sprit resurrection not a bodily one

·         Jesus was appointed by God to judge each human being and decide upon their faith.

The Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit is not a person and is not part of a trinity but is Jehovah's active force. Jehovah's witnesses believe that the doctrine of trinity is inconsistent with the bible and contradicts what Jesus, the apostles, and the early Christians believed.

Who cares ?

Probably the saddest and most heretical belief that Jehovah's witnesses have is there believe that Jesus did not die on cross but rather on a single stake. Witnesses believe that cross is a pagan symbol and while at first may not seem that significant but when you think about the how important the cross is as a symbol is for Christians then it seems a bit more significant.

Death Heaven and Hell

When a person dies, their existence completely stops. This comes from a quote for the bible in which Witnesses believe makes clear that human beings do not have an immortal soul which survives the death of the body.

The living are consciuos that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all... for there is no work, nor devising, nor knowledge nor wisdom in (the grave), the place to which you are going

Ecclesiastes 9:5,10

Finally witnesses belive that Hell in the traditional sense does not exist, There is no place where sinners are tormented after death, since death is the end of existence nothing can be done to them or for them. Witnesses also argue that it would against Gods nature to torture human beings  which is one of the criticism of Augustine's theodicy, if God is omnipotent then why did he create a world in which evil and suffering is already built in .  

I'm trying to think of some good philosophy puns but I can't Kant, oh well I'm sure I can Russell some up, I think people who find them very Humeorous. Oh dear them seem to have Plato-ed .