1 / 52

Religion

for Mr. Wood's Theory of Knowledge class at Bowie High School in Arlington, TX

ejwood
Download Presentation

Religion

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Disputes • How would you feel about anarea of knowledgethat was sofragmented bydispute?

  2. “The Blind Men and the Elephant”

  3. The Virtues of Doubt • “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.” Sir Francis Bacon

  4. Religion

  5. Thinking about Religion • Is it possible to analyze the truth claims that religions make? • Do the categories “True” and “False”apply to religion? • People tend to analyze the claims of other religions more than the claims of their own

  6. Fideism • Making knowledge claims based on faith alone • “I believe so that I may understand”St. Anselm (1033-1109) • Belief comes first, analysis follows • Only after accepting a religion can a person begin to understand it • Does this fit any of the theories of truth?

  7. Fideism • Religion requires a leap of faith • But which religion should you accept on faith alone? • Realize that all of you are damned to hell by some religion or other! • Fideists usually mean, “Accept my religion on faith alone”

  8. Geography of Religion • What does this map suggest about an individual’s religious beliefs?

  9. Geography of Religion • Is your religion simplya matter of when and where youhappen to live? • Is it just “rootingfor the home team”?

  10. History of Religion

  11. Pastafarianism • Does fideism take the content of religion seriously, or does it trivialize it?

  12. Cults • Would you encourage the followers of religious cults to adopt fideism? • In 1978, 909 Temple membersdied in Jonestown, Guyana • In 1993, 76 Branch Davidians died in Waco, TX • In 1997, 39 Heaven’sGate members diedin San Diego, CA

  13. Knowledge Claims in Religion

  14. Knowledge Claims in Religion • A knowledge claim in religion might be evaluated by: • How should you evaluate your religious claims? • Logical consistency • Experiences of the believer • Appeals to authoritative people, institutions, or texts • Pragmatic effects Coherence with other accepted ideas • Correspondence to real-world facts

  15. Knowledge Claims in Religion • Would you want members of a religious cult to evaluate their claims in the same way? • Could you justifyholding them to a different standard?

  16. Knowledge Claims in Religion • Why is the water boiling? • Because the heat from the gas flame is beingconducted through the metal teapot andin turn exciting the watermolecules • Because I want to make a cup of tea for my wife

  17. Knowledge Claims in Religion • What kind of claims does religion make? • What should you do if a religious textmakes a knowledge claim: • about math • about science • about history • about something distinctly religious?

  18. Theodicy

  19. Theodicy • Perhaps the most important counterargument to religious knowledge claims • “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”Epicurus (341–270 BC) William Blake, Satan Smiting Job, 1826

  20. Theodicy • A defense of thegoodness and power of God in the face of evil and suffering

  21. Starting Places • Where do our starting assumptions come from? • How can you decide between alternative starting assumptions?

  22. Arguments for the Existence of God

  23. Pascal’s Wager • “Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. . . . If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.” • Which God should you bet on? • Whose damnation do you want to avoid?

  24. Arguments for the Existence of God • Pascal’s Wager • “Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. . . . If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.”

  25. Arguments for the Existence of God • Cosmological Argument: • Since an effect cannotprecede its cause,the universe cannothave caused itselfto be; therefore, God must be the uncausedcause of everything that exists

  26. Arguments for the Existence of God • Argument fromDesign • The organization and purposefulorder of theuniverse implythe existence of an intelligent, powerful, and purposeful designer

  27. Arguments for the Existence of God • Argument fromReligiousExperience: • The fact thatreligion is foundin every humanculture suggeststhe existence ofa God whom all people experience

  28. Arguments for the Existence of God • The Ontological Argument • The greatest conceivable being must exist If I’m thinking of a triangle, the thing I’m thinking of must have three angles If I’m thinking of the greatest conceivable being, the being I’m thinking of must have existence

  29. Arguments for the Existence of God Conceivable Being A Conceivable Being B

  30. Arguments for the Existence of God • These arguments don’tprove the existenceof any particularGod • They do, however,suggest reasons to believe in a wholly / holy“Other”

  31. Conceptions of God

  32. Conceptions of God • Describe God (as you understand God, or as others commonly understand God) • Describe God using strictly literal, non-metaphorical language • Why does religion often use figurative language to describe God?

  33. Conceptions of God • Theism: God is a personal being, distinct from the world, and actively involved with it • Monotheism: one personal God • Polytheism: Many personal gods • Henotheism: Many personal gods, only one of which is worshipped God World god World god god God World god god

  34. Conceptions of God • Deism: God is a personal being, distinct from the world, but not actively involved with it • Pantheism: God and the world are synonymous • Panentheism: the world is part of God God World God God World World

  35. Conceptions of God God God World World God World god World God god World god God World god god

  36. The Simpsons,“The Genesis Tub”

  37. Authority and Religious Truth Claims

  38. Authority • In which area of knowledge are people less apt to question authority? • Why? • What are the sources of religiousauthority?

  39. Authority • Who is responsible for your truth claims? • How are the following statements different? • “I have decided to accept all of my authority’s truth claims” • “I have decided to examine all truth claims for myself” • While the statements are clearly different, notice that the main clause is the same:“I have decided. . .”

  40. Authority • Who is responsible for your truth claims? • How are the following statements different? • “I have decided to accept all of my authority’s truth claims” • “I have decided to examine truth claims for myself” • While the statements are clearly different, notice that they main clause is the same:“I have decided. . .”

  41. Religious Language

  42. Michelangelo, TheCreationof Adam (1511) • Is this painting true? • Does this painting convey truth?

  43. Figurative Language • Metaphor: a figure of speech that compares two unlike things in order to convey a truth • Anthropomorphism: giving human characteristics to non-human beings

  44. Personification and Anthropomorphism • Personification • O beware, my lord, of jealousy!It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on. (Shakespeare) • Anthropomorphism • A Lion once fell in love with a beautiful maiden and proposed marriage to her parents. . . . (Aesop)

  45. Religious Language • To take figurative language seriously, you cannot take it literally • “The Lord is myshepherd” • Jesus as “the lambof God” • The “arm,” “hand,”“mouth” of God

  46. Pointing at the Moon • “To point at the moon afinger is needed, but woeto those who take thefinger for the moon.” Zen Proverb

  47. Defining Religion

  48. Defining Religion • An objective definition of religion is: • Broad enough to encompass all religions, but nothing else • Acceptable to people who consider themselves religious

  49. Defining Religion Genus Characteristics Species Species

  50. Class Definitions of Religion • A belief system that deals with metaphysical matters, which gives us a purpose in life, shapes our character, influences our behavior, and requires us to have faith • A system of beliefs that influences behavior, determines a way of life, and should provide answers about the afterlife and the supernatural • A way of life that is surrounded by ethics that allows an individual to live a life that he thinks is right, that gives hope and answers about the afterlife, and that releases people from fear

More Related