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Alston on Religion

Alston on Religion. What is religion?. Notoriously difficult question Most definitions work for some religions but not others Example: belief in a god or gods Problem: How can we talk about Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity as “religions”, when they are so different?

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Alston on Religion

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  1. Alston on Religion

  2. What is religion? • Notoriously difficult question • Most definitions work for some religions but not others • Example: belief in a god or gods • Problem: How can we talk about Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity as “religions”, when they are so different? • Solution: Observe the main characteristics of what we call religions

  3. Some ideas to consider • Religion is the experience of the holy, inspiring awe, fear, terror, love—Rudolf Otto (p14) • Religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness—Alfred North Whitehead (p15) • Religion responds to existential questions about death and suffering (pp17-18) • Religion “in the largest and most basic sense of the word is ultimate concern”—Paul Tillich (pp21-22) • Religion is a quest for sacred reality in human experience (SQ)

  4. Belief in supernatural beings Sacred vs. profane objects Ritual acts focused on sacred objects Moral code Religious feelings Prayer World view: where do we fit? Shaping one’s life around this world view Social group bound by these characteristics Proposal: Religion-making characteristics (RMC’s)

  5. Definition • How can we use the RMC’s to create a definition of religion that works for all? • Don’t have to have all of them • But need to have “enough” to a “sufficient” degree • Example: is Communism a religion? Are political beliefs a religion? Buddhism? Confucianism? • Some religions have all the characteristics, but many have less • Method: Outline clearest cases first, then less clear

  6. SQ’s definition (p22) • Religion is a notion of an irreducible sacred reality beyond ordinary experience (p21): • Made manifest in human experience • That produces traditions of belief and practice (thinking, feeling, and acting) • And that helps people to order and understand their existence

  7. Application • Which RMC’s are found: • in Buddhism? • In Judaism? • In Islam? • In Christianity? • Contrast: which are found in something that is not a religion: • Marxism?

  8. “Tendencies” of religion • Religions can be distinguished into tendencies, based on how they think of the sacred and how people respond to the sacred • Sacramental • Things manifest the sacred (usually a god or spirit); focus on ritual • Prophetic • Sacred manifested in society—historical events, messages given by great figures, scriptures • Focus on belief and morals (faith) • Mystical • Focus on immediate experience (consciousness) of the sacred

  9. No religion has a single tendency • But each religion usually has a predominant tendency • Christianity is predominantly prophetic • But Catholicism also has a sacramental tendency

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