|
|
 |
Dealing with God….
Discussion about what ‘God’
means, or whether God exists is clearly central to the
Philosophy of Religion. Frustratingly, much recent debate
(especially between religious and scientific
fundamentalists) is superficial on the question of God.
It is therefore refreshing to
find a book which takes, almost as an obvious starting
point, that God certainly does not ‘exist’ in the literal
way that things in the universe exist, and therefore that –
if we are going to appreciate the word ‘God’ and what it
refers to – we need to probe something of its history. Karen
Armstrong’s The Case for God is a particularly
valuable book in that it provides a clear overview of the
whole set of issues surrounding God.
But I have also found it
useful to look at two books – one presenting the position of
philosophers who do not accept belief in God (Philosophers
without Gods, 2007) and an answering volume Philosophers and
God, 2009. Apart from one or two rather sad lapses into
polemic in the first of these volumes, both present what
belief in God means with clarity and sensitivity.
We can set aside the crude,
supernatural notion that God exists as an external object
within (or beyond) the world – that would be idolatrous for
a monotheist. But how does one square religious practice and
language with the conviction that God is a human construct;
an image used to probe the meaning of human life within the
universe? There is still a mismatch between what
theologians and philosophers say and what popular religion
appears to proclaim - and while that mismatch continues,
religious beliefs of all sorts will be rightly vulnerable to
the less-than-sensitive criticisms of a newly vocal but
rather superficial form of atheism.
The challenge... and my personal view
In the introduction to his book A
History of Modern Britain, 2007, Andrew Marr, political
commentator and shrewd observer of the modern mores,
comments on the experience of living in Britain since the
Second World War:
‘In the period covered by this book, the
dominant experience has been acceleration. We have lived
faster. We have seen, heard, communicated, changed and
travelled more. We have experienced a material profusion and
perhaps a philosophical and religious emptiness that marks
us off from earlier times.’ p. xxxi
If his comment is right – and I believe
it is, minus the 'perhaps' – then there is no more important
challenge today than to get to grips with the Philosophy of
Religion. Philosophy should not be an obscure or exclusively
academic subject. At its best, it is simply the willingness
to think carefully about what it is we know and what it is
we value. It is the process of bringing reason and evidence
to bear on the assumptions of everyday life.
So the challenge of studying the
Philosophy of Religion is to apply reason to religious
beliefs and values, and to do so in a way that is rigorous
(not being afraid to ask difficult questions) and also
sensitive, recognising the key importance that religion has
in the lives of very many people.
Sadly, there are plenty of religious
people who do not seem willing or able to use their reason
to examine what religion is about, preferring fundamentalist
acceptance of dogma. Equally, there are a good number of
really intelligent people (including top scientists and
philosophers) who seem particularly obtuse when confronted
with religious ideas, preferring to caricature and dismiss
them, rather than examine why people choose to follow them.
Hopefully, a grounding in the
Philosophy of Religion will be a useful antidote to both of
these narrow views.
For AS and A2 level
students, outline notes are available from my lectures
on the following topics:
The Cosmological Arguments;
Augustine and the Problem of Evil;
The Goodness of God in the Judaeo-Christian
Tradition;
Revelation through Scripture;
Miracles - for AS level;
The Religious
Language Game;
Parapsychology and the debate about life after death;
Religious Experience.
There have recently been a whole range of books
attacking the basis of religion, or presenting it as a natural phenomenon (on
the assumption that most religious believers would not accept it as such). Three
of them - God is not Great by Christopher Hitchins, Daniel Dennett's
Breaking the Spell and The End of Faith by Sam Harris all appear in
the top 10 titles for Philosophy.
For those who want to get something of a
balance on Dawkins' approach in The God Delusion (which is little more
than crude, old-fashioned polemic) and might try the Alister McGrath book
The Dawkins Delusion - for my comments on these,
click here.
Those who are equally dissatisfied with militant
atheism on one side and naive fundamentalism on the other would do well to
read..
Science, Religion and the Meaning of Life by
Mark Vernon.
Blending clear argument with personal reflections,
it offers a defence of agnosticism, from one who has moved from belief in God,
through atheism to a position of positively embracing a level of uncertainty.
'Encouraging us to widen our imagination and to
open our lives to a sense of wonder, Mark Vernon is convinced, in the tradition
of Socrates, that we achieve this by avoiding the certainties of faith and the
rigidities of atheism. Believers and non-believers will find this a richly
rewarding read.' John Gladwin, Bishop of Chelmsford.
And if you enjoy this book, why not take a look at
his website and blog:
www.philosophyoffriendship.com
Dave Webster, who runs the Religion,
Philosophy and Ethics course at the
University of Gloucestershire, has a blog
with an interesting range of entries and links.
Take a look at
www.r-p-e.blogspot.com
|
|
|
All material
©
Mel Thompson unless
otherwise attributed
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
