Holy Argument: Some Reflections on the Jewish Piety of Argument, Process Theology and the Philosophy of Religion

1996 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-488
Author(s):  
N. L. Tidwell
Keyword(s):  
Special Interest ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Process Theology ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Legal Argument ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Rational Argument

Argument is the very life-blood of philosophy and, hence, prima facie one might expect that distinctive phenomenon of the Jewish religious tradition, ‘holy argument’, to be of special interest to philosophers, particularly philosophers of religion. However, there is little to suggest that those engaged in the philosophical approach to religion are even aware that such a phenomenon as a piety of argument exists. But it does. In the philosophical field rational argument conducted according to the established rules of logic is the fundamental tool in the pursuit of truth and understanding or for the clarification of problems, ideas and concepts; in Judaism, rational, legal argument pursued according to recognized principles and processes is the most highly commended path to encounter and engagement with God. Moreover, within this same religious tradition, ‘holy argument’ embraces not only argument about God, about His nature (theology), His ways (theodicy) and His will (halakhah), but also argument with God, putting God on trial and taking Him to task as One who is Himself bound and judged by that same Torah that Israel is obligated to obey. The high value placed upon study and the exercise of the intellect in the Jewish tradition is well known; it is not only a mitzvah and an act of worship but a form of imitatio Dei, for God Himself engages in the study of Torah. But the mode of study in Judaism and the form in which the intellect is exercised is characteristically that of argument and debate, the quintessential activity of philosophy and philosophers.

scholarly journals Immanuel Kant and Herman Cohen’s philosophy of religion

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-40
Author(s):  
Vladimir N. Belov ◽  
◽  
Aleksandra Yu. Berdnikova ◽  
Yulia G. Karagod ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Practical Philosophy ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Baruch Spinoza ◽  
Moses Mendelssohn ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Characteristic Features

The article analyzes the main characteristic features of the philosophy of religion of the founder of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism Hermann Cohen. Special attention is paid to Cohen’s criticism and reinterpretation of Kant’s “practical philosophy” from the point of view of the philosophy of religion: Cohen supplements and expands Kant’s provisions on moral law and moral duty, interpreting them as divine commandments. The authors emphasize the fundamental importance for Cohen of the “internal similarity” between Kant’s ethical teaching and the main provisions of Judaism. The sources of Kant’s own ideas about the Jewish tradition are shown, which include the work of Moses Mendelssohn “Jerusalem” and the “Theologicalpolitical treatise” by Baruch Spinoza. Cohen’s criticism of these works is analyzed an much attention is paid to the consideration of Cohen’s attitude to Spinoza’s philosophical legacy in general. The interpretation of the postulates of Judaism by Cohen (and their “inner kinship” with Kant’s moral philosophy) in ethical, logical, and political contexts is presented. Cohen’s understanding of such religious-philosophical and doctrinal phenomena as law, grace, Revelation, teaching, the Torah, messianism, freedom, the Old Testament and the New Testament, etc. is provided and analyzed. The main points of Cohen’s religious teaching as “ethical monotheism” are considered; in particular, the authors analyze his understanding of the idea of God as “the only one”, which is highlighted in the works of Paul Natorp. It is concluded that Cohen’s philosophy of religion, which is based on the postulates of Judaism as well as Kant’s “practical philosophy”, could be characterized by the terms “ethical monotheism”, “universalism” and “humanism”.

Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 11

1998 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Jewish Life ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jewish Tradition

Addressing various aspects of Jewish life and religion, particularly in the last two centuries, this book examines different aspects of the Hasidic tradition; present-day contacts between Bobower Hasidism in New York and Bobowa in Poland; and how a rabbi trained in the Lithuanian tradition adapted to the very different conditions of the United States. The modifications of Jewish religious tradition practiced in the modern pre-war synagogues in Warsaw, Lódz, and Lwów are considered, as is the attempt by Hillel Zeitlyn to re-interpret Jewish tradition in the interwar years.

Religion, history of philosophy of

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William P. Alston
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Philosophical Discussion ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
The World ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Attributes Of God

The philosophy of religion comprises any philosophical discussion of questions arising from religion. This has primarily consisted in the clarification and critical evaluation of fundamental beliefs and concepts from one or another religious tradition. Major issues of concern in the philosophy of religion include arguments for and against the existence of God, problems about the attributes of God, the problem of evil, and the epistemology of religious belief. Of arguments for the existence of God, the most prominent ones can be assigned to four types. First, cosmological arguments, which go back to Plato and Aristotle, explain the existence of the universe by reference to a being on whom all else depends for its existence. Second, teleological arguments seek to explain adaptation in the world, for example, the way organisms have structures adapted to their needs, by positing an intelligent designer of the world. Third, ontological arguments, first introduced by Anselm, focus on the concept of a perfect being and argue that it is incoherent to deny that such a being exists. Finally, moral arguments maintain that objective moral statuses, distinctions or principles presuppose a divine being as the locus of their objectivity. Discussions of the attributes of God have focused on omniscience and omnipotence. These raise various problems, for example, whether complete divine foreknowledge of human actions is compatible with human free will. Moreover, these attributes, together with God’s perfect goodness give rise to the problem of evil. If God is all-powerful, all-knowing and perfectly good, how can there be wickedness, suffering and other undesirable states of affairs in the world? This problem has been repeatedly discussed from ancient times to the present. The epistemology of religious belief has to do with the questions of what is the proper approach to the assessment of religious belief (for rationality, justification, or whatever) and with the carrying out of such assessments. Much of the discussion has turned on the contrast between the roles of human reason and God’s revelation to us. A variety of views have been held on this. Many, such as Aquinas, have tried to forge a synthesis of the two; Kant and his followers have sought to ground religion solely on reason; others, most notably Kierkegaard, have held that the subjecting of religious belief to rational scrutiny is subversive of true religious faith. Recently, a group of ‘Reformed epistemologists’ (so-called because of the heavy influence of the Reformed theology of Calvin and his followers on their thinking) has attacked ‘evidentialism’ and has argued that religious beliefs can be rationally justified even if one has no reasons or evidence for them.

Freeing Mysticism

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 74-85
Author(s):  
John Cooney ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
William Alston ◽  
Mystical Experiences ◽  
Richard Swinburne

With the growth of epistemology, an important debate in philosophy of religion has arisen: can mystical encounters—purported feelings of intense unity with the divine—serve as epistemic warrants? In this paper, I examine two of the most prominent and promising standards by which to determine the veridicality of such encounters—those of William Alston and Richard Swinburne—and demonstrate their respective strengths and shortcomings. Considering these shortcomings, I compose and defend my own set of criteria to use in evaluating the veridicality of putative mystical experiences which draws upon the subject’s religious tradition, rationality, and affectivity.

scholarly journals “Historical Jesus” as a Scholarly Problem

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 676-701
Author(s):  
Andrey S. Desnitsky
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Global Context ◽  
The World

The article presents a brief introduction into the modern research area concerning “the quest for historical Jesus” from the scholarly point of view. In the focus is the original Russian literature in its global context. Since Jesus from Nazareth is the key figure for the most widespread religion in the world, i.e. Christianity, the works devoted to him usually step out of the mere scholarly paradigm even if they used scholarly methods, seeking to approve or to disapprove the religious tradition. Recently, however, a lot has been done to describe Jesus as belonging to his own Jewish tradition and, on the other hand, to investigate the development of Jesus narratives in the emerging Christian tradition. Such kind of studies meet the scholar requirements and look promising.

scholarly journals Freeing Mysticism

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-85
Author(s):  
John Cooney
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
William Alston ◽  
Mystical Experiences ◽  
Richard Swinburne

With the growth of epistemology, an important debate in philosophy of religion has arisen: can mystical encounters—purported feelings of intense unity with the divine—serve as epistemic warrants? In this paper, I examine two of the most prominent and promising standards by which to determine the veridicality of such encounters—those of William Alston and Richard Swinburne—and demonstrate their respective strengths and shortcomings. Considering these shortcomings, I compose and defend my own set of criteria to use in evaluating the veridicality of putative mystical experiences which draws upon the subject’s religious tradition, rationality, and affectivity.

Like a Dog’s Curly Tail: Finding Perfection in a World of Imperfection

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery D. Long
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Process Theology ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
John Hick ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Curly Tail ◽  
Swami Vivekananda

Jeffery Long, a Hindu theologian, explores the problem of evil as it is raised and addressed by thinkers in the Ramakrishna Vedanta tradition of Hinduism and by two separate schools of thought from contemporary Christianity. The textual sources used from the Ramakrishna tradition consist of the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna as found in the primary sources on his life, as well as the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. From Christianity, Long employs works of John Hick and David Ray Griffin on the topic of theodicy. Despite the fact that the latter two authors hail from the same religious tradition, Long shows that Hick and Ramakrishna are in closer agreement on this topic than either is with Griffin’s process theology. The essay offers a revised version of the Ramakrishna-Hick theodicy that takes Griffin’s objections into account.

Religious Faith and Prometheus

Philosophy ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 55 (214) ◽  
pp. 497-507
Author(s):  
J. Kellenberger
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Affective Response ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Essential Dimension ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Form Of Life ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Truth Claim ◽  
Recent Philosophy

Recent philosophy of religion, particularly neo-Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion, has reminded philosophers that there is more to religion than belief and, indeed, that there is more to religious belief than mere belief. D. Z. Phillips is among those who have made a contribution here. He has emphasized how religious belief is very different from the kind of belief that amounts to holding a hypothesis, even a God-hypothesis. However, perhaps because of his non-cognitivist tendencies, Phillips, unlike Kierkegaard to whom he often appeals, has failed to bring into relief another quintessential fact about belief in God, namely that it is for the believer an entered relationship with God. We do well to appreciate that belief in God is not identical with making a truth claim. But if the essential core of religious belief is construed as an attitudinal or affective response, as non-cognitivists tend to construe it, an important conceptual dimension of religious faith will all but be overlooked, as, paradoxically it seems it has been by the philosophical approach that strives to describe the religious ‘form of life’ in its own terms. In what follows I shall endeavour to bring into relief what I take to be an essential dimension of religious belief, one which presupposes that religious belief is an entered relationship for the believer. This I shall do by pursuing a contrast which, I think, at once clarifies and makes undeniable religious belief's essential nature as a relationship to God.

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