Religion

2020 ◽  
pp. 195-242
Author(s):  
Will D. Desmond
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Roman Religion ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Christian Apologetics ◽  
Jewish Religion

Two-thirds of Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion are given over to ‘finite’ or pre-Christian religions, but surprisingly little attention has been paid to them. This is particularly surprising given the importance that he gives to the Greek ‘religion of beauty’ and Roman ‘religion of expediency’, for along with the Jewish ‘religion of sublimity’, they form the immediate historical precedents and preparation for Christianity, which Hegel’s teleological history accepts as the final, ‘true’, and ‘infinite’ religion. This chapter seeks to help to remedy the scholarly gap, not only by summarizing Hegel’s understanding of Greek and Roman religions in themselves, in relation to each other, to Christianity and previous ‘Oriental’ religions, and in relation to Hegel’s conception of religion as such. In addition, it seeks to juxtapose some of Hegel’s remarks with those of more recent scholars, to suggest that in general his approaches to Greek and Roman phenomena remain insightful. Although his strong judgments may offend many (for a variety of reasons), his comparative architectonic can be exhilarating: his juxtaposition of Greek anthropomorphism and the Christian Incarnation is challenging for Hellenists and Christian theologians; and his argument that Christianity is fundamentally a product of the Roman world, with Roman religion as its immediate predecessor, is a thought-provoking blend of Christian apologetics and proto-sociological historicism.

Hegel's Interpretation of the Religions of the World

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
First Century ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Philosophical Work ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Roman Religion ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
The World ◽  
Twenty First Century

In his Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, Hegel treats the religions of the world under the rubric “the determinate religion.” This is a part of his corpus that has traditionally been neglected, since scholars have struggled to understand what philosophical work it is supposed to do. The present study argues that Hegel’s rich analyses of Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Egyptian and Greek polytheism, and the Roman religion are not simply irrelevant historical material, as is often thought. Instead, they play a central role in Hegel’s argument for what he regards as the truth of Christianity. Hegel believes that the different conceptions of the gods in the world religions are reflections of individual peoples at specific periods in history. These conceptions might at first glance appear random and chaotic, but there is, Hegel claims, a discernible logic in them. Simultaneously a theory of mythology, history, and philosophical anthropology, Hegel’s account of the world religions goes far beyond the field of philosophy of religion. The controversial issues surrounding his treatment of the non-European religions are still very much with us today and make his account of religion an issue of continued topicality in the academic landscape of the twenty-first century.

Reviving Roman Religion: Sacred Trees in the Roman World by Ailsa Hunt

2017 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-436
Author(s):  
Celia E. Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Roman Religion ◽  
Roman World

Social and Psychological Interpretations of Graeco-Roman Religion: Some Thoughts on the Ideal Benefactor

Antichthon ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.R. Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Response ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Psychological Approach ◽  
Roman Religion ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Past ◽  
Roman World ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Ideal

In the past couple of decades, scholarship on Graeco–Roman religion has been dominated by an approach which emphasises the social function of religion rather than matters relating to emotion and belief (Part I below). There is much in the new approach which is enlightening, but for various reasons it should not be allowed to supersede the traditional or psychological approach completely (II). In particular I would like to argue in this paper that the phenomenon of cult for mortals in the Graeco-Roman world can only be understood through a combination of the two modern approaches, because the figure of the ideal benefactor, which I take to underlie cult for mortals, presumed both a concern for relationship structuring and an emotional response. Indeed, the ambiguous interface between the social plane and the psychological plane was fundamental to the success and persistence of such cult (III).

Persönliche Frömmigkeit und religiöses Erlebnis Wesenszüge der griechischen Religion am Beispiel von Heilkulten

Numen ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-472
Author(s):  
Alexander Rubel
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
The Other ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Roman Religion ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Personal Relation ◽  
City State

Abstract Ancient Greek healing cults can be studied in the context of “personal piety.” This article emphasizes personal aspects of the Greek religion. It shows that the concept of “polis religion” does not embrace major aspects of ancient Greek piety. I analyze the direct and personal relation of worshippers in healing cults, especially that of Apollo, with the deity. By doing so, I put forward a new reading of Greek religion in the context of the concept of “personal piety” developed in Egyptology. The well-known “embeddedness” of religion in the structures of the Ancient Greek city-state led to a one-sided view of ancient Greek religion, as well as to aspects of ritual and “cult” predominating in research. Simultaneously, aspects of “belief ” are often labelled as inadequate in describing Greek (and Roman) religion. Religion as ritual and cult is simply one side of the coin. Personal aspects of religion, and direct contact with the deity, based on “belief,” are thus the other side of the coin. It follows that they are also the fundament of ritual. It is necessary to combine “polis religion” with “personal piety” to display a complete picture of Greek religion. The Isyllos inscription from Epidaurus is presented here as a final and striking example for this view. It reports the foundation of a cult of the polis on behalf of a personal religious experience.

Reformed epistemology and Christian apologetics

2003 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL SUDDUTH
Keyword(s):  
Natural Theology ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Tiered Approach ◽  
Positive Side ◽  
Common Objection ◽  
Christian Apologetics ◽  
Reformed Epistemology

It is a widely held viewpoint in Christian apologetics that in addition to defending Christian theism against objections (negative apologetics), apologists should also present arguments in support of the truth of theism and Christianity (positive apologetics). In contemporary philosophy of religion, the Reformed epistemology movement has often been criticized on the grounds that it falls considerably short of satisfying the positive side of this two-tiered approach to Christian apologetics. Reformed epistemology is said to constitute or entail an inadequate apologetic methodology since it rejects positive apologetics or at least favours negative over positive apologetics. In this paper I argue that this common objection fails on two grounds. First, while the arguments of Reformed epistemology are relevant and useful to apologetics, neither Reformed epistemology nor its epistemological project should be identified with a distinct school or method of apologetics. Secondly, while certain claims of Reformed epistemology seem to imply a rejection of positive apologetics, or at least a preference for negative or positive apologetics, I argue that no such conclusion follows. In fact, although unimpressed by particular versions of natural theology and positive apologetics, Reformed epistemologists have provided criticisms of each that can constructively shape future approaches to the apologetic employment of natural theology and Christian evidences.

scholarly journals Italian “Sondergötter.”

1913 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 233-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Rose
Keyword(s):  
Greek Religion ◽  
Roman Religion

Since Usener put prominently forward the theory of Sondergötter, the idea has been subjected to trenchant negative criticism by two experts in the fields of Greek and Roman religion respectively, Farnell and Wissowa. The former protests, and rightly so, against the cheerful assumption that, whenever a deity has a name describing a function, “Saviour,” “Queen,” “Victory,” for example, we should regard him or her as a primitive Sondergott; since many examples teach us that such figures are often the products of a developed polytheism. He would suggest, as a better test than the name, the non-anthropomorphic conception of the god, or rather daimon, in the minds of his worshippers. Thus he clears the field of Greek religion of a great many heroes and daimones who, whatever their names may be, are too developed and too late to have any claim to represent primitive thought. Wissowa attacks the question from a somewhat different standpoint. He sees in the formidable list of Roman Sondergötter nothing more recondite than Varro's attempt to arrange all possible deities under “di certi,” or at most the artificial “indigitamenta” of the pontifices which, in accordance with “die peinliche Genauigkeit in der Aufstellung der römischen Gebetsformeln,” endeavoured to call upon whatever god was addressed under all the names which applied to the actual petition.

Is There Anything New under the (Mediterranean) Sun? Expressions of Near Eastern Deities in the Graeco-Roman World

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 345-370
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Roman Religion ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Roman World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Heuristic Device

Abstract The concept of divine translatability was a prominent feature of Graeco-Roman religion. Major deities of the Greek and Roman pantheons had their origins in the ancient Near East, and the Greeks and Romans equated members of their pantheons with ancient Near Eastern divinities having similar characteristics and functions. This study employs salient examples of equations and correspondences between the Graeco-Roman and ancient Near Eastern pantheons, as well as attestations of multiple manifestations of the same deity based on function or geographic region, as a heuristic device for problematizing the issue of divine translatability in general. It is asserted that a deity is but a projection of human will, a signifier without a signified. This, in turn, locates the phenomenon of divine translatability within the realm of the subjective, making any reasonable “translation” of two or more deities as valid as any other, with no external adjudication of the matter possible.

Reviving Roman Religion: Sacred Trees in the Roman World

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 532-534
Author(s):  
Emma-Jayne Graham
Keyword(s):  
Roman Religion ◽  
Roman World

The taste of religion in the Roman world

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-45
Author(s):  
Zena Kamash
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Roman Religion ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Plant Remains

As well as providing an overview of taste and mainstream Roman religion through sacrifice and feasting, this article highlights some of the specific tastes, and possible menus, of Roman religion. I explore how archaeologists can use the evidence from plant remains, animal bones and objects, such as ceramics, to explore taste. I look at what evidence we have for the main taste groups: sweet, salty, bitter and sour. Case studies are drawn from the northwestern provinces and the Middle East with a focus on Mithraism and the worship of Mercury. I draw out how religious tastes differed from everyday life, and how these differed from god to god and from god to human in an effort to answer the question: what did Roman religion taste like?

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document