No Second-hand Religion: Thomas Erskine's Critique of Religious Authorities

1985 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-214
Author(s):  
Steve Gowler
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Intimate Relation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Mode Of Being

After practicing law in Edinburgh for six years, Thomas Erskine (1788–1870) inherited the estate of Linlathen upon the death of his brother, James. Thereby freed to devote his time to theological reflection and writing, he wrote five books between 1820 and 1837 which stated opinions sharply at odds with the prevailing religious positions of early nineteenth-century British thinkers. In his first book,Remarks on the Internal Evidence for the Truth of Revealed Religion, he maintained that the surest sign of Christianity's truth is not to be found in the traditional evidential sources–miracles, fulfilled prophecies, the veracity of the apostles, and so on–but in the intimate relation, or “fittingness,” which inheres between the mode of being recommended in the Bible and the moral, physical, and mental constitution of human beings. This emphasis on the internal and subjective aspects of religious experience characterizes all of Erskine's works and places him, along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, at the forefront of a new way of theologizing in Britain which was to come to fruition in the so-called “Broad Church.” Erskine represents an indigenous British “turn to the subject” antedating the widespread appropriation of continental thought by English and Scottish theologians.

scholarly journals Phenomenology and the Possibility of Religious Experience

Open Theology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Mercer
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
The Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Theological Turn ◽  
Human Situation ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Way ◽  
Idea Of God

AbstractWork in what has been known as the theological turn in French phenomenology describes the way in which human beings are always, already open to a religious encounter. This paper will focus on Levinas as a proper transcendental phenomenologist as would be characterized by parts of Husserl and Husserl’s last assistant Eugen Fink. What Levinas does in his phenomenology of the face/other (which gets tied up in religious language) is to describe an absolute origin out of which the subject arises. This point of origin structures the self in such a way as to always, already be open to that which overflows experience and, thus, makes possible the very experience of an encounter with the numinous. Such an approach to religious experience for which I am arguing simply takes Levinas at his word when he declares “The idea of God is an idea that cannot clarify a human situation. It is the inverse that is true.” (“Transcendence and Height”) Understanding the structure of the subject as open to that which cannot be reduced/totalized/ encapsulated is to recognize that the human situation is ready for the possibility of religious experience.

Bible, Hebrew

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Cohn-Sherbok
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Divine Providence ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Systematic Philosophy ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Special People

Although the Bible is not a work of systematic philosophy, it none the less contains a wide variety of philosophical and theological ideas which have served as the framework for rabbinic speculation through the centuries. Although these views about the nature and activity of God are not presented systematically, they do provide an overview of the ancient Israelite understanding of the Godhead, creation, divine providence and human destiny. Throughout rabbinic literature these notions served as the bedrock for theological speculation, and with the emergence of systematic Jewish philosophy in the Middle Ages, they came to preoccupy a variety of thinkers. Similarly, in the post-Enlightenment period until the present, scriptural teaching has served as the starting point for philosophical and theological reflection. Foremost among scriptural beliefs is the conviction that one God has created the cosmos. As the transcendent creator of the universe, he reigns supreme throughout nature and is intimately involved in earthly life. God is both omnipotent and omniscient and exercises divine providence over all creatures – from on high he oversees all the inhabitants of the earth. In exercising his providential care, Scripture repeatedly asserts, God is a benevolent ruler who shows compassion and mercy to all. Furthermore, as lord of history, he has chosen Israel to be his special people and has revealed the Torah to them on Mount Sinai. The Jewish people are to be a light to the nations, and from their midst will come a Messianic redeemer who will inaugurate a period of divine deliverance and eventually usher in the world to come. Israel thus plays a central role in the unfolding of God’s plan for all human beings.

Not Affirming Things Intended: Reason and Worship in More’s The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer

Moreana ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (Number 149) (1) ◽  
pp. 4-16
Author(s):  
Richard F. Hardin
Keyword(s):  
The Bible ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come

More responds strongly to Tyndale’s insistence that ritual, like Scripture, must be interpreted plainly by the worshiper: the chief purpose of ritual is to bring us closer to God, not to enlighten the intellect. In The Apology he declares that we should meditate on the Bible and the forms of worship (which must be observed as forms) in order to stir the imagination, not to seek out the “things intended” by God, which are beyond our capacity to know. This controversy touches all the major points of English debate on the subject for over a century to come, and some historians now see that it is worth attention in itself.

A Nineteenth-Century New England Exegete Abroad: Adoniram Judson and the Burmese Bible

2019 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-339
Author(s):  
John deJong
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Theological Seminary ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Subject

AbstractAdoniram Judson’s life and work have long been the subject of popular and scholarly interest, but the intellectual and exegetical background for his Burmese Bible translation has not been closely studied. This background was the biblical studies movement in New England, which began in the early nineteenth century and flourished before declining and eventually disappearing by about 1870. The opposing New England orthodox Calvinist and liberal Unitarian schools were equally involved in the movement. Judson was an early product of Andover Theological Seminary, the center for orthodox Calvinism in New England. From 1816 to 1840 Judson translated the Bible into Burmese and his references to the scholarly works he used, along with the text-critical and interpretive decisions in his Bible translation, identify him as an ongoing participant in the New England biblical studies movement. This scholarly background helps us understand interpretive decisions in the Judson Bible, which is still the main Burmese version used by Protestants in Myanmar.

scholarly journals "Czy pójdę do nieba?"-Prolegomena do badań nad duchowością dzieci

2018 ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Grzywacz
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Serious Illness ◽  
Religious Attitudes ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Mystical Experiences

The subject of the article is the religious experience in the period of childhood.Beginning with the presence of children in the Bible, there follows an overview of different situations, opinions and concepts that explicate religious attitudes of children:for example towards death or serious illness. The author brings closer the cases of childrenwho had mystical experiences, like Ellen Organ (1903-1908) or Antonietta Meo(1930-1937).

Promise in Martin Luther’s Thought and Theology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Walter
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Church

Martin Luther used the practice and notion of promise for theological and practical ends. As a theological notion, promise allowed Luther to work through important problems about God and God’s actions in Christ. Practically, Luther employed promise to understand sacraments, human action, and interpretation of the Bible. What unites these two ends is Luther’s taking promise as a gift of God, albeit a gift difficult to categorize according to the taxonomy of gifts in cultural anthropology. God’s promise is an effective word (verbum efficax), a speech act that does what it says. In other places of Luther’s work, promise denotes an action that priests and ministers undertake in order to communicate God’s word. He used it to articulate Christ’s activity in the Eucharist. Faith can mean many things in Luther’s work, but he frequently sees it as the correlate of promise. This shows that Luther follows the practical use of promise and fidelity in the Stoic tradition in addition to his interpretation of the Bible and his theological heritage. Luther considers promise to point to something God will do in the future or that promise limits God’s power in a way that makes that promise trustworthy. When compared to a “last will and testament,” it signifies a gift to those designated as heirs. In sum, not only does promise offer practical aims for the activity of the church; it also limits and generates theological reflection on God. For Luther, “God does not deal, nor has he ever dealt, with [human beings] other than through the word of promise” (De captivitae babylonica (1520) WA 6:516, 30–33; LW 36:42, translation modified).

Die Erinnerungsfigur des Exodus als literarisches Mittel einer zeitgeschichtlichen jüdischen Geschichtsschreibung

2006 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-262
Author(s):  
Ulrike Schneider
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come

AbstractThe Jewish authors Robert Neumann (1897-1975) and Soma Morgenstern (1890-1976), both forced to leave Austria during the Nazi period, have dealt with the subject of Exodus in their writing. Their novels ,,By the Waters of Babylon" (published 1939 in London, 1954 in Munich/Vienna) and ,,The Third Pillar" (published 1955 in the United States, 1964 in Munich/Vienna) attempt to come to terms with the experience of exile and the Shoah. The reception of texts from the Bible and the composition of language are specific characteristics of both novels.

scholarly journals Om at forstå Bibelen i den moderne verden

2011 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 258-275
Author(s):  
Gerd Theissen
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Ludwig Wittgenstein ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Canonical Dimension ◽  
Mystery Of Being ◽  
Basic Beliefs

The article gives an outline of New Testament hermeneutics based on a hermeneutic of religion. Religions are sign worlds constructed by human beings. They refer to transcendence, a foundational story, imply moral imperatives, and form a community. The Bible is the basis of the Christian sign world that is constructed by two axioms (monotheism and Christology) and many basic beliefs. The Bible interprets and initiates religious experience. The basic religious experiences are: an amazement of the mystery of being, an experience of absolute confidence and of responsibility (cf. Ludwig Wittgenstein). These experiences pervade all four dimensions of the Bible: a kerygmatic message based in transcendence, a historical reference to the history Jesus, an ethical impact, and a canonical dimension, i.e. a relationship to churches. In modern times this implies a relationship to other religions. The article suggests therefore an edition of the Bible with an inter-religious appendix.

scholarly journals Understanding Mind through Indian Psychology

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sreeja Gangadharan P ◽  
S P K Jena
Keyword(s):  
First Person ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Indian Psychology ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Epistemological Dualism ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Mind is a subject widely studied under various discipline, yet, failed to come up with a definition which we could comprehend. These studies had unravelled a number of questions regarding the nature of the mind and leads to serious debates on its composition, i.e., whether it consists only of higher intellectual functions such as memory and reasoning, its activities i.e.; what is the relationship of mind and body, is dualism or monism?, is it accessible to study or only an endeavour of first person and finally, who possess a mind?; do all beings have a mind or only human beings could possess it?, and so on. With two simple models, ‘the Epistemological dualism’ and the model of ‘Mind-Spirit; dichotomy Vs coexistence’ based on the concepts in Indian Psychology, the paper throws more light in to the subject mind and its faculty.

Jalan Kesempurnaan Menurut Jamaah Insan Al-Kamil di Cijati Desa Cikareo Selatan Sumedang

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Syarifudin Syarifudin
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Religious Sect ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

Each religious sect has its own characteristics, whether fundamental, radical, or religious. One of them is Insan Al-Kamil Congregation, which is in Cijati, South Cikareo Village, Wado District, Sumedang Regency. This congregation is Sufism with the concept of self-purification as the subject of its teachings. So, the purpose of this study is to reveal how the origin of Insan Al-Kamil Congregation, the concept of its purification, and the procedures of achieving its purification. This research uses a descriptive qualitative method with a normative theological approach as the blade of analysis. In addition, the data generated is the result of observation, interviews, and document studies. From the collected data, Jamaah Insan Al-Kamil adheres to the core teachings of Islam and is the tenth regeneration of Islam Teachings, which refers to the Prophet Muhammad SAW. According to this congregation, self-perfection becomes an obligation that must be achieved by human beings in order to remember Allah when life is done. The process of self-purification is done when human beings still live in the world by knowing His God. Therefore, the peak of self-purification is called Insan Kamil. 

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