Known as the “Father of Modern Liberal Theology,” Friedrich Schleiermacher was a German philosopher and theologian who directed his attention on the nature of religious experience from the viewpoint of the individual and human nature itself (Mariña 3). Highly influenced by German Romanticism, Schleiermacher attempted to settle the criticisms of the Enlightenment with conventional Protestant Christianity (Crouter 261). By doing so, he abandoned the Moravian theology that had neglected to gratify his growing reservations and he embraced the sensible outlook of Christian Wolff and Johann Salomo Semler. He then became accustomed to the methods of historical criticism of the New Testament and of Johann Augustus Eberhard, from whom he attained an adoration of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Consequently, he began reforming Immanuel Kant’s structure by implementing thoughts from the Greek thinkers (Mariña 3). On this basis, this essay will clearly articulate Friedrich Schleiermacher’s conception of religion and religion’s association with Christianity as expressed in Speech I: Defense and Speech II: The Nature of Religion of his work, On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers. The essay will explore Schleiermacher’s refutation of three notions of religion possessed by the despisers, clarify his recognition of the true religion with sensation as well as express his understanding of the association involving religion and Christianity.
REFUTATION OF VIEWS OF RELIGION HELD
If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you (Fred Divito). Stanley had many challenges to face at Camp Green Lake. In the novel Holes, Stanley becomes from a shy, poor person to a rich and brave person.
Religion often holds a huge amount of significance in one’s life. Since it requires lots of time and patience, some people lose their faith when confronted with a tough situation. When a population becomes persecuted or executed for their beliefs, this becomes especially noticeable. In the Holocaust, a number of Jews began to question their faith, and departed from the religion as a whole. In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel obscures the distinctions between his father and God, displays an opening void, and shows the misunderstanding of his belief in religion to express the loss of faith and the role that the spiritual and physical body possess in retaining religion.
This understanding of Schleiermacher’s religion will become important in our later discussion of the value of Christianity.
During the Nazi German era, which took place from 1933 until 1945, Christianity played a very important role in the rise of Hitler’s regime. The Christian churches greatly influenced not only the formation of the Nazi regime, but also the German folk. The most influential churches were the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church. Even though Christianity itself faced a state of decline in the early 1930s, the higher clergy of the Christian churches in Germany still managed to make a significant impact. The amount of influence that the churches exerted can be measured not only through the impact of their resistance towards the Nazis, but conversely through the resistance carried out by
For this addiction assignment I attended meeting run by the oldest Alcoholics Anonymous group in Auburn, Maine. This group, the Auburn Serenity Group, was founded in 1959. I found this information on their page http://www.csoaamaine.org/groups/5/auburnserenity.htm when researching meeting information. I attended on Wednesday night (10/8/14) at St. Philips Church on Turner Road in Auburn. The meeting was chaired by a man named Paul.
Like the progressive decline of concerned thinking, is the similar value of religious faith, and how it declined as well. Being in an area where one is subject to constant torture, can lead to the one’s with the strongest faith, to the lose it all together. Elie Wiesel was one of those people. Before being thrown in the ghetto and led to the concentration camp, living by his faith was a part of his life; it was natural for him. Being questioned about it--and questioning himself--was a rare and troubling occurrence. He explains here, “‘Why do you pray?’ he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel 4). Never being able to imagine his life without his religion, caused him to view it as
Religion is a perilous subject, regardless of who you choose to discuss it with; everyone has their stance about it. In the pamphlet ‘The Age of Reason’ by Thomas Paine, the author offers his perspective of religion in which he provides factual arguments as to why he despises it and refutes its ‘message’. Paine challenges the authenticity of the Bible while also addressing its contradictions, inconsistencies and false claims. From the moment it was published, Paine knew the pamphlet would cause controversy simply by the nature of which it is based upon. Paine openly and willfully ridicules the church, the mythology of the church, the word of God and the legitimacy of the authority of which the Bible has ascribed certain individuals to. The pamphlet itself is dichotomized as follows: section one and section two. Section one consists of Paine loosely planting the roots of his arguments and satirically dissecting the basis of religion. Section two provides a close examination of the New and Old Testament where Paine directly addresses the contradictions, logical inconsistencies and empirical falsehoods of the Bible and its many books and anecdotes that will be discussed in this essay. Although some may feel offended by the nature of the pamphlet and its contents, Paine does not set out to force a conversion or instill his philosophical state of mind upon others, he simply strives to ventilate his beliefs and disbeliefs.
The first two speeches of On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers distinguish Schleiermacher as the father of Protestant Liberal Theology, at the very least (Schleiermacher 1996, xiv, xi). The First Speech is "Defence" (Schleiermacher 1996, 1-25) and the Second Speech is "The Nature of Religion" (Schleiermacher 1996, 26-118). Reacting to the orthodoxy, enlightened rationality and detachment, and neoclassical ideals of his time (Schleiermacher 1996, xiv, xvi), Schleiermacher used some established concepts to articulate a newer, liberal approach
Known as the father of modern liberal theology, Friedrich Schleiermacher was a German theologian, philosopher and biblical scholar who focused his attention on the nature of religious experience from the viewpoint of the individual and human nature itself (Mariña 3). Influenced by German Romanticism, Schleiermacher attempted to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant Christianity (Crouter 261). By doing so, he abandoned the pietistic Moravian theology that had failed to satisfy his increasing doubts and he adopted the rational spirit of Christian Wolff and Johann Salomo Semler. He then became acquainted with the techniques of historical criticism of the New Testament and of Johann Augustus Eberhard, from whom he acquired a love of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. As a result, he began applying ideas from the Greek philosophers to a reconstruction of Immanuel Kant’s system (Mariña 3). On this basis, this essay articulate Friedrich Schleiermacher’s understanding of religion and its relationship to Christianity as described in Speech I: Defense and Speech II: The Nature of Religion of his work On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers. The essay will explore Schleiermacher’s rejection of various views of religion held by the despisers, explain his identification of the true religion with feeling and describe his view of the relationship between religion and Christianity.
In this essay, I will try to summarize, analyze and discuss several pages of Søren Kierkegaard’s Training in Christianity. I will try to focus on his approach to sacred history, a general Christian history and Christianity, which he discusses in this work in relation to faith in God. In other parts of this essay I will attempt also to relate these pages of his work to some key ideas of Kierkegaard’s theology and philosophy and support this with some concrete quotations from the text. In the end I will very briefly compare different philosophies of Hegel and Kierkegaard and try to relate Kierkegaard’s work to a few topics, which
As I read Émile Durkheim’s classic piece, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, I experienced a whirlwind of thoughts, expressing agreement, disagreement, and complete puzzlement over the details of his logic and conclusions. As far as my essay goes, I will attempt to put these thoughts in a neat, coherent order like the one mentioned above.
Moreover, Durkheim compares religion to society. He says that society is the cause of the unique sensations of the religious experiences, so called “sui generis” (Ritzer, 84). This concept
Nietzsche is widely known as a critic of religion. In fact, he talks in depth about morality in regards to religion in his essays about the genealogy of morals. But the problem is not within religion itself or within morals. The problem is involved in the combination of the two to create society’s understanding of morality through a very religious lens. In fact, Nietzsche has criticism for almost any set of morals constructed by a group of individuals and meant to be applied to society as a whole. True morality, according to Nietzsche, requires a separation from these group dynamic views of morality- or at least a sincere look into where they originated and why they persist- and a movement towards a more introverted, and intrinsically personalized understanding of what morals mean in spite of the fact that “the normative force to which every member of society is exposed, in the form of obligations, codes of behavior, and other moral rules and guidelines, is disproportionally high” (Korfmacher 6).
Max Weber believed the religion is a deeply rooted institution that has shaped people’s image of the world, which in turn can impact their beliefs and motives. For instance, religion is used different amongst people of various class and statues. Individuals with high class and statues will use religion legitimate their circumstances and their situation in the world. On the other end of the spectrum, underprivileged individuals will lean toward religion that promise rewards for hard work and good morals (CSP). In addition, Weber believed that religion had supplied the framework that aided the development of various social institution, in particular the economy (PA).
A religion can be seen as a unified system of beliefs and practices which are relative to sacred things and beliefs (Giddens 1972, p.224). It can shape ones thoughts and feelings and gives people a sense of hope and something to believe in. All three main sociologist writers Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim offer different perspectives on religion and how important it is to society. Some of the theorists chose to have a positive view whilst others argue the unimportance of religion. This essay attempts to discover which theorist has the most accurate perspective of religion in modern times. This is done by firstly explaining the basic ideas regarding to religion put forward by Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Then both Marx's and