John Hick "Many Faiths, One Reality" & Clifford Geertz "Religion as a Cultural System"

What are the most crucial differences between Hicks and Geertz?

Is religious pluralism of of the kind described vital to the idea of political respect for religious diversity?

John Hick "Many Faiths, One Reality"

Many Faiths, All Claiming to be True

What if I has been born elsewhere (raised in a different religious tradition)?

"If what Buddhism says is true, must not what Islam says be largely false?"

"The skeptical thrust of these questions goes very deep; for it is a short step from the thought that the different religions cannot all be true, although they each claim to be, to the thought that in all probability none of them is true..."

Critique of the Concept of "a Religion"

-talk of the truth or falsity of religions may be relatively recent, and distinctively Western, development.

"This notion of religions as mutually exclusive entities with their own characteristics and histories--although it now tends to operate as a habitual category of our thinking--may well be an example of illicit reification..."

"instead of thinking of religion as existing in mutually exclusive systems, we should see the religious life of mankind as a dynamic continuum..."

-it is possible that cultural communication will result in a more unified (generally shared) conception of religion.

Toward a Possible Solution

"The human being has been described as a naturally religious animal, displaying an innate tendency to experience the environment religiously as naturally significant..."

-the evolution of religions on towards the Axial Period

-the practical significance of religions having developed in cultural isolation.

"In addition to noting these historical circumstances, we need to make use of the important distinction between, on the one hand, human encounters with the divine reality in the various forms of religious experience, and on the other hand, theological theories or doctrines that men and women have developed to conceptualize the meaning of these encounters."

-hypothesis: "the great religions are all, at their experiential roots, in contact with the same divine reality..."

-substantial agreement between existing (and currently rival) religions may be possible.

Obstacles to Religious Agreement

1. "differences in modes of experiencing divine reality..."

2. "differences of philosophical and theological theory concerning that reality or concerning the implications of religious experience..."

3. "differences in the key or revelatory experiences that unify a stream of religious experience and thought."

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1. personal vs. nonpersonal accounts of divine reality

2. reconciliation with science and rival religious theories

3. conflicts between rival founders or scriptures

A Philosophical Framework for Religious Pluralism

"the Real or Ultimate or Divine an sich (in him/her/its-self)"

"the Real as conceptualized and experienced by human beings"

Kant's noumenal/phenomenal distinction

-according to Hick, there is no direct, or unmediated, awareness of the Real (the Divine)

Clifford Geertz "Religion as a Cultural System"

pg 533. What does the "confrontation and mutual confirmation" amount to?

a religion is:

(1) a system of powerful symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivation seem uniquely realistic."

1. ...A System of of Symbols Which Acts to...

Symbols are "any object, act, or event, quality or relation which serves as a vehicle or a conception--..."

-unlike genes in that they are extrinsic.

-like genes in that they are blueprints.

2. ...To Establish Powerful, Pervasive and Long-Lasting Moods and Motivations in Men by...

-moods vs. motivations.

3. ...By Formulating Conceptions of a General Order of Existence

"What any particular religion affirms about the fundamental nature of reality may be obscure, shallow or, all too often, perverse, but it must, if it is not to consist of the mere collection of received practices and conventional sentiments we usually refer to as moralism, affirm something..."

-we depend on symbols and symbol systems for our "creatural viability."

three points of chaos (failure of interpretability): threats to our symbol systems

1. limits of our analytic capacities (the crises experienced by Russell and Einstein

2. limits of endurance (the problem of suffering, the problem of evil)

3. limits of moral insight (moral dilemmas?)

4. ...Clothing These Conceptions With Such as Aura of Factuality That...

-"just what does 'belief' mean in a religious context?"

-what is the religious perspective?

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the common-sense perspective ("a simple acceptance of the world")

the religious perspective moves "beyond the realities of the everyday world."

the scientific perspective ("deliberate doubt and systematic inquiry...disinterested observation"

the religious view is concerned with non-hypothetical truths; it is a matter of commitment, not disengagement.

the aesthetic perspective ("disengagement from belief--the contemplation of sensory qualities without their usual meanings...")

the religious perspective "deepens the concern with fact and seeks to create an aura of utter actuality."

5 ...That the Moods and Motivations Seem Uniquely Realistic

-no one lives in the world of religious symbols all the time.

-there is a shift back and forth between the religious perspective and the common sense perspective.