Nygren, Anders (1890–1978)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diogenes Allen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Liberal Theology

Nygren hoped to recover the uniqueness of Christianity from the impurities introduced by the attempts of nineteenth-century liberal theology to free it from metaphysical speculation and confessional dogmatism. He aimed to do this by grounding all religion in an analytic philosophy of religion which would enable him to stress the objective character of Christian theology in contrast to the arbitrariness of confessional theology. He achieved international influence by his claim in Agapē and Eros (1930–6) that the uniqueness of Christianity is love in the sense of agapē, as opposed to Platonic eros.

Pantheism, Trinitarian Theism and the Idea of Unity: Reflections on the Christian Concept of God

1996 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77
Author(s):  
Douglas Hedley
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Concept Of God ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Philosophical Aspect ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Trinity

Modern analytic philosophy of religion has become increasingly interested in the dogmatic substances of Christian theology. I argue that the doctrine of the Trinity provides an instance of the importance of dogmatic formulation for an appreciation of the philosophical aspect of the Christian concept of God. The starting point of my discussion is the recent defence of pantheism by Michael Levine, and his discussion of Neoplatonist and German Idealist models of deity. Both metaphysical theism and the alleged Neoplatonic metaphysical genealogy of pantheism are considered with particular reference to St Augustine's account of creation in the Confessions. Just as it is impossible to distinguish the purely philosophical from the purely dogmatic concept of God, one cannot give an adequate modern account of theism without a rigorous and sensitive treatment of the historical models. The issue of pantheism shows how a misunderstanding of the meaning of concept of ‘unity’ can distort our view of theism as a model of deity.

Beyond Perennialism and Constructivism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayon Maharaj
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Common Core ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Cultural Conditioning ◽  
Mystical Experiences

This chapter draws upon Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings and mystical testimony in order to develop a new conceptual framework for understanding the nature of mystical experience. In recent analytic philosophy of religion, two approaches to mystical experience have been especially influential: perennialism and constructivism. While perennialists maintain that there is a common core of all mystical experiences across various cultures, constructivists claim that a mystic’s cultural conditioning plays a major role in shaping his or her mystical experiences. After identifying the strengths and limitations of these two positions, Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna champions a “manifestationist” approach to mystical experience that provides a powerful dialectical alternative to both perennialism and constructivism. According to Sri Ramakrishna, mystics in various traditions experience different real manifestations of one and the same impersonal-personal Infinite Reality. Sri Ramakrishna’s manifestationist paradigm shares the advantages of both perennialism and constructivism but avoids their respective weaknesses and limitations.

Abraham Kuyper and the Instrumental Use of Biblical Israel

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Scott-Blakely
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
North America ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Christian Theology

Abstract This article explores the Israelology of the prolific Dutch pastor, politician, and prime minister Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920), the architect of the nineteenth-century Neo-Calvinist movement. His thought still reverberates in Neo-Calvinist circles in North America, Europe, and beyond, providing inspiration to those seeking to articulate how contemporary churches can be both authentically confessional and also socially and politically engaged. Less known about Kuyper is his anti-Judaism and supersessionism: he regarded biblical Israel as instrumental to Christian theology, a pawn that God used and then discarded for the sake of more significant purposes.

scholarly journals Special Issue: Analytic Philosophy of Religion

Manuscrito ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
FÁBIO M. BERTATO ◽  
NICOLA CLAUDIO SALVATORE
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Special Issue

Conceptions of Faith

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Continental Tradition ◽  
Belief Model ◽  
Historical Accounts

This entry focuses on the recent resurgence of discussion of faith in contemporary analytic philosophy of religion. One prominent position that perhaps runs contrary to the popular-level view of the matter is that faith does not require belief. This—whether faith requires belief—is one of the most discussed issues in the literature, with some arguing that a different, weaker attitude than belief, such as acceptance or hope, is sufficient for faith. Other alternatives to the belief model of faith include imaginative faith in ultimism, faith as doxastic venture, and faith as trust. Additional topics in this entry include whether faith is consistent with evidentialism or whether it inherently requires a type of irrationality, and finally the degree to which skepticism is consistent with faith. In order to keep this entry a manageable size we will not address historical accounts of faith or those found within the Continental tradition. Additionally, we will not discuss non-Western conceptions of faith; the literature we examine focuses on propositional faith as found in the Judeo-Christian tradition (which is the focus of much contemporary philosophy of religion). Finally, given space constraints we focus on work produced after 2000, with the exception of particularly influential pieces.

Religionizing Christianity: Towards a Poststructuralist Notion of Global Religious History

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 259-288
Author(s):  
Yan Suarsana
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Religious History ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Global Awareness ◽  
World Religion ◽  
Liberal Theology ◽  
Poststructural Theory ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Global Entanglement

Abstract By relying on poststructural theory, this article will demonstrate how a consistent historicization can help us increase our understanding of how religious contexts changed in light of colonialism and globalization during the nineteenth century. While it is well known that such changes took place in non-Western regions, the article will show – by example of German liberal theology – that it was also in the so-called West that common systems of knowledge were transformed against the backdrop of global entanglement. On the basis of some prominent protagonists of so-called Culture Protestantism (Kulturprotestantismus), I will demonstrate how global debates led to a certain re-conceptualization of Christianity as a world religion in the late nineteenth century. By identifying different traditions such as Christianity or Buddhism as equivalent, those theologians supported the emerging global awareness of religion as a universal aspect of human life and a category sui generis.

Revisionist Theologies of Salvation

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-118
Author(s):  
Richard Viladesau
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Liberal Theology ◽  
Existential Interpretation ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Human Liberation

What unites revisionist theologies of the cross is the rejection (sometimes with qualification) of the idea of vicarious substitution and the Anselmian analysis of its rationale. They all reject or reinterpret the doctrine of “original sin.” They propose an “existential” interpretation of the cross, and relate it to the imperative for human liberation. These ideas are in continuity with liberal theology of the nineteenth century. What is more specifically novel is their reliance on critical biblical studies and above all their acceptance of contemporary science, especially its account of human evolution.

Divine Attributes as a Topic in Analytic Theology

2020 ◽  
pp. 83-97
Author(s):  
Michael C. Rea
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Divine Attributes ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Distinguishing Features ◽  
The Way

Analytic theology differs from other forms of theology primarily in its methodology: its ambitions, its style, its conversation partners, and so on. This is where the most interesting differences between analytic philosophical discussions of the divine attributes and contemporary theological discussions of that topic are to be found. The main positive thesis of this chapter is that the most distinctive features of the approach to divine attributes that one finds in the analytic philosophical literature are simply instances of more general distinctives of analytic theology. The chapter focuses on some of the distinguishing features of the way in which the topic of divine attributes is approached in analytic philosophy of religion as contrasted with the way(s) in which many contemporary theologians are inclined to approach it. The end result is a clearer picture both of the nature of analytic theology in general and of the distinctive character of an analytic approach to the topic of divine attributes.

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