Tag Archives: Philosophy of religion

Religion and Spirituality, Terminology, Theology

Friday Phraseology: Liberalism

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Liberalism (theological): Movement in Protestant *theology since the nineteenth century that is dominated by the goal of modifying Christianity so as to make it consistent with modern culture and science. Liberalism rejects the traditional view of Scripture as an authoritative propositional *revelation from God in favor of a view that sees revelation as a record of the evolving *religious experiences of humankind. It sees Jesus more as ethical teacher and model rather than as divine atoner and redeemer.

 

Evans, C. Stephen (2010-03-17). Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion: 300 Terms & Thinkers Clearly & Concisely Defined (The IVP Pocket Reference Series) (pp. 68-69). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

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Philosophy, Religion, Terminology

Friday Phraseology: Anthropomorphism

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Anthropomorphism: The human tendency to see other things as analogous to ourselves. Thus people sometimes see their pets in overly anthropomorphic terms. In *philosophy of religion, the term anthropomorphism is often used critically, to refer to views of God that make God seem too similar to finite human persons. Ludwig *Feuerbach claimed that all theology is anthropomorphic, since God is essentially a projection of unfulfilled human potential.

Evans, C. Stephen (2010-04-28). Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (p. 11). Intervarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

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Philosophy, Terminology

Friday Phraseology: Reductionism

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Reductionism: An attempt to explain some domain or field by showing that it can be derived from or redescribed in the language of some more basic domain or field. A physicalist, for example, may attempt a reductionistic account of the mind by showing that such entities as thoughts and perception can be reduced to physiological states of the brain. (See physicalism.) In *science a successful reduction requires one to show how the laws of one domain can be derived from the laws of some more fundamental domain. Reductionism often is linked to an attitude that seeks to view the explained or “reduced” field or objects as unreal.

Evans, C. Stephen (2010-04-28). Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (p. 100). Intervarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Terminology, Theology

Biblical Nuggets: Solipsism

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Solipsism: The doctrine that a person has a direct awareness only of his or her own conscious states and is in some way cut off from the reality of other things. The extreme form of solipsism is ontological solipsism, which denies the reality of anything outside one’s own mind. The denials that a person can know the external world or other minds can be viewed as forms of epistemological solipsism.[1]

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[1]  C. Stephen Evans (2010-04-28). Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (p. 109). Intervarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

 

Terminology

Biblical Nuggets: Fideism

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Fideism: The view that matters of religious and theological truth must be accepted by faith apart from the exercise of reason. In its extreme, fideism suggests that the use of reason is misleading. Less extreme fideists suggest that reason is not so much misleading as it is simply unable to lead to truths about the nature of God and *salvation.[1]

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[1] Stanley J. Grenz; David Guretzki; Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Kindle Locations 552-554). Kindle Edition.