On universal definition of religion

Today I would like to analyze one of my best-loved philosophical articles. It was written be D.Pivovarov, russian philosopher and culturologist.
The author gives these keywords: eclecticism, sophistry, dialectics, the V. S. Solovyov’s definition of religion, The Absolute, objective and subjective religiosity, the basic question of religion.
There are three general methods of determening the essence of religion - eclecticism (this term means using a lot of styles), sophistry and dialectics. As methods, they are mutually compared. The author tried to construct an universal definition of the word "religion". He started from the well-known definition of V. S. Solovyov – “religion is a human relationship with The Absolute”- people usually think that this definition is a stimbling block in philosophy of religion. The author also think about two main levels of religiosity - objective (a form of public relationship with the God) and subjective (a form of individual relationship with the God). He says, that there are three main questions in each religion - "1) Who or What is The Absolute? 2) how one can know The Absolute? 3) how people should relate to The Absolute in practice?" He also underlines the most believable definitions of religion: "a  sense  of  human  dependence  on  the infinite"; "symbols  of  primitive  myths  about  the nature"; faith     in     invisible     spiritual     beings; "personification of powerful natural forces and request for mercy"; "fantastic reflection in the form of unearthly forces  such  external  circumstances that   prevail   over   man "; "a  sense  of  the  sacred"; "the relationship with the Holy"; "the experience of the sacred" and many others. He speaks about 7 images of The Absolute :
1) a person (Judaism, Christianity*, Islam, Hinduism);
2) Impersonal  transcendent  Being  as  the absolute  source  of  all  existence  (Hinduism);
3) The  Absolute,  inherent  in  every  human being (Hinduism, Buddhism, Holy  Spirit  in Christianity).
4) The Ultimate Goal (nirvana in Buddhism, Jainism);
5)   The   heavenly   constellation   of   gods reaching  a  common  goal  (kami  in  Shintoism, spirits in religions of American Indians);
6) The   Absolut,   erected   on   the   basis of   revelation   of   the   founder of   a   religion (Dharmakaya);
7) The Absolute  as  the  universal  eternal law   (Dharma, Tao, Dhamma, Logos, Torah).
In conclusion I will add that this article can help modern philosophy and culturology to "sort the things out".
______________
* Here I'll say that I am not agree with Mr.Pivovarov at all, because Christianity underlines, that the God is not a person, but Spirit. According to Holy Scriptures, the belief that God is a person is heresy. Because christians (both orthodox and catholics) differ from the other deists and theists because of their believe in the transcendent  Absolute.


Рецензии