Westphal
Overall Article
Overview of the history of religion, concerned with evolution from "philosophical theology" to the "philosophy of religion."
Focuses on different philosophers' opinions (scholastics and deists) on the kernel (important aspects) and the husk (unimportant aspects) of religion.
Changes brought on by the Enlightenment: new deism, focusing on the human aspects of religion such as morality rather than God.
Key Theme 1: Religious Experience
"Special revelation"
Highlights scholastic belief that the way in which God reveals himself to humanity is an important aspect of religion
Seen as the way in which God communicates personally with us.
Deists regard this as 'husk' as things like this have distracted people from the focus of religion and used them in order to justify immoral acts such as holy wars.
Augustine agrees - God revealed himself to humanity through Jesus in order to save us from our sins.
Kant disagrees - new aspect of deism: promotes the human aspect of religion. Believes an individual's morality, their inner conviction of right and wrong, is far more important than "special revelations".
Key Theme 2: The Use of Arguments for Belief in God
Deist view that religion should be based on reasonable assertions fits with the teleological argument as it is considered to be one.
Scholastics also believe that arguments for God's existence is an essential part of religion.
Aquinas agrees - the order, purpose and complexity we see in the world must be the creation of a divine being. It is through the world that we can develop a personal connection with God.
Dawkins disagrees - there is too much randomness in the world to counteract the supposed order suggested by this argument to prove the existence of a divine creator. Religion is therefore flawed as it is based on faulty and illogical claims.
Key Theme 3: Kernel and Husk
"The contrast is not between reason and experience but between reason and faith."
The kernel is the central parts of religion and the reasons to follow religious belief.
The husk are the unimportant parts that remove the true focus from religion.
Scholastics and deists disagree on what aspects are deemed the kernel; deists dismiss the role of the church, religious experience and miracles, focusing more on the human aspects and what is deemed logical.
Tennant agrees - he suggests there is a kernel to religion: arguments for God's existence based on the beauty we see in nature, suggesting a divine creator.
Marx disagrees - there is no kernel to religion as it is "the opiate of the masses" - merely a structure within society for the masses to accept their inferiority to the upper classes. Therefore only serves as a way of controlling society.
Implication for religious belief - we can use religious experiences as a basis for our belief. Makes God appear more real and personal. Believers gain justification for their belief as it consolidates the teachings of the Bible.
Implication for human life - we can trust our experiences and intuitive awareness to create genuine person to person relationships with other humans. We do not need to feel the need to validate our relationships as our experiences of them are valid in themselves.
Implication for religious belief - solidifies and justifies belief. We see God's work in our everyday lives and so can be confident in his existence. Gives religion more value.
Implication for human life - rejection of the need to verify things in order to be certain and claim we have knowledge. The evidence for what we know is around us and so we do not need to look any further or prove its existence to anyone else.
Implication for religious belief - believers are left confused as to which aspects of religion to accept and which to ignore. May lead to doubt in their belief as it is not consistent - it is not as infallible as many have argued.
Implication for human life - confusion about what is moral. Religion is often linked to morality and so if we do not know what the important parts of religion are then how can we know what is moral?