Religion som verdenshåndtering

Abstract

The article discusses two questions: whether (and in whatsense) Christianity can be ‘naturalized’; and whether ancient Stoicismmay contribute to a modern reformulation of ‘Christianity naturalized’.To answer these questions, the article focuses on articulating an understandingof ‘religion’ in relation to ‘science’. Building on the accountgiven of the philosophical discipline of ‘ethics’ by Hilary Putnam inEthics without Ontology, the article attempts to construct a structurallysimilar understanding of ‘religion’ (and its philosophical counterpart,‘theology’) that will give it a legitimate position ‘in an age of science’(cf. Putnam, Philosophy in an Age of Science). ‘Religion’ is here seen asone particular way of ‘coping with the world’. The article concludesby sketching some ways in which ancient Stoicism (as a specimen of a‘natural philosophy and theology’) may help in reformulating an adequate,contemporary understanding of Christianity.