THOUGHT OF RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS AS CONFLICTS OF EPISTEMOLOGIES

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In this paper, we will present a distinction between belief, religious belief, religion, theology as the religious teaching of belief, an explication of the concept of religious conflicts, the (im)possibility of realizing the ideal of theological epistemology, and the consideration of religious conflicts as a clash of epistemologies. Hypothesis, as a statement that is assumed to be true in order to explain certain facts or as an assumption based on facts, is reflected in the thesis that religious conflicts become serious clashes of epistemologies when we elevate our understanding from the realm of phenomena that religions largely operate within to the realm of principles upon which these phenomena are based. Thus, we will contemplate religious conflicts through the lens of theological epistemologies, which can be reduced to three basic categories: fundamental theology, with Revelation or Sacred Text as the source of faith; rational theology, which takes reason as the source of faith, and spiritual theology, which considers personal experience or revelation as the source of faith. Although the subject of this paper is the consideration of religious conflicts as clashes of epistemologies, it will become evident that it is necessary to contemplate the specific religious phenomena that emerge based on various theological epistemologies. This is in line with the necessity of understanding the phenomenal domain where religious conflicts arise. However, the main focus of this paper is the consideration of the clash of theological epistemologies as an explication of religious conflicts.