Sphere Of Religion Research Articles

Reflections on the Moral Teaching of the Prophets

In his great book The Idea of the Holy, R. Otto analysed what he regarded as the ‘a priori’ category of holiness. Holiness properly belongs, he argues, to the sphere of religion. The word ‘is, indeed, applied by transference to another sphere—that of ethics—but it is not itself derived from this … if the ethical element was present at all at any rate it was not original and never constituted the whole meaning of the word’. As Israelite religion develops, the ethical element gains prominence ‘The venerable religion of Moses marks the beginning of a process which from that point onwards proceeds with ever-increasing momentum, by which the numinous is throughout rationalised and moralised, i.e. charged with ethical import, until it becomes the “holy” in the fullest sense of the word. The culmination of the process is found in the Prophets and in the Gospels.’

The presuppositions of inter-religious communication—a philosophical approach

Religion has in the past, it may be truefully admitted, done more than its share of fostering the spirit of ‘we’ over against ‘they’. Economic and political factors have unfortunately, throughout history, clogged the channels of communication between men of one faith and those of another. The most unhappy aspect of the relation between religion and society has been the way in which the former has fostered the distinction between the insider and the outsider. Typical of this is the fact that most religious communities have a word which describes the religious outsider and the word is never a flattering one. That there should be religious diversity in the first place should occasion no surprise. Diversification is the order of things in the biological realm and we would not expect to find a sudden departure from this, that is, a move towards convergence, in the sphere of religion. But unless diversification is matched with understanding and with communication we face the future at our peril. It is for this reason that the question of inter-religious communication, the ground of its possibility, can be regarded not only as the most pressing of problems for the student of comparative religion (for unless there is prior understanding and communication where indeed are the data to be compared?) but as a matter of pressing urgency for all.

RIGHTS OF FREEDOM IN THE SPHERE OF RELIGION AND THEIR LIMITATION

The Ecumenical ReviewVolume 19, Issue 2 p. 201-204 RIGHTS OF FREEDOM IN THE SPHERE OF RELIGION AND THEIR LIMITATION Giorgio Peyrot, Giorgio PeyrotSearch for more papers by this author Giorgio Peyrot, Giorgio PeyrotSearch for more papers by this author First published: April 1967 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6623.1967.tb00982.x Translated from the Italian. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume19, Issue2April 1967Pages 201-204 RelatedInformation

The Shepherd-Ruler Concept in the OT and its Application in the NT

It was inevitable, amongst a pastoral community such as the Hebrews, that the vocabulary and occupational habits of the shepherd should colour their language and help to formulate their way of looking at life. This was particularly true in the sphere of religion. The rich imagery of the pastoral life of Palestine has been one of the creative elements in the language and religious thought—forms of the OT, especially where Israel's relationships with Jahweh were concerned. Undoubtedly the OT conception of God, of divine providence, and of man's relations with God owe much of their profound insight and simple dignity to the metaphors current among the shepherds who lived among the Judaean hills and on the plains of Samaria.

John Wesley and Christian Peace

Some little time ago the present writer was ordered by his Prior to speak at an Inter-denominational Anti-War demonstration on Hampstead Heath. The demonstration was no doubt due to a widespread opinion that, all physical and political expedients for ensuring peace having failed, the only hope for peace would be through moral means. This opinion bore on its face the outline of sanity and almost of inevitability. Indeed so sane and inevitable did it seem, and does it still seem, that even men who profess to believe that religion is the opium of the people are often found blaming the ministers of religion for not bringing in, as by a miracle, the reign of peace.The difficulty I felt in being obedient to the command of obedience was not a distaste for any command. Still less was it a disagreement with the belief that no physical nor political expedients but only moral expedients will end war. But I felt a great disinclination to speak on an interdenominational peace platform; and that, firstly, because of an inevitable conclusion and, secondly, because of an undeniable observation.The inevitable conclusion was that if war could be ended only by moral means the chief agents in ending it could only be the moral expert or professionals, namely the ministers of religion.The undeniable observation was that nowhere was there such a state of war and such a need of peace as in the sphere of religion.

New Science and Old Philosophy

Cast a backward glance over the last hundred years and it will be seen at once where the greatest advance has been. We cannot claim, I fear, that it has been in philosophy. Nor yet has it been in the sphere of religion; nor in politics; nor in the arts. Plainly enough, it is in science that this age has excelled; and in industrial production through the help of science.

Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.

In one of the truly great classics of twentieth-century political economy, R. H. Tawney addresses the question of how religion has affected social and economic practices. He does this by a relentless tracking of the influence of religious thought on capitalist economy and ideology since the Middle Ages. In so doing he sheds light on why Christianity continues to exert a unique role in the marketplace. In so doing, the book offers an incisive analysis of the historical background of present morals and mores in Western culture. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism is even more pertinent now than when it first was published; for today it is clearer that the dividing line between spheres of religion and secular business is shifting, that economic interests and ethical considerations are no longer safely locked in separate compartments. By examining that period which saw the transition from medieval to modern theories of social organization, Tawney clarifies the most pressing problems of the end of the century. In tough, muscular, richly varied prose, he tells an absorbing and meaningful story. And in his new introduction, which may well be a classic in its own right, Adam Seligman details Tawney's entire background, the current status of social science thought on these large issues, and a comparative analysis of Tawney with Max Weber that will at once delight and inform readers of all kinds.

Kant's Moral Theology

The most generally acknowledged mode of apprehending God or argument for his existence, is the Moral. The argument has various forms, of which the more commonly accepted and influential, in its main principles, is that of Kant. Kant emphatically rejected the traditional arguments for the existence of God — the Ontological, Cosmological, and Teleological — as inadequate and invalid. More generally, he rejected or greatly subordinated the theoretical reason in the sphere of religion, and gave primacy to the practical or moral reason. He went far in teaching that the sphere of science and the sphere of religion are separate and independent of each other.

The Future of Religion

No one who has studied the history of the last century can fail to be struck by the great changes which have taken place in human thought, affecting the whole outlook of man in his relation to the world both within and without and constituting a revolution in the intellectual life of our times. The most permanent forces in human life have been brought face to face with new facts, new conditions, and new ideas, and nowhere do we find the evidences of this change in outlook greater than in the sphere of religion, where the old problems and the old controversies are passed or passing. One of the great questions of today is, as a recent writer has said, “whether Christianity can come to terms with the awakening self-consciousness of modern civilization, equipped with a vast mass of new scientific knowledge and animated for the first time by ideals which are not borrowed from classical or Hebrew antiquity.” But Christianity itself has already been deeply influenced by some of the changes which have taken place. The great forces of history press steadily upon all the institutions of society and the form or expression of the religious life is profoundly affected by the movements of thought or changes in sentiment which take place in human society.

Relation between Magic and Religion

THREE views of the relation between religion and magic have been and are widely held: that magic is a degraded form of religion; that it is the parent of religion; and that the two are independent, mutually unrelated systems. These views appear to rest partly on too restricted an historical survey, partly on arbitrary definitions of terms, and partly on incorrect interpretations of religious phenomena. It is assumed that a refined conception of the relation between man and the deity existed from the outset; or that there is in religion an impure idea which cannot be explained except as the product of a low initial magical form of thought; or that religion as a friendly relation with the deity and magic as a hostile relation are mutually exclusive; or that magical procedures have always been regarded by primitive peoples as lying outside the sphere of religion; or that the continuous growth of culture would be impossible without an initial and persistent sense of friendship between man and the deity. The opposing theories are sometimes stated thus: if religion, in our sense of the term, had not existed from the beginning, it could never have existed at all; or, if religion had existed from the beginning, magic could never have existed at all.' It is very doubtful whether such hard-and-fast dividing lines can be assumed for early stages of religion. In the beginning everything seems to have been in flux-there were no sharp definitions of natural and supernatural, of gods and demons, or, in general, of friendly and unfriendly Powers.