<title>Philosophy of Religion</title>

<h3 align=center>Philosophy of Religion (REL 3210)</h3>

Lecturer: Dr. Stephen Palmquist

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"The highest happiness of man as a thinking being is to have probed what is

knowable and quietly revere what is unknowable." -- Johann W. von

Goethe

"There is only one true religion, but there are many kinds of creeds." --

Immanuel Kant

"'God' is a primordial experience... And again and again it happens that

one confuses God with one's own ideas and regards them as sacred. This

is superstition and an idolatry every bit as bad as the ... delusion that God

can be educated out of existence." -- Carl G. Jung

"...to have religion is a duty of man to himself." -- Kant

Objectives

What is religion? What is the difference between "true religion" and

"false religion"? Can we be truly human without being religious? Why are

the problems connected with religion so notoriously difficult to solve?

Although most of our time in this class will be spent examining specific

problems which arise out of man's religious nature and searching for ad-

equate solutions, our overall goal will be to find answers to these four,

more general questions.

Because religion is a phenomenon experienced by almost everyone,

but is experienced in such a wide variety of ways, it is difficult, if not

impossible to define "religion". Good definitions for English words often

begin by citing the meanings of the original Latin or Greek word(s) from

which the word in question is derived. However, there is some uncertainty

about which Latin words gave rise to the term "religion". Although various

suggestions have been proposed, the most commonly accepted explanation

is that "religion" comes from the words "re" and "ligare", which together

mean "to tie again"--i.e., to reunite a broken bond. If the "re" is also taken

to allude to the Latin word "res" (meaning "substance" or "reality"), then we

could also say that religion is the human experience of reuniting the broken

bond between mankind and some transcendent Reality, called "God" in

most religions.

As we shall see, there are two quite distinct forms of religion, both

of which fit the above general definition: one sees the task of "reuniting" as

something which man must do (i.e., we must grasp God), while the other

sees this task as something God must do (i.e., we must be grasped by

God). On this basis, we can take the following as a preliminary definition

of the "philosophy of religion": Philosophy of religion is thinking about the

problems associated with the human experiences of trying to grasp God

and/or being grasped by God.

Requirements and Grade Assessment

Attend lectures, participate in the tutorials, and do the readings!

Required readings have been placed on "one day" reserve in the library (see

separate handout).

Tutorials: Approximately one hour of class each week (except the

first two and last two weeks) will be devoted to the reading and discussion

of student essays. Opportunity will also be given in these sessions for

students to ask questions about the lectures and readings, with a view

towards deepening our understanding of the issues. Attendance at and

participation in these sessions will be included as part of the grade for the

essay.

Essay: 50% of your grade will be based on an essay, which you

will write twice. (A) The first version should be about 3-6 pages long (it

should take about 10 minutes to read out loud). You will read this version to

the class as a way of initiating discussion on some topic related to the

philosophy of religion. If you have any doubt about whether your topic is

appropriate, you should ask for the lecturer's approval. (At some point

during the first week of class you should sign up for the week and topic of

your choice.) You should give a copy of your paper to the lecturer before

9am on the day you will present it. (B) The second version should be a

revised and expanded version of the first paper. The length of this final

version should be between 1500 and 2500 words and between 5 and 10

pages. You should hand it in in class on 29 Dec. There will be a strict

penalty for late papers (i.e., any time after 1:10pm). Grades will be

determined by the following criteria: in the presentation, (1) did you present

your ideas in a clear and interesting way (5%)? (2) did you answer

questions in way that demonstrated that you understand what you wrote

about (5%)? and (3) did you participate in other class discussions (5%)?;

and in the final version, (4) did you write clearly (15%)? (5) was your treat-

ment of the subject complete (10%)? and (6) was your treatment of the

subject creative (10%)?

Examination: 50% of your grade will be based on the final exam,

which will probably consists of two essay questions (worth 25% each).

Tentative Lecture Schedule

I. Introduction: What is philosophy of religion? (28 September)

1. Two types of religion 2. Religion, philosophy and theology

II. David Hume

1. Miracles and irrational faith (29 September)

2. Dialogues on Natural Religion (6 October)

III. Immanuel Kant

1. Criticism of theoretical arguments for God's existence (12 October)

2. The moral argument for God's existence (13 October)

3. Kant's moral religion: morality and evil (19 October)

4. Kant's moral religion: conversion and commonwealth (20 October)

5. Kant's moral religion: religious service (26 October)

IV. Friedrich Schleiermacher

1. Religious Feeling (27 October)

V. Søren Kierkegaard

1. The concept of anxiety (2 November)

2. The leap of faith (3 November)

3. Truth and subjectivity (9 November)

4. Love (10 November)

VI. Ludwig Feuerbach

1. Theology as man's self-projection (17 November)

2. Psychology and projection: Freud vs. Jung (23 November)

VII. Friedrich Nietzsche

1. Beyond good and evil (24 November)

2. The death of God (30 November)

3. Superman and the anti-Christ (1 December)

4. Nihilism and religion (8 December)

VIII. John Hick

1. The problem of evil (14 December)

2. The problem of religious pluralism (15 December)

IX. Paul Tillich

1. Religious symbols (29 December [final version of term paper due])

2. Courage and faith (4 January 1993)

3. Politics and culture (4 January)

X. Conclusion (5 January)

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This page was last updated on 20 January 2007<p>

StevePq@hkbu.edu.hk

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