RELG 402 - World's Living Religions
How various Worldviews answer the Five Basic Questions
These notes are adapted from the Presentation given by the Rev. Canon Scott A. Ruthven at "Streams in the Desert", Socorro, New Mexico, 2005.
With grateful thanks, Shirley Rollinson
Go here for the Introduction to Worldviews
The Five Basic Questions and the ways people answer them
- Who (What) is Ultimate Reality ?
- Naturalist
- No "god". The physical world
- New Age
- God is impersonal and amoral; Pantheism - god, the world, and every human is one.
- Deist
- Clock-maker Unitarian God
- Postmodern
- The universe has no center; reason cannot perceive a structure to it.
Constructs can be useful, but they are not necessarily objective truth.
Life is a collection of experiences and transitory fleeting images
Any sense of God is individualistic; if it is meaningful to you, then fine - Christian
- One Triune God : Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who has revealed Himself.
God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, living, personal, Holy, good, loving, merciful
Creator ex nihilo of everything
Incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, died, buried, rose from the dead, and sits at the right hand of the Father
- What's the Universe like ?
- Naturalist
- The material universe is the sum total of everything
Nothing exists outside the natural order - there is nothing supernatural
Everything is due to cause and effect
Material always existed, and it evolved into the universe
Death is the end of everything - New Age
- Divine. Oneness. At death one goes to be part of the one, and individual existence ceases
- Deist
- Clock-maker God created an orderly universe and then left it running
Nothing exists outside the natural order - there is nothing supernatural
Death is not the end of everything - Postmodern
- It is impossible to know the Universe
We inhabit a globe consisting of multiple realities, so different people construct different stories about the world they encounter
An objectively known Universe is not possible
Scientific enquiry is limited - Christian
- Open system, created by God ex nihilo
Separate from God, though He is immanent and sometimes intervenes
The "supernatural" is natural
Orderly Universe. Science is the study of what God has done
It will eventually end when Jesus returns
There will be eternal life - in heaven or in hell
- How do we know what we know ?
- Naturalist
- 5 senses; human experience; rational thought; scientific method
Look for the cause of every effect - New Age
- Truth lies within every human being; get in touch with it through mystical conscience; once in touch one becomes an enlightened spiritual guide
- Deist
- 5 senses; empirically; human experience; rational thought; scientific method
Look for the cause of every effect - Postmodern
- All claims to truth are socially conditioned
Truth and fiction are blurred; pluralistic view of knowledge - Christian
- 5 senses plus thinking and reflecting, plus experience, though our perception is fallen and we need "right reason" informed by the Holy Spirit, plus revelation from God
- Who are we, and what are we doing here ?
- Naturalist
- Humans are highly-evolved animals
To discover; to build a utopia; basically good; continuing evolution - New Age
- We are spiritual beings who are gods. To get in touch with this will release godness; Working out good karma; We are all divine
- Deist
- Humans have evolved into the highest animals as planned by God
To discover; to build a utopia; basically good; continuing evolution - Postmodern
- No utopian illusions about the future
Undermine concepts of power, and replace them with concepts of diversity; we are to celebrate diversity - Christian
- Created by God in his image (mental and spiritual faculties shared with God)
Rational, creative, and morally responsible
We have free will to do what we choose - God does not force us
Each human is unique
We are here to be God's vice-regents in the world; to glorify God; to grow spiritually; to do God's will
- What's the Problem, and what's the solution ?
- Naturalist
- Natural ignorance and superstition
Solution - reason, technology, scientific advancement - New Age
- Untapped energy or potential. Ignorance of our human potential
Truth is within, we are sleeping gods
Solution - transformation of consciousness; a continual process of consciousness; meditation, crystals, New Age therapies - Deist
- Natural ignorance and superstition
Solution - reason, technology, scientific advancement - Postmodern
- The problem is the Enlightenment approach to everything
Any kind of grand narrative about reality is no longer credible
It is no longer viable to have one system, one construct, one myth
The solution is to declare war on "Totality"
Actively embrace plurality in all aspects of life - Christian
- Man misused free will, and in the midst of gracious abundance defied God's command
Rebellion caused a continual struggle for power, and alienation from God, from each other, and from all creation
God's Solution - the Cross; confession of sin, repentance, restoration of the relationship between God and man through Jesus Christ
Copyright © 2005 Scott A. Ruthven, all Rights Reserved
