Religious Quest Final Paper
By
Chris Cochran
HUM4554
Instructor:
Dr. Sabatino DiBernardo
Introduction
This
paper will be divided up into four sections.
Each section will address a specific question to be answered about the
different authors we talked about in this course and from the books they
wrote. The first author was David
Chidester who wrote, “Patterns of Transcendence.” The second author is Paul Brockelman who
wrote, “The Inside Story.” And, the
third author was John D. Caputo who wrote, “On Religion.” Finally, I will conclude the paper with a
brief overview and my final thoughts.
Part I
In part one; I am going to look at the definition for religion that both Caputo and Chidester give. Also, I will briefly explain Brockelman’s distinctions between belief, faith and knowledge.
Caputo’s definition of religion can be summed up into six words; “Religion is the love of God.” (Caputo, 3) Of course there’s more to it than just that. But this is his simple version that can be understood by everybody. He talks about how religion is for people with passion, for lovers, and for people worth their salt. The interesting thing about Caputo is that he offers a slightly different twist. He claims that, “religion may be found with or without religion.” (Caputo, 3) He believes that religious transcendence is beginning to transcend traditional religion, thereby creating religion without religion.
Chidester gives us a slightly different definition of religion. He believes religion is not merely a matter of belief, but rather a dynamic process enacting what it means to be human. This theory is more centralized around experiments in being human and humanizing activities. Religion, of all types, has a very important infrastructure designed to help facilitate learning. There are various symbols, myths, rituals, and traditions in place that provide us with a basic “how-to” when it comes to practicing religion in our everyday lives.
Brockelman believes that everyone has their own story and they live out their life through various interpretations, or narratives, of that story via knowledge, faith, and belief. Knowledge helps people understand the narrative, or disclosure, of a myth or metaphysical system of possible modes of a meaningful existence. Faith deals with a person’s ability to remain true to their beliefs. And belief is nothing more than propositional assertions considered to be true or false by the person.
A person’s story
is central to their existence and how they are perceived in society. Sometimes a person has a good story to tell
when they talk about themselves. And,
sometimes a person has a bad story to tell.
Either way, they communicate their knowledge, faith, and beliefs through
their stories.
Part II
In part two; I am going to explain how Caputo, Chidester, and Brockelman explain the human dilemma (i.e., what's wrong with humanity?). Then I will follow up with each authors view on the religious quest (i.e., what is it that we seek?)
Caputo would say that the human dilemma is all about the secret. The secret is, is that there is no secret. Mind boggling, I know. But in retrospect, he does seem to make a lot of sense. There is no tell-all know everything secret to be uncovered. But, people in search of a truth, any truth, gravitate to religions that claim to have the answers and know the truth. This is because a lot of people seem to think there is, and this is a cause of concern for Caputo.
Chidester would say that the human dilemma is death and the way in which we, and society, handle it. Death is inevitable and we do not know what happens to us after we die. Is there an after life? Who knows? But the way we handle ourselves in the face of death can say a lot about how we live our lives. Chidester views transcendence as a way to deal with this problem.
Brockelman would say that the human dilemma is the “twin specters of meaninglessness and fanaticism” (Brockelman, 3). This is due to the fact that we live in a period, thanks to post modernism, in where the truths have been questioned creating doubt. This doubt leads to one of two outcomes, fanatical absolutism (The Truth is not questioned) or nihilism (One believes there is no truth).
Part III
In part three; I am going to explain modernism and post modernism. Modernism is a term used to describe the way in which we view the world via science and technology. It is a way to measure and provide answers for those things that have answers to them. Science has come a long way and the ability to verify, falsify, measure, and quantify things has lead to many barriers being broken down with regards to religion. Science and technology produce facts that can be believed without any hesitation or doubt.
Post modernism is
the time directly following modernism, as the name “post” implies. It is
a move away from all the traditional facts found in modernism. Some of the ideals of post modernism include
relativism and uncertainty as well as aesthetics over functionality. As you might guess, logic and reason take a
back seat to human experience in post modernism. Also, faith plays a key role in why believers
hold true to their beliefs and disregard the evidence presented to them through
modernism.
Part IV
In part four; I
will explain my views on the religious quest and the human dilemma and give my
own definition of religion. Then I will
explain how my views "fit in with" the postmodern worldview as
defined by Caputo.
I grew up as the son of a Methodist Preacher, so I have been heavily engrained in the Christian religion. I, unlike most people, am not a mindless product of enculturation. I have been on a religious quest of sorts myself. I have looked at many different religions trying to find the best one that suits me. But I can’t find any one religion to satisfy this need. I do not practice Christianity, nor do I consider myself affiliated with any one religion per se. Caputo would say that I might not be worth my grain of salt because I do not agree with him in that religion equals the love of God. If you had to put a label on me, I guess you could say that I am a Deist. I believe that the universe was created by a supernatural being (God) and this being does not interfere with the day-to-day normal activities of humans. I also believe in cosmic karma and that old saying, “What comes around, goes around.”
In my opinion, religion is a transcended spiritual journey through life and beyond. Religious institutions, however, are nothing more than a sham. It’s a way to control the masses. At least, that’s what it has become. It may have started out honest enough in search of answers, but now it is all consuming. To put this in perspective, here is a quote from Niccolo Machiavelli’s Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy:
“Numa,
finding the people ferocious and desiring to reduce them to civic obedience
by
means of the arts of peace, turned to religion as the instrument necessary
above all
others
for the maintenance of a civilized state, and so constituted it that there was
never
for
so many centuries so great a fear of God as there was in this republic.”[1]
(Crick, 139)
One point that I agree with Caputo on is his postmodern belief that religion can be found without religion. I don’t need church to pray in or an institution telling me what I can and can’t do. Like I said earlier, religion is a transcended spiritual journey through life and beyond. To truly be free and understand what the universe is all about, one must transcend this level of existence and look beyond their socially constructed reality.
One
way to transcend is through enlightenment.
One who attains enlightenment “aspires to see through the delusion and
into his own true Self and thus the nature of all existence.” (Scott &
Doubleday, 7) It is only through
enlightenment that one can break free of the bonds that constrict us to our
socially constructed realities. These
realities keep enculturation engrained into each of us. That is, until we are enlightened. I’m not talking about full blown
enlightenment, in which “all” is revealed.
I’m talking about a simple existential philosophy that can free the
clutter of a person’s daily life.
Conclusion
As you can see, there was a lot of information that was briefly talked about in this paper. The first part focused on defining religion and what Brockelman meant by knowledge, faith, and belief. In part two I discussed what's wrong with humanity and followed up with what each authors view on the religious quest was. Part three dealt with modernism (modernity) and post modernism (modernity). And finally, in part four, I discussed my own views on the religious quest and the human dilemma and gave my own definition of religion and how my views "fit in with" the postmodern worldview as defined by Caputo.
Bibliography