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I was doing some more reading in Fowler’s “Stages of Faith” book and ran across this quote.
Quote:If faith is reduced to belief in credal statements and doctrinal formulations, then sensitive and responsible persons are likely to judge that they must live “without faith”. But if faith is understood as trust in another and as loyalty to a transcendent center of value and power, then the issue of faith- and the possibility of relgious faith-becomes lively and open again.
This rocks. That is all.
:thumbup: nice quote.Sometimes just a slight shift in how we think of things or define things (like faith) can make things feel so different.
I also found many gems in that book. Thanks for sharing! :thumbup: Where’s the “Like” button when you need it. :thumbup: I wonder if you’re aware of this – http://www.alaindebotton.com/Religion.asp Alain de Botton suggests that instead of mocking religions, atheists should learn from their good points. He’s written a new book, Religion for Atheists…
Thanks for the link, SamBee. Pretty interesting.
Quote:Alain’s inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false – and yet that religions still have some very important things to teach the secular world.
I can’t tell if he is arguing religions are entirely false or not, I guess I’d have to read the book. My guess is he is arguing more for the orthoprax belief instead of orthodoxy. But it may still be unfulfilling to those who want to know where the correct actions or activities atheists should cling to came from or why they work.
John Dehlin used to ask in his podcasts, “When will the atheists show up at the door with a casserole when I’m in mourning like the religious folks do?” My feeling is this author is going down that path.
But it seems he is putting atheism in the mix as another religion, which then would stand to the same scrutiny of whether atheism is entirely false or true, or how to know that. That is only fair, right?
However, I’m not sure it is entirely there yet at Fowler’s stage 5, the conjunctive faith. But it is a step in that direction for non-believers.
Anyone interested in Fowler’s Stages of Faith will find M. Scott Peck’s (author of The Road Less Traveled), variation well worth the time and effort. Here’s a faithful summary: http://www.factnet.org/node/1809 Quote:I can’t tell if he is arguing religions are entirely false or not, I guess I’d have to read the book. My guess is he is arguing more for the orthoprax belief instead of orthodoxy. But it may still be unfulfilling to those who want to know where the correct actions or activities atheists should cling to came from or why they work.
Yes, I think he argues practice rather than doctrine perhaps, i.e. “religion gets some things right, but I’m still an atheist”, which is actually a more sensible approach than many atheists.
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