Westphal

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Intro

  • A shift in emphasis from God to religion
  • Theology to religious
  • Because Hume Kant and Neitszche said we cant know god
  • Hegel disapproved as he thought speech was empty if we cant talk about God
  • We hear a lot of discussion regarding religion but a lot less about God
  • It can be difficult to talk about religion without talking about god
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Pre Kantian theology

  • 2 types of philosophical theology- scholasticism and deism
  • scholasticism- revelation and reason
  • deism- reason alone
  • Hegel disagrees
  • scholasticism eg Aquinas' natural theology allowed that reason, faith, revelation and authority could coexist
  • deists want to separate the rational kernel (god the creator) from the irrational husk (jesus, miracles)
  • deism is the religion of the enlightenment in a time when religious warfare, prosecution and authority led many to look for a religion that would allow moral unity
  • aim was to create non violent religion thus the principles of this must rest on universal reason rather than revelations of the church
  • less interested in proving god and more interested in creating a religion to exist as an ally to morality
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Implications

  • If philosophy shifts its focus away from God there may be less support for the existence of God with less people willing to talk about God as a philosophical idea. arguments for god would be ignored
  • Human experience of God might seem less credible: supporters of god like swinburne would not be there to back up those who believe that they have encountered god
  • controversial debate regarding the existence of god would not be as important as thinkers would be more focused on the role of religion in society
  • believers might be more humanistic and focused on practises and values rather than metaphysical beliefs
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