Essays in Philosophy of Religion (Jostarhaye Falsafeh Din)

Abstract One of the main human’s concerns including Paul Tillich, the contemporary scholar, is teleology. This paper studies the Paul Tillich’s views on the issue and especially pays attention to his existential look which distinguishes him from others. This paper comes to the conclusion that the question of resurrection has a transcendent meaning in Tillich philosophy, and that is the transcendental characteristic of creation in the light of immortal life rather than the common meaning of an ultimate event. According to Tillich, immortality isn’t defined as something going to take place sometime in future, but it exists at the present moment and within the boundary of being. Criticizing the approaches of incarnation, transition and the middle approach in proving the Return, Tillich shows the creatures’ immortality with explaining the time immortality relation, the divine life, and connecting the immortal life of creatures with divine life.

Abstract While John Hick, a contemporary famous British philosopher of religion, considers himself as a Christian, he believes in religious pluralism. This means that he considers other faiths as being right and salvational as well. He says that the study of the status of believers in different faiths necessities the acceptance of religious pluralism. In the second step, mythologizing the fundamental teachings of Christianity, he tries to escape from Christian exclusivity, and compromises between Christianity and pluralism. In the third step, he maintains that since faiths look at the sublime truth from different perspectives, each sees part of the truth. Also, holding that the purpose of religious propositions is not to give information to human beings about the reality but to bring about internal changes in them, he solves the conflicts between different faiths. This article aims to show that Hick has neither been successful in compromising between Christianity and pluralism nor in solving the conflicts between the claims of the faiths.

Abstract The human identity and the possibility of the restoration or resurrection of destroyed beings, at judgment day, is one of the most important and at the same time most challenging issues in philosophical and theological discussions of Islamic thought. This issue has been discussed in different versions and forms by Muslim philosophers. The Allameh Helli’s approach is highly regarded because of its rich content and because he describes the problem with other related issues. He believes that the kind of view on the essence of human that a thinker has affects his view on the human identity. Allameh Helli, finally with a corporeal-oriented approach toward human reality, considers the resurrected human body constituted of non-mortal components, and denies the possibility of restoration of nonexistent.

Abstract Theological theories usually are rooted in previous philosophical principles. Therefore we can evaluate and criticize their philosophical roots instead of their results. This paper studies and analyzes the philosophical principles of the theory of extension of prophecy Experience, in order to prepare the ground for the critique of this theory. In this study we reveal the philosophical bases of the theory of extension of prophecy Experience, offered by Dr. A. Soroush, and indicate that Soroush might have been influenced by subjectivist approach of Kant and Popper, Wittgenstein’s theory of language games, and philosophical hermeneutics of Gadamer.

Abstract The theory of middle knowledge is one of the responses to ‘theological fatalism’. The key point of theological fatalism is that if God is Omniscience and knows everything about the future, then the free agents cannot do anything but the one that God had known in eternity; so, they are not free in their acts. The theory solves this difficulty through proving that God has pre-volition knowledge to all counterfactuals of freedom. But, William Hasker, the American philosopher of religion, believes that there are no true counterfactual of freedom; therefore, the theory of middle knowledge is not correct. In this article, based on Thomas Flint’s views, we show that some premises of Hasker’s argument is not true; consequently, he is not successful in refuting middle knowledge.

Abstract Anthony Kenny holds that religious experiences have not epistemic validity. His argument is based on an analysis of the nature of religious experience. According to him, religious experience cannot be regarded as sensory perception; so it must be regarded as a non-sensory perception. However, if it is regarded as a non-sensory perception, then it is a mode of revelation, but since revelation requires that exists a revealer before religious experience, i.e. a God, we are encountered to a vicious circle. Jeff Jordan holds that Kenny’s argument is not successful. In this paper, I, following Jordan’s structure, examine arguments of both thinkers. I finally, disagree with Jordan in most of his arguments and will show that they are unsuccessful.