Forms of religious language - symbols

Question 1

What was the first thing Tillich said about symbols?

Answer 1

They point beyond themselves to something else.

Question 2

What was the second thing Tillich said about symbols?

Answer 2

They participate in that to which they point.

Question 3

What was the third thing Tillich said about a symbol?

Answer 3

It opens up levels of reality which otherwise are closed for us

Question 4

What was the fourth thing Tillich said about a symbol?

Answer 4

Not only opens up dimensions and elements of reality which otherwise would remain unapproachable but also unlocks dimensions and elements of our soul which correspond to the dimensions and elements of reality.

Question 5

What was the fifth thing Tillich said about a symbol?

Answer 5

Symbols cannot be produced intentionally.

Question 6

What was the sixth thing Tillich said about a symbol?

Answer 6

Like living beings, they grow and they die.

Question 7

How does Tillich overcome univocal problems?

Answer 7

As symbols point beyond themselves to something else, this shows that they aren’t exactly the same to what they are pointing to (unlike a sign)

Question 8

How does Tillich overcome equivocal problems?

Answer 8

Symbols participate in that to which they point. Therefore they provide some information about what they are pointing to in the way they participate in it.

Question 9

How does Macquarrie categorise symbols?

Answer 9

Convention symbols and intrinsic symbols

Question 10

What is a conventional symbol?

Answer 10

One which has no connection with what is symbolises e.g. mathematical symbols such as +

Question 11

What is an intrinsic symbol?

Answer 11

One which does have a connection with what it symbolises e.g. the crucifix.

Question 12

What did Macquarrie say about an ‘existential response’?

Answer 12

Symbols provoke in us an ‘existential response’ - symbols remind us of feelings such as loyalty or awe and we can then recognise that we should have the same response to God/Beings.

Question 13

What did Macquarrie say about ‘similarity of relation’?

Answer 13

Symbols provide us with an understanding in terms of ‘similarity of relation’ - symbols can work in the same way as analogies e.g. the shepherd is to the sheep as God is to the humans.

Question 14

How does Macquarrie overcome univocal problems?

Answer 14

Symbols show how things are similar without being exactly the same through the similarity of relation.

Question 15

How does Macquarrie overcome equivocal problems?

Answer 15

He argued that they convey an understanding in terms of similarity of relation, which allows them to convey some level of meaning of what they are symbolising.
Existential response - provides us with some level of understanding of what we would feel i.e. if a symbol provokes gratitude such as the crucifix, this means that we would feel gratitude in front of God.

Question 16

What are some of the problems of using symbols?

Answer 16

Symbols could be taken too literally and fall into the univocal trap
Symbols could be subjective, so two believers could arrive at a totally different idea about God
Culturally and historically determined e.g. a king, could be kind and caring or could be power hungry depending on prior experience.

Question 17

What’s the advantage of using written symbolism?

Answer 17

As they are in the Bible, the symbols are within context, less likely to reach the wrong conclusion

Question 18

What did Bultmann say about the Bible?

Answer 18

Believed that it shouldn’t be read literally, so instead, the supernatural should be stripped away from the Bible in a process he termed demythologization.

Question 19

What did Bultmann say about miracles?

Answer 19

Believers should look at what the saving message was behind the miracle (the kerygma). Jesus’s miracles are important because they give a message about human existence and that is what people should have faith in.

Question 20

How does Hick support Bultmann?

Answer 20

In “the myth of God incarnate”, he said that the incarnation should be read as myth

Question 21

What are the key issues for symbolism?

Answer 21

Do they overcome problems of equivocal and univocal language?
Do they promote an existential response?
Does the fact that they are used in the Bible give symbolism authority

Question 22

For Randall, what are the four functions of religious language?

Answer 22

To arouse emotions and stir people to act, therefore strengthening commitment to belief. To stir people to work together and so binding people together. To communicate some qualities of experience. To evoke and clarify human experience of the divine.

Question 23

What does Randall say about religious language?

Answer 23

It is non cognitive i.e. it was neither true nor false. It did not describe fact but fulfils a function. The function of religious language is to aid the function of religion which is to contribute to human culture.

Question 24

What does Randall say about God?

Answer 24

God does not exist, God is a symbol of our ideals, values and ultimate concerns. God is a part of the human imagination and is functional, as is religion.

Question 25

What does Tillich believe about all language?

Answer 25

Believes that all language participates in being itself.

Question 26

How does Hick criticise Tillich?

Answer 26

He argued that Tillich never actually explains how symbols participate.

Question 27

What does Tillich say about complex theological statements?

Answer 27

They arise out of the unconscious e.g. God is omnipotent yet it is more likely that they have come from the conscious, particularly for philosophical theologians.

Question 28

What does Hick say about God becoming a function?

Answer 28

Hick believes that God becoming a function has come about through the growth of scientific knowledge. We apply scientific methods to truth. Hick believes that it is possible to do this with religion but not with God.

Question 29

What does Hick say about the importance of the incarnation?

Answer 29

It is very important for giving authority to symbolism. Christians believe that Christ is God incarnate. This means that Jesus’ forgiveness is the same as God’s. As Christ used symbolism e.g. parables, and Christ is believed to be God, then this gives authority to symbolic stories and thus, a Christian can learn a great deal about God from these symbolic stories of Christ.