Midterm Flashcards
Christianity
What is the source of revelation?
The Bible is God’s inerrant, inspired, preserved Word revealing truth about all existence.
Christianity
What do they say about humanity?
Humanity is created in the image of God with free-will.
Christianity
What is wrong with existence?
We are fallen and in need of formation for freedom.
Christianity
How should we live?
We need to be reconciled to God through union with Christ in the Spirit to live new life.
Christianity
How do we understand/relate to other worldviews?
Christianity is the only truth, but all have free-will. Live peaceably with
others because everyone is created with innate value.
Islam
What is the source of revelation?
Quran is final revelation. Bible is corrupted, and Christ is only a prophet.
Islam
What do they say about humanity?
Reject “born in the image of God” and claim we are the slaves of Allah not sons and daughters.
Islam
What is wrong with existence?
Rebellion against Allah.
Islam
How should we live?
Battle rebellion and obey the five pillars.
Islam
How do we understand/relate to other worldviews?
There’s nothing in the Quran to base individual freedom on. Adherence is a demand. Basic “human rights” are to be violated.
Secularism
What is the source of revelation?
Thinkers: Thomas Paine, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, Nietzsche. Documents like the Human Manifesto. The 1973 human manifesto “No deity will save us, we must save ourselves.”
Secularism
What do they say about humanity?
Only evolving animals. Mind-Body monism. The eternal is non- existence.
Secularism
What is wrong with existence?
Not disenchanted enough with “spiritual things”. Haven’t overcome the irrationality of “belief”. Not been enlightened to the inevitability of “human progress” along secularist lines.
Secularism
How should we live?
Deny an absolute moral code. Morality is biological or only natural
Secularism
How do we understand/relate to other worldviews?
Any reference to the supernatural is ignorant and dangerous. A secular state will lead to the most freedom.
Marxism
What is the source of revelation?
Communist Manifesto, Schools of thought like the Frankfurt school.
Marxism
What do they say about humanity?
Materialistic beings growing in “class consciousness” and awareness of our oppressed state.
Marxism
What is wrong with existence?
Seeing the plight of workers to throw off chains and form a worker’s paradise. Religion is a drug to keep the oppressed from liberation through revolution.
Marxism
How should we live?
Need to grow in “class consciousness” or awareness of the oppressive state. Result is a “proletariat morality” which justifies any action to overthrow oppressors. We are marching toward socialism and then communism. Destroy all opposition.
Marxism
How do we understand/relate to other worldviews?
Seeking “heaven” instead of liberation now is the most insidious lie. All religions are bad. Liberals are “useful dupe” to use then control. “Personal liberty” is a tool of oppression. Totalitarianism is needed and resulting actions justifiable.
New spirituality
What is the source of revelation?
Denies any supreme revelation in any book. Trust the universe. Seek awareness not Scripture. Meditation, channeling, astrology, aura readings, etcetera
New spirituality
What do they say about humanity?
Beings that can embrace the consciousness of the “god-likeness within” and will transcend the limitations of physical existence.
New spirituality
What is wrong with existence?
Failure to understand the true nature of consciousness.
New spirituality
How should we live?
Know that if something is wrong it’s because you will it so. “Aloofness” to the human plight of suffering is the answer.
New spirituality
How do we understand/relate to other worldviews?
All religions are alike in what really matters. Embraces radical pluralism, but those who focus on sin and salvation, as well as there being only “one way” are problematic. Irreligious and exclusive religious worldviews are rejected.
Postmodernism
What is the source of revelation?
Professors and Philosophers: Foucault, Derrida, Heidegger
Postmodernism
What do they say about humanity?
There is no “human nature” only ever-evolving, highly sexual, social animals, with multiple subjective interests crying out for recognition
and acceptance.
Postmodernism
What is wrong with existence?
Adherence to meta-narratives which make room for nonhuman
authority.
Postmodernism
How should we live?
Abandon the search for objective truth for pragmatism (words are not truths but only tools to get agreement). Dialogue is the means forward to get agreements or at least fruitful disagreements.
Postmodernism
How do we understand/relate to other worldviews?
Any religion must be discarded as a power-play with vested interests in its survival. Insistence on any absolute truth leads to violence and oppression. Freedom from truth creates peace and balance. Any meta- narrative religious or irreligious is rejected.
