Philosophy III

Question 1

Religious Language I

Moses Maimonides, A Guide for the Perplexed

Positive Affirmations about God

Answer 1

In reference to him they would all be defects

Question 2

Religious Language I

Moses Maimonides, A Guide for the Perplexed

Someone who affirms positive attributes about God

Answer 2

Unconsciously loses his belief in God

Question 3

Religious Language I

Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith

3x Quotes on Symbols

Answer 3

• Open up levels of reality which were otherwise closed to us
• Affirm and negate
• Ultimate reality

Question 4

Religious Language I

Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith

Symbolic language

Answer 4

It transcends the capacity of any finite reality to express it directly

Question 5

Religious Language I

Brian Davies, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Relgion

Moses Maimonides’ example of a ship

Answer 5

He could equally well be thinking of a wardrobe or a coffin

Question 6

Religious Language I

John MacQuarrie, God-Talk

Cataphatic way x2

Answer 6

• [Analogy is] Not a literal or direct way of talking about God
• [Gives us] Assurance that our task is not just empty

Question 7

Religious Language I

Vincent Brümmer, Speaking of a Personal God

Analogy of Proportionality

Answer 7

[Analogy of proportionality] Takes us no further than a negative theology

Question 8

Religious Language I

W.R. Inge

Apophatic Way

Answer 8

Annihilation of Christianity

Question 9

Religious Language I

G.K. Chesterton

Against Via Negativa

Answer 9

Divinisation of Matter

Question 10

Religious Experience

Acts 9:4

Saul’s conversion experience

Answer 10

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Question 11

Religious Experience

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience

Fully convincing for those who experience them

Answer 11

Much more convincing than facts established by mere logic ever are

Question 12

Religious Experience

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience

Proof is if somebody changes

Answer 12

The real witness… disposition of the of the genuine child of God

Question 13

Religious Experience

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience

Proof is if somebody changes

Answer 13

The real witness… disposition of the of the genuine child of God

Question 14

Religious Experience

Hume, Of Miracles

Conditions for REs to be true

Answer 14

Its falsehood would have to be more miraculous than the facts which it endeavours to establish

Question 15

Religious Experience

F.C. Happold, Mysticism, a Study and Anthology

Mystical experiences

Answer 15

Aspects of truth unplumbed by the rational intellect

Question 16

Religious Experience

David Winnicott, Playing and Reality

2x about psychological explanations

Answer 16

Transition objects
Hallmarks of madness

Question 17

Religious Experience

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience

Conversion experiences lead to

Answer 17

Firmer hold on religious realities

Question 18

Religious Experience

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience

Definition of an RE

Answer 18

Feelings, acts, and experiences… in relation to whatever they may consider the divine

Question 19

Religious Experience

Vincent Brummer, Speaking of a Personal God

Counter to Analogy of Proportionality

Answer 19

The analogy of proportionality takes us no further than a negative theology

Question 20

Religious Experience

Bertrand Russell

Psychological explanation

Answer 20

When men drink too much they see snakes, when they eat too little they see visions

Question 21

Religious Experience

Émile Durkheim

Corporate religious experiences

Answer 21

Efforvescent group phenomena