Symbols

Question 1

Evoke an understand of God

They make it possible to say something about God without saying anything literal.

Symbols stand for and point to a meaning beyond themselves and so the symbols participates in the thing it symbolises in.

Symbols for God like live and being participate in the divine reality without actually being that reality.

Answer 1

A true symbols is never chosen arbitrarily because of the connection it shares with the thing being symbolised.

Symbols are different to signs.

Question 2

Realists argue that that there is something true about the way symbols relate to God and not just in a symbolistic way.

Hick argues that if we had access to this divine reality then we would be able to describe it literally. He also says religious people use cultural symbols to discuss non-symbolic reality.

Soskice argues that the the reality of God is articulated in metaphors which convey a reality which cannot be spoken about in any other way because of its transcendence.

Answer 2

Non realists argue that all we ever have to talk of God is an increasing number of symbols.

Don Cupitt shares this idea of thought and claims that there is no God outside of religion.

God is the creation of symbols we sue to talk about God

Question 3

Strengths
Provides a way of talking about God without being literal.
Symbols are better than signs because they stand for, point to and participate in what they stand for.
Allow us to talk about God in new ways because the language is not literal

Answer 3

Weaknesses
Symbols may become literal
If all symbols are from the finite world then everything God will be is anthropomorphised
An attempt to hide the meaningless talk about God
Different symbols mean different things to different cultures. When cultures change they can lose their power and stop relying the message they used to convey.
Symbols maybe be arbitrary uses of language if we don’t know what God is behind the symbols.