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20 pages, 277 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Philosophy of Religion: Taking Leave of the Abstract Domain

by Philip Wilson

Religions 2025, 16(2), 204; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16020204 - 8 Feb 2025

Viewed by 898

John Cottingham argues that traditional university modules in the philosophy of religion take us into a ‘very abstract domain that is often far removed from religion as it actually operates in the life of the believer’. This paper makes four moves based on Cottingham. First, it argues that the application of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s methods supports and facilitates a shift to the anthropological in the philosophy of religion (as evidenced in the work of Mikel Burley). Second, literature is examined as a tool for doing the philosophy of religion, following Danielle Moyal-Sharrock’s notion of the literary text as surveyable representation. Three works are investigated, namely Silence by Shūshaku Endō, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the Gospel of John. It is argued that, far from being merely illustrative of religion, story is (in its widest sense) constitutive of belief. Third, it is shown how Wittgenstein’s remarks on mysticism in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus can be read as a transmutation of literary writing that creates a non-abstract mysticism of the world. Wittgenstein’s remarks are placed in dialogue with Angelus Silesius’s poetry and Leo Tolstoy’s The Gospel in Brief. Fourth, the relevance of Wittgenstein to the current debate on cultural Christianity is brought out. Philosophers of religion must take leave of the abstract, if only to return to it and to view it differently. Wittgenstein’s thought is too important to ignore in this venture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Work on Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Religion)

10 pages, 235 KiB

Open AccessArticle

To Be or Not to Be God—The Issue of Authorial Power in Dostoevsky

by Alexander Zholkovsky

Religions 2021, 12(7), 506; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070506 - 7 Jul 2021

Viewed by 2244

Abstract

This paper problematizes the now widely accepted concept of Dostoevsky’s dialogism, which alleges the ‘Author’s’ equal empowerment of all his characters. Using examples from Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, Zholkovsky focuses on instances of ‘scene-staging’ based on the ‘scripts’ devised and enacted by some characters, that are ‘read,’ with varying success, by their targets. He documents the resulting ‘discursive combat’ among the characters, with special attention paid to those ‘playing god’ and thus, the more ‘authorial’ among them. In several cases, the would-be ‘divine’ manipulation is shown to be consistently subverted by the Dostoevskian narrative. However, in one instance, where Aliosha Karamazov charitably scripts Captain Snegirev’s behavior, the ensuing discussion of this episode, in Aliosha’s conversations with Lise Khokhlakova, upholds Aliosha’s right to play god with the Other—“for the Other’s own good”, of course (not unlike the Grand Inquisitor). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue East-Slavic Religions and Religiosity: Mythologies, Literature and Folklore: A Reassessment)

23 pages, 398 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Theist–Atheist Encounters in Les Misérables, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Plague

by Peter Admirand

Religions 2021, 12(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12010012 - 24 Dec 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6230

Abstract

Turning to the novels, Les Misérables, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Plague, this article focuses on theist–atheist encounters within fiction as guides and challenges to contemporary atheist–theist dialogue. It first provides a discussion of definitions pertinent to our topic and a reflection on the value and limitations of turning to fiction for the study and development of theist–atheist dialogue specifically, and interreligious dialogue more broadly. In examining each of the novels, I will first provide a very brief historical context of when each novel was written, the time and place the covered scenes transpire in the novel, and the authors’ positions toward religion(s) when writing their books. I will close the article on some lessons to glean from these fictional dialogues for contemporary theist–atheist dialogue. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Theologies)

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