Philosophy

This page contains notes and quotes apart from posts published on the blog. Following are links to some important posts related to the topic: Three Divisions of Philosophical Theology Rational Fideism and the Concept of God: Can God Be Rational and Yet Experienced? Is Philosophy Dead? Is Science All That Is?   The Anthropic Principle and Epistemic Issues Estrangement and Belongedness in the Ultimate Sacrifice of God Four Principles of Rational Fideism The Trinity and the Existential Paradox of Reality Epistemics of Divine Reality – Synopsis (Powerpoint) Truth & Reality: Epistemology & Ontology Zeno’s Arguments for the Irrationality of Plurality and the Rationality of Monism Faith as Substance – Hebrews 1:1 Faith as Ground or Foundation – Hebrews 1:1 Is Faith in God Different From Faith In Other Things? The Search for Reality in Greek and Indian Philosophy Theology of Revelation in the Bible What is Truth? What is Reality? Indian Criterion for Revelation (Sabda Pramana) The Apol...

Also discussed as "God of the Rationalist or God of the Empiricists " at Philpapers.org Philosophical theology can be basically divided into three classes: Rationalist theology, Empirical theology, and Intermediate Theology. Rationalist Theology  includes isms such as monism (e.g. Parmenides and Zeno) and non-dualism (Advaitins of India) whose assertions are usually supported by arguments that rationally dismiss experience as false and irrational. This they do with reference to ultimate concepts such as unity, necessity, infinity, immutability, and transcendence (none of which can be predicated of the things of experience). Thus, God becomes the "wholly other" transcendent reality that can only be talked about  via negativa. Empirical Theology,  on the other hand, is quite the opposite of the previous. It actually brings religion down to the earth. The gods and goddesses are more human like, and earthly; and, of course, positively understandable in empirical categor...

From Epistemics of Divine Reality , © 2007, 2009, 2011. (Available in Lulu, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & Ibookstores) Rational Fideism and Divine Reality The results show that divine reality cannot be known except through a revelation of itself. For this to be possible, divine reality must at least be personal and concerned. Further, a knowledge of divine reality must not be either purely rational (in the sense that the rational attributes [1] are the divine attributes) or empirical (in the sense that the empirical attributes [2] are the divine attributes). If it is purely rational, then it would mean the negation of the empirical, as demonstrated by the arguments of both Zeno and Gaudapada. If it is purely empirical, then it would mean the negation of the rational, as demonstrated by the theological positions of animism, polytheism, pantheism, and panentheism; and the non-theological positions of skepticism, logical positivism, and mysticism. A rational fideistic epistemics of ...

Published in REVIVE, May 2012 (Malayalam Edition) A simple and literal definition of “theology” would be “the science of divine things”. It comes from two Greek words theos meaning “God” and logia meaning “discourse or speech”. In modern times, it is the stream of knowledge that differentiates the secular pursuit of knowledge from the sacred one because of its starting point: all secular studies begin with reason and experience while theology begins with faith. The starting point for all extra-theological studies is the world (Latin: saeculum); the starting point for theology is the Word of God. So, while one may say that theology is the study of God, the factual definition would be that theology is the science that rationally pursues the understanding of the self-revelation of God in the Scriptures. It would be interesting to note that many of the universities had originally begun as seminaries and theology was once known as the Queen of Sciences. However, with the dawn of theAge of E...