Philosophy

JESUS made a distinction between what belonged to Caesar and what belonged to God (Matt.22:21). He also spoke of His Kingdom as "not of this world" (Jn. 18:36). The New Testament clearly marks off the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of man as two separate realms. Of course, even in the kingdom of man, political authority ultimately comes from God (Rom.13:1,2). But, that doesn't certainly make politics "Christian". For instance, Nebuchadnezzar's authority came from God (Dan.2:37), but that didn't make his kingdom a Christian kingdom or his way of doing politics "Christian". Similarly, Cyrus was called the "anointed" of God (Isa.45:1), but that didn't make the Medo-Persian empire Christian. It is always a threat to both politics and religion to fuse both of them together: not only do the people suffer, but they lose their freedom of religion as well. It doesn't matter which religion it may be, the loss of liberty is certain and ...

The existence of religion and culture can be both claimed and denied at the same time. In the claim that religion exists, one only uses the term "religion" to identify a group of things that are like each other. It is not necessary that every "religion" within the group will have elements that agree with another "religion" in the group. For instance, A may have some similarities with B and B may have some similarities with C; however, this doesn't necessitate that A has elements that are similar to C. To argue that would involve an invalid categorical argument. For instance, "Christians and Muslims believe that Abraham was a Prophet, Muslims and Jews consider the swine unclean, Therefore, Christians consider the swine unclean", doesn't necessarily follow. Also, to deny the existence of religion just because one cannot find its essential soul is to only affirm a paradox. For instance, take the argument for the denial of the car which says ...

The Arabic Letter "N" that stands for "Nasrani", i.e. Christians. ISIS used this letter to mark the homes of Christians left in Iraq. “N”, or ن, is the first letter of the Arabic word for Christian, “Nasrani” or Nazarene. The letter has become as symbol of global solidarity with Mosul Christians. The Nazarene taught that it is impossible not to love when He loved the world so much that He gave Himself into the hand of the violent in order to save them for their sins. The depth of estrangement and contortion was manifest in the kind of death administered: the death of the Cross. It was the world that failed to recognize Him – the world that belonged to Him. Yet, the real story is not that the world rejected Him; the real story is that He was willing to let the world reject Him. Divine self-emptying, divine servanthood, and divine crucifixion are powerful themes that shock the philosophy of religion. Nietzsche called the greatest of all sins to be the murder of God (d...

by Domenic Marbaniang (2003) The word “psychology” is a combination of two Greek words psyche meaning “soul”, “spirit”, or “mind” and logos meaning “science” or “study of”. The science of psychology tries to investigate every area of human experience and behavior. Psychology of religion tries to understand the cause-effect relationships of religious experiences and religious consciousness so as to be able to predict behaviors. It aims to study the religious consciousness with investigations in religious behavior patterns. The major systems of psychology are: structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and Gestalt School of Psychology. Obviously, each system has its own way of understanding religious consciousness. Psychological Definitions of Religion About a century ago, James Henry Leuba was able to select forty-eight definitions of religion to which he added two of his own to include in his famous Psychological Study of Religion (1912) . Various psychologists have ...

© Domenic Marbaniang, 2003 The word conversion has different meanings for different people in different contexts. The various contexts are the occasion and object of conversion. That is, conversion takes place somewhere/sometime (occasion) of something (object). The Latin word convertere, from which our English term is derived, means “to turn or to change”. The whole of phenomena is a panorama of change. As Heraclitus rightly observed, “Nothing is permanent except ‘change’”. Conversion in the physical context is a reality. Every physical change has a physical cause. For instance, the United States Energy Research and Development Administration displays in show cases the “underground conversion” of coal “to synthetic natural gas”. Here, as per Aristotelian classification of causes, coal is the material cause, whereas the other factors that cause the conversion are the efficient causes. It is also proved that in the human being, mental causes can be efficient causes of psychosomatic s...

RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM AND SOCIAL ORDER A Philosophical Perspective Domenic Marbaniang, Ph.D. Paper presented at the National Seminar on Religious Fundamentalism and Social Order,  Andhra University , February 26-27, 2010. Forty four years after the publication of Harvey Cox ’s The Secular City that celebrated “the progressive secularization of the world as the logical outcome of Biblical religion” ( Newsweek ) [1] , we almost feel the bones of religious fundamentalism cracking under the pressure of secularization. At the same time, however, the Hegelian dialectic holds ground as both refuse to be crushed by either; and any compromising stance only begets another rival; to the effect, that it can be said that fundamentalism is never a phenomenon that may be extinguished. The term “fundamentalist” was first used by a Baptist journalist in 1920 as a badge of honor for those Christians who championed the cause of the Fundamentals , or set of beliefs such as the inerrancy of Scriptures...

Anatomy of   Religious Violence The history of religion has been a seriously blood-bathed one. It reveals the intense power, weight, and depth of religion within the human heart. No wonder, the word “religion” itself comes from the Latin religare meaning “to bind”. Religion binds the adherent to its belief, authority, and community. It holds an intense power over the individual. Of course, there are several instances of religious faith opening itself to philosophical dialogues and investigations in the past. However, it is a fact undeniable that much of religious faith is a matter of faith alone and not rational discussion. Therefore, they have the potential to invite physical opposition by not submitting to any force of logic. That is why in some cases words are silenced by blows – with the sanction of some religious authority. Religious violence may be defined as violence committed in the name of religion. It is both intra-religious violence and inter-religious violence; i.e. violen...