The main reason Lawrence Cunningham and John Kelsay use a phenomenological view point towards religion is for a better understanding. A better understand on a number of aspects for multiple different religions. The phenomenological approach helps them accomplish this by letting them look at religion in an un-bias way and be totally accepting of that religion’s traditions and ideas of sacred. They state in the text, “At its simplest, a phenomenological approach leads to an effort to understand religious thought and behavior from the point of view of the religious person.”, (Cunningham and Kelsay 4) this means that if that person says that a certain book or object is sacred we take them at their word that that book or object is sacred. Phenomenology is also geared towards creating a framework for understanding religious traditions.
When the outcome is important but uncontrollable, and at times of crisis. In these times, religion will be important in performing psychological functions for people. Parson sees religion as helping individuals cope with unforeseen events and uncontrollable outcomes. He also says that it creates and legitimates society’s central values and it is the primary source of meaning. Religion makes society’s central values sacred and this helps to promote value consensus and social stability.
Swinburne would argue that St. Theresa’s character would not lie about a supposed religious experience due to her deep faith in God and morals suggesting that her visions must have been from an external agent. On the other hand, it could be heavily argued that scientific advances could prove otherwise and expose the visions of Christ as an act of the mind ‘playing tricks’. Science has shown that the temporal lobe when stimulated through seizures can produce an altered perception such as religious experiences of this variety. St. Theresa had these visions in the 1500’s when science was in its earliest stages and religion was an answer for everything; these factors appear to support Richard Swinburne’s defence of certain types of characters not lying in support of
The classification of religious experiences by William James, Rudolf Otto and Richard Swinburne all support the view that religious experiences have a common core. James claims that religious experiences occur when one surrenders themselves to the divine; their experience is passive, ineffable, noetic and transient. Otto states religious experiences share a common core in the numinous, claiming that religious experiences take place as a result of our interactions with the numinous world. Swinburne also defines religious experience as an interaction with the divine sharing a common core in the theistic God. Again this shows good grasp of the topic – clearly the student has understood that all three thinkers supported a common core.
Additionally, both believe in the spiritual practices such as meditation, yoga, concentration, and cultivation of states of mind, called mindfulness. While Hinduism and Buddhism share similarities, they also celebrate differences; Hinduism is not founded by any particular prophet and Buddhism was founded by Buddha and Buddhists do not believe in the existence of souls like Hindus, neither do they believe in the sacred texts of the Vedas or any other Hindu scripture. Refuge in the Buddha, the Sangha and Dhamma are the three fundamental requirements of the eight fold path while Hinduism offers many choices to its followers for
The influential High Priest Raymond Buckland said that a human's soul reincarnates into the same species over many lives in order to learn lessons and advance spiritually, but this belief is not universal, as many Wiccans believe in the reincarnation of the soul through different species. However, a popular saying amongst Wiccans is that "once a witch, always a witch", indicating a belief that Wiccans are the reincarnations of previous witches. Typically, Wiccans who believe in reincarnation believe that the soul rests between lives in the Otherworld or Summerland, known in Gardner's writings as the "ecstasy of the Goddess". Many Wiccans believe in the ability to contact the spirits of the dead who reside in the Otherworld through spirit mediums and Ouija boards. Though some disagree with this practice, such as High Priest Alex Sanders, who stated that "they are dead; leave them in peace."
(Reinhardt 58) Humans are simply scared of what they do not understand. The ability to use the earth energy as a way of healing or a means to happiness is something that is misunderstood. Everything we have developed due to technology would at one time be seen as magic or witchcraft such as electricity and medicine. Witchcraft is a spiritual system that fosters the free thought and will of the individual, encourages learning and an understanding of the earth and nature thereby affirming the divinity in all living things. The spells that Wiccans perform involve healing, love, harmony, wisdom and creativity.
Transcendentalists adopt the whole connection to the spiritual doctrine, they believe in miracle, in the openness of the human mind, in inspiration, creativity; in contrast to positive or dogmatic thought which will mould individuals as “phantoms walking among phantoms”. We shall
The Way to Live In his book “Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching,” written in the sixth century B.C., Lao-tzu puts his thoughts down on paper to give a guideline on how to live life from both the government and moral perspective. He touched on various topics such as maintaining a successful government, the trust of peopleand the true value of material possessions. Many considered his the teachings to be the way to enlightenment and it formed the basis for Taoism, which is a religion founded by Chang Tao-Ling. Lao-tzu believed in a simple way of living that would serve the greater good of the people along with keeping the natural order of power. It is said that Lao-tzu wrote the Tao-te as a political guide for those who created the power structure and maintained the order of the land.
Hypocrisy comes with many definitions. According to Wikipedia, hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. From the same source, Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie. For example, a person says that corruption is bad, but the person does corruption. From other source (Cambridge Dictionary), hypocrisy means a condition when someone pretends to believe something that they do not really believe or that is the opposite of what they do or say at another time.