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Theology

A Thematic Compilation by Avi Sion                                         

Blog posts November 2017

Contents

 

Table of contents

1.         Chapter One

1.         Logic and mysticism

2.         On natural proofs of religion

3.         Theodicy and the Believer’s Wager

4.         Proof of God by analogy?

5.         Disproofs of God?

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1. Logical Aspects of Faith

 

1.   Logic and mysticism.

 

One of the difficulties in religious thinking is its categorical expressions of knowledge.

There exists a tendency, in the human mind, to confuse conceptual insight with perception, and view them as having the same degree of probability. However, where…

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2. Nagarjuna on God and Creation

 

1.   Nagarjuna’s main arguments

 

Nagarjuna sought to show[1] that it is “unintelligible to assert the existence of God as the creator or maker of the universe”[2]. He does this by means of several arguments, which I shall try to summarize, based on Cheng’s account, and to eva…

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3. Theology Without Prejudice

 

1.   Applying logical standards to theology

 

Most theologians discuss God without telling us how they came to know so much about Him; they think that to refer to “revelation” through some prophet or other, or to their own alleged “insights” is enough justification. On the other han…

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4. Causation, Volition and God

 

1.   Causation and volition

 

By the term Causality, we refer to the relation between a cause and an effect. Without attempting from the outset to define the causal relation, which we apparently all have some sort of insight into, we may nevertheless notionally distinguish two prima…

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5. Philosophy and Religion

 

1.   Two distinct endeavors

 

It is important to distinguish between religion (including philosophical discourse based on a particular religion, for apologetic or polemical purposes) and philosophy proper (which makes no direct appeal to premises from a religious tradition, though i…

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6. Meditations

 

1.   Interpretations of meditation

 

The underlying philosophy of meditation, in common to the main religious traditions, is often referred to as “theosophy[1]. To formulate such a philosophy is of course not to claim it as necessarily true in all respects; we must admit it to …

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7. The Ideas of God and Creation

 

1.   The idea of God

 

The existence of God is suggested by the existence of the individual soul each of us intuits within his or her cognitions and volitions, as well as by various intellectual arguments[1]. The idea of God is philosophically reasonable, as an extrapolation from an…

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8. Sundry Reflections on the Soul and God

 

1.     About the soul

 

The soul is what we regard as the essence of a person, the unitary substance that is both subject of consciousness and agent of volition. This soul need only be present during the life of the physical organism sustaining it, not before or after.

Ontologi…

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References

 

Cheng, Hsueh-li.  Empty Logic – Madhyamika Buddhism from Chinese Sources.  Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991.

Curtis, Helena and Barnes, N. Sue.  Invitation to Biology.  4th ed.  New York: Worth, 1985.

de Sola Pool, David. Book of Prayers. New York: Union of Sephardic Congregations…

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