what follows is an attempt to see otto the phenomenologist within wider developments in the field, and to take account of some recent criticisms. everything that is said falls under the general headingof 'introduction to the study of religion'(or 'meta-religionswissenschaft') within this wide field, we shall be specifically concerned with the possibility of a systematic phen...

Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (TTP) is one of the first and most important theoretical justifications of the separation of religion from philosophy and from politics. The separation of church and state and the separation of theology from other scientific disciplines are of course defining moments of contemporary secularity. While it can easily appear from certain religiously conserva...

No one has explored the implications of cognitive theories and findings about religion for understanding its history with any more enthusiasm or insight than Luther Martin. Although my focus here is not historical, I assume that I will be employing cognitive tools in ways that he finds congenial. In the paper’s first section, I will make some general comments about standard comparisons of scien...

Looking back on my work in practical theology so far, I have always searched for teaching and research that matters to real people. My student years were not always too fulfilling in that respect. I learned a lot of course, and some of the material we studied was intellectually rather challenging, but I found it difficult to understand the connection between the conceptual systems and ritual tr...

although ghazālī has not openly talked about the philosophy of theology, its components can be found in his works. as such, he regards the ultimate goal of theology to be safeguarding the religion and the assertoric or imitative belief of the religious person, preventing misconception and doubt to enter it, and preparing for the desired outcome of theology (happiness). the status of the science...

In this paper, the scientific methodology of the contemporary philosopherImre Lakatos is revised to construct a methodology for theological systems. In this methodology, each theological system consists of the following main elements: (1) hard core I, (2) protective wall, (3) hard core II, and (4) auxiliary hypotheses. We will expound the criteria for the evaluation of different theolo...

Theology is a discipline of major issues. We are interested in the fundamental questions of human existence, suffering and hope, identity and community, good and evil, history and future, salvation and damnation. We always run the risk of expanding our subject matter unto ‘the world and surroundings’. To avoid that, we have focused our joint attention in this book to the level of lived religion...

Following Paul Tillich, the article sketches basic lines of a systematic theology modern culture in age religious pluralism. It begins with brief reconstruction foundations Tillich’s theory from 1919 draft Rechtfertigung und Zweifel. Then, problems culture, which primarily concern his concept religion, are discussed. In order to resolve these difficulties, it is proposed understand religion as ...