tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7190064520141500485.post5733290257311640580..comments2023-07-26T04:20:20.358-07:00Comments on Saint Cynic: What Is Religion?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17771674447306246398noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7190064520141500485.post-29018305613051307172010-02-11T05:12:35.296-08:002010-02-11T05:12:35.296-08:00Definition is always tough. Folks who don't no...Definition is always tough. Folks who don't notice this are philosophically hopeless!!!<br /><br />On the one hand, there's defining a term. On the other hand, there's defining a thing. Usually, when we start doing the one we end up involved in the other.<br /><br />I say it makes sense to call something "religious" if it involves liturgical forms which order our affections according to a vision of the good life. That's off the top of my head. Our modern "secular" life is then saturated with religion. Go to the mall or turn on the TV and you'll see what I mean. Worship is literally taking place.<br /><br />I also want to call into question the notion that it's perfectly obvious what counts as supernatural. I suspect most people think of ghosts and magic and special effects. In this way, the supernatural is the spooky, and you're religious if you're interested in connecting with the spooky. <br /><br />It would be helpful if we could get a handle on what counts as natural. Unfortunately, most every definition of natural I've come across boils down to something like this: what theists believe, but minus the spooky stuff.<br /><br />I think of modern technology as the magic that actually works. We harness hidden powers and use them to conform the world to our wishes. Advertisers and pop-culture producers (literally) cast spells on us, no? They harness their powers in order to bypass our critical faculties and form our desires according to their own (sometimes quite nefarious) ends.<br /><br />The goal of Christian formation is distinctly non-magical, then, right? It's all about conforming the soul to most real and solid of all. And theology is a science: an ordered tradition of inquiry into a subject; a knowledge tradition like geology (though, yes, importantly different)..https://www.blogger.com/profile/01612563903678212286noreply@blogger.com