RE: MD Philosophy and Theology

From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Apr 06 2003 - 18:02:29 BST

  • Next message: Elizaphanian: "Re: MD Philosophy and Theology"

    Sam and all:

    Let's start with the easy one. Can you name a single 20th century theologian
    whose work you are familiar with? If so, we could then argue about whether
    such work counts as 'intellectual' or not - and indeed, whether there are
    guiding assumptions in such work that are more prejudicial to intellectual
    analysis than in someone like Dawkins. In my experience, Dawkins is far more
    lacking in awareness of his presuppositions than any theologian.

    DMB says:
    I smell a trap, but I'll pretend this is a genuine question and try to
    answer anyway. Never heard of Dawkins until he was introduced here and based
    on what I've read so far, I wouldn't defend him even if I had.

    As to what's on my book shelf, that's pretty much... well, an open book.
    I've got lots of history, philosophy and political science too, but religion
    related books are way more than half the collection and constitute about 90%
    of what I've been reading in recent years. These books do not profess any
    sectarian religion. (At my favorite book store, the straight up Christian
    books are in a different section, and I think that's only proper. They
    really are another breed.) The jackets of my favorite books usually
    designate it as Religion/Philosophy, Religion/Psychology, Religion/Political
    Science, Mythology/Religion or some other mixture like that.

    What I quote here is pretty representative of what I read. It's no secret. I
    shouldn't even try to name every book or author, but I'm not sandbagging
    either. I mean, there are no major influences that I'm keeping from you or
    anything. Most of my favorites write about religion in one way or another,
    but how much of that can rightly be called theology, I honestly don't know.
    Does Alan Watts count? Is Matthew Fox a theologian? How about Huston Smith?
    Are they theologians? Surely Campbell and Wilber are not. How about all
    those Carmelite Monks I quoted during our discussions of Mysticism? I know
    at least one of them teaches theology...

    DMB

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