A theological evaluation of “revelation” in
other religions
Ratzinger, Joseph,
“The Unity and Diversity of Religions: The Place of Christianity in the History
of Religions,” in Truth and Tolerance.
Christian Belief and World Religions, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004.
Comprehension questions
The phenomenon of religious pluralism
1.
Why
does Cardinal Ratzinger think that “a phenomenological investigation [of
religions] which would not straightaway concern itself with the value of these
religions for eternity… needs to precede such theological judgments about other
religions” (p. 18)?
ü Because he think that one can not perceive the real
value of religious for eternity. What is valuable for one religion is not. So
for the other. Dealing about region means to speak about spiritual being, so we
cannot investigated or search this reality though phenomenological view of
religion. One cannot judge the other, for their truthfulness is subjective.
2.
Name
two possible attitudes towards other religions in the light of the Christian
conviction that Christ is the only Saviour and salvation of man?
ü The fist attitude is a positive regard: that
Christianity regards the other religions as
preparatory to Christianity. We cannot condemn the whole religion. Christianity
condemns the wrong practices of other religious.
ü The second attitude is, more of negative regard
towards them, regarding them as anti-Christianity, against the truth and
misleading people towards hell.
3.
What
does the Christian rejection of gods signify? How is it viewed by the
secularised man of today?
ü It signifies that the other religions are acting
against God, by worshiping and following the false gods.
ü The secularised man of today would look at it as an
expression of the partisan and disputatious attitude for the various religions,
each of which tries to assert itself at the expense of the others and is so
incredibly blind as to be unable to see that in reality they are all one and
the same.
4.
What
is the concept of religion held by “the man of today”?
ü The dominant inpression of most people today is that
all religions, with a varied multiplicity of forms and manifestations, in the
end are and mean one and the same thing, which is something everyone can see,
except for them.
5.
What
is the “future for religions” according to the thinking of Radhakrishnan?
ü The "future for religions" is his attitude
which claims that all religions of the world are to be fundamentally united
with the most varied differentiation in the future time.
The Place of Christianity in the History of
Religion
6.
What
is the first perception of the man of today when he looks at the plurality of
religions? What is the next impression?
ü The first perception is the limitless plurality, an
absolutely overwhelming multiplicity and variety ,which makes the question
about truth seem illusory from the very beginning.
ü The next impression is that of the hidden identity of
the religious worlds, which are distinguished from one another in name and
superficial images but not in the great fundamental symbols or in what these
ultimately stand for.
7.
“This
mystical interpretation of religion forms the background of the idea of
religion of man today.” Elaborate on this statement.
ü All religions begin with experience of mystic. We can
take as example: Jesus is a mystical experience, and Mohamed is also a mystical
experience; when he received the mission when he was in the cave. This shows us
that all religions are fundamentally the same and this is the background for
the idea of religion of man today.
8.
According
to the mystical interpretation of religion, what is “first hand religion” and
what is “second hand religion”?
ü According to the mystical interpretation of religion
what is called first hand religion is the experience of the founder. What he
personally encounters or experiences so that he may pass to others.
ü What is called as second hand religion is the passing
of this personal experience to his followers of others. Thus the others try to
live according to what they got from their founder.
9.
Name
and explain the stages of development history of religion.
ü Fist stage is the primitive experience: in this stage
we have power of natures: thunder, lightening, the sun, moon etc. Regarded as
primitive experiences.
ü Then as second stage there is the mystical religions:
this is a development from the first stage of worshiping the power of natures
into the worshiping of deities.
ü On the third stage we have the mysticism: where by
someone has personal encounter with a divine power and mystical or
extraordinary experience. Here Buddha is a good example of such religion.
ü In the last stage is put the monotheistic revolution:
this is instead of having many gods, religions like Christianity and Islam, to
believe and worship only a single God.
10.
What
are the three ways of moving beyond the myth of religions?
ü The three ways are: Mysticism, Monotheistic and
enlighten revolutions. In the first level we have the mysticism which is
worshiping many gods and goddess. In the second way of moving there is the
monotheistic; a great change from having and worshiping many gods and goddess
into believing in one God. And lastly there comes the view of enlightenment
(rationalism) which fosters knowledge than religion.
Mysticism and belief
11.
What
is the Christian approach to “mysticism” in religions?
ü Christianity does not accept mysticism. The reason why
is, because christianity maintains the absolute value of the divine call, while
mysticism starts from the absolute value of the " spiritual
experience".
12.
Why
is the monotheism of Israel a sort of “revolution” in the history of religion?
ü The monotheism of Israel is a sort of revolution
because it over thrown the gods and believed in one God. For them there is no
other God beside their God, so they worshiped only Him.
13.
How
is the monotheism of Israel different from that of Hinduism of ATR?
ü First of all monotheism of Israel is not directed
towards mysticism. Secondly and mainly unlike the Hinduism of ATR,
it revolted against the gods. While monotheism of Israel is revolutionary, that
of Hinduism is evolution of mysticism.
14.
How
does monotheism and mysticism differ from each other radically? What is the
core of their difference?
ü For monotheism God acts actively and calls man, but
man cannot do anything by himself except opening himself
to salvation through obedience in response to the call. So here God plays a
great role, He is active and initiative, on the other hand
man is passive.
ü Unlike in monotheism in the mysticism god is passive
in relation with man; He does not act. Man takes the initiatively
and goes up to meet, experience God. Here man plays an active role.
The structure of the two great ways of Religion
15.
What
does Jean Daniélou say about Christianity in contrast to the great non-Christian
religions?
ü Christianity is essentially faith in an event. Christianity
is historical, beginning with Abraham, entering into covenant with Israel, the whole history
of Israel and most importantly the event of Jesus Christ.
But in the other religions there are a lot of myths than events which are
facts.
16.
Mention
the obvious difference between the patriarchs and prophets of Israel and the
great founders of East Asian religions. What does this say about the structure
of the way of mysticism and belief in one God?
ü the obvious difference is that the patriarchs were
mediocre, sinners and weak people. the prophets were more or
less like the mad people. here God shows that he chooses them not because they were best. while the founders of East Asian religions were more
powerful, full of meditation, and most of the time quiet.
17.
Why
does Christianity not recognise the distinction between “first hand religion”
and the “second hand religion” as viewed by mysticism?
ü in the mysticism there are two part: those who manage
to reach god and those who are depended on them to reach
there. but for Christians the structure is different. nobody is close to God
than the other. God is equal to all and he reveals himself to
the community and for the building, service of the entire
community.
18.
In
brief, what is the place of Christianity in the history of religions?
ü Christianity is a monotheistic religion whereby God is
creative and He intervenes in the human history; this
happens in events
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