Contra Fundamentalism: Negative Theology, Skepticism, and Infinity
Religious fundamentalism is a major source of political instability in the world. The literalizing of God and religious texts infuses followers of the three Western monotheistic religions with an impetus to fight to the death any nation or group that they feel opposes their understanding of what God...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Pennsylvania Press
2021
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| In: |
Journal of ecumenical studies
Year: 2021, Volume: 56, Issue: 3, Pages: 387-411 |
| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BG World religions NBC Doctrine of God |
| Further subjects: | B
God in search of humankind
B Pantheism B Reb Chaim Volozhiner B Infinity B Fundamentalism B Ein-Sof B Panentheism B Skepticism B Moses Maimonides B the One B Negative Theology B the normalization of contradiction |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Religious fundamentalism is a major source of political instability in the world. The literalizing of God and religious texts infuses followers of the three Western monotheistic religions with an impetus to fight to the death any nation or group that they feel opposes their understanding of what God demands of them. From even before the era of the official promulgation of monotheistic doctrine, an alternative reading of the supreme Power in the universe has been available. This alternative reading has been officially canonized in Western religious thought as negative theology. Negative theology states that we can only know what God is not—but not what God is. Since God brings the explanatory quest to a halt, God can only be infinite. It is a contention of this essay that the structure of negative theology duplicates the structure of skeptical argument—and they both issue forth in incoherence. The only mode of relationship to God that is available to us is a mystical one, which means that no person can base their relationship to God on the premise of certainty. Fundamentalism then rests on a vulnerable set of rational arguments, which the essay seeks to explore and expose. |
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| ISSN: | 2162-3937 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of ecumenical studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/ecu.2021.0028 |