Religious Studies 1022A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Henotheism, Paul Tillich, Pantheism
1 Apr 2019
School
Department
Professor
L3
Jan. 22
Reading:
“The Judaic- Christian Concept of God” - John Hick
- Monotheism
- Atheism → not-God-ism
- Agnosticism → not-know-ism
- Skepticism → doubting
- Naturalism →
- Deism → refers to the idea of an ‘absentee’ god who made the universe a long time ago
and left it alone or a god that is the position of the 18th century English deists, who
taught that natural theology alone is religiously sufficient
- Theism ( Monotheism) → belief in one God; a supreme being
- Polytheism → belief in many gods
- Henotheism → belief in many gods but restricts their allegiance to one of them
- Pantheism → belief that god is everything
→ rise of monotheism results in struggle with polytheism and henotheism
- confusion during the rise of the jewish faith
- originally, their god was worshipped as a tribal god
- the rise of many prophets suggested they had more than one god
- results in secularization of religion
- Infinite, Self-existent
- God is infinite or unlimited
- Paul Tillich “we should not say that God exists, since that would be a limiting statement”
- God is being not a being
- Does not matter what we think - he just exists
- a se esse
→ concept of “self-existence”
- God is not dependent for existence or for characteristics upon any other reality
- God has not been created by any higher being
- God cannot be destroyed
- God just is infinite richness & plenitude of being as the ultimate reality
- God is eternal (no beginning and no end)
- If He had a beginning, it suggests that a reality had existed before Him
- Nothing can end His life
- Creator
→ He creates things out of nothing (not like creating a house from already given materials)
→ this creates an absolute distinction between God and the creation
- he was never created → he would be a creature not a Creator
- Logically impossible for creature to become Creator
- Ruled out as meaningless by the Judaic-Christian conception of
creation
Document Summary
The judaic- christian concept of god - john hick. Deism refers to the idea of an absentee" god who made the universe a long time ago. Skepticism doubting and left it alone or a god that is the position of the 18th century english deists, who taught that natural theology alone is religiously sufficient. Theism ( monotheism) belief in one god; a supreme being. Henotheism belief in many gods but restricts their allegiance to one of them. Rise of monotheism results in struggle with polytheism and henotheism confusion during the rise of the jewish faith. Originally, their god was worshipped as a tribal god the rise of many prophets suggested they had more than one god results in secularization of religion. Paul tillich we should not say that god exists, since that would be a limiting statement . Does not matter what we think - he just exists a se esse.
