Post-monotheism
| Part of a series on |
| Theism |
|---|
| Part of a series on |
| Irreligion |
|---|
In the
Martin Heidegger
The Dutch philosopher Herman Philipse, author of The Atheist Manifesto (Atheistisch manifest & De onredelijkheid van religie) (2004), uses the term "post-monotheism" to describe Martin Heidegger's position vis-a-vis traditional Christianity as a "failing tradition" obscuring an "original revelation of being."[2]: 185 In Philipse's formulation, "post-monotheism" signifies "the attempt to replace the Christian religion by a different variety of religious discourse, the meaning of which is parasitic upon the monotheist Christian discourse that it intends to destroy."[2]: 187
D. H. Lawrence and Shinobu Orikuchi
Hiroaki Inami, a blogger and professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo, uses the term "post-monotheism" to describe the religious viewpoints of the writers D. H. Lawrence and Shinobu Orikuchi. Inami interprets Lawrence’s The Escaped Cock (1929) and Orikuchi’s The Book of the Dead (1997) as presenting "a vision and a possibility of a new universal religion, which is, in a sense, a fusion of polytheism and monotheism. But from the viewpoint of a theory of discrete difference, their new religions are post-polytheism and post-monotheism and can be called new polytheism (or super-polytheism)."[3]
Christopher Schwartz
In Christopher Schwartz's formulation, "post-monotheism" is the belief in the existence of one deity, or in the oneness of God,[4] coupled with the belief in the failure (or inability) of existing theological categories in Christianity and Islam to accurately describe divine nature. According to Schwartz, the paucity of theological language is most evident during human suffering and should thus be considered a major barrier for religious experience.
Schwartz's concept of post-monotheism opposes the "
Schwartz uses the phrase in the essay, "The Historian's Theodicy".
- History defies the absolutisms of moral theory.
- History itself, as the theater of revelation, threatens the reliability of prophecy.
- History challenges the very possibility of exegesis and theosophy.
- History, both personal and of the species, challenges the very possibility of hierology.
- Patterns notwithstanding, history teaches that there is no necessity (necessity is not necessary).
- History creates its own ethical imperatives, and action requires only faith rather than certainty.
- The future threatens the reliability of history.
- History itself, though it is the theater of revelation, is insufficient to account for or against divine concern and action.
Fundamental to this brand of post-monotheism is the author's assertion, "God is an enigma and power beyond the human yet is accessible [...] Spiritual experience flies in the face of historical experience: whatever 'God' is, it is concerned for us — and it is reaching out to us."[8]
A central motif of Schwartz's post-monotheism is the analogy of God as a playwright or "storywriter," in essence the opposite of both the
See also
Notes
- ^ Schwartz, Christopher; Post-monotheism; Thursday, July 10, 2008.[unreliable source?]
- ^ a b Philipse, Herman; Heidegger's Philosophy of Being: A Critical Interpretation (1998)
- ^ Inami, Hiroaki; Pagan Frontier and Resurrections: D. H. Lawrence’s The Escaped Cock and Shinobu Orikuchi’s The Book of the Dead; Sunday, July 10, 2005.
- ^ “Monotheism”, in Britannica, 15th ed. (1986), 8:266.
- ISBN 978-0-664-22355-7, p. 177f.
- ^ Wolfgan Muller-Lauter, Heidegger und Nietzsche: Nietzsche-Interpretationen III, Walter de Gruyter 2000
- ^ In the two scholars' published writings, the term appears in 1952 for Tillich and in 1953 for Zimmer. Since the two men were personally acquainted, it is impossible to say which of them coined the term. Note that the term transtheism is avoided by both. Cf. Writings on Religion, Walter de Gruyter (1988), p. 145.
- ^ a b c d e Schwartz, Christopher; The Historian's Theodicy; Thursday, July 10, 2008.[unreliable source?]
External links
- Philipse's faculty page at Utrecht University
- Pagan Frontier and Resurrections: D. H. Lawrence’s The Escaped Cock and Shinobu Orikuchi’s The Book of the Dead by Hiroaki Inami
- The Historian's Theodicy by Christopher Schwartz
- Nidaa Khoury's website
- Luchte, James, 2009. "Zarathustra and the Children of Abraham", Pli, Volume 20, pp. 195–225 and The Agonist, Volume 2, Number 2.
