Title
Experience and God / John Smith.
ISBN
9780823295487
Published
New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2023]
Copyright
©1995
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (209 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers
10.1515/9780823295487 doi
Summary
A modern philosopher described religion as "that region in which all the enigmas of the world are solved." Smith argues in Experience and God that religion itself has become an enigma for modern man. In the book, smith attempts to reunite philosophy with religion. He argues that in recent decades the prevailing attitude has been chiefly one of indifference. This indifference, leading to the failure of understanding can be overcome only through radical reflection and self-criticism: a re-consideration of the nature of religion, its place in the total structure of human life, and its relations to the secular culture in which the faith of man must live. The task Smith lays out must be of a largely philosophical nature, not only because of the necessity to understand religion in relation to a comprehensive scheme of things, but also because the idea of religion is intimately connected with the issues of metaphysics. Smith's purpose is to bridge the gap between the ontological approach to God as represented by Augustine, Anselm, and Bonaventure, and the cosmological approach represented by Thomas Aquinas and Albert the Great. Smith shows that, although the two approaches significantly differ, they can be interpreted as ways of leading the meditating mind to the Presence of God, through the soul and through the world.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Feb 2023)
Series
American Philosophy
Available in Other Form
print 9780823216246
Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface to the New Edition
EXPERIENCE and GOD
Introduction
I. The Recovery of Experience
II. The Religious Dimension of Experience and the Idea of God
III. The Disclosure of God and Positive Religion
IV. Doubt and Living Reason
V. The Argument about God
VI. Experience, Community, and the World Religions
Epilogue: Religion and Secularization
Index
