Talk:Development of religion/Archive1

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Archive This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

I don't think the page should be merged. there are many views on the development of religion beyond the sociological -- for example, the Bahai view that religions are born from a series of prophets sent by the One God, and that subsequent prophets bring future revelation. Many others too, all of which will be represented with time. Ungtss 03:32, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Whoever cleaned up my contributions and put them in context did a grand job. Thanks!

Thanks for getting the ball rolling:). Ungtss 23:14, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)


This article discusses together naturalistic theories of the origin of religion, supernaturalistic theories of the origin of religion, and ideas such as "religion is the opiate of the masses" (which, in my view, is more a negative value judgement about religion than an actual well-developed theory). It reads as if naturalistic and supernaturalistic theories are necessarily incompatible. But, it is possible to study religion in an academic setting from the viewpoint of naturalistic theories, yet still privately (or even publicly when wearing a different hat) believe that religion has a supernatural phenomena. A lot of religiously-inclined social scientists (and physical scientists for that matter too) believe that natural phenomena (including social phenomena such as religion) can have scientific explanations. They see God/whatever-supernatural-thing-they-believe-in as working through naturalistic/scientific means in unseen ways with some purpose in mind. One can believe, for example, that Christianity is the true religion, etc., but still be interested in what scientific theories have to say about how it managed to spread from a small sect in a backwater of the Roman Empire to a major world religion. For such a person, the scientific explanation is only part of the total explanation, which would also include supernatural explanations such as the will of God, but even as only a part of the total explanation it is still useful to know. This is in constrast to atheists who reject all supernatural explanations, and anti-scientific religious people who reject all scientific explanations. It is possible to believe that both the religious and the scientific are useful and valid.

Also I would suggest splitting the naturalistic and non-naturalistic theories out separately, since the first would be an article in the field of the social/psychological sciences, while the second would be an article in the field of comparative religion. -- samuel katinsky

all well said -- would you be willing to provide summaries of some academic books or articles exploring the sort of theories you're describing? Ungtss 03:09, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)


There could be a reference to/interaction with Folk religion.

Likewise, some comments could be added to Women as theological figures.

Jackiespeel 17:40, 12 October 2005 (UTC)


Religion is an hypothesis designed to achieve peace-of-mind.

Definitions usually given for religion are properties of A Religion; not its essence, which is for all of them, an attempt to achieve peace-of-mind.

Yesselman 16:18, 4 December 2005 (UTC)


Contents

Evolutionary Theology

At which point is a religion condisidered to be distinct from its predessor? What sepparates one religion from another? Is there an exact distinguishing factor (standard in linguistic or biological classification) or more like any set of varying factors (standard in ethnic/musical classification)? For instance, Christianity and its parent faith of Judaism are considered to be completely and distinct religions, of course. It's not the God Jews and Christians worship that set them apart, though the way they relate to God is very different. Perhaps it's just the fact that most of both faiths have claimed to belong to different religions for several centuries? Many works, including this article, define religion in there own way but few focus on what exactly destinguishes one from another.--J. Daily 04:38, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Religion"


Jewish Model

From the book "Reincarnation and Judaism: The Journey of the Soul" by DovBer Pinson:

"...the Mishnah proclaims, 'every single Jew has a portion in the world to come.'" page 72

And non-Jews also have a place in the world to come. (See Noahide Laws.)

So I think the last sentence of the Jewish model is wrong. Though I'm not certain how to go about re-writing it in a very brief way. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.230.182.135 (talk) 21:02, 3 September 2007 (UTC)


Charismatic Figures

The last two sections of the article seem rather superfluous. The one relating to established religions amounts to little more than 'many religions have charismatic founders or reformers', which is fairly intuitive. The one relating to NRMs is definately NPOV, containing only an instance where a leader (charismatic or not is unmentioned) has incited his followers to suicide. I'm strongly of the opinion that these two sections should be removed, but wanted to know the consensus. Any ideas?

User: DbSurfeit 03:36, 22 August 2006 (GMT)

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Origin of religion - two possible links?

I have two articles about the origin of religion on my site. Please have a look at them and see if they should be included as external links. They are The Origin of Religion and Religion and Language .

Acampbell70 10:50, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
Hello Anthony, Failed new religions are created too by charismatic leaders and this should be pointed out. The section about Kumaris can be deleted. We had some e-mail conversations. Remember me? Andries 10:55, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
This article makes some interesting comments on the development of religion
  • Rochford, Burke E. Jr. and Kendra Bailey Almost Heaven: Leadership, Decline and the Transformation of New Vrindaban in Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions Vol. 9 nr. 3 February 2006
I have access to it but little time.
Andries 11:20, 3 September 2006 (UTC)







Archive This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.