RELIGIOUS NATURALISM OR THEOLOGICAL HUMANISM?

David E. Klemm; David E. Klemm

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00357.x

Research Articles
RELIGIOUS NATURALISM OR THEOLOGICAL HUMANISM?

Abstract

Loyal Rue's book Religion Is Not About God (2005) is a polemic for religious naturalism. In it Rue sets up a general model of religion based on principles of scientific materialism, tests his model against five historical religions, and speculates on the future of religion. He claims that in the West, modern science and pluralism threaten the moral authority of Christianity in facing the environmental crisis, which is fueled by a rival metareligion, consumerism. He concludes that an ecological Doomsday is likely, following which a new religion will arise: religious naturalism. I challenge Rue's account at three levels, from the standpoint of theological humanism. First, as a philosopher of religion, Rue cannot carry through his scientific materialist explanation of religion. The first‐person experience of consciousness escapes such an account. Second, as a myth maker, Rue unifies the evolutionary epic retrospectively, where the evidence is thin, and projects the future overconfidently. Third, as a theologian, Rue is wrong to equate God and Nature.

Keywords

theological humanism, religious naturalism, Loyal Rue, scientific materialism

How to Cite

Klemm, D., (2007) “RELIGIOUS NATURALISM OR THEOLOGICAL HUMANISM?”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 42(2), 357–368. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00357.x

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References

Chalmers, David J. 1997. “Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness .” In Explaining Consciousness—The Hard Problem, ed. JonathanShear, 9–30. Cambridge and London : MIT Press.

Changeux, Jean‐Pierre, and PaulRicoeur. 2000. What Makes Us Think? A Neuroscientist and a Philosopher Argue about Ethics, Human Nature, and the Brain. Trans. M. B.DeBevoise. Princeton and Oxford : Princeton Univ. Press.

Klemm, David E., and William H.Klink. 2006. Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics: Opting from Alternatives . Unpublished essay available on request from the authors at david‐klemm@uiowa.edu.

Klemm, David E., and WilliamSchweiker. In press. Religion and the Human Future: An Essay on Theological Humanism. Oxford : Blackwell.

Nagel, Thomas. 1974. “What Is It Like to Be a BatPhilosophical Review 83:435–50.

Rue, Loyal. 2005. Religion Is Not About God: How Spiritual Traditions Nurture Our Biological Nature and What To Expect When They Fail New Brunswick , N.J. : Rutgers Univ. Press.

Schweiker, William. 1995. Responsibility and Christian Ethics Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press.

Searle, John R. 1980. “Minds, Brains and Programs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3:417–24.

Skribina, David. 2005. Panpsychism in the West Cambridge and London : MIT Press.

Tillich, Paul. 1952. The Courage to Be. New Haven : Yale Univ. Press.

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Authors

David E. Klemm (Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science)

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Volume 42 • Issue 2 • June 2007

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Pages	357–368
Published on	2007-06-02

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00357.x

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