Genus Unbelief, Species Atheism: The Case for and Against Unbelief as a Master Concept for Non-Religion

Jack David Eller

Vol. 3, No. 1

Summer 2021

Pages: 1-24

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2021.vol3.no1.01

Jack David Eller, Atheism, Unbelief, Irreligion, Belief, Credition, Religion, Humanism

Recent initiatives by Stein, Flynn, Conrad, and others have promoted ‘unbelief’ as a replacement, an ‘umbrella term,’ for concepts like atheism, secularism, and irreligion. In this essay I show that unbelief as it is currently construed cannot serve this function: it is simultaneously too broad (embracing not only irreligion but heterodox religious belief) and too narrow (focusing on religious belief to the exclusion of other types of belief), and it commits a taxonomic error of equating unbelief with categories above and below its level. However, I also argue that, once reformed and disciplined, unbelief is a valuable and essential tool, and I provide some resources and models for a future Unbelief Studies in the Credition Research Project and the literature on agnotology, as well as ethnographical material questioning the cross-cultural applicability of belief and unbelief. Finally, I charge Unbelief Studies with the mission not only to analyze belief but to criticize and ultimately banish it as a bad mental and linguistic habit that perpetuates mistakes and leaves individuals vulnerable to further faults while eroding social trust and facticity itself.

Book Review: Judaism and Jesus, by Zev Garber and Kenneth Hanson

Eugene J. Fisher

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 173-187

Free

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.10

Eugene J. Fisher, Dialogue, Liturgy, Jesus, Jewishness, Passover Seder, Eucharist, Messianic Judaism, Shoah, Holocaust, Judaism, Judaism and Jesus, Zev Garber, Kenneth Hanson

The authors show the Jewishness of Jesus and his teachings. They delve into what unites and what distinguishes Judaism and Christianity, especially in the Jewish liturgical practices that the early Christians, who were mainly Jews, took from their ancient traditions and modified to establish the liturgies that Christians practice today. They call, rightly, for dialogue between all Christians and all Jews, having established how much we can learn about ourselves by learning from the other.

“From Every Tribe and Tongue and People and Nation”: The All-Inclusive Group

David G. Hellwig

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 157-171

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.09

John Hartung, Love, Leviticus, Jesus, Morality, Hermeneutics, Neighbor, Love Thy Neighbor, David G. Hellwig, Presuppositions, Inspiration, Context, Redemption, All-Inclusive

This article seeks to take a position different from John Hartung’s position in his article entitled, “Love Thy Neighbor: The Evolution of In-Group Morality.” His article was originally written in two separate issues in Skeptic in 1995 and 1996. Hartung takes the position that in-group morality (a moral code for a specific group) exists so that religious groups can compete against other groups, even overcoming them through violence and subordination. The position of this present article seeks to show that Hartung’s premise falls short through examination of presuppositions, the central motif of redemption, and a high view of Scripture in light of its context. This article will address certain components from Hartung’s article to state a position that remains true to the biblical text. Instead of an in-group morality, this article promotes an all-inclusive group morality that is intended to extend beyond that group to others for the purpose of evangelism, not competition.

Love Thy Neighbor: The Expansive Command

Steven Bishop

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 143-155

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.08

John Hartung, Steven Bishop, Love, Leviticus, Jesus, Morality, Hermeneutics, Neighbor, Love Thy Neighbor

John Hartung asserted in “Love Thy Neighbor: The Evolution of In-Group Morality” that the command to love, and the later use of it by Jesus, does not apply to everyone but only to those within one’s own group. Through a close reading of Leviticus and the Gospel of Matthew, this essay questions Hartung’s hermeneutic and assesses his conclusion as erroneous. By interrogating the world of the text using a literary method, this essay argues for an appreciation of the complexity of the language and the importance of literary context.

Hermeneutic Applications from the Patristic Exegetes

James D. Johansen

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 112-141

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.07

James D. Johansen, Hermeneutics, Patristics, Historiography, Spiritual Formation, Genre

This paper examines modern hermeneutic approaches and how patristic exegetes can complement interpretative methods. Modern hermeneutics apply different procedures depending on the genre. Kannengiesser’s Handbook of Patristic Exegesis is used to summarize patristic views by specific book and genre, while Russell’s Playing with Fire, Klein, Blomberg and Hubbard’s Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, and Kaiser and Silva’s, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics frame the range of modern hermeneutic approaches. Perspectives on spiritual formation are addressed per genre since it is important for biblical interrelation and application and was valued by patristic exegetes like Augustine. The paper shows how patristic exegetes focused on the spiritual and seeking the Bible’s deeper meaning. It demonstrates how Russell’s spiritual formation emphasis aligns with Augustine’s spiritual burning that transformed his life and how this emphasis aligns with the patristic exegetes’ desire to seek deeper spiritual meaning in scripture.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea? Re-Examining Christian Engagement with Ba’athism in Syria and Iraq

Louis Elton

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 88-110

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.06

Louis Elton, Christianity, Arab Nationalism, Ba’athism, Syria, Iraq

This article re-examines the dominant scholarly perception that Christian support for Arab Nationalist regimes is primarily a product of fear of Islamism. After a brief examination of the Christian origins of Ba’athism—a form of Arab Nationalism—the author argues that a more granular understanding of the current Christian politics of Syria and Iraq reveals that while some Christians have supported regimes out of fear, there is also significant strain of active, positive support, though to what extent this is a product of Christian identification with Arab identity requires further research. The study employs an examination of posts from pro-Assad Syrian Christian Facebook pages.

Atheism is Global Atheism

Jack David Eller

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 66-86

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.05

Jack David Eller, Atheism, Theism, God, Gods, Comparative Religion, Absence of Belief

Accepting Diller’s challenge to justify “global atheism,” despite its supposed crushing burden of knowledge, this paper argues that the global atheist bears no extraordinary burden. In fact, all atheism is global atheism, as an atheist lacks any and all god-beliefs; while a local theist, who accepts one of the myriad god-beliefs over all others, has a special burden to account for that choice. Surveying the diversity of god-concepts across religions and how atheists dismiss and discard them, this paper provides an inductive and philosophical foundation of global atheism—as well as illustrating that local theisms are more prone to blending and overlapping than allowed in Diller’s scheme.

The Influence of Humanism on the Main Magisterial Reformers

John F. Lingelbach

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 48-64

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.04

John F. Lingelbach, Calvin, Humanism, Luther, Protestant, Reformation, Zwingli

In light of the wide acknowledgement that humanism influenced the Protestant Reformation, one must ask the question about how much of what Protestantism maintains owes a debt to this modern ideology often juxtaposed in contrast to Christianity. Given the remarkable role of such a controversial ideology during a seminal period of the modern church, this study seeks an answer to the following question: how did the humanism movement of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries impact the lives and work of the main Magisterial Reformers? This research is important and necessary because discovering the answer to this question leads to an understanding of the larger question of how humanism impacts the Protestant tradition. Understanding the nature of this impact sheds light on what Protestantism means and may induce some Christians to contemplate why they call or do not call themselves “Protestants” or “humanists.” This present study progressed through four phases. First, the study sought to describe the humanism of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Second, it sought to describe the impact this humanism had on society. Third, the study analyzed how the social impacts of the humanism of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries served to advance or hinder the causes of the main Magisterial Reformers. Finally, it synthesized the findings. This paper argues and concludes that the humanism of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries impacted the lives and work of the main Magisterial Reformers by facilitating their desire to include the common people in a religious world previously dominated by the elite.

Why Religious Experience Cannot Justify Religious Belief

David Kyle Johnson

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 26-46

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.03

David Kyle Johnson, Religious Experience, The Problem of Religious Diversity, Neurological Explanation for Religious Experience, The Unanimity Thesis, Perceptual Models of Religious Experience

Theists often claim that neither the diversity of religious experience nor natural explanations for religious experience can threaten the ability of religious experience to justify religious belief. Contrarily, this paper argues that not only do they pose such a threat, but the diversity of religious experiences and natural explanations for them completely undermine their epistemic justificatory power. To establish this, the author first defines the supposed role of religious experience in justifying religious belief. Then the author shows how the diversity of religious experience raises an inductive problem that negates religious experience’s ability to justify religious belief. The author then shows that available natural explanations for religious experience do the same by simply providing better explanations of religious experiences (i.e., explanations that are more adequate than religious explanations of those experiences).

On Behalf of Resurrection: A Second Reply to Cavin and Colombetti

Stephen T. Davis

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 13-24

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.02

Standard Model, Particle Physics, Resurrection, Robert Greg Cavin, Carlos A. Colombetti, Naturalism, Supernaturalism, Stephen T. Davis

This essay is a reply to “The Implausibility and Low Explanatory Power of the Resurrection Hypothesis—With a Rejoinder to Stephen T. Davis” by Robert Greg Cavin and Carlos Colombetti. In it, I establish what natural laws are, what a miracle is, and how “naturalism” and “supernaturalism” differ as worldviews. Cavin and Colombetti argue that if the Standard Model of particle physics (SM) is true, then the resurrection of Jesus did not occur and physical things can only causally interact with other physical things. I argue that neither point follows.

The Curse of Ham: Biblical Justification for Racial Inequality?

Charles David Isbell

Vol. 2, No. 2

Fall 2020

Pages: 1-11

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.01

Curse of Ham, Noah, Nakedness, Drunkenness, Incest, Charles David Isbell

The story of the drunkenness of Noah that caused him to remove his clothing and thus provided the opportunity for his son, Ham, to “see” him (Genesis 9:20‒27), has never received an interpretation that has been unanimously adopted by interpreters over the centuries. By examining the concept of “nakedness” as it functions in biblical legislation, this article argues that the most plausible understanding of the passage is that Ham committed incest with the wife of his father, Noah. Concomitantly, it becomes clear that the literalist idea of “race” used to undergird either slavery or any comparable form of white supremacy cannot be derived exegetically from the passage.

Book Review: The Case Against Miracles, Edited by John W. Loftus

Gregory Michna

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 228-234

Free

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.11

Gregory Michna, John W. Loftus, Case Against Miracles, Darren M. Slade, Robert M. Price, Evan Fales

A review of John W. Loftus’s edited volume, The Case Against Miracles.

Judaism and Evolutionary Astrology: Insights from a Jewish Astrologer

Elisa Robyn

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 218-226

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.10

Elisa Robyn, Jewish Mysticism, Kabbalah, Judaism, Evolutionary Astrology, Talmud, Torah

While the Torah instructs Jews not to practice soothsaying or divination, the Talmud includes several discussions about the power of astrology with many Rabbis even arguing that the use of astrology is both permitted and meaningful. Add to this discrepancy the numerous astrological mosaics on the floors of ancient synagogues, as well as certain Kabbalistic practices, and it becomes clear why there is confusion within the Jewish community. This article examines Jewish perspectives on evolutionary astrology throughout Jewish history and its link to current mystical applications.

Faith and Epistemology: Religious Truth Claims and Epistemic Warrant

Julius Gurney III

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 207-216

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.09

Julius Gurney, Religious Faith, Epistemology, Knowledge, Justified Belief

This essay argues for the rationality of truth claims arising from religious faith over against the contention that such claims are, at best, viewed as subjective “value” language or, at worst, strictly irrational. An argument will be offered for the epistemic warrant of faith-based claims, not for the objective veracity of the religious claims themselves.

Is Faith a Path to Knowledge?

Evan Fales

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 182-205

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.08

Evan Fales, Religious Faith, Epistemology, Knowledge, Justified Belief, Testimony, Prophecy, Mysticism, Miracles, Cognitive Faculties

In this paper, I consider whether (religious) faith has any role to play in conferring positive epistemic status to (especially religious) beliefs. I outline several conceptions of faith that have been historically important within Western religious traditions. I then consider what role faith might be supposed to play, so understood, within the framework of internalist and externalist accounts of knowledge. My general conclusion is that, insofar as faith itself is a justified epistemic attitude, it requires justification and acquires that justification only through the regular faculties for contingent truths: sense perception and reason. I also argue, however, that the operations of our cognitive faculties in arriving at epistemic judgments on matters of substance are sufficiently complex, subtle, and often temporally prolonged, to make it exceptionally difficult to reconstruct the cognitive process and to judge whether it meets standards of rationality.

Agnomancy: Conjuring Ignorance, Sustaining Belief

Jack David Eller

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 150-180

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.07

Jack David Eller, Agnomancy, Agnotology, Ignorance Studies, Religion, Religious Faith, Philosophy of Religion, Epistemology, Knowledge, Cognitive Faculties, Confirmation Bias

Recent years have seen an increased interest in the construction and exploitation of ignorance, with the establishment of a field of agnotology (ignorance studies). This effort has focused almost exclusively on governments and corporations, though little or none on religion. After exploring work in agnotology and introducing the concept of agnomancy (the creation or conjuring of ignorance), the present article offers a preliminary application of these perspectives to religion, investigating what light agnotology sheds on religion and when and for what reasons religion engages in agnomancy.

Identifying the Conflict between Religion and Science

David Kyle Johnson

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 122-148

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.06

David Kyle Johnson, Science-Religion Conflict, Science, Religion, Miracles, Prayer, Soul

Inspired by Stephen J. Gould’s NOMA thesis, it is commonly maintained among academic theists (and some atheists) that religion and science are not in conflict. This essay will argue, by analogy, that science and religion undeniably are in conflict. It will begin by quickly defining religion and science and then present multiple examples that are unquestionable instances of unscientific reasoning and beliefs and show how they precisely parallel common mainstream orthodox religious reasoning and doctrines. It will then consider objections. In essence, this article will show that religion and science conflict when religion encroaches into the scientific domain. But in closing, it will show that they might also conflict when science encroaches into domains traditionally reserved for religion.

Imagined as us-American: Patriotic Music, Religion, and Violence Post-9/11

David Kwon

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 96-120

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.05

David Kwon, Patriotic Music, Country Music, Iraq War, Nationalism, Imagined National Identity, Religion, Violence, Post-9/11

With the common correlation of the patriotic music community to “America,” country music after 9/11, in many respects, could be seen as a site for the reinforcement and construction of American national identity. This article particularly explores the use of country music in the United States to represent and create a political ideology of “imagined” national identity in the time period between September 11, 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in the Spring of 2003. However, the nation, as imagined in these country song lyrics, has very specific dimensions. It is not just any nation. It is perceived (and valued, for that matter) as justifiably aggressive. It is a Christian nation defined in opposition to the Islamic “other.” This targeted racial and religious group is not just an outside foreign “other” but a heavily stigmatized foreigner from within their own country. The mapping of these particular concepts of nation and religion onto mainstream country music constitutes its primary imagined identity.

The Implausibility and Low Explanatory Power of the Resurrection Hypothesis—With a Rejoinder to Stephen T. Davis

Robert Greg Cavin and Carlos A. Colombetti

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 37-94

$3.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.04

Stephen T. Davis, Resurrection Hypothesis, Standard Model, Particle Physics, William Lane Craig, Explanatory Power, Explanatory Scope, Robert Greg Cavin, Carlos A. Colombetti, Legend hypothesis, Inference to the Best Explanation, Criteria of Adequacy, Jesus, Christianity, Apologetics, Alvin Plantinga

We respond to Stephen T. Davis’ criticism of our earlier essay, “Assessing the Resurrection Hypothesis.” We argue that the Standard Model of physics is relevant and decisive in establishing the implausibility and low explanatory power of the Resurrection hypothesis. We also argue that the laws of physics have entailments regarding God and the supernatural and, against Alvin Plantinga, that these same laws lack the proviso “no agent supernaturally interferes.” Finally, we offer Bayesian arguments for the Legend hypothesis and against the Resurrection hypothesis.

Craig on the Resurrection: A Defense

Stephen T. Davis

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 28-35

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.03

Stephen T. Davis, Resurrection Hypothesis, Standard Model, Particle Physics, William Lane Craig, Explanatory Power, Explanatory Scope, Robert Greg Cavin, Carlos A. Colombetti

This article is a rebuttal to Robert G. Cavin and Carlos A. Colombetti’s article, “Assessing the Resurrection Hypothesis: Problems with Craig’s Inference to the Best Explanation,” which argues that the Standard Model of current particle physics entails that non-physical things (like a supernatural God or a supernaturally resurrected body) can have no causal contact with the physical universe. As such, they argue that William Lane Craig’s resurrection hypothesis is not only incompatible with the notion of Jesus physically appearing to the disciples, but the resurrection hypothesis is significantly limited in both its explanatory scope and explanatory power. This article seeks to demonstrate why their use of the Standard Model does not logically entail a rejection of the physical resurrection of Jesus when considering the scope and limitations of science itself.

Essays Introducing a Jewish Perspective on the Gospel of John

Charles David Isbell

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 17-26

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.02

Charles David Isbell, Gospel of John, New Testament, Jewish-Christian Dialogue, Johannine Studies, Anti-Jewish Semitism in John

This article’s aim is to highlight the impact that plain sense readings of the Gospel of John have on educated Jewish and Christian lay persons but who typically do not aspire to learn or appropriate current scholarly theories seeking to explain sacred texts in a technical and often inordinately complex fashion. Essay topics include: 1) the anonymous author (“John”), the relationship of his gospel to the Synoptic Gospels, his interpretation of Jewish actions and customs, and his influence on a distinct group of early Christians, the “Johannine” community; 2) John’s portrayal of Jesus’ self-identification in using the divine name YHWH; 3) John’s description and interpretation of various Jewish responses to Jesus, as well as the author’s understanding of the reasons for Jews rejecting the message and person of Jesus; and 4) John’s portrayal of the early break between Judaism and Christianity, laid entirely at the feet of “the Jews.”

What is the Socio-Historical Method in the Study of Religion?

Darren M. Slade

Vol. 2, No. 1

Spring 2020

Pages: 1-15

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no1.01

Darren M. Slade, Socio-Historical Method, Social-Scientific Study of Religion, Religious History, Biblical Criticism, Higher Criticism, Social History, Humanities

The purpose of this article is to answer what the socio-historical method is when applied to the study of religion, as well as detail how numerous disciplines (e.g. archaeology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, theology, musicology, dramatology, etc.) contribute to its overall employment. In the broadest (and briefest) definition possible, a socio-historical study of religion coalesces the aims, philosophies, and methodologies of historiography with those of the social and cultural sciences, meaning it analyzes the interpretation and practice of religion through the lens of social/historical contexts, scientific discovery, and from within each faith tradition. The result is that the contexts surrounding a particular religion becomes the primary subject of study in order to better understand the origin, development, and expression of the religion itself. This article explains that the socio-historical study of religion is, in essence, an eclectic methodology that focuses on describing and analyzing the contexts from which the interpretation and practice of religion occurs. The goal is to examine how different aspects of a religion function in the broader socio-political and cultural milieu. Its most fundamental postulation is that the social history of a religious community affects how it interprets and practices their faith. By approaching religious inquiry from a socio-historical perspective, researchers are better able to recognize religion as a cultural and institutional element in ongoing social and historical interaction. Three sections will help to explain the socio-historical method: 1) a definitional dissection of the term “socio-historical”; 2) an elaboration of the principles inherent to the methodology; and 3) a case study example of the socio-historical method in practice.

Book Review: The Structure of Theological Revolutions: How the Fight Over Birth Control Transformed American Catholicism by Mark S. Massa, S. J.

Peter K. Fay

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 327-333

Free

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.12

Peter K. Fay, Mark S. Massa, Structure of Theological Revolutions, American Catholic Church, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Charles Curran, Germain Grisez, Humanae Vitae, Thomas Kuhn, Moral Theology, Natural Law, Paul VI, Jean Porter

Mark S. Massa argues that the history of natural law discourse in American Catholic moral theology, since the promulgation of Humanae Vitae in 1968, is marked more by discontinuity, rupture, and revolution than has been appreciated.

Grounding Discernment in Data: Strategic Missional Planning Using GIS Technology and Market Segmentation Data

Kenneth W. Howard

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 310-325

Free

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.11

Kenneth W. Howard, FaithX Project, Strategic Missional Planning, GIS Technology, Market Segmentation Data, Neighborhood Missional Intelligence, Predictive Analytics

Taking Jesus’ call to love our neighbors seriously requires engaging them in the neighborhoods where they live. However, neighborhoods are transforming demographically faster than ever before. If we can help congregations more quickly understand their neighborhoods, there is a much greater likelihood that they will grow to love them as they love themselves. The question before us is, how do we help faith communities and their leaders engage missional opportunities that are emerging from rapid population change? The goal of the FaithX Project is to make it possible for faith communities, their leaders, and the judicatories that support them to employ location intelligence and predictive analytics in order for them to discern emerging missional opportunities. FaithX then helps them to create effective missional strategies for engaging those opportunities by asking four essential questions: What is our neighborhood? Who are our neighbors? What are our neighborhood’s issues and opportunities? What are our neighborhood’s resources?

Religious Involvement and Bridging Social Ties: The Role of Congregational Participation

Stephen M. Merino

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 291-308

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.10

Stephen M. Merino, Sociology of Religion, Religious Involvement, Congregational Participation, Bridging Social Capital, Intergroup Contact

Research indicates that religious communities are important sites for the development of social resources, including social capital. Several studies suggest that religious involvement beyond worship services is a meaningful predictor of civic engagement that may foster bridging social capital, or ties that bridge social groups and cross lines of status and identity. This article explores the relationship between religious involvement and bridging social ties. Using nationally representative survey data and a subsample of individuals who are affiliated with one particular congregation, the article examines how religious service attendance and congregational participation (beyond services) are associated with frequency of interaction with someone from one of nine different social groups that vary along dimensions of social status and identity. Congregational participation beyond services positively predicts contact with several of the groups. In contrast, service attendance is either negatively related or not at all significantly related to interaction with someone from each of these nine different social groups.

Theology and Metaphysics as Scientific Endeavors

Kirk R. MacGregor

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 275-289

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.09

Theology, Metaphysics, Science, Knowledge, Cultural Comparison, Kirk R. MacGregor, Physical Sciences, Social Comparison

This article contends that theology is a scientific endeavor if it 1) makes correlations between humanity’s deepest existential questions and the answers provided by any given religious tradition and/or 2) it describes the beliefs and practices of various religious traditions as accurately as possible. The correlations in methodology are made by psychology, sociology, anthropology, and/or neurobiology. The descriptions in method are also collectively furnished by archaeology, history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and other cognate disciplines. The article further maintains that metaphysics is a scientific endeavor if it explains 3) the constituent elements of reality as a whole, as well as 4) explains the presuppositions used to detect these elements. I take a scientific endeavor as one that requires empirical and/or logical verification of its claims. Since my conceptions of theology and metaphysics demand such verification, they should be considered scientific.

Is Metaphysics a Science?

Thomas J. Burke

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 252-273

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.08

Theology, Metaphysics, Science, Knowledge, Thomas J. Burke, Cultural Comparison, Exegesis

Once esteemed as the highest form of knowledge, the legitimacy of metaphysics as a rational discipline has been severely challenged since the rise of modern science, particularly since it seemed that while the latter reached overall consensus, the disputes in the former seemed interminable. The question naturally arises whether metaphysics could ever achieve the status of a science. The following article presents the view that metaphysics is not nor could ever become a science in the sense of the modern “hard” sciences today because a) it seeks a different sort of knowledge, which b) cannot be acquired by the methods of modern science; and c) metaphysics serves a different cognitive purpose than the sort of knowledge that science can provide. It is, nevertheless, a rational subject, one in fact that supplies the necessary rational foundation for the positive sciences.

Theology as a Science: An Historical and Linguistic Approach

Mark Moore

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 241-250

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.07

Mark Moore, Theology, Metaphysics, Science, Wisdom, Wissenschaft, Knowledge

This article argues that, given the historical and linguistic background of the terms involved, the study of theology can, in fact, be considered a scientific endeavor, but one must clearly note what is inferred by the term “scientific.” Historically, the term “science” or “scientific” has dealt with the realm of knowledge of both the natural and supranatural world. The question of whether theology should be classified as a science arose during the formation of the medieval universities in the thirteenth century, as well as the formation of modern German universities in the nineteenth century. Theologians from Aquinas to Schleiermacher argued that theology should be considered a science and, therefore, a proper subject of study in the university. The affirmation of theology as a science in this article is based on this historical survey, as well as the broader linguistic understanding of the term “science.”

Theology, Metaphysics, and Science: Twenty-First Century Hermeneutical Allies, Strangers, or Enemies?

Peter M. Antoci

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 226-239

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.06

Peter M. Antoci, Theology, Metaphysics, Science, Epistemology, Hermeneutics

This article answers the question of whether the study of theology and metaphysics can be classified currently, or ever qualify in the future, as a scientific endeavor. Rather than choose a particular theology or metaphysics as the subject of inquiry, this essay argues that it is not only necessary to recognize the role of hermeneutics within different fields of study, but that it is also necessary to begin a human hermeneutic with human experience. Changes in our global context, whether social, economic, political, or environmental, are important drivers of hermeneutical evolution. We should expect no less change in the areas of theology, metaphysics, and science. The question of truth, whether subjective or objective, is a hermeneutical one.

Comparative Metaphysics and Theology as a Scientific Endeavor: A Ruist (Confucian) Perspective

Bin Song

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 203-224

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.05

Bin Song, Science, Metaphysics, Ruism, Confucianism, Kant, Luo Qinshun

Understood as being nothing more than fallible assumptions about the boundary conditions of an inquisitive worldview, this article seeks to argue that metaphysics and theology can, in fact, be pursued as a scientific endeavor. If we broaden our understanding of how perceived realities furnish feedback in order to refine preestablished human discourses, Ruist (Confucian) metaphysics and theology especially can be recognized as being historically pursued as a science by its own right. Eventually, the distinction of Western and Ruist traditions of metaphysics and theology, as well as the imperfections in each of them, speaks to the need of mutual learning for constructing a more robust metaphysical worldview in the twenty-first century.

The Science of Unknowable and Imaginary Things

Jack David Eller

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 178-201

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.04

Jack David Eller, Science, Metaphysics, Theology, Exegesis, Cultural Comparison

In this paper, I address the question of whether metaphysics and theology are or can become science. After examining the qualities of contemporary science, which evolved from an earlier historic concept of any body of literature into a formal method for obtaining empirical knowledge, I apply that standard to metaphysics and theology. I argue that neither metaphysics nor theology practices a scientific method or generates scientific knowledge. Worse, I conclude that both metaphysics and theology are at best purely cultural projects—exercises in exegesis of local cultural and religious ideas and language—and, therefore, that other cultures have produced or would produce radically different schemes of metaphysics or theology. At its worst, metaphysics is speculation about the unknowable, while theology is rumination about the imaginary.

Patristic Exegesis: The Myth of the Alexandrian-Antiochene Schools of Interpretation

Darren M. Slade

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 155-176

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.03

Darren M. Slade, Hermeneutics, Alexandria, Antioch, Exegesis, Allegory, Literal, Typology, Schools of Interpretation

The notion that there existed a distinction between so-called “Alexandrian” and “Antiochene” exegesis in the ancient church has become a common assumption among theologians. The typical belief is that Alexandria promoted an allegorical reading of Scripture, whereas Antioch endorsed a literal approach. However, church historians have long since recognized that this distinction is neither wholly accurate nor helpful to understanding ancient Christian hermeneutics. Indeed, neither school of interpretation sanctioned the practice of just one exegetical method. Rather, both Alexandrian and Antiochene theologians were expedient hermeneuts, meaning they utilized whichever exegetical practice (allegory, typology, literal, historical) that would supply them with their desired theology or interpretive conclusion. The difference between Alexandria and Antioch was not exegetical; it was theological. In other words, it was their respective theological paradigms that dictated their exegetical practices, allowing them to utilize whichever hermeneutical method was most expedient for their theological purposes. Ultimately, neither Alexandrian nor Antiochene exegetes possessed a greater respect for the biblical text over the other, nor did they adhere to modern-day historical-grammatical hermeneutics as theologians would like to believe.

The Relevance (and Irrelevance) of Questions of Personhood (and Mindedness) to the Abortion Debate

David Kyle Johnson

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 121-153

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.02

David Kyle Johnson, Abortion, Personhood, Mindedness, Sapience, Sentience, Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, Self-awareness, Roe v. Wade

Disagreements about abortion are often assumed to reduce to disagreements about fetal personhood (and mindedness). If one believes a fetus is a person (or has a mind), then they are “pro-life.” If one believes a fetus is not a person (or is not minded), they are “pro-choice.” The issue, however, is much more complicated. Not only is it not dichotomous—most everyone believes that abortion is permissible in some circumstances (e.g. to save the mother’s life) and not others (e.g. at nine months of a planned pregnancy)—but scholars on both sides of the issue (e.g. Don Marquis and Judith Thomson) have convincingly argued that fetal personhood (and mindedness) are irrelevant to the debate. To determine the extent to which they are right, this article will define “personhood,” its relationship to mindedness, and explore what science has revealed about the mind before exploring the relevance of both to questions of abortion’s morality and legality. In general, this article does not endorse a particular answer to these questions, but the article should enhance the reader’s ability to develop their own answers in a much more informed way.

Saul the Sadducee? A Rabbinical Thought Experiment

Charles David Isbell

Vol. 1, No. 2

Fall 2019

Pages: 85-119

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no2.01

Charles David Isbell, Apostle Paul, Sadducee, Pharisee, Saul, Luke-Acts, Luke, Gospel of Luke

In keeping with talmudic tradition, this article presents a rabbinical thought experiment that questions the authenticity—indeed the very historicity—of the Apostle Paul’s Pharisaic Jewish background. By examining current interpretations of Saul’s Damascus road conversion, as well as Lukan and Pauline accounts in the New Testament, it becomes evident that there exists a striking disparity between Paul and other first century Pharisees, particularly since he took far too many liberties with his beliefs and behaviors (pre- and post-conversion) that would have set him apart from his Pharisaic contemporaries. Moreover, Luke (a non-Jew writing in a post-Sadducean world) was both an unreliable biographer and yet the primary source for claiming Paul was a Pharisee. Thus, from a Jewish perspective, it is thought-provoking to ask whether the idea of Paul as originally a Sadducee best explains these disparities. Ultimately, the thesis of this article is that interpreters should not view Paul as having followed the standard path to becoming an authentic Pharisee. In fact, Paul’s radical revision of prevailing Pharisaic exegesis suggests he was likely never a Pharisee or, at the very least, not a consistent Pharisee in the tradition of Gamaliel. The purpose of this article is to trace just how modern scholarship would change if Pauline scholars presumed that Paul was, in fact, a Sadducee instead of a Pharisee. Undoubtedly, the consequence would suggest that both Paul and Luke were world-class (albeit opportunistic) rhetoricians who used Pharisaic imagery solely to add credibility to Paul’s image and his emerging influence on the primitive church.

Book Review: Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Emerging Church Movement by Michael Clawson and April Stace, eds.

Robert D. Francis

Vol. 1, No. 1

Spring 2019

Pages: 76-83

Free

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no1.07

Robert D. Francis, Michael Clawson, April Stace, Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith, Emerging Church Movement, Ancient-Future, Postmodern, Postcolonial

The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) has attracted a surprising amount of scholarly attention for a phenomenon notoriously resistant to definition and whose impact and size have been challenging to quantify. This edited volume, Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Emerging Church Movement, seeks to be a touchstone of the best scholarship about the ECM to date. Across ten chapters with thirteen contributors, the volume succeeds, although it is not without its flaws. Most notably, the relatively small universe of congregations upon which the work in this volume—and broader ECM scholarship—is based raises the question of how to quantify the impact and significance of the movement, something this volume leaves unresolved. Nonetheless, there is little doubt that Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith—as a single volume—is the best assemblage of scholarship about the ECM thus far. This book makes obvious sense as a core text for any college or seminary course.

Responses to the Religion Singularity: A Rejoinder

Darren M. Slade, Kenneth W. Howard

Vol. 1, No. 1

Spring 2019

Pages: 51-74

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no1.06

Darren M. Slade, Kenneth W. Howard, Religion Singularity, The Religion Singularity: A Demographic Crisis Destabilizing and Transforming Institutional Christianity, Denominational Switching, Social Memory, Religious Politics, Scientific Reductionism, Christian Judgmentalism

Since the publication of Kenneth Howard’s 2017 article, “The Religion Singularity: A Demographic Crisis Destabilizing and Transforming Institutional Christianity,” there has been an increasing demand to understand the root causes and historical foundations for why institutional Christianity is in a state of de-institutionalization. In response to Howard’s research, a number of authors have sought to provide a contextual explanation for why the religion singularity is currently happening, including studies in epistemology, church history, psychology, anthropology, and church ministry. The purpose of this article is to offer a brief survey and response to these interactions with Howard’s research, identifying the overall implications of each researcher’s perspective for understanding the religion singularity phenomenon. It explores factors relating to denominational switching in Jeshua Branch’s research, social memory in John Lingelbach’s essay, religious politics in Kevin Seybold’s survey, scientific reductionism in Jack David Eller’s position paper, and institutional moral failure in Brian McLaren’s article.

Conditions for the Great Religion Singularity

Brian D. McLaren

Vol. 1, No. 1

Spring 2019

Pages: 40-49

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no1.05

Brian McLaren, Brian D. McLaren, Religion Singularity, Law of Interdependent Origination, Institutional Christianity, Adaptability, Moral Failure

Applying the Buddhist “law of interdependent origination,” which states that if the conditions are right, a particular phenomenon may exist, Brian McLaren provides ten conditional factors that he believes have contributed to Ken Howard’s “religion singularity” (i.e. the multi-faceted collapse of institutional Christianity). Each condition falls under two main categories: either a lack of rapid adaptability in religious institutions or the moral failure of institutional leaders. The ten conditional factors include authoritarian centralization, betrayal of the religious founder’s non-violence, a history of unacknowledged atrocities, military imperialism, white supremacy, scandals, reaction against scientific inquiry, doubling down on dualism, integrated and change-averse institutional systems, and paralysis and nostalgia.

Is the Disintegration of Christianity a Problem—or Even a Surprise?

Jack David Eller

Vol. 1, No. 1

Spring 2019

Pages: 29-38

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no1.04

Jack David Eller, Religion Singularity, Deinstitutionalization, Religious Movement, Religious Economy, Religious Evolution, Crisis of Authority

This article argues that if Kenneth Howard’s prediction of a “religion singularity” is true, it should not be a worry for social scientists, who must remain neutral on religious matters. Further, the deinstitutionalization, fragmentation, atomization, and even extinction of religion should come as no surprise to scholars who have observed these processes repeatedly. This process occurs not only in the realm of religion but in all social domains, from family and marriage to government—and indeed not only in social domains but in the natural world, as well. Contemporary forces of mediatization and neoliberalism are only the latest threats to institutional membership, creating a crisis among established authorities and encouraging “irregular” religion just as much as they encourage “irregular” employment. While the “religious economy” model suggests an adaptation of religion to the tastes and preferences of today’s religious consumer, ethnographic evidence illustrates the difference between religious institutions and religiosity, the rise of multiple small religious movements, and the struggle for survival between sects, denominations, and churches. Ultimately it may be the case that the institutional phase of Christianity was only one moment in its religious evolution, which evolved from small, local, independent congregations and may return to—or end in—that form.

A Cultural Cognition Perspective on Religion Singularity: How Political Identity Influences Religious Affiliation

Kevin S. Seybold

Vol. 1, No. 1

Spring 2019

Pages: 21-28

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no1.03

Kevin S. Seybold, Religion Singularity, Cultural Cognition, Politics, Group Identity, Ideology, Polarization

Kenneth Howard argues in his paper, “The Religion Singularity,” that institutional Christianity has experienced and will continue to experience an increase in the number of denominations and individual worship centers, which, along with a slower increase in the number of Christians in the US, will make institutional Christianity unsustainable in its current form. While there are, no doubt, many reasons why this religion singularity has or will take place, this paper examines the role of cultural cognition on the trends reported in Howard’s article. Cultural commitments and values, such as group membership and identity, influence the position individuals take on a variety of religious and political topics, which can then lead to polarization on these issues within the broader society. While we might expect that religious affiliations play an important role in determining a person’s political views, this article seeks to identify whether the reverse is also true, namely the extent to which political views affect an individual’s religious affiliation. This article reviews research that suggests the increasing political polarization in the United States over the past few decades has contributed, along with other factors, to the religion singularity reported by Howard.

First Century Christian Diversity: Historical Evidence of a Social Phenomenon

John F. Lingelbach

Vol. 1, No. 1

Spring 2019

Pages: 11-20

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no1.02

John F. Lingelbach, Religion Singularity, Christianity, Church Demographics, Christian Diversity, First Century Church

In light of Ken Howard’s recent “religion singularity” phenomenon, this article attempts to ascertain the nature of Christian diversity during the last seventy years of the first century (roughly 30 to 100 CE). It offers an examination of the two largest Christian movements that existed before the second century, as well as when those movements may have begun and the locations they most likely flourished. The article argues that the earliest Christian tradition was the one persecuted by the Apostle Paul and that later, two breakaway movements splintered off from this tradition: the Pauline and Ebionite movements. The paper concludes that during the first century, of these two splinter movements, the Pauline movement likely preceded that of the Ebionite movement, though they both flourished in many of the same locations. Of interest is the finding that all three Christian movements (the pre-Pauline tradition, Pauline, and Ebionite) flourished in Asia Minor, a cosmopolitan sub-continent which appears to have served as a geographic information nucleus through which diverse ideas easily proliferated.

Grenz and Franke’s Post-Foundationalism and the Religion Singularity

Jeshua B. Branch

Vol. 1, No. 1

Spring 2019

Pages: 1-9

$1.99

DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2019.vol1.no1.01

Jeshua B. Branch, Religion Singularity, Stanley J. Grenz, John R. Franke, Foundationalism, Institutional Christianity, Nondenominational Churches, Postmodernity

Termed the “religion singularity” by Kenneth Howard, the habitual fragmentation of institutional Christianity has led to the exponential growth in denominations and worship centers despite the annual growth rate of new believers remaining the same. Howard has concluded that denominations are unlikely to survive this crisis, although worship centers are much more likely to survive if they are willing to be flexible. The purpose of this article is to identify the epistemic trends that have led to the destabilization of institutional Christianity over the last century, namely the shifting worldview from modernity to postmodernity, and how this shift has influenced the rise of nondenominational house church attendance in American Christianity.