Other religions!

We are often asked about 'other religions' with respect to either 'salvation' (however this is conceived in made-up religions) or moral performance: being a 'good' person (notwithstanding that Yeshua has pointed out that no one is good but Yahweh). 

Our reflex is to attempt to discuss the exclusivity of Christ, but often without knowing to start with him being Creator (Colossians 1:13-17ff).

Another way to approach this question is to have a 'grid' by which to talk about the other religion in terms of its structure of reality.

This grid has 3 elements, or dimensions of consideration for any religion:

The centre or 'What/who is god?'

This is the religion's 'centre', generally it is expressed in its conception of deity: for instance is it personal, or localized in a person who might or might not exhaust the deity (thus, Jesus localizes deity, but does not exhaust it). Is the deity communicative: is the communication propositional and thus congruent with our propositional capacity? Is the deity non-propositional, or non-pesronal, such as would be typical of Eastern religions. or even non-existent, as in Buddhism?

The deity or 'Where is god?'

Flowing on from the centre of the religion is the characterization or the place of deity. Is god contained by our general ontological framing, or external to it? On the surface, a deity-concept that is 'contained' by the context that 'contains' or grounds us, is within the system that hosts the dilemma of man (man's' dignity and his corruption being the joint bounds of man's experience of life). On the face of it, not a very encouraging conception.

 

Or is the deity outside of our life-world, to borrow a term? That is, outside 'the world'. As an example, the typical ancient pagan gods are within the world and seem to be contingent, much like flawed super-men. Some pagan gods are identical with the world but manifest in 'spirits' of place and dynamics (e.g. weather gods). Where the god is is the foundation, along with the 'centre' for understanding the connection, if any, between god and man.

Discontent and its Resolution

What is the fulcrum by which the resolution of the dilemma of man: or, as some may like to put it the 'problem of evil' (although the 'problem' goes far deeper than the superficiality of its typical expression). Is it the content of man's actions or is it external to man's actions?

 

This may obviously be a question that springs from the Bible; a Judaeo-Christian question, but still worthwhile: does man 'save' himself?. Does the cosmos 'save' him - or bury him, as in popular atheism?. Does the deity who is still within the 'system' 'save' him, but then, how? Or is saving, or the means of resolution of the dilemma, from without the 'system'?If it is not external to the system, then it must explain how a profoundly corrupted whole system can in any way be the source of the dilemma that is created within and configured by that very system.

Man's connection with reality

How is man connected to the external reality in his full personhood: How does the religion connect man's inherent telos (we cannot but think of the future in some way, as the future is always there as the next thing to do and every next thing subsequently in pursuit of our ambitions) with his contingent state? This is about purpose and its ground. How does man's life revolve about what does not exist: the future and his ambitions for it.

And then, what is the character of man's dilemma the tragedy of his greatness and his foulness which dogs us all and is inescapable historically and existentially.

 

No final answer can come from within the creation, from a non-person, and without relationship, connection and a basis in the real. Denial of the real, which some religions use as their ontological escape hatch, is a vain option.

The world thus connected to

What is the world that we can make sense of it in some way, or us in the world who want to and seek to make sense of it: of our relationships, of our whole 'life-world' (a useful term without wanting to import all of Husserl's ideas and those he influenced)? 

Where does our interaction come from, what is it, and how do we think we can trust it?

The start of analysis of how other religions deal with the concrete facts of the dilemma and its existential tensions is set in this grid that seeks the structure of other religions on these three pivots.It provides a starting point for inquiry and perhaps creates a path for coming to grips with the nature of the 'program' of the religion under consideration.

 

Or in other words

In brief we might inquire into:

• What is God?
• Where is God?
• Who is man?
• Why is man?
• What is the problem?
• Why is the problem?
• What is the solution?
• Why would we care?

See another way of putting this.