Questioning Assumptions: Rethinking the Philosophy of Religion

by Tom Christenson

Tom Christenson turns philosophy inside out in this remarkable new book. Starting with the ongoing public debate over God's existence, he approaches traditional arguments in philosophy of religion and peels back their veneers to uncover the questionable assumptions underlying each. This brief, valuable book drives the reader to reconsider how to think about the most fundamental questions that surround matters of faith and religious belief. For Christenson, three key assumptions need that believing is the focal act of faith; that the basic religious question is about the existence of God; and that religious language actually refers to some thing , namely God. He interrogates each for its adequacy and implications for larger questions of faith and reason. By making these assumptions explicit, Christenson explores intriguing new ways of looking at the rationality of faith. Augmenting his analysis and critique, Christenson concludes each chapter with important questions for reflection. These questions carry through the critical stance that he asks of himself and his readers, challenging all to rethink and re-imagine whether religious faith is rational .

Genres: Philosophy

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Laura Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book articulates something that I have been contemplating for a while, which is that atheists and theists tend to debate using the same framework using a very limited definition of religion based on common assumptions derived from a certain type of Christian belief. The book makes the argument that the framework of the debate is wrong. One assumption that the author challenges is that "belief" meaning an intellectual assent, is the foundational definition of religion. (This is an idea that is taken on in more depth in The Religious Case Against Belief, a book which Christenson cites.)

The other argument is that the question of the existence of God is the main "problem" or fundamental question of religion is a faulty assumption. The author draws on religious traditions and our own culture's religious history to show that whether or not God exists has not always been, and is not universally now, the foundational question that religion seeks to address.

One of the problems that we have in talking about God, Christenson writes, is that God is a noun in English. (This made me curious if it is a verb in any other languages, the book didn't answer this.) This leads us to talk about God and think about God as an object.

He compares the concept of God, rather, to space and time which are concepts that we cannot measure or identify in and of themselves, rather we understand them by their effects or our relationship to them.

Thus, he argues, we have an understanding of things that are real but do not have existence. I was a little bit confused by the definition of "existence" in this context. My commonsense understanding of the word would make real and existing synonyms. Time does not exist in a material sense, but it exists as a concept or in some non-material fashion. I might have benefited from more clarity on the definition of "existence." (I found myself thinking of Bill Clinton's famous quote "It depends on what your definition of is is.")

Overall, though, I found the idea of conceptualizing God as being like time rather than as something like a big man in the sky or a human-like supernatural mind to be compelling. The reality vs. existence idea is something I'll have to think about a bit more.

[Erika Schoeps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very easy, repetitive, and kind of pandering. I wouldn't recommend this for anything but beginners.