Question

[cbisbig]

Apr 1, 2024 19:12:01 GMT -5 Walter said:

Book arrived today.
Looks interesting.
We shall see...

Try to have an open mind.

[daleko]

Mar 30, 2024 14:40:40 GMT -5 cbisbig said:

Mar 28, 2024 13:55:07 GMT -5 Walter said:

I've ordered the book.
We shall see where it takes me.

Good for and be open minded.

Yes, keep an open mind, indeed. Smith seems to support a perennial philosophy. A popular interpretation argues for universalism, the idea that all religions, including older Native civilizations (Native American also), underneath seeming differences, essentially point to the same Truth.

The issue for many is that any discussion of God/Divine Reality eventually extends to a/my religion. My way is the highway. I've been chastised here for saying it ain't so. One can't, apparently, believe in a Divine reality w/o a religion, especially if it isn't "my" religion.

Religious pluralism is not accepted ftmp, by the leaders anyway, although that is changing. Religious pluralism suggests that each religion is a direct result of humanity's attempt to grasp and understand the "incomprehensible divine reality" (Though that is another assumption). Therefore, each religion has an authentic but ultimately inadequate perception of divine reality, producing a partial understanding of the universal truth because any study never escapes human subjectivity. Whatever that may be.

That and the opinion held by many that revelation is at odds w investigation. And the investigation is at odds w revelation.That, disagreement is death. Physical and spiritual. One example being the Mid-East, today. There was a time, from around 800 to 1100, Islamic Baghdad and the Mid-East was the center of the scientific world. The Islamic Golden Age. Math & sciences flourished and as a traveling crossroads it was open to everyone. Advances in engineering, biology,  math, navigation and medicine. 2/3 of the known stars have Arabic names. Our numerals are called what? Algebra. Algorithm. Then the 12th century arrives w the influence of the Islamic scholar Hamid al-Ghazali whose philosophy advanced that math, science and investigation is the work of the devil. The entire intellectual foundation collapsed under the new 1200 Islam and never has recovered. In the math and sciences there have been maybe 5 Nobel prize winners w 1 billion Islamic believers.
 
My point may suggest there is room at the table for both.

But having said too much, again, if the book is on Libby or Hoopla, I'll get it and listen to. He also has written several other books that look interesting. 

[DrSchadenfreude]

Apr 2, 2024 15:57:38 GMT -5 daleko said:

Mar 30, 2024 14:40:40 GMT -5 cbisbig said:

Good for and be open minded.

Yes, keep an open mind, indeed. Smith seems to support a perennial philosophy. A popular interpretation argues for universalism, the idea that all religions, including older Native civilizations (Native American also), underneath seeming differences, essentially point to the same Truth.

The issue for many is that any discussion of God/Divine Reality eventually extends to a/my religion. My way is the highway. I've been chastised here for saying it ain't so. One can't, apparently, believe in a Divine reality w/o a religion, especially if it isn't "my" religion.

Religious pluralism is not accepted ftmp, by the leaders anyway, although that is changing. Religious pluralism suggests that each religion is a direct result of humanity's attempt to grasp and understand the "incomprehensible divine reality" (Though that is another assumption). Therefore, each religion has an authentic but ultimately inadequate perception of divine reality, producing a partial understanding of the universal truth because any study never escapes human subjectivity. Whatever that may be.

That and the opinion held by many that revelation is at odds w investigation. And the investigation is at odds w revelation.That, disagreement is death. Physical and spiritual. One example being the Mid-East, today. There was a time, from around 800 to 1100, Islamic Baghdad and the Mid-East was the center of the scientific world. The Islamic Golden Age. Math & sciences flourished and as a traveling crossroads it was open to everyone. Advances in engineering, biology,  math, navigation and medicine. 2/3 of the known stars have Arabic names. Our numerals are called what? Algebra. Algorithm. Then the 12th century arrives w the influence of the Islamic scholar Hamid al-Ghazali whose philosophy advanced that math, science and investigation is the work of the devil. The entire intellectual foundation collapsed under the new 1200 Islam and never has recovered. In the math and sciences there have been maybe 5 Nobel prize winners w 1 billion Islamic believers.
 
My point may suggest there is room at the table for both.

But having said too much, again, if the book is on Libby or Hoopla, I'll get it and listen to. He also has written several other books that look interesting. 

It's a complicated subject, Daleko.

I believe that there are, in fact, profound commonalities between Taoism, Buddhism, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Also, Orthodox Christianity is a major branch of a Jewish tree.  The Orthodox liturgy, eucharistic rites, Septuagint, and even the structure of the Eastern basilicas were all derived from the synagogues of the Hellenic world.

But, unlike Christianity, Judaism has always been, in essence, a tribalistic religion-- a religion of, by, and for, the Hebrews.

Islam is, basically, a Christological heresy.  For example, Mohammed claimed that he was the Paraclete-- the Holy Spirit of the traditional Christian Trinity!

That concept is irreconcilable with traditional Christianity.

Mohammed also condoned murder and theft, whereas Christ preached love of ones enemies and detachment from worldly possessions.

If you study the Koran, Hadith, and Sunna, you will learn that shari'a law is far from syncretistic, although it does, overtly, allow Jews and Christians to live in Islamic nations (the Dar al Islam) as dhimmis-- second class citizens who have markedly restricted rights, and must pay a religious, jizya tax.

In practice, Islam has severely persecuted Judaism and Christianity in the former Byzantine Empire-- to the extent that the Orthodox Church is virtually extinct in modern Anatolia.

My Spiritual Father-- a Russian Orthodox priest-- always taught me that we Orthodox cannot know the spiritual fate of those outside of the Church, nor can we fully know God, in His Essence, but only in His Theophany as Christ.

At the same time, the pre-Christian Jewish Patriarchs and Prophets are revered as saints by the Orthodox Church.