Introduction to Philosophy of Religion

James Kellenberger

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351219761
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Using various and competing religious sensibilities, Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion helps students work through the traditional material and their own religious questions.

Chapter 1
Religions of the World

This chapter is designed to provide a background acquaintance with at least some of the religions of the world. In the next chapter we begin to discuss issues in philosophy of religion proper. By providing a description of some of the various religions of the world, this chapter gives us a common background for our discussion of the problems and issues addressed by philosophy of religion. Many of us are familiar with some religion, as many of us belong to some particular religion. Some of us may be acquainted with two religions because members of our family belong to different religions. Probably most of us have little acquaintance with more than one religion. And some of us may be unacquainted with any religion at a personal level. A good portion of our discussion in this book addresses those religions in which belief in God is central, the theistic religions, though the book is not limited to that area. In fact, our understanding of how some of the issues in philosophy of religion relate differently to different religions will enhance our understanding of these issues, and at least one of the issues discussed—the issue of the relationship between religions—requires us to bring into relief contrasting features of the religions of the world.

There are many religions in the world. Even if we acknowledge the impossibility of giving a strict or essentialist definition of religion (as we should), this plurality of religions is indisputable. Many of the religions are considered world religions, or religions that have millions of followers and are represented throughout the world on several if not all the inhabited continents. Not all religions are designated as such, however, as they are more limited in the number of adherents they have and in their geographic extension. We do not undertake to provide an in-depth comparative study of the world’s religions; that is beyond our scope and more than we need for this book’s purposes. We instead present a synopsis of five world religions and then, in a final section of this chapter, say a word about other religions and certain forms of nonreligion or alternatives to traditional religion. Keep in mind that each of the world religions presented here is not monolithic. Each takes several forms, and each over time has to some degree evolved; in other words, there are different forms of religious sensibility. We start with one of the oldest religious traditions.¹

Hinduism

Hinduism is the main religion of the Indian subcontinent, although many today who can properly be classed as Hindu would not use either Hinduism or Hindu to label themselves. This is because the name Hinduism was created in the nineteenth century by Western scholars and the word Hindu, though older than Hinduism, is of Persian origin, like the word India. Some writers in the tradition called Hinduism prefer the name “eternal dharma,” or “eternal teaching.” Still, the name Hinduism has become established, and we use it here. Hinduism is, even more than other religions, less a unified and organized entity and more a loose system of overlapping religious practices, traditions, and beliefs. There is no required creed recited by all Hindus, and there is no Hindu analogue to the Roman Catholic Pope.

Around the world there are many millions who follow the tradition of Hinduism. By different estimates, there are from 640 million to 800 million Hindus in India. In addition, there are perhaps 20 million more Hindus in the rest of the world. Many of these 20 million are in South Asia, though a considerable number of Hindus live in Africa, the West Indies, North America, and Europe.

Hinduism is unlike Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam in that it has no single founder. It therefore does not date from the lifetime of a single individual, as do Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. The origins of Hinduism lie in oral traditions that are quite ancient. Although the broad religious tradition that is Hinduism has developed on the Indian subcontinent for 3,000 years, the thousand years between 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E. constitute an important period in the formation of Hinduism. (B.C.E. means “before the Common Era” and C.E. means “Common Era.” The Common Era corresponds to the Christian Era. However, B.C.E. and C.E. are the modern abbreviations that are most often used in discussions of religion in place of B.C. and A.D.) The oldest textual source of Hinduism is the Rig Veda. Dating from 1400 to 1000 B.C.E., the Rig Veda is the oldest of four Vedas, which are taken as shruti, or revealed. The Rig Veda contains poetry and hymns of praise to various gods and goddesses. In this way the Rig Veda is definitely polytheistic, with an array of gods and goddesses that is often compared to the ancient Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses. Many of the gods of the Vedic pantheon faded from Hindu worship, and two comparatively insignificant gods in the Rig Veda, Vishnu and Shiva, came into prominence in later Hinduism.

The term Veda (Sanskrit for knowledge) is given to the body of writings, taken as revealed, that starts with the four Vedas, about 1400 B.C.E., and ends with the Upanishads, 700–400 B.C.E. The Upanishads, the completion of the revealed Vedic literature, contain speculations and teachings about ultimate reality. In the older Upanishads, there is speculation about the soul being related to an impersonal highest Reality. In the later Upanishads, in contrast, the ultimate reality is conceived as a personal God. These two opposed doctrines have existed side by side in the broader Hindu tradition for centuries.

Writings later than the Vedic literature are significant for Hinduism but are not regarded as revealed. Nevertheless, they still have a special authority in the tradition. Notable are the epic tales Mahabharata and Ramayana, dating from 500 B.C.E. to 400 C.E. The eighteen-book Mahabharata, written in Sanskrit, probably between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E., is the longest poem in the world. In its main story line it tells the epic story of the struggle for the throne of a kingdom in India and the great civil war that ensued. On one side are five brothers, the Pandavas, the rightful heirs to the throne, and on the other side are one hundred brothers, the Kauravas, who wrongly seek to retain power. For a time the five brothers wander about as soldiers of fortune. They marry in common the Princess Draupadi, and they meet Krishna, who becomes their divine friend and helper. Krishna is Lord Krishna, an avatar, or incarnation, of the god Vishnu (avatara means “descent,” as into a worldly form). Krishna encourages the Pandavas in their struggle and in the great battle between their army and the army of the Kauravas and their allies. After eighteen days of fighting, only the five brothers and Krishna are left alive. The throne passes to the grandson of Arjuna, one of the five brothers; and the five brothers and their wife at the end of the poem set out for the Himalayas, where they enter the blissful City of the Gods.

The Mahabharata is a great source of Hindu values, theology, and even statecraft. Theology is the study of God and God’s relation to humanity and the universe, or, for Hinduism, the gods and their relation to humanity and the universe. The influence of the Mahabharata on Hindu religion and culture has been such that it is regarded as a “fifth Veda.” A short but very important part of the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita. In the Bhagavad Gita² the Lord Krishna both gives spiritual advice to Arjuna regarding his duty (dharma) to fight on behalf of his cause and teaches as his supreme word the way of devotion and worship of himself as personal Lord. The Bhagavad Gita makes up a short book, which stands alone and is often read by itself by Hindus and others. It has often been translated and many commentaries have been written on it.

After the Vedic period, several manuals or codes came into prominence, such as the Code of Manu, probably composed between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. They give specific moral guidance and, like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, are not regarded as shruti or revealed, but only as smriti or “remembered.” Not being revealed they are not scriptural or canonical; that is, they are not recognized as having the special religious authority of what is revealed. But they still have some religious authority. Some Hindus more often read the manuals than the revealed Vedas. All these writings, from the canonical Vedas to the noncanonical epics and manuals, are sources of various forms of Hindu religious sensibilities and practice, even if for many Hindus only indirectly.

Popular Hindu practice includes worship of Vishnu or other Hindu gods or goddesses and pilgrimages to caves, mountains, and other places sacred to one deity or another. Hindus journey to India’s many holy rivers, the Ganges being the most holy, to bathe and participate in religious rites. Reverence for cows, along with their protection, is deeply grounded in Hindu tradition. Some Hindus are strict vegetarians, although many are not. Throughout India, in different localities, there are various festivals honoring one Hindu deity or another.

A nearly universal Hindu belief is the belief in reincarnation or a karmic cycle of rebirth. Karma is action, and it is believed that the actions of our present and past lives determine our rebirth in our next life. Salvation or liberation (or moksha) is the release from the karmic cycle of rebirth. This belief (though not limited to Hinduism) is near the center of Hindu sensibility.

In any effort to understand and appreciate Hinduism, it must be kept firmly in mind that Hinduism embraces several forms and practices, and these forms and practices, expressed in different sensibilities, are sometimes very different from one another. In the complex of religious practice and belief that is Hinduism, there are three different margas, or paths to moksha: the path of devotion, the path of action, and the path of knowledge. They can be combined or one can be emphasized.

The path of devotion (bhakti), with its various forms of worship, has had a wider appeal than the more austere ways of knowledge and action. It is the way of bhakti or devotion that Krishna recommends in the Bhagavad Gita. Many different gods may be worshipped, such as Ganesha the elephant god, Kama the god of love, or the mother goddess in various forms, including the fierce Kali or the gracious and kind Parvati. Hindus may worship the three gods of the Trimurti: Brahma the creator, Shiva the destroyer, and Vishnu the preserver. Both Shiva and Vishnu have many devotees in India. Brahma the creator has no cult of devotees, although he has several temples and is important in Hindu art. Also important religiously, and from a devotional standpoint, are the avatars of Vishnu, especially Krishna, who, since the Bhagavad Gita, has been regarded as a deity in his own right. The birthday of Lord Krishna is celebrated throughout India. Another of Vishnu’s avatars, Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, is also considered a god in his own right. There are nine main avatars of Vishnu, Krishna being the eighth and Rama the seventh, but in addition there are innumerable other avatars of Vishnu claimed by his followers. The devotional form of Hinduism allows the worship of the one God through the worship of any of several gods, and often this is done quite consciously. This practice is a form of henotheism, devotion to one God while accepting the existence of other gods. Henotheism is distinguished from unqualified polytheism.

Contrasting with devotional Hinduism is the Vedanta, or “end of the Vedas,” teaching of Shankara. In the eighth or early ninth century of the Common Era, Shankara provided a systematic treatment of the Upanishadic teaching that the highest reality is an impersonal Absolute. Shankara’s teaching, called advaita, is monistic or nondualistic. In this teaching all is one, so that there ultimately is no distinction between this and that, between knower and known, between Brahman, the impersonal Absolute, and atman, the soul of the individual. For this strain of Hinduism, moksha, is attained not through worship and devotion, but through overcoming the illusion of diversity, which is done through the practice of piety, virtue, and meditation. Finally, the layers of illusion, built up by the karma of this life or earlier lives, are shed and true Being, Consciousness, and Bliss (sat-chit-ananda) is attained.

The dharma of Hinduism provides a moral and social order. This is done in great part by the caste system, for specific duties are associated with specific castes. Historically there are four main castes: the priests or Brahmans, the noblemen or warriors, the merchants, and menials and laborers. These castes form a hierarchy (the Brahmans being in the highest caste). Different duties and rights (dharma) pertain for different castes. Brahmans study and recite the Vedas, though this would be very wrong for those in a low caste. Those in a low caste may drink liquor, though Brahmans may not. There are four main castes, but hundreds even thousands of subcastes developed over time. Today the caste system is being broken down in India, at least in the cities of India. Hinduism today, as in the past, can take different forms. Some Hindus are in the tradition of Hinduism by virtue of their worship of Vishnu; others are by virtue of their worship of Shiva or Kali; still others, by virtue of their worship of the one God through their worship of Vishnu or another god of the Hindu pantheon; and yet others are in the tradition of Hinduism by virtue of their meditative approach to the impersonal reality of Brahman.

Buddhism

Buddhism has taken many forms over the centuries, interacting with various cultures as it spread from India over Southeast Asia to China and Japan. There are today perhaps 300 million–400 million Buddhists in the world. Although the name Buddhism was created by Westerners fairly recently, the complex religious tradition of Buddhism can be traced to a single founder, who is recognized as such by all those who follow some form of the Buddhist tradition.

Buddhism originated on the Indian subcontinent in the fifth century B.C.E. The founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama, who lived from about 560 B.C.E. to about 480 B.C.E. In the traditional account of Siddhartha’s life, he was born into the noble or warrior caste in northern India or present day Nepal on the slopes of the Himalayas. Prince Siddhartha was raised in luxury in anticipation of his assuming his father’s throne as the successor. He married his cousin and they had a son. Siddhartha, however, was not at ease in his princely life. At age twenty-nine he saw the “four passing signs” that astrologers had prophesied at his birth: a sick man, an old man, a dead man, and a monk. The first three represented the misery of human existence, but the fourth expressed emancipation from that misery. These sights triggered a resolve in Siddhartha. With a servant he departed the city and began his quest. Out of the city, he shed his royal clothes, cut his hair, and took the robe of an ascetic. This in the Buddhist tradition is known as the “Great Renunciation.”

He followed his quest for seven years. In pursuit of his goal of salvation or liberation Siddhartha sought instruction from those versed in the way of severe ascetic renunciation and from those versed in the way of Brahmanic thought, as well as from others. He then took up a life of extreme asceticism in his quest. One day, famished, he passed out from hunger. When he revived he begged for food. Now thirty-five, he abandoned extreme asceticism and sought a new way. He sat down under a pipal tree (known thereafter as the Bo Tree or Bodhi Tree, i.e., the wisdom tree) and for forty-nine days he meditated. On the forty-ninth day, according to Buddhist tradition, he experienced the “Great Awakening” or “Great Enlightenment” and, in attaining enlightenment, became the Buddha, the Enlightened One, who has overcome the ignorance that binds beings to the suffering of the world.

The Buddha arose and walked to the Deer Park near Benaras. There he preached his first sermon to five ascetics, with whom he had formally practiced asceticism. This sermon is known in the Buddhist tradition as the first “turning of the wheel of the Dharma” (a wheel, the wheel of the Dharma, is often used as the visual symbol of Buddhism). In his sermon the Buddha taught the “Four Noble Truths.” The first is that all existence is misery. The second is that the cause of misery is ignorant craving. The third is that this craving and the misery it causes can be overcome. And the fourth is that this can be done by following the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path addresses both exterior and interior action and defines the “Middle Way” between extreme asceticism and indulgence. It consists of: (1) right understanding, (2) right-mindedness, (3) right speech, (4) right action, (5) right livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) right mediation, and (8) right mental absorption. By following these steps with great dedication, one may begin to approach Nirvana, the “blowing out” of the flame of passion and craving and the attainment of Buddhahood.

The ascetics to whom the Buddha preached his first sermon became his followers and so there began the Sangha, or Buddhist monastic order. More were converted, and the Buddha sent them out to teach the new Buddhist way. For the rest of his life, until he was eighty, the Buddha traveled from place to place preaching and discoursing. Many heard his sayings and discourses, and though they were retained and passed on in an oral tradition, they were not written down for four centuries. When the Buddha knew that his life was ending he lay down between two trees. He died surrounded by his followers, and by tradition at his death he entered parinirvana, full realization and the cessation of rebirth.

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