Naturalism and the Aesthetic Character of Religion: The Eclipse of the Absolute in the Experience of the Sacred
Issued Date: 28 Aug 2014
Abstract
I offer an aesthetic religious metaphysics from the perspective of naturalism as the most effective antidote to abjection within religion. I understand abjection within religious experience as the simultaneous desire to demonize nature and to idolize one’s conception of the sacred. My chief argument is that abjection occurs when the sacred is understood as being absolute. I trace the absolute character of the sacred to a metaphysics that insists on the utter incommensurability of the sacred with respect to nature. In contrast I defend a metaphysics that points to the radical indefiniteness and radical fecundity of nature as the reason why the sacred must be one of innumerable orders of nature. Once the sacred is leveled to the plane of nature, demonization and idolization are virtually foreclosed within religion because the sacred is now related and relative to other orders of nature.
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References
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———. 1961. The Concept of Method (New York: Columbia University Press).
———. 1979 [1951]. Toward a General Theory of Human Judgment (New York: Dover Publications, 2nd rev. edn).
———. 1990 [1966]. Metaphysics of Natural Complexes (ed. Kathleen Wallace and Armen Marsoobian with Robert S. Corrington; Albany: State University of New York Press, 2nd exp. edn).
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———. 1993. An Introduction to C.S. Peirce: Philosopher, Semiotician, and Ecstatic Naturalist (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield).
———. 1994. Ecstatic Naturalism: Signs of the World (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
———. 1997. Nature’s Religion (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield).
———. 2000. A Semiotic Theory of Theology and Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511487644.
———. 2013. Nature’s Sublime: An Essay in Aesthetic Naturalism (Lanham: Lexington Books).
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Neville, Robert Cummings. 1996. The Truth of Broken Symbols (Albany: State University of New York Press).
———. 2009. Realism in Religion: A Pragmatist’s Perspective (Albany: State University of New York Press).
Otto, Rudolf. 1958 [1917]. The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational (trans. John W. Harvey; New York: Oxford University Press, 2nd edn).
Peirce, Charles Sanders. 1992. The Essential Peirce. Vol. 1, 1867–1893 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
———. 1998. The Essential Peirce. Vol. 2, 1893–1913 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
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Shakespeare, William. 1974. The Riverside Shakespeare (ed. G. Blakemore Evans; Boston: Houghton Mifflin).
Tillich, Paul. 1951. Systematic Theology, vol. 1 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
———. 1952. The Courage to Be (New Haven: Yale University Press).
———. 1957. Systematic Theology, vol. 2 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
———. 1963. Systematic Theology, vol. 3 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Yalcin, Martin. 2011. ‘American Naturalism on Pantheism’, American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 32.2: 156-79.
———. 2013. Naturalism’s Philosophy of the Sacred: Justus Buchler, Karl Jaspers, and George Santayana (Lanham: Lexington Books).
———. 1961. The Concept of Method (New York: Columbia University Press).
———. 1979 [1951]. Toward a General Theory of Human Judgment (New York: Dover Publications, 2nd rev. edn).
———. 1990 [1966]. Metaphysics of Natural Complexes (ed. Kathleen Wallace and Armen Marsoobian with Robert S. Corrington; Albany: State University of New York Press, 2nd exp. edn).
Corrington, Robert S. 1992. Nature and Spirit: An Essay in Ecstatic Naturalism (New York: Fordham University Press).
———. 1993. An Introduction to C.S. Peirce: Philosopher, Semiotician, and Ecstatic Naturalist (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield).
———. 1994. Ecstatic Naturalism: Signs of the World (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
———. 1997. Nature’s Religion (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield).
———. 2000. A Semiotic Theory of Theology and Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511487644.
———. 2013. Nature’s Sublime: An Essay in Aesthetic Naturalism (Lanham: Lexington Books).
Hegel, G.W.F. 1977 [1807]. The Phenomenology of Spirit (trans. A.V. Miller; Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Irigaray, Luce. 1991 [1980]. Marine Lover of Friedrich Nietzsche (trans. Gillian C. Gill; New York: Columbia University Press).
Kristeva, Julia. 1982 [1980]. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (trans. Leon S. Roudiez; New York: Columbia University Press).
Neville, Robert Cummings. 1996. The Truth of Broken Symbols (Albany: State University of New York Press).
———. 2009. Realism in Religion: A Pragmatist’s Perspective (Albany: State University of New York Press).
Otto, Rudolf. 1958 [1917]. The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational (trans. John W. Harvey; New York: Oxford University Press, 2nd edn).
Peirce, Charles Sanders. 1992. The Essential Peirce. Vol. 1, 1867–1893 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
———. 1998. The Essential Peirce. Vol. 2, 1893–1913 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
Pseudo-Dionysius. 1987 [c. 500s CE]. ‘The Mystical Theology’, in Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works (trans. C. Luibheid and P. Rorem; London: SPCK).
Shakespeare, William. 1974. The Riverside Shakespeare (ed. G. Blakemore Evans; Boston: Houghton Mifflin).
Tillich, Paul. 1951. Systematic Theology, vol. 1 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
———. 1952. The Courage to Be (New Haven: Yale University Press).
———. 1957. Systematic Theology, vol. 2 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
———. 1963. Systematic Theology, vol. 3 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Yalcin, Martin. 2011. ‘American Naturalism on Pantheism’, American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 32.2: 156-79.
———. 2013. Naturalism’s Philosophy of the Sacred: Justus Buchler, Karl Jaspers, and George Santayana (Lanham: Lexington Books).
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