{"id":8445,"date":"2013-10-07T12:49:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T12:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2013\/10\/07\/stephen-prothero-to-speak-at-arizona-state-university\/"},"modified":"2013-10-07T12:49:59","modified_gmt":"2013-10-07T12:49:59","slug":"stephen-prothero-to-speak-at-arizona-state-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2013\/10\/07\/stephen-prothero-to-speak-at-arizona-state-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen “God is not One” Prothero to Speak at Arizona State University"},"content":{"rendered":"

Details here<\/a>.  What follows is an excerpt from a 2010 post:<\/span><\/p>\n

Religions: Problems, Solutions, Techniques<\/h3>\n
\n
\n

Simplifying a four-part
\n schema employed by Stephen Prothero in his God Is Not One<\/em> (Harper,
\n2010, p. 14), I propose, in agreement with Prothero, that each religion can be
\nusefully seen as addressing itself to a problem<\/em>; offering a
\nsolution<\/em> to the problem, a solution that also constitutes the
\nreligion's goal; and proposing a technique<\/em> for solving the problem and
\nachieving the goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

This post will consider five
\nreligions and how the simplified Prothero schema applies to them.  <\/span><\/p>\n

For Christianity, the problem
\nis sin, the solution or goal is salvation, and the technique is some combination
\nof faith and good works. (14)  For Buddhism, the problem is suffering, the
\nsolution or goal is nirvana, and the technique for achieving nirvana is the
\nNoble Eightfold Path. (14)  Prothero's main purpose in his book is to stress the
\ndifferences between religions.  That is the point of the silly title, "God is
\nNot One."  Obviously, God is one by definition; it is the conceptions<\/em> of God
\nthat are various.  It is also a bad title because Prothero's topic is religion,
\nnot theism.  Buddhism, after all, is not a theistic religion.  But let that
\npass.  I can't fault the man for wanting to attract buyers with a catchy title,
\none reminiscent of Hitchens' God Is Not Great<\/em>.  The schema makes clear
\nthe differences between these two great religions:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Are Buddhists trying to
\nachieve salvation?  Of course not, since they do not even believe in sin.  Are
\nChristians trying to achieve nirvana?  No, since for them suffering isn't
\nsomething that must be overcome. (15)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If salvation is
\nsalvation from sin, then of course Prothero is right.  Sin is an offence against
\nGod, and in a religion with no God there can be no sin.  Nevertheless, I am a
\nbit uneasy with the starkness of Prothero's contrast.  The Buddhist too aims at
\na sort of salvation, salvation from all-pervasive suffering.  To use 'salvation'
\nso narrowly that it applies only to the Christian's religious goal obscures the
\ncommonality between the two great religions.  I should think that some
\nsoteriology or other is essential to every religion.   A religion must show a
\nway out of our unsatisfactory predicament, and one is not religious unless one
\nperceives our life in this world as indeed a predicament, and one that is deeply
\nand fundamentally unsatisfactory, whatever the exact nature of the
\nsatisfactoriness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also quote Prothero in On Religious Pluralism and Religious Tolerance<\/a> wherein I land some hard blows on Sam Harris.
<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>What is Religion? How Does it Differ from Superstition?<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>The Essence of Religion<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Details here.  What follows is an excerpt from a 2010 post: Religions: Problems, Solutions, Techniques Simplifying a four-part  schema employed by Stephen Prothero in his God Is Not One (Harper, 2010, p. 14), I propose, in agreement with Prothero, that each religion can be usefully seen as addressing itself to a problem; offering a solution … Continue reading “Stephen “God is not One” Prothero to Speak at Arizona State University”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}