Does the study of religion and philosophy contradict each other?

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deborahaz said:
for your information windy hair, many, many years ago, when i was in college my minor was religion. i had to study all world religions, not just christianity.
since i was at a young age, it definitely made me question my own faith as being the ONLY faith. so please don’t accuse me of being wrapped up in my own little world. i am 56 years old and did not attend church for almost 30 years. my journey to the roman catholic church has taken 12 years of study. i also studied in the synagogue so i would have a background on the faith of Jesus and have an understanding of the Jewish people and culture.
i have been very open minded throughout my lifetime. i do believe that God created the heavens and the earth and i do believe that he sent Jesus down to die for our sins. this is the faith i follow and believe in and i just converted to the Catholic church in July.
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all that is great for you. i’m not attacking your personal faith.
i’m answering your question. i’ve said it before.
does philosophy contradict religion? not necessarily.
it depends on your religion. does it contradict christianity?
yes.

the reason i said what i said in my last post is because
you seem to use “religion” and “christianity” interchangeably.
for all your learning, you don’t seem to make a distinction
between the two. in your original post, i’m pretty sure
you meant christianity and not religion.
 
i think if i would have meant to say christianity, i would have used christianithy. i meant to use the word religion. so you assumed incorrectly.

i have no problem if someone wants to answer this question inserting whichever religion they want to or religion as a whole.
 
deborahaz said:
i think if i would have meant to say christianity, i would have used christianithy. i meant to use the word religion. so you assumed incorrectly.

i have no problem if someone wants to answer this question inserting whichever religion they want to or religion as a whole.
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sure you did.
that’s why you asked about the priesthood in your OP.

but u were talking about the priesthood of all religions, i’m sure.
 
as i said, whoever read my question, could interject whatever religion they want to in the question or take it as religion as a whole.

i was simply using the example of priests who are studying at the seminary studying both religion and philosophy.

that does not mean that my question is limiting “religion” to christianity.

i hope that answers your question.
 
Please read posts carefully and assume good will, everyone, so the discussion can be civil and fruitful for all. Thank you.
 
WindyHair said:
sure you did.
that’s why you asked about the priesthood in your OP.

but u were talking about the priesthood of all religions, i’m sure.
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this question is for anyone whether they are studying to be a rabbi or a leader of any faith or for anyone in general.

since i attend a church where we have priests and i know they are required to study philosophy, perhaps that is why i used them as an example, but the question is not limited to those of the christian faith. like i said, i would have used the word christianity in the question.

in other words, if a muslim, buddhist, hindu, atheist, agnostic, jehovah’s witness, mormon, etc. wants to answer this question, they are welcome to.
 
I don’t know if anyone mentioned this yet or not, but Pope John Paul 2 wrote an encyclical about this called Fides et Ratio. It’s well worth the read, even though it’s kinda long. It will definitely answer the questions you have deborahaz
 
thanks shannon!! did you find that on the vatican website? i guess fides et ration translates to faith and reason. i have never studied latin.

that looks like something i definitely need to read when i can find the time.

hopefully, the other posters on here might want to read it also or maybe some already have!!

thanks again!
 
Does the study of religion and philosophy contradict each other? Well, that depends on which religion and which philosophy one studies. What’s more, one contradicting the other doesn’t necessarily demonstrate the truth or falsehood of either. After all, a false religion can readily contradict or be contradicted by a false philosophy.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
deborahaz said:
i always thought it was odd that so many students studying for the priesthood study philosophy. most people that study philosophy end up questioning the existence of God.
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Religion is the result of philosophical ideals(and beliefs), put into practise.

So the answer is No. You cannot study or understand Religion without studying philosophy, as it is at the core of every Religion. I guess the real question is weather or not you can study philosophy as a General subject and not from the Christian perspective and then also study to become a Priest?

Because surely to study philosophy from a non-christian perspective and be studying the priesthood is a contradiction yes. But we must understand Christian philosophy and how it relates to Non-christian philosophy, that is the kind of philosophy to be studied if one wants to become a priest.
 
sometimes my head is spinning trying to understand the replies to this question.

i think i understand what you are saying.
 
colliric said:
Religion is the result of philosophical ideals(and beliefs), put into practise.

So the answer is No. You cannot study or understand Religion without studying philosophy, as it is at the core of every Religion. I guess the real question is weather or not you can study philosophy as a General subject and not from the Christian perspective and then also study to become a Priest?

Because surely to study philosophy from a non-christian perspective and be studying the priesthood is a contradiction yes. But we must understand Christian philosophy and how it relates to Non-christian philosophy, that is the kind of philosophy to be studied if one wants to become a priest.
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I’m studying Plato and Aristotle as part of my Theology/Philosophy studies (I’m not a seminarian as of yet, but I’m headed in that direction and doing the TH/PH degree as preparation). They are not Christian, but if you read them–they actually hit on some surprisingly Christian ideas centuries before Christ’s birth. When I first read Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, i was surprised at how Catholic he sounded (partly because Aquinas used Aristotle’s thought as a framework for his system of Theology, but the ideas were still there). Aquinas’ famous Five Proofs for the Existence of God are drawn from Aristotle’s own thought. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinquae_viae)). Studying pre-Christian philosophers gives a good framework for understanding Theology–it seems that in the grand scheme of things, the philosophers rose up in such a time in history as to prepare the world to think about higher things…

-ACEGC
 
someone else had posted that studying the earliest philosophers might not make anyone question their faith, but reading some of the modern philosophers might. surprisingly, i think they also posted that the modern philosphers began around the time of the reformation. not sure about that though. maybe someone with more knowledge of philosophy could answer that.
 
deborahaz said:
thanks shannon!! did you find that on the vatican website? i guess fides et ration translates to faith and reason. i have never studied latin.

that looks like something i definitely need to read when i can find the time.

hopefully, the other posters on here might want to read it also or maybe some already have!!

thanks again!
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Yes, it came from the Vatican’s website. Fides et Ratio does translate to Faith and Reason, so your latin is a little better than you probably think. My suggestion is to read it very slowly, especially if you don’t alread have a base knowledge of philosophy. It can get kinda thick in the middle, but as I said before, it’s well worth the time put in. Get back with me when you’re done and let me know what you think.
Peace,
 
Joe_5859 said:
I do not think that too much wisdom can lead someone away from the faith.
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It is true that the amount of wisdom one has, the amount of faith required is directly proportionate to handle that wisdom. The more one knows, the more one realizes one doesn’t know. Faith becomes all the more important.
 
I think it depends on the approach you take. If you hold the position for example of hard empiricism and hold no reality exists except the physical universe, then clearly your approach to the study of religion as a philosopher would not be the same as say, Moses Maimonides or Thomas Aquinas. Even so, I think religion and philosophy converge in the sense they consider many of the same issues and questions, such as the ultimate meaning of life, the true nature of reality, whether metaphysical entities exist, what is truth, the nature of morality, the right answers to ethical questions, the best way to run the human community, the nature of humanity, and so on.
 
deborahaz said:
thanks shannon!! did you find that on the vatican website? i guess fides et ration translates to faith and reason. i have never studied latin.

that looks like something i definitely need to read when i can find the time.

hopefully, the other posters on here might want to read it also or maybe some already have!!

thanks again!
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I already recommended this encyclical way back in post #12. 😛 I guess a lot has happened between now and then. 😉

It really is essential reading to see just how reason and faith fit together and how they relate. I highly recommend it! 👍
 
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