User:Sherrilledwards/sandbox: Difference between revisions

Line 39:

An example of such modification is Peter Berger’s book, ''A Rumor of Angels.''{{sfn|Berger|1969}} My title alludes to his book, and to a recent usage by Philip Yancey (1997). Berger suggests that there exist certain “signals of transcendence”—such as the human desire for order—that point beyond a purely naturalistic reality.{{sfn|Berger|1969|p=53}}{{efn| “By signals of transcendence I mean phenomena that are to be found within the domain of our ‘natural’ reality but that appear to point beyond that reality”{{sfn|Berger|1969|p=53}}}} However, as Berger recognizes, for most people the{{pg|334|335}} predominant reality is still that secular mind-set. Thus, religious language is used by a “cognitive minority." {{sfn|Berger|1969|p=6}}{{efn| “By a cognitive minority I mean a group of people whose view of the world differs significantly from the one generally taken for granted in their society. Put differently, a cognitive minority is a group formed around a body of deviant ‘knowledge’”{{sfn|Berger|1969|p=6}}}} This position is uncomfortable, needing to be buttressed socially and epistemologically. But the position exists.

Today, the relationship between religion and modernity is more nuanced than in the naturalistic Nineteenth Century.We recognize a wide spectrum from faith through doubt to atheism. But at the risk of simplification, there seem to be two main approaches. For conservative Christianity and Judaism, religious commitment may be expressed as a ''rejection'' of modernity, using an either/or approach to truth. For those with liberal perspectives on Christianity and Judaism, religious commitment may be regarded as ''complementary'' to modernity, utilizing a both/and approach to truth. That complementary perspective may remind us of wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics. This is not simply a literary trope.{{efn| Planck, Einstein, and Heisenberg revealed the inescapable reality of indeterminacy in our world.}} In both humanities and physical sciences, there will be no return to rigid determinism.

=== Notes ===

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 An example of such modification is Peter Berger’s book, ''A Rumor of Angels.''{{sfn|Berger|1969}} My title alludes to his book, and to a recent usage by Philip Yancey (1997). Berger suggests that there exist certain “signals of transcendence”—such as the human desire for order—that point beyond a purely naturalistic reality.{{sfn|Berger|1969|p=53}}{{efn| “By signals of transcendence I mean phenomena that are to be found within the domain of our ‘natural’ reality but that appear to point beyond that reality”{{sfn|Berger|1969|p=53}}}} However, as Berger recognizes, for most people the{{pg|334|335}} predominant reality is still that secular mind-set. Thus, religious language is used by a “cognitive minority." {{sfn|Berger|1969|p=6}}{{efn| “By a cognitive minority I mean a group of people whose view of the world differs significantly from the one generally taken for granted in their society. Put differently, a cognitive minority is a group formed around a body of deviant ‘knowledge’”{{sfn|Berger|1969|p=6}}}} This position is uncomfortable, needing to be buttressed socially and epistemologically. But the position exists.
+Today, the relationship between religion and modernity is more nuanced than in the naturalistic Nineteenth Century.We recognize a wide spectrum from faith through doubt to atheism. But at the risk of simplification, there seem to be two main approaches. For conservative Christianity and Judaism, religious commitment may be expressed as a ''rejection'' of modernity, using an either/or approach to truth. For those with liberal perspectives on Christianity and Judaism, religious commitment may be regarded as ''complementary'' to modernity, utilizing a both/and approach to truth. That complementary perspective may remind us of wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics. This is not simply a literary trope.{{efn| Planck, Einstein, and Heisenberg revealed the inescapable reality of indeterminacy in our world.}} In both humanities and physical sciences, there will be no return to rigid determinism.
 === Notes ===