Post-monotheism
Encyclopedia
In the philosophy of religion
and theology
, post-monotheism (from Greek
"one" and "god
," with the Latin
prefix "post-" as in "after" or "beyond") is a term covering a range of different meanings that nonetheless share concern for the status of faith
and religious experience
in the modern or post-modern era. There is no one originator for the term. Rather, it has independently appeared in the writings of several intellectuals on the Internet
and in print
. Its most notable use has been in the poetry
of Palestinian
author Nidaa Khoury, and as a label for a "new sensibility" or theological approach proposed by the Islamic historian
Christopher Schwartz.
philosopher Herman Philipse
, author of The Atheist Manifesto (Atheistisch manifest & De onredelijkheid van religie) (2004), uses the term "post-monotheism" to describe Martin Heidegger
's position vis-a-vis traditional Christianity
as a "failing tradition" obscuring an "original revelation of being." In Philipse's formulation, "post-monotheism" signifies "the attempt to replace the Christian religion by a different variety of religious discourse, the meaning of which is parasitic upon the monotheist Christian discourse that it intends to destroy."
ger and professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo
, uses the term "post-monotheism" to describe the religious viewpoints of the writers D. H. Lawrence
and Shinobu Orikuchi
. Inami interprets Lawrence’s The Escaped Cock
(1929) and Orikuchi’s The Book of the Dead (1997) as presenting "a vision and a possibility of a new universal religion, which is, in a sense, a fusion of polytheism and monotheism. But from the viewpoint of a theory of discrete difference, their new religions are post-polytheism and post-monotheism and can be called new polytheism (or super-polytheism)."
, or in the oneness of God
, coupled with the belief in the failure (or inability) of existing theological categories in Christianity and Islam
to accurately describe divine
nature. According to Schwartz, the paucity of theological language is most evident during human suffering
and should thus be considered a major barrier for religious experience.
Schwartz's concept of post-monotheism opposes the "post-theism
" formulated by Frank Hugh Foster
and the notion "God is dead" from Heidegger and Friedrich Nietzsche
. It has similarities to the "transtheistic
" ideas of Paul Tillich
and Heinrich Zimmer
, as well as possibly open theism
. However, its program is decidedly different from the existentialism
of the former and the evangelism
of the latter. Rather, it appears to be an application to traditional theodicy
of pragmatist
and post-modernist philosophy, as well as cognitive psychology
and transhumanist futurology
. In particular, Schwartz's post-monotheism appears to have its roots in Richard Rorty
's Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity
(1989), and has avowedly mystical aspirations.
Schwartz uses the phrase in the essay, "The Historian's Theodicy". In this essay he explores several problems of religious experience
and the study of religion, e.g., "None of us can know with certainty that atheists and nontheists aren’t experiencing God — or that we monotheists are." From the deconstruction of traditional theodicy and hierology he derives eight "axioms":
Fundamental to this brand of post-monotheism is the author's assertion, "God is an enigma and power beyond the human yet is accessible [...] Spiritual experience flies in the face of historical experience: whatever 'God' is, it is concerned for us — and it is reaching out to us."
A central motif of Schwartz's post-monotheism is the analogy of God as a playwright or "storywriter," in essence the opposite of both the deist watchmaker analogy
and what Schwartz describes as "ultra-transcendent, legalistic, and cruel visages" of religious fundamentalism
. According to the "storywriter" analogy, God and the Creation are "in partnership." Schwartz gives the example of William Shakespeare
's fictional character Hamlet
, arguing that the character's dying words are metafictional and thus fitting for what he believes to be the actual nature of humanity's relation to the Godhead
.
Philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, post-monotheism (from Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
"one" and "god
God (male deity)
A god, as a male deity, contrasts with female deities, or "goddesses". While the term 'goddess' specifically refers to a female deity, the plural 'gods' can be applied to all gods collectively, regardless of gender....
," with the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
prefix "post-" as in "after" or "beyond") is a term covering a range of different meanings that nonetheless share concern for the status of faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
and religious experience
Religious experience
Religious experience is a subjective experience in which an individual reports contact with a transcendent reality, an encounter or union with the divine....
in the modern or post-modern era. There is no one originator for the term. Rather, it has independently appeared in the writings of several intellectuals on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and in print
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
. Its most notable use has been in the poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
of Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
author Nidaa Khoury, and as a label for a "new sensibility" or theological approach proposed by the Islamic historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
Christopher Schwartz.
Martin Heidegger
The DutchNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
philosopher Herman Philipse
Herman Philipse
Herman Philipse is a professor of philosophy at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. From 1986 until 2003, he taught at Leiden University, where he obtained his doctorate in 1983....
, author of The Atheist Manifesto (Atheistisch manifest & De onredelijkheid van religie) (2004), uses the term "post-monotheism" to describe Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...
's position vis-a-vis traditional Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
as a "failing tradition" obscuring an "original revelation of being." In Philipse's formulation, "post-monotheism" signifies "the attempt to replace the Christian religion by a different variety of religious discourse, the meaning of which is parasitic upon the monotheist Christian discourse that it intends to destroy."
D. H. Lawrence and Shinobu Orikuchi
Hiroaki Inami, a blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger and professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
, uses the term "post-monotheism" to describe the religious viewpoints of the writers D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
and Shinobu Orikuchi
Shinobu Orikuchi
, also known as , was a Japanese ethnologist, linguist, folklorist, novelist, and poet. As a disciple of Kunio Yanagita, he established an original academic field named , which is a mixture of Japanese folklore, Japanese classics, and Shintō...
. Inami interprets Lawrence’s The Escaped Cock
The Escaped Cock
The Escaped Cock is a short novel by D. H. Lawrence that was originally written in two parts and published in 1929. Lawrence wrote the first part in 1927 after visiting some Etruscan tombs with his friend Earl Brewster, a trip that encouraged the author to reflect upon death and myths of...
(1929) and Orikuchi’s The Book of the Dead (1997) as presenting "a vision and a possibility of a new universal religion, which is, in a sense, a fusion of polytheism and monotheism. But from the viewpoint of a theory of discrete difference, their new religions are post-polytheism and post-monotheism and can be called new polytheism (or super-polytheism)."
Christopher Schwartz
In Christopher Schwartz's formulation, "post-monotheism" is the belief in the existence of one deityDeity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
, or in the oneness of God
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
, coupled with the belief in the failure (or inability) of existing theological categories in Christianity and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
to accurately describe divine
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
nature. According to Schwartz, the paucity of theological language is most evident during human suffering
Suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and...
and should thus be considered a major barrier for religious experience.
Schwartz's concept of post-monotheism opposes the "post-theism
Post-theism
Post-theism is a variant of nontheism that proposes to have not so much rejected theism as rendered it obsolete, that God belongs to a stage of human development now past. Within nontheism, post-theism can be contrasted with antitheism...
" formulated by Frank Hugh Foster
Frank Hugh Foster
Frank Hugh Foster, Ph. D., D.D. was an American clergyman of the Congregational church. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and graduated at Harvard in 1873....
and the notion "God is dead" from Heidegger and Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
. It has similarities to the "transtheistic
Transtheistic
Transtheistic is a term coined by philosopher Paul Tillich or Indologist Heinrich Zimmer, referring to a system of thought or religious philosophy which is neither theistic, nor atheistic....
" ideas of Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...
and Heinrich Zimmer
Heinrich Zimmer
Heinrich Robert Zimmer was an Indologist and historian of South Asian art, most known for his works, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization and Philosophies of India. He was the most important German scholar in Indian Philology after Max Müller...
, as well as possibly open theism
Open theism
Open theism is a recent theological movement that has developed within evangelical and post-evangelical Protestant Christianity as a response to certain ideas that are related to the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian theology...
. However, its program is decidedly different from the existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
of the former and the evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
of the latter. Rather, it appears to be an application to traditional theodicy
Theodicy
Theodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
of pragmatist
Pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice...
and post-modernist philosophy, as well as cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....
and transhumanist futurology
Futurology
Futures studies is the study of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures and the worldviews and myths that underlie them. There is a debate as to whether this discipline is an art or science. In general, it can be considered as a branch under the more general scope of the field of...
. In particular, Schwartz's post-monotheism appears to have its roots in Richard Rorty
Richard Rorty
Richard McKay Rorty was an American philosopher. He had a long and diverse academic career, including positions as Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton, Kenan Professor of Humanities at the University of Virginia, and Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University...
's Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity
Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity
Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity , is a book by American philosopher Richard Rorty, based on two sets of lectures he gave at University College, London, and at Trinity College, Cambridge....
(1989), and has avowedly mystical aspirations.
Schwartz uses the phrase in the essay, "The Historian's Theodicy". In this essay he explores several problems of religious experience
Religious experience
Religious experience is a subjective experience in which an individual reports contact with a transcendent reality, an encounter or union with the divine....
and the study of religion, e.g., "None of us can know with certainty that atheists and nontheists aren’t experiencing God — or that we monotheists are." From the deconstruction of traditional theodicy and hierology he derives eight "axioms":
- History defies the absolutisms of moral theory.
- History itself, as the theater of revelation, threatens the reliability of prophecy.
- History challenges the very possibility of exegesis and theosophy.
- History, both personal and of the species, challenges the very possibility of hierology.
- Patterns notwithstanding, history teaches that there is no necessity (necessity is not necessary).
- History creates its own ethical imperatives, and action requires only faith rather than certainty.
- The future threatens the reliability of history.
- History itself, though it is the theater of revelation, is insufficient to account for or against divine concern and action.
Fundamental to this brand of post-monotheism is the author's assertion, "God is an enigma and power beyond the human yet is accessible [...] Spiritual experience flies in the face of historical experience: whatever 'God' is, it is concerned for us — and it is reaching out to us."
A central motif of Schwartz's post-monotheism is the analogy of God as a playwright or "storywriter," in essence the opposite of both the deist watchmaker analogy
Watchmaker analogy
The watchmaker analogy, or watchmaker argument, is a teleological argument for the existence of God. By way of an analogy, the argument states that design implies a designer...
and what Schwartz describes as "ultra-transcendent, legalistic, and cruel visages" of religious fundamentalism
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
. According to the "storywriter" analogy, God and the Creation are "in partnership." Schwartz gives the example of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's fictional character Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, arguing that the character's dying words are metafictional and thus fitting for what he believes to be the actual nature of humanity's relation to the Godhead
Godhead (Christianity)
Godhead is a Middle English variant of the word godhood, and denotes the Divine Nature or Substance of the Christian God, or the Trinity. Within some traditions such as Mormonism, the term is used as a nontrinitarian substitute for the term Trinity, denoting the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit not as...
.
See also
- Abrahamic religionsAbrahamic religionsAbrahamic religions are the monotheistic faiths emphasizing and tracing their common origin to Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him...
- Christian theologyChristian theology- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
- Deconstruction-and-religionDeconstruction-and-religionThose that take a deconstructive approach to religion identify closely with the work of Jacques Derrida, especially his work later in life. According to Slavoj Žižek, in the mid-to-late 1980s Derrida's work shifted from constituting a radical negative theology to being a form of Kantian idealism....
- God is deadGod is dead"God is dead" is a widely-quoted statement by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It first appears in The Gay Science , in sections 108 , 125 , and for a third time in section 343...
- IneffabilityIneffabilityIneffability is concerned with ideas that cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words , often being in the form of a taboo or incomprehensible term. This property is commonly associated with philosophy, aspects of existence, and similar concepts that are inherently "too great", complex, or...
- Islamic theologyIslamic theologyIslamic theology is a branch of Islamic studies regarding the beliefs associated with the Islamic faith. Any religious belief system, or creed, can be considered an example of aqidah. However, this term has taken a significant technical usage in Islamic history and theology, denoting those...
- NontheismNontheismNontheism is a term that covers a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of — or the rejection of — theism or any belief in a personal god or gods...
- Open theismOpen theismOpen theism is a recent theological movement that has developed within evangelical and post-evangelical Protestant Christianity as a response to certain ideas that are related to the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian theology...
- Post-theismPost-theismPost-theism is a variant of nontheism that proposes to have not so much rejected theism as rendered it obsolete, that God belongs to a stage of human development now past. Within nontheism, post-theism can be contrasted with antitheism...
- Problem of evilProblem of evilIn the philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is the question of how to explain evil if there exists a deity that is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient . Some philosophers have claimed that the existences of such a god and of evil are logically incompatible or unlikely...
- ReligionReligionReligion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
- TheismTheismTheism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe....
- TheodicyTheodicyTheodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
- TranstheisticTranstheisticTranstheistic is a term coined by philosopher Paul Tillich or Indologist Heinrich Zimmer, referring to a system of thought or religious philosophy which is neither theistic, nor atheistic....
- Apostacy