Post-theism is a variant of
nontheism
Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in the existence of god or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject o ...
that proposes that the division of
theism
Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...
vs.
atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
is obsolete, that
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
belongs to a stage of human development now past. Within nontheism, post-theism can be contrasted with
antitheism
Antitheism, also spelled anti-theism, is the philosophical position that theism should be opposed. The term has had a range of applications. In secular contexts, it typically refers to direct opposition to the belief in any deity.
Etymology
The ...
. The term appears in
liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, also known as Liberal Theology and historically as Christian Modernism (see Catholic modernism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 bill ...
and
post-Christianity
Postchristianity is the situation in which Christianity is no longer the dominant civil religion of a society but has gradually assumed values, culture, and worldviews that are not necessarily Christian. Post-Christian tends to refer to the los ...
.
Origin
Frank Hugh Foster
Frank Hugh Foster, Ph. D., D.D. (June 19, 1851 – October 20, 1935) was an American clergyman of the Congregational church. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and graduated at Harvard in 1873.
In his activities, he was assistant ...
in a 1918 lecture announced that modern culture had arrived at a "post-theistic stage" in which humanity has taken possession of the powers of agency and creativity that had formerly been projected upon God.
Denys Turner
Denys Alan Turner (born 5 August 1942) is a British-born American philosopher and theologian. He is Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology emeritus at Yale University having been appointed in 2005, previously having been Norris ...
argues that
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
did not choose atheism over theism but rejected the binary
Feuerbach
Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach (; 28 July 1804 – 13 September 1872) was a German anthropologist and philosopher, best known for his book ''The Essence of Christianity'', which provided a critique of Christianity that strongly influenced gener ...
ian choice in ''
The Essence of Christianity
''The Essence of Christianity'' (german: Das Wesen des Christentums; historical orthography: ''Das Weſen des Chriſtenthums'') is a book by Ludwig Feuerbach first published in 1841. It explains Feuerbach's philosophy and critique of religion.
...
'' altogether, a position which by being post-theistic is at the same time necessarily post-atheistic. At one point, Marx argued "there should be less trifling with the label 'atheism'", as he insisted "religion in itself is without content, it owes its being not to heaven but to the earth, and with the abolition of distorted reality, of which it is the theory, it will collapse of itself."
Karl Marx, ''Letter from Marx to Arnold Ruge In Dresden'' (1842)
/ref>
Related ideas include Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
's pronouncement that "God is dead
"God is dead" (German: ; also known as the death of God) is a statement made by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche's first use of this statement is his 1882 ''The Gay Science'', where it appears three times. The phrase also app ...
" and the transtheism
Transtheism refers to a system of thought or religious philosophy that is neither theistic nor atheistic, but is beyond them. The word was coined by either theologian Paul Tillich or Indologist Heinrich Zimmer.In published writings, the term app ...
of Paul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran Protestant theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologi ...
or Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön (པདྨ་ཆོས་སྒྲོན། ''padma chos sgron'' “lotus dharma lamp”; born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, July 14, 1936) is an American Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism an ...
.
Notable post-theists
*Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
*Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
*Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
See also
*Apatheism
Apatheism (; a portmanteau of ''apathy'' and ''theism'') is the attitude of apathy towards the existence or non-existence of God(s). It is more of an attitude rather than a belief, claim, or belief system. The term was coined by Robert Nash, theo ...
*Humanism
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
*Postmodern Christianity
Postmodern theology, also known as the continental philosophy of religion, is a philosophical and theological movement that interprets theology in light of post- Heideggerian continental philosophy, including phenomenology, post-structuralism, a ...
*Samkhya
''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...
*Transtheism
Transtheism refers to a system of thought or religious philosophy that is neither theistic nor atheistic, but is beyond them. The word was coined by either theologian Paul Tillich or Indologist Heinrich Zimmer.In published writings, the term app ...
*Universalism
Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept that some ideas have universal application or applicability.
A belief in one fundamental truth is another important tenet in universalism. The living truth is seen as more far-reaching th ...
*Virtuous pagan
Virtuous pagan is a concept in Christian theology that addressed the fate of the unlearned—the issue of nonbelievers who were never evangelized and consequently during their lifetime had no opportunity to recognize Christ, but nevertheless ...
Notes and references
Sources
* H. J. Adriannse, "After Theism" in: H. A. Krop, Arie L. Molendijk, Hent de Vries (eds.)
Post-Theism: Reframing the Judeo-Christian Tradition
' (2000), .
* Christoph Schwöbel, "After Post-Theism" in: S. Andersen (ed. ) ''Traditional Theism and its Modern Alternatives'' (1994), 161–196.
* Vincent Brümmer, "The Enlightenment Project and the Human Image of God" in: Hans-Georg Ziebertz (ed.), ''The Human Image of God'', BRILL, 2001, 55–72.
External links
Post-colonialism and Post-theism
by Christopher Bradley (2007)
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20200704003608/http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/fi.postatheism.html Post-Atheism: from Apophatic Theology to "Minimal Religion"by Mikhail Epstein
Mikhail Naumovich Epstein (also transliterated Epshtein; russian: Михаи́л Нау́мович Эпште́йн; born 21 April 1950) is a Russian-American literary scholar and essayist who is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Cultural Theo ...
In the book: Russian Postmodernism: ''New Perspectives on Post-Soviet Culture'' (with Alexander Genis and Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover, in the series ''Studies in Slavic Literature, Culture, and Society'', vol. 3). New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1999, 528 pp.345-393.
Nontheism
Theism
Postmodernism
Humanism
Philosophy of religion
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