Is Religion Only Utilitarian? Evolutionary Cognitive Science of Religion Through a Thomistic Lens

Horvat, Saša; Roszak, Piotr

doi:10.1080/14746700.2020.1786222

Cited by 9 publications

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“…Rather, it means two different things that are analogically similar (a similar dissimilarity). In order to grasp the truth about God's action in this way, we need to detach ourselves from univocal human images that do not take into account the transcendence of God (Horvat and Roszak 2020;Salvador 2021). To judge correctly about God, we need to change our ,taste', following Aquinas' metaphor: »A person with a diseased palate misjudges the taste of foods and sometimes recoils from the tasty but approves the disgusting, whereas a person with a healthy palate judges tastes correctly; so a person whose affections are corrupted by conformity to worldly things misjudges the good, whereas a person whose affections are upright and sound, his sense having been renewed by grace, judges the good correctly.« (In Rom., cap.…”

Section: God's Responsibility For Evil: Aquinas' Understanding Of Div...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Is to Blame for the Sinking Ship? Aquinas on Divine Goodness, Evil and Freedom

Roszak¹

2022

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This paper presents the basic features of Aquinas' theodicy, first indicating some difficulties regarding the problem of evil-or even attempts to implicate God in evil -that have emerged in the wake of scientific achievements, especially in the field of evolutionary biology. What is needed in response to these challenges is an appropriate view of God's causality, which is analogous in character and does not constitute one of many causalities in the world. A correct understanding of the relationship between the First Cause and secondary causes sheds new light on the debate about the Creator's responsibility for evil in the world. For Aquinas, God's action is focused on the good of the whole, which is why the notion of integrity or rectitude, which was already present in Paradise, explains the accidental-not intentional-presence of evil in the world. Against that background, the paper explains God's manner of responding to evil as interpreted by Thomas Aquinas, which consists in conquering evil with the greater good, its paradigm being the Incarnation. For a Christian, this is a model example of how a man can conquer evil by strengthening good and persisting in it through cooperation with grace.

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Section: God's Responsibility For Evil: Aquinas' Understanding Of Div...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Is to Blame for the Sinking Ship? Aquinas on Divine Goodness, Evil and Freedom

Roszak¹

2022

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“…Thus, the real explanation for religious beliefs is at the level of cognitive and evolutionary science, not higher-level descriptions offered by religious studies or theology" (Van Slyke 2011, p. 12). Van Slyke adds that, due to the absence of a clear demarcation between metaphysical and scientific propositions, the standard model has been subjected to numerous criticisms (Horvat and Roszak 2020;Day 2005;Hinde 2005).…”

Section: Integrative Neurotheology and Cognitive Science Of Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is an Integrative Model of Neurotheology Possible?

Gaitán

Castresana

2021

Religions

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This article examines the basic and dialogical models of neurotheology and suggests a third model based on the work of Aldous Huxley. In other words, this proposal is not limited to understanding this discipline as a mere pursuit of neural correlates or as a dialogue between neuroscience and theology. Instead, it is the search for an integrative understanding of religious experiences in which the study of neuronal correlates is only one of the multilevels to be integrated within the framework of a plural and conveniently articulated explanation of such phenomena. This model, which we call integrative neurotheology, hopes to achieve knowledge of religious experiences that includes a comprehensive range of disciplines. In order to update and give argumentative consistency to this model, we will use philosopher Sandra D. Mitchell’s theory of integrative pluralism, which is a more epistemologically refined expression of Huxley’s intuitions. We conclude that a comprehensive model is feasible although we are aware that this article cannot give answers to all the difficulties that this model possesses. Nevertheless, we expect to open up a new pathway in the studies of religious experience.

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“…Firstly, he notes that neural sciences do not recognize the concept of the human being as a unity of soul and body. He concludes that the contemporary paradigm of human studies is based on physicalism, while theologians turn to non-reductive physicalism (Horvat 2017, p. 128;Kim 1995;Horvat and Roszak 2020). According to Aquinas, because of the soul, which is the "substantial form of the body," human beings are distinguished from other created beings by their ability to establish personal relationships and become familiar with everything that surrounds them.…”

Section: Elements That Constitute the Human Beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Will Cyborgs Ever Be Humans in the Image and Likeness of God?

Krzemiński

2021

Religions

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Advances in technology and genetic engineering have rekindled the hopes of some communities for human immortality on earth. Projects aimed at copying the human brain for the purpose of enabling humans to achieve “cybernetic eternity” are emerging. From the perspective of Christian anthropology, it is advisable to ask the following question: is a cyborg a human being in the image of God? It boils down to the criteria for being in the image of God. The first of these is creativity, understood as the actualized relationship of the human with their Creator. For the human is not a product of even the most brilliant minds and technologies, but a creature for whom a personal relationship with the Persons of the Holy Trinity is constitutive in nature.

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Is Religion Only Utilitarian? Evolutionary Cognitive Science of Religion Through a Thomistic Lens

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Who Is to Blame for the Sinking Ship? Aquinas on Divine Goodness, Evil and Freedom

Who Is to Blame for the Sinking Ship? Aquinas on Divine Goodness, Evil and Freedom

Is an Integrative Model of Neurotheology Possible?

Will Cyborgs Ever Be Humans in the Image and Likeness of God?

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