RELIGIOUS NATURALISM AND THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY

Author: Braxton, Donald M.1

Source: Zygon, Volume 42, Number 2, June 2007 , pp. 317-342(26)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

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Loyal Rue suggests that religion is not about God as such but about the cultivation of personal and social well-being. Religion may employ cultural resources that include concepts of supernatural agencies, but religion's essential functionalities are not dependent on that particular resource. I largely endorse Rue's view of religion and employ Rue as a guide to thinking through its consequences for the future of Christianity. For Rue, two challenges face Christianity: the erosion of confidence in personal-god concepts and the ecological crisis engulfing the planet. In the face of these twin momentous changes, I suggest ways in which certain cultural tropes in the Christian matrix will rise to the fore and others will erode.

Keywords: Christianity; ecological collapse; religious naturalism; sacramentality; sacrifice

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00317.x

Affiliations: 1: J. Omar Good Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Juniata College, 1700 Moore Street, Huntingdon, PA 16652;, Email: braxton@juniata.edu.

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