I have a question for those of you who are familiar with his ideas about religion. It seems obvious to me that he is an advocate of religion, especially Christianity and Judaism. But I don't think his ideas line up with any common American version of Christianity.
These are the specific ideas that I think create the conflict with normal Christianity:
1. I don't think he views God as some anthropomorphic being that actually exists somewhere. He seems to view God as an aspect of the Human psyche.
2. I don't think he views the Gospels as an accurate reflection of the life of an actual person. He seems to think that it is a description of an ideal and the degree of accuracy in regard to Jesus' actual life is irrelevant to him.
3. I don't think he thinks of Heaven and Hell as description of the afterlife, rather a description of our life on Earth.
4. I think he views all revelation as humans understanding themselves and their culture. He views it more of a moment of clarity where ideas that were not fully developed become articulated. I don't think he thinks that God implanted some new idea in a person. But he does think that his version of God is part of this process.
Do any of you think he is a Christian?
Do you think I am misrepresenting his views?
I can't find any conflict with his beliefs and mine. I think he may have discovered a very good path to "Cultural Christianity" and that is an idea that I can really get behind.
These are the specific ideas that I think create the conflict with normal Christianity:
1. I don't think he views God as some anthropomorphic being that actually exists somewhere. He seems to view God as an aspect of the Human psyche.
2. I don't think he views the Gospels as an accurate reflection of the life of an actual person. He seems to think that it is a description of an ideal and the degree of accuracy in regard to Jesus' actual life is irrelevant to him.
3. I don't think he thinks of Heaven and Hell as description of the afterlife, rather a description of our life on Earth.
4. I think he views all revelation as humans understanding themselves and their culture. He views it more of a moment of clarity where ideas that were not fully developed become articulated. I don't think he thinks that God implanted some new idea in a person. But he does think that his version of God is part of this process.
Do any of you think he is a Christian?
Do you think I am misrepresenting his views?
I can't find any conflict with his beliefs and mine. I think he may have discovered a very good path to "Cultural Christianity" and that is an idea that I can really get behind.
