1. Chapter 1: Religion Religion, Philosophy, and the Western Religions Introducing Philosophy, 10th edition Robert C. Solomon, Clancy Martin, and Kathleen M. Higgins

2. What Is Religion? Religion and philosophy are intimately linked Both are concerned with the nature of belief

3. Theist, Atheist, Agnostic Theist: a person who believes in a single, independent Being, God, who is the creator of the universe Atheist: one who refuses to believe in God Agnostic: a person who admits and accepts the fact that he or she does not know and perhaps has no way of knowing whether there is such a being or not

4. John Wisdom John Wisdom claimed the essential feature of religious belief is an “attitude” the religious person has toward his or her surroundings For Wisdom, the gap between the religious “attitude” and that of the philosopher or scientist interested in explanation is unbridgeable; religious belief is obviously different from the scientific quest for causal explanation

5. Albert Einstein Einstein argued that the great efforts of science have been spawned by a religious awe for the complex regularities of nature He said science itself inspires a “cosmic religious feeling”

6. Keiji Nishitani Nishitani claims that the distinguishing feature of religion is the deeply personal recognition (the “impersonal/personal”) that each of us must give to the existence that we share with all other things in the universe

7. Judaism, Christianity, Islam Judaism, Christianity, and Islam bear a special relationship to each other and to philosophy All three trace their roots to Abraham of the Old Testament The early religious thinking of all three was heavily influenced by the Greek philosophy of Plato and Aristotle

8. The Traditional Conception of God God created the universe but is distinct from it He is thought to be: – Omniscient – Omnipotent – Omnipresent He is transcendent – If so, how can we know Him? God as loving, just, and merciful being: an anthropomorphic characterization of Him