Faith and Reason Across Religions

fschmidt · Jul 7, 2012

I am looking for feedback on a post on my site. I am not trying spam this forum, I just want honest feedback about my classification of various religions in this post. In particular, there is a table in the post which classifies religions and I would like to know if there are any obvious mistakes in this table. Here is the post:

Mikraite - Faith and Reason Across Religions

I was originally going to post this to the "Christianity and World Religion" forum but I assume I would only get hostile feedback there without anything useful. Orthodox Christians here should at least be able to tell me if my classification of Christian groups is correct which is the most important for me.

ArmyMatt · Jul 7, 2012

looks good to me. the only correction I guess is that Catholicism and Orthodoxy are close externally. we look close, but our approach to theology is very different, so at our heart, we are not close. Met Kallistos Ware says that Protestantism and Catholicism are two sides of the same coin. Orthodoxy is a completely different coin.

just me thoughts but it looks pretty good to my eyes.

fschmidt · Jul 7, 2012

Thank you ArmyMatt. Could you suggest some reading for me to clarify the difference between Catholicism and Orthodoxy?

ArmyMatt · Jul 7, 2012

fschmidt said:
Thank you ArmyMatt. Could you suggest some reading for me to clarify the difference between Catholicism and Orthodoxy?

"The Orthodox Church" by Met Kallistos (Timothy) Ware
"Popes and Patriarchs" by I forget who
"Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy" by Fr Andrew Stephen Damick. Fr Andrew also has a podcast that has the differences between the two:

Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy - Ancient Faith Radio

fschmidt · Jul 8, 2012

ArmyMatt said:
"Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy" by Fr Andrew Stephen Damick.

I just finished reading this (on my kindle). What a fantastic book. One of my problems with Christianity is that most Christians don't have a very deep understanding of their own religion. In contrast, for example, most Orthodox Jews understand their religion quite well. But the author of this book obviously has a very deep understanding of Christianity. I learned so much from this book, it will take me at least a week to digest it. This is the best overview of Christianity that I have seen.

Gxg (G²) · Jul 23, 2012

ArmyMatt said:
"The Orthodox Church" by Met Kallistos (Timothy) Ware
"Popes and Patriarchs" by I forget who
"Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy" by Fr Andrew Stephen Damick. Fr Andrew also has a podcast that has the differences between the two:

Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy - Ancient Faith Radio

Excellent resources

Gxg (G²) · Jul 23, 2012

ArmyMatt said:
looks good to me. the only correction I guess is that Catholicism and Orthodoxy are close externally. we look close, but our approach to theology is very different, so at our heart, we are not close. Met Kallistos Ware says that Protestantism and Catholicism are two sides of the same coin. Orthodoxy is a completely different coin.

just me thoughts but it looks pretty good to my eyes.

The coin analogy is really the best way to describe it...

ArmyMatt · Jul 23, 2012

Easy G (G²);61038970 said:
The coin analogy is really the best way to describe it...

indeed!

Gxg (G²) · Jul 24, 2012

ArmyMatt said:
indeed!

Will have to steal that one sometime...

Rusticus · Jul 24, 2012

Two points I wish to make:

1. You classify Liberalism as a Religion: I don't think it is, but that's just me. ("Liberalism" is a very broad term...)

2. You have Fundamentalist Christianity as a Religion, but no Protestant Christianity:

There are far more Protestant Christians (however defined) than there are Fundamentalist Christians (most Protestants are not Fundamentalists). (Not to mention that there are Catholic Fundamentalists).

Hope that's constructive, and not negative.

Rusticus · Jul 24, 2012

ArmyMatt said:
....... Protestantism and Catholicism are two sides of the same coin. Orthodoxy is a completely different coin.......

Can't comment on Orthodoxy because I am not sufficiently familiar with it.
But as far as Protestantism and Catholicism being the two sides of the same coin: spend long enough time on CF and you come to believe that they are not only different coins, but also that they are residing in different wallets!!!

Rusticus · Jul 24, 2012

Oh, and one more thing I noticed.

With the Religion "Mine" I see you have "evolution" as faith.

So far the only religions were evolution featured as faith I have come across, is in Fundamentalist Christianity (and, I believe, Fundamentalist Islam as well), where people who adhere to a literal interpretation of Genesis have the rejection of evolution as an integral part of their faith. (Because if evolution is true, then their literal reading of Genesis is false).

But to have science, which - by definition - is forever changing, as faith? Are you sure?

Gxg (G²) · Jul 24, 2012

God is Faithful

Dorothea · Nov 17, 2012

fschmidt said:
Thank you ArmyMatt. Could you suggest some reading for me to clarify the difference between Catholicism and Orthodoxy?

The Historic Church by Fr. John Morris explains all about the history of the Christian Church and goes through all the different sects that have developed since the Great Schism. It is an easy-to-understand for laypeople book. I highly recommend it.

ArmyMatt · Nov 17, 2012

Rusticus said:
Can't comment on Orthodoxy because I am not sufficiently familiar with it.
But as far as Protestantism and Catholicism being the two sides of the same coin: spend long enough time on CF and you come to believe that they are not only different coins, but also that they are residing in different wallets!!!

in there approach they are the same, externally they are very different though I will give you that, although it depends on exactly what kind of Protestant you are.

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