An Interpretation of Religion Human Responses to the Transcendent John Hick AN INTERPRETATION OF RELIGION By the sameauthor *PROBLEMS OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM *FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE *EVIL ANDTHE GOD OF LOVE *ARGUMENTS FORTHE EXISTENCE OF GOD *GODAND THE UNIVERSE OFFAITHS *DEATHAND ETERNAL LIFE *GOD HAS MANY NAMES *FAITHAND THE PHILOSOPHERS (editor) *THE MANY-FACED ARGUMENT (editor withA. C. McGill) *CHRISTIANITYATTHE CENTRE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION THE SECOND CHRISTIANITY WHY BELIEVE INGOD? (withMichael Goulder) THE EXISTENCE OF GOD (editor) CLASSICALAND CONTEMPORARYREADINGS INTHE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION (editor) TRUTH AND DIALOGUE (editor) THE MYTH OF GOD INCARNATE (editor) CHRISTIANITYAND OTHERRELIGIONS (editor with Brian Hebblethwaite) *THREEFAITHS- ONEGOD (editor with Edmund S. Meltzer) *GANDHI'S ELUSIVE LEGACY (editor with Lamont C. Hempel) THE EXPERIENCE OF RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY (editor with Hasan Askari) THE MYTH OF CHRISTIANUNIQUENESS (editor with Paul F. Knitter) *Also publishedbyMacmillan An Interpretation of Religion Human Responses to the Transcendent JOHN HICK ©JohnHick 1989 Allrightsreserved. Noreproduction,copyortransmissionof thispublicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noparagraphofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedor transmittedsavewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewith theprovisionsoftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct 1988, orunderthetermsofanylicencepermittinglimitedcopying issuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency,90TottenhamCourt Road,LondonWIP9HE. Anypersonwhodoes anyunauthorisedactinrelationtothis publicationmaybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivil claimsfordamages. Firstedition1989by MACMILLANPRESSLTD Houndmills,Basingstoke,HampshireRG21 6XS andLondon Companiesandrepresentatives throughouttheworld ISBN0-333-39488-7hardcover ISBN0-333-39489-5 paperback Acataloguerecordforthisbookisavailable fromtheBritishLibrary. 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 PrintedinHongKong Dedicated to Mike --- MichaelJohn Hick, 1961-1985 This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface xiii 1 Introduction 1 A religious interpretationofreligion 1 2 Religion as a family-resemblance concept 3 3 Beliefin the transcendent 5 4 Problems ofterminology 9 5 Outline ofthe argument 12 PART ONE PHENOMENOLOGICAL 2 The Soteriological Character of Post-Axial Religion 1 The universality ofreligion 21 2 Pre-axial religion 22 3 The axial age 29 4 The axial shiftto soteriology 32 . 3 Salvation/Liberation as Human Transformation 1 According to the Hindu tradition 36 2 Accordingto the Buddhisttradition 41 3 According to the Christian tradition 43 4 Accordingto theJewish and Muslim traditions 47 5 Two possible objections 51 4 The Cosmic OptimismofPost-Axial Religion 1 Cosmic optimism 56 2 The temporal characterofexperience 57 3 The eschatological characterofthe Semitictraditions 61 4 The eschatological characterofthe Indian traditions 64 5 Realised eschatology 65 6 Darkness and light 67 vii viii Contents PARTTWO THE RELIGIOUSAMBIGUITY OFTHE UNIVERSE 5 Ontological, Cosmological and·Design Arguments 1 The issue 73 2 The ontological argument 75 3 Cosmological arguments 79 4 Contemporary scientific theism 81 5 The anthropic principle 91 6 Morality, Religious Experience and Overall Probability 1 Moral arguments 96 2 Religious experience 99 3 Swinburne's probabilityargument 104 7 The Naturalistic Option 1 The needlessness ofthe theistic hypothesis 111 2 The challenge ofevil to theism 118 3 Conclusion 122 PART THREE EPISTEMOLOGICAL 8 Natural Meaning and Experience 1 Meaning 129 2' Natural meaning 134 3 Experiencing-as 140 9 Ethical and Aesthetic Meaning and Experience 1 Socio-ethicalmeaning 144 2 Aesthetic meaning 151 10 Religious Meaning and Experience 1 Religious experience 153 2 Faithas the interpretive elementin religious experience 158 3 Faithas the exercise ofcognitive freedom 160 4 Religion as cognitive filter 162 5 Mystical experience 165 Contents ix 11 Religion and Reality 1 Religious realismand non-realism 172 2 The realistintention oftraditional religion 175 3 Linguisticanalysis and religious realism 177 4 Realism and Hindulanguage 180 5 Realism and Buddhistlanguage 183 12 Contemporary Non-Realist Religion 1 Feuerbach 190 2 Braithwaiteand Randall 193 3 Phillips and Cupitt 198 4 Penultimate issues 201 5 The ultimate issue 204 13 The Rationality of Religious Belief 1 Identifyingthe question 210 2 Theisticbeliefas a foundational naturalbelief 213 3 Trusting ourexperience 214 4 Complications 220 5 The problem ofcriteria 223 6 The right to believe 227 PART FOUR RELIGIOUS PLURALISM 14 The Pluralistic Hypothesis 1 The need for suchanhypothesis 233 2 The Real initselfand as humanly experienced 236 3 Kant's epistemological model 241 4 The relationbetween the Realan sich and its personaeand impersonae 246 15 The Personae of the Real 1 The need to think-and-experience the Real as personal 252 2 The phenomenologicalfinitude ofthe gods 257 3 The gods as personae ofthe Real 264 4 Two divine personae: The Hindu Krishna and theJahweh ofIsrael 267 5 The ontological status ofthe divine personae 269