In yesterday’s post, I discussed Philip Goldberg’s contention that “Eastern religions” (i.e., Hinduism and Buddhism) are science friendly. To support his argument, Goldberg relies on a very specific — and Westernized — understanding of these traditions. Yesterday’s post was devoted to the Western construction and consumption of Buddhism; today’s post will cover the highly problematic [...]
Tags:consciousness·Constructions of Hinduism·David Lorenzen·eastern religions·Edward Said·energy·essentializing·Hindu·Hinduism·India·Indian nationalism·invention of Hinduism·official Hinduism·Philip Goldberg·Robert Frykenberg·social construction·South Asia·syncretism·Vedic·Western consumption·Who Invented Hinduism·Yoga
This is the question asked by Philip Goldberg in a recent article in which he boldly answers yes: “Religious faith in the case of the Hindus has never been allowed to run counter to scientific laws. The same can be said for Buddhism, which derives from the same Vedic roots.”
Setting aside for a [...]
Tags:ahistorical·Buddhism·C.W. Huntington·critique·eastern religions·elites·empiricism·enlightenment·essentializing·Gregory Schopen·Hinduism·intellectuals·Jonathan Z. Smith·Philip Goldberg·reconstructed Buddhism·Religion and Other Products of Empire·Richard Horsley·Robert Sharf·science·social construction·The Zen of Japanese Nationalism·Vedic·Western consumption·Zen Buddhism
There is a long history of assessing — and attempting to explain — religion in a functional manner. Marx and Engels figured that the function of religion was to disguise the realities of the underlying economic system and palliate the suffering of the laboring masses. Durkheim thought that the function of religion was to enable [...]
Tags:Civil Religion·Durkheim·Engels·ethics·Freud·function of religion·Marx·morals·Philip Goldberg·proximate cause·Robert Bellah·Thomas Hobbes·transcendence·ultimate cause
