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Religious naturalism and its rivals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2012

MIKAEL STENMARK
MIKAEL STENMARK*
Affiliation:
Department of Theology, Uppsala University, Box 511, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden e-mail: mikael.stenmark@teol.uu.se
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Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore where and why religious naturalism differs from its rivals, and also to consider some of the challenges religious naturalism faces. I argue that religious naturalism is best conceived as a reaction against both theists who are religious and naturalists who are atheists: the best option is taken to be a naturalist who is religious. Nevertheless, it is quite difficult to say more exactly what claims the view contains. In fact, it is argued, three forms of religious naturalism must be distinguished and contrasted with their rivals, which are taken to be non-religious naturalism, scientific naturalism, theism (including panentheism), divine transcendentalism, religious agnosticism, and religious relativism.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 529 - 550
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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