[October 2000 journal entry]
A ‘religious a priori’ is assumed within the ‘religious’ sphere both (1) in traditional, orthodox, pre-modern circles and (2) in liberal/modern circles (e.g., from Schleiermacher’s On Religion to Fosdick’s The Meaning of Prayer and beyond). Traditional, orthodox, pre-modern thought regards this ‘religious a priori’ to have been seriously diminished (according to some, fully destroyed) by/since a literal space-time ‘Fall’, with subsequent recovery coming only through a special/individual redemptive act of ‘God’. Liberal/modern thought is more optimistic about the spiritual potential/capacity of human beings.
A ‘religious a priori’ is assumed within the ‘religious’ sphere both (1) in traditional, orthodox, pre-modern circles and (2) in liberal/modern circles (e.g., from Schleiermacher’s On Religion to Fosdick’s The Meaning of Prayer and beyond). Traditional, orthodox, pre-modern thought regards this ‘religious a priori’ to have been seriously diminished (according to some, fully destroyed) by/since a literal space-time ‘Fall’, with subsequent recovery coming only through a special/individual redemptive act of ‘God’. Liberal/modern thought is more optimistic about the spiritual potential/capacity of human beings.