Reflection on Pragmatism from Os Guinness
A new face of empiricism, pragmatism was highly significant in America during twentieth century. Pragmatism was borne and developed in the United States. It is the soul for the development of the United States and Americanization. Nowadays, the presence of Pragmatism in Public Square may not be as strong as in twentieth century. However, the ideology of Pragmatism was still influencing many Christian in United States as well as in the across the glob. In Twenty first century the secular world has been moved forward to Postmodernism. The practices and values have been rapidly changed within society and yet Pragmatism was still the most influential ideology for many of the Evangelical Christians.
The positive and organized thinking was desperately needed for the new nation like United States. Most importantly they desperately need to develop the country. Likewise, the Church and her evangelization of the world need to have tangible progress. At the same time people spiritualized their aspiration and method for the development of the state in evangelization and theologization. Therefore they become to believe in doing well by doing good. When they accept the idea of doing well by doing good it is no more difficult to embrace the idea of using the right method for good outcome. Sadly it is the beginning of replacing divine power with human methods. To know the right methods become the primary concern. The idea of hard work leads to hope for prosperity as hard work without rewards will be illogical. As a result, the idea of human initiative instead of divine was born. Self positive thinking replaced faith in God. Now in this point of time the church and State become success-oriented. The State desperately desire freedom from Europe influences and economic development. Now they are going to take responsibility for their growth. Therefore, positive thinking and hope for better future become the dream of the state and the church. Their successful development confirmed using the right method. Their optimistic thinking carries beneficial results. Positive thinking flow out far wider than Christian thinking. The universal hope for the better life and confident in their methodological approaches give them confident to do everything. Therefore, their confident depend upon their methods, self-confident and positive thinking. On the other hand, Arminianism was widely accepted in Churches. Despite of many negative impacts, American Pragmatism movement also have greatly motivated to do Evangelism. They are good in organization and motivating people but also poor in content and spirituality. Finally, their motive may be good but their methods are wrong.
Ref: Fit Bodies Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think and What to Do About It. Author: Os Guinness
Friday, July 02, 2010
WorldViews: Philosophy Among the Ruins: The Twentieth Century and Beyond
Philosophy Among the Ruins: The Twentieth Century and Beyond
Twentieth century was truly a time of searching for meaning from what is or has been done by others. In another words, twentieth century was simply a continuation of the principal debates and themes discussed of the past. In this century philosophy is no more the search for truth but a worldview which emphasizing reality as the sum total of each individual’s experiences through practical experimentation. Twentieth century philosophy centered on individual existence and advocates that truth and values are arrived at by each person’s experiences. Therefore, Individual goals become more important than societal goals. Before twentieth century people believed in something but in twentieth century people believe in everything.
Twentieth century’s revolution in language and epistemology, science, and ethics produce philosophical environment which later become postmodernism. Unnecessary debates were command when the complexity of language, nature and science clashed with relativism of individualism. The result of the combination of complexity and relativism is postmodernism of Twenty first century. The Idealists with their emphasis on the human experience began to re-emerge during the 20th century in the discussions of how we know what we know. The physical world may provide us with data, but people have their own interpretations of that data. No transcendent principles were possible, just individual experiences. However, in twentieth century scientific fields are growing a rate as never before and it causes people to ask how they know what they know. All the problems start when man who is finite being trying to understand the creation of infinite God without Him. Man will ever doubt himself without God. Observing the data without God and the experiences without God could never lead man to make absolute conclusion. Every statement they made is endangered for revision. However Christian worldview accepts the fact that we live in a world created by God, and He knows His world exhaustively. Within God's creation, we can know truthfully without knowing exhaustively. We can pursue meaning, truth, and value, with humility, in a way that honors the Creator of all meaning, truth, and value. The lack of God in life leads to believing in everything which is even more unreasonable and illogical then Christian Theism.
Twentieth century’s revolution in language and epistemology, science, and ethics produce philosophical environment which later become postmodernism. Unnecessary debates were command when the complexity of language, nature and science clashed with relativism of individualism. The result of the combination of complexity and relativism is postmodernism of Twenty first century. The Idealists with their emphasis on the human experience began to re-emerge during the 20th century in the discussions of how we know what we know. The physical world may provide us with data, but people have their own interpretations of that data. No transcendent principles were possible, just individual experiences. However, in twentieth century scientific fields are growing a rate as never before and it causes people to ask how they know what they know. All the problems start when man who is finite being trying to understand the creation of infinite God without Him. Man will ever doubt himself without God. Observing the data without God and the experiences without God could never lead man to make absolute conclusion. Every statement they made is endangered for revision. However Christian worldview accepts the fact that we live in a world created by God, and He knows His world exhaustively. Within God's creation, we can know truthfully without knowing exhaustively. We can pursue meaning, truth, and value, with humility, in a way that honors the Creator of all meaning, truth, and value. The lack of God in life leads to believing in everything which is even more unreasonable and illogical then Christian Theism.
Ref:
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
Worldviews: The Reformation as a Revolution in Worldview
The Reformation as a Revolution in Worldview
The reformation movements which aimed to reform the church were begun by two theologians, Martian Luther and John Calvin in the early 16th century. The reformers see the church in polluted position. Many of Church practices were not from the bible but derived from Philosophical conclusions. Additionally, a growing number of scholars in the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries realized the Bible had lost its unique authoritative position in theology and in thinking about the Christian life and worldview issues. Prior to scholastic movement, medieval theologians use the bible to create theology. However, the use of Bible in making theology become during scholastic movement.
On the other hand the biblical humanists also laid great foundations for reformation to be born. Biblical humanist strongly emphasized to going back to original Biblical languages and the writing of the early church fathers. The combination of reformers’ emphasis on the authority of the scripture and biblical humanist’s proposal to go back to the original sources was clashed with the Church’s medieval synthesis and scholastic movement.
Under reformation worldview the scripture is the measuring standard for the practices of the church. For example, Luther’s statement of justification by faith was one of the most noticeable confrontations to the practices of the church in their time. Under the leadership of Calvin reformation become stronger together with five solas.
Reformation worldview impact the church and her people to give their attention back to the scripture. According to the bible reformers reestablished some of the most important doctrine such as salvation by grace alone, justification by faith, universal priesthood of every believer, and supreme authority of the scripture. However, reformers also raise many issues and most obvious problem after reformation is interpretation of the scriptures. Two great divisions on interpretation of the scripture arise together with reformation such as Arminianism and Calvinism. The interpretation of the scripture becomes the biggest issues in post-reformation. Therefore, in post-reformation era bible interpretation from Greek and Hebrews become prominence in Christian academia. The interpretation on Christ’s atonement for man’s sin is one of the most obvious examples to see how much interpretation is important. Some believe definite atonement while others hold on to limited atonement. Therefore, reformation worldview on God, the scripture, and man impact their interpretation of the scripture.
On the other hand the biblical humanists also laid great foundations for reformation to be born. Biblical humanist strongly emphasized to going back to original Biblical languages and the writing of the early church fathers. The combination of reformers’ emphasis on the authority of the scripture and biblical humanist’s proposal to go back to the original sources was clashed with the Church’s medieval synthesis and scholastic movement.
Under reformation worldview the scripture is the measuring standard for the practices of the church. For example, Luther’s statement of justification by faith was one of the most noticeable confrontations to the practices of the church in their time. Under the leadership of Calvin reformation become stronger together with five solas.
Reformation worldview impact the church and her people to give their attention back to the scripture. According to the bible reformers reestablished some of the most important doctrine such as salvation by grace alone, justification by faith, universal priesthood of every believer, and supreme authority of the scripture. However, reformers also raise many issues and most obvious problem after reformation is interpretation of the scriptures. Two great divisions on interpretation of the scripture arise together with reformation such as Arminianism and Calvinism. The interpretation of the scripture becomes the biggest issues in post-reformation. Therefore, in post-reformation era bible interpretation from Greek and Hebrews become prominence in Christian academia. The interpretation on Christ’s atonement for man’s sin is one of the most obvious examples to see how much interpretation is important. Some believe definite atonement while others hold on to limited atonement. Therefore, reformation worldview on God, the scripture, and man impact their interpretation of the scripture.
Ref:
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
WorldViews: New Testament Worldview
New Testament Worldview
The life and ministry of Christ become the centrality in New Testament era. However, many people especially Jews have difficulties to accept the New Testament as equivalence to Torah(1). Believing Jesus as God was the root crack to born New Testament worldview which flows away from Judaism. Although Christians says that New Testament was founded upon the Old Testament but for Jews it is impossible. For Jews the Old Testament especially Torah was the only complete word of God. Nothing could be added to it.
Apart from the deity of Jesus, Jewish idea of monotheism was completely different from Christian. Even without The deity of Jesus was the key issue in New Testament era. If Jesus is not the Christ and God there will be many problems within Christianity. For example, the gospel of John was written in a way that defends the deity of Christ (John 20:30). Therefore, when Jews denial the deity of Jesus Christ it is impossible for Christian to have the same world view as them. However, New Testament believer could not denial the Old Testament worldview. In another word, the New Testament also agrees with Hebrew world-and-life view in its basic assumptions about God and His creation.
New Testament not only brings new covenant but also new spectacle of worldview for those who believe in Jesus. The key messages which drive the New Testament worldview are the incarnation of God, the dead and resurrection of Christ, the Kingdom of God, Trinity, forgiveness and redemption from sin, mission and discipleship, and the Holy Spirit. In the light of New Testament new covenant everyone including Jews need to believe Jesus Christ as God and savior for the sake of remission of their sins and salvation. Therefore, the main emphasis in New Testament is to be saved and to save others (mission and discipleship).
The New Testament worldview sees human being including Jews as helpless sinners who are in need of savior. Unlike Jews’ hope for future redemption which is salvation for Jews, New Testament redemption make available for everyone. On the other hand, New Testament worldview was not fix and limited geographically to a particular people group but it is transcultural.
In general, New Testament worldview seems to be similar to Hebrew worldview but reading New Testament from Hebrew world view will cause great division. For example, the New Testament worldview of the deity of Christ and the priesthood of believers are serious offense in Hebrew worldview. However, New Testament builds on the worldview of Old Testament. Nevertheless, Jesus and His message about kingdom of God for the redemption of mankind is totally a new way of looking at the world, the people, and the Scripture.
Apart from the deity of Jesus, Jewish idea of monotheism was completely different from Christian. Even without The deity of Jesus was the key issue in New Testament era. If Jesus is not the Christ and God there will be many problems within Christianity. For example, the gospel of John was written in a way that defends the deity of Christ (John 20:30). Therefore, when Jews denial the deity of Jesus Christ it is impossible for Christian to have the same world view as them. However, New Testament believer could not denial the Old Testament worldview. In another word, the New Testament also agrees with Hebrew world-and-life view in its basic assumptions about God and His creation.
New Testament not only brings new covenant but also new spectacle of worldview for those who believe in Jesus. The key messages which drive the New Testament worldview are the incarnation of God, the dead and resurrection of Christ, the Kingdom of God, Trinity, forgiveness and redemption from sin, mission and discipleship, and the Holy Spirit. In the light of New Testament new covenant everyone including Jews need to believe Jesus Christ as God and savior for the sake of remission of their sins and salvation. Therefore, the main emphasis in New Testament is to be saved and to save others (mission and discipleship).
The New Testament worldview sees human being including Jews as helpless sinners who are in need of savior. Unlike Jews’ hope for future redemption which is salvation for Jews, New Testament redemption make available for everyone. On the other hand, New Testament worldview was not fix and limited geographically to a particular people group but it is transcultural.
In general, New Testament worldview seems to be similar to Hebrew worldview but reading New Testament from Hebrew world view will cause great division. For example, the New Testament worldview of the deity of Christ and the priesthood of believers are serious offense in Hebrew worldview. However, New Testament builds on the worldview of Old Testament. Nevertheless, Jesus and His message about kingdom of God for the redemption of mankind is totally a new way of looking at the world, the people, and the Scripture.
Ref:
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
WorldViews: Christianity from the Early Fathers to Charlemagne
Christianity from the Early Fathers to Charlemagne
The first eight centuries of the history of the church play the biggest role in building systematical Christianity later become the tradition of the church. Many theologians raised in this era to protect Christianity against heresies. Even Apostle Paul himself wrote against heresies in many of his epistles especially in second Timothy. Heresies are basically false teaching or false belief of the scripture. One of the possibilities for having so much of heresies in church could be because of having diverse people groups in the church. In the book of Acts the Apostles of Jesus were having difficulties in deal with new gentle converse. Without God’s intervention in Acts 10 Apostle Peter and his fellow brothers could have uncertainty in dealing with Gentiles in Acts 15. On the other hand, there are different heresies in different part of the world. Therefore, apostolic fathers from different parts of Roman Empire deal different issues.
In the case of apostolic fathers’ era in the early church, heresies were the teachings that directly conflicted with the teaching of Jesus and the writing of his apostles. The positive outcome from heresy teachings was the raise of Christian Apologists. In the beginning of apostolic writing, the purpose of their letters is to defend the teaching of Scriptures. For example, Polycarp’s letter is to defend his teacher Apostle John’s letter. Therefore, apostolic writing is more like bible exposition to explain draw the meaning of Apostles’ writings.
In the beginning the purpose of Christian apologetic writings was to defend Christianity from pagan influence. However, apologetic was set in competition with Greek religions and worldview. Since than apologetic served not only for defending the faith but also to express the faith of Christianity by using Greek ways of thinking and reasoning. It is the beginning of Hellenization of Christianity.
There are many advantages by adopting Greek words and methods such as raise of Christian thinkers who can logically present Christian faith to the pagan philosopher. Nevertheless, by using Greek methods there is more division within Christianity more than before. In this era Christianity become the biggest religion in Roman Empire. The church becomes stronger yet weaker in terms of unity. Likewise different sects of Greek philosophy, Christian lost unity. In Hebrew world-and-life view division is not encourages but Greek worldview encourage individualism. The Greek philosophy of individualism seems to influence Christianity since from the very beginning of the Church. Paul in his letter in 1 Corinthians 12 and many other of his writing highlighted unity in diversity. In the letter of Clement of Rome he again highlighted Apostle Paul’s writing about unity. Finally, Hellenization of Christianity was the truing point of Christian worldview from Judeo-Christian, New Testament worldview to Greek Hellenistic worldview.
The first eight centuries of the history of the church play the biggest role in building systematical Christianity later become the tradition of the church. Many theologians raised in this era to protect Christianity against heresies. Even Apostle Paul himself wrote against heresies in many of his epistles especially in second Timothy. Heresies are basically false teaching or false belief of the scripture. One of the possibilities for having so much of heresies in church could be because of having diverse people groups in the church. In the book of Acts the Apostles of Jesus were having difficulties in deal with new gentle converse. Without God’s intervention in Acts 10 Apostle Peter and his fellow brothers could have uncertainty in dealing with Gentiles in Acts 15. On the other hand, there are different heresies in different part of the world. Therefore, apostolic fathers from different parts of Roman Empire deal different issues.
In the case of apostolic fathers’ era in the early church, heresies were the teachings that directly conflicted with the teaching of Jesus and the writing of his apostles. The positive outcome from heresy teachings was the raise of Christian Apologists. In the beginning of apostolic writing, the purpose of their letters is to defend the teaching of Scriptures. For example, Polycarp’s letter is to defend his teacher Apostle John’s letter. Therefore, apostolic writing is more like bible exposition to explain draw the meaning of Apostles’ writings.
In the beginning the purpose of Christian apologetic writings was to defend Christianity from pagan influence. However, apologetic was set in competition with Greek religions and worldview. Since than apologetic served not only for defending the faith but also to express the faith of Christianity by using Greek ways of thinking and reasoning. It is the beginning of Hellenization of Christianity.
There are many advantages by adopting Greek words and methods such as raise of Christian thinkers who can logically present Christian faith to the pagan philosopher. Nevertheless, by using Greek methods there is more division within Christianity more than before. In this era Christianity become the biggest religion in Roman Empire. The church becomes stronger yet weaker in terms of unity. Likewise different sects of Greek philosophy, Christian lost unity. In Hebrew world-and-life view division is not encourages but Greek worldview encourage individualism. The Greek philosophy of individualism seems to influence Christianity since from the very beginning of the Church. Paul in his letter in 1 Corinthians 12 and many other of his writing highlighted unity in diversity. In the letter of Clement of Rome he again highlighted Apostle Paul’s writing about unity. Finally, Hellenization of Christianity was the truing point of Christian worldview from Judeo-Christian, New Testament worldview to Greek Hellenistic worldview.
WorldViews: A Respond to Feuerbach
A Respond to Feuerbach
According to Feuerbach, God was only the objection of human aspirations. According to his ideology, people who are hoping for peace will create a God who will bring peace. Humans hope for love, and so create a God of Love. In another word, humans create a God as the mirror of their hopes. His naively optimistic view of humankind was the oppositionist of the nature of man which the scripture portrayed. According to the bible humankind could never compared with the Holiness of Sovereignty God. In Roman 3:10-12, the scripture said “As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God” (NIV).
Feuerbach ignores the evils and vices of human nature. According to him, humans create a God as the mirror of their hopes and their needs. On the other hand, Christianity was truly like the mirror of mankind’s’ hope. However, the teaching of the bible is beyond even what the most intelligent noble man could imagine God, according to Feuerbach, is projection of the strongest desires of humanity. However, the holiness of God in the Bible could never be the projection of the desire of man. As God’s power is the opposite of the native weakness of the creature, as His wisdom is in complete contrast from the least defect of understanding or folly, so His holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement (2 Chron. 20:21). It is illogical to say that imperfect being create the perfect being. If God is just the projection of man’s imagination God should be more like man. It is impossible for man to articulate the idea without prior knowledge about it. The characteristics and attributes of God could not derive from man’s idea of perfect man. Man could not create beyond his understanding and desire. However, God is beyond human understanding and desire (Job36:26). Ludwig Feuerbach’s greatest weakness was undermining the evil desire of man. There are imbalances between His ignorance but positive attitude toward humanity verses the fallen nature of man. It is too naïve to say that man has good desire even when he is doing bad deeds. Therefore, it is impossible for man to project the most holy God.
Feuerbach ignores the evils and vices of human nature. According to him, humans create a God as the mirror of their hopes and their needs. On the other hand, Christianity was truly like the mirror of mankind’s’ hope. However, the teaching of the bible is beyond even what the most intelligent noble man could imagine God, according to Feuerbach, is projection of the strongest desires of humanity. However, the holiness of God in the Bible could never be the projection of the desire of man. As God’s power is the opposite of the native weakness of the creature, as His wisdom is in complete contrast from the least defect of understanding or folly, so His holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement (2 Chron. 20:21). It is illogical to say that imperfect being create the perfect being. If God is just the projection of man’s imagination God should be more like man. It is impossible for man to articulate the idea without prior knowledge about it. The characteristics and attributes of God could not derive from man’s idea of perfect man. Man could not create beyond his understanding and desire. However, God is beyond human understanding and desire (Job36:26). Ludwig Feuerbach’s greatest weakness was undermining the evil desire of man. There are imbalances between His ignorance but positive attitude toward humanity verses the fallen nature of man. It is too naïve to say that man has good desire even when he is doing bad deeds. Therefore, it is impossible for man to project the most holy God.
Ref:
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
WorldView: The Enlightenments and Awakenings
The Enlightenments and Awakenings during 17th century and 18th century was the beginning of modern cultural wars. The Enlightenment had its origins in England in the 17th century and moved to the European Continent during the 18th century. The term ‘Enlightenment’ signifies a new way of seeing things, primarily not through the category of revelation but through rational demonstration and empirical investigation. In another word, divine autonomy was replaced by human autonomy. In different parts of Europe Enlightenment stood as alternatives to secularism. Thereafter, the ideology of Enlightenment slowly manifest ‘Subjective Turn’ which is a decisive shift in worldview from theocentric thinking to various degrees of anthropocentrism. This is called the beginning of modern cultural wars, the time when man tries to get independent from God. In another word, moving toward human self-sufficiency is most pronounced in radical enlighteners in their espousal of autonomy as the dominant theme of modern thought.
The basic hypothesis of the Enlightenment was the supremacy of reason. In their scientific reasoning, Enlightenment intellectuals challenged traditional Christianity worldview by opposing the teachings and dogma of the Catholic Church. Enlightenment thinkers believed that humans were good yet perfectible. These thinkers believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world.
The basic hypothesis of the Enlightenment was the supremacy of reason. In their scientific reasoning, Enlightenment intellectuals challenged traditional Christianity worldview by opposing the teachings and dogma of the Catholic Church. Enlightenment thinkers believed that humans were good yet perfectible. These thinkers believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world.
They assumed that religion is superstitious ignorance. Thus, using the new scientific methods was implemented during the scientific revolution. This new world view soon gained followers through the literary output of Enlightenment authors, and those writers and followers helped. Exercising intellectual reasoning and rationalization become popular as they believe logic could be a powerful avenue to truth. In another word, Enlightenment thinkers believe in the power of reasoning to defend all sorts of absurd notions. The worldview of this age replaced community, tradition with individualism and freedom.
Ref:
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
WorldViews: The Age of Intellectual Iconoclasm
The Nineteenth Century Revolt Against Theism
The divergence between reason and faith was gradually bigger and bigger throughout the eighteenth century. Before the raise of Enlightenment philosophy faith and reason are not separate domains. However, the separation between faith and reason begin in the new rationalistic climate during the Enlightenment period of eighteen century. But even in the eighteenth century there was no idea of warfare between the two spheres. Enlightenment philosophers such as David Hume and others do not see reason as the enemy of faith. In eighteenth century world view faith and reason were thought to be mutually compatible . Nevertheless, the divergence between reason and faith become more aggressive in nineteenth century. By the end of nineteenth century, faith and reason were more generally assumed as enemies, forever locked in violent conflict. Therefore, from this era Christian believers and theologians began to see science as a threat to Christianity. As a result nineteenth century had witnessed one of the largest revivals in the Church history. On the other hand, scientist like Darwin’s evolution theory causes scientists to see religion as a threat to scientific freedom. However, pragmatism becomes most distinctive philosophy of the century. Unlike evolutionary theory and idealism, Pragmatists have emphasized the nature of reality and the practical function of knowledge as an instrument for adapting to reality and controlling it. Existence is fundamentally concerned with action. Pragmatism emphasizes the priority of actual experience over fixed principles and a priori reasoning. The pragmatism believes that man is the measure of all things. Therefore, there is not right or wrong for individuals. All values are relative and are to be judged by their consequences. If the consequences of an act are good, the act is good. If the consequences of an act are bad, the act is bad(1). The idea of pragmatism is favorable for most of people because it believes that man's interpretations of reality are motivated by considerations of efficacy and utility in serving his interests and needs. On the other hand, it also leads many people to believe that reality is only something that they could experience. Finally, pragmatism has greatly impact Christianity especially in America. Experiencing God becomes popular message in Christendom. It highlighted the lack of experience in Church. However, in this century man become the center of philosophy.
(1)http://www.iep.utm.edu/pragmati/
Ref:
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
The divergence between reason and faith was gradually bigger and bigger throughout the eighteenth century. Before the raise of Enlightenment philosophy faith and reason are not separate domains. However, the separation between faith and reason begin in the new rationalistic climate during the Enlightenment period of eighteen century. But even in the eighteenth century there was no idea of warfare between the two spheres. Enlightenment philosophers such as David Hume and others do not see reason as the enemy of faith. In eighteenth century world view faith and reason were thought to be mutually compatible . Nevertheless, the divergence between reason and faith become more aggressive in nineteenth century. By the end of nineteenth century, faith and reason were more generally assumed as enemies, forever locked in violent conflict. Therefore, from this era Christian believers and theologians began to see science as a threat to Christianity. As a result nineteenth century had witnessed one of the largest revivals in the Church history. On the other hand, scientist like Darwin’s evolution theory causes scientists to see religion as a threat to scientific freedom. However, pragmatism becomes most distinctive philosophy of the century. Unlike evolutionary theory and idealism, Pragmatists have emphasized the nature of reality and the practical function of knowledge as an instrument for adapting to reality and controlling it. Existence is fundamentally concerned with action. Pragmatism emphasizes the priority of actual experience over fixed principles and a priori reasoning. The pragmatism believes that man is the measure of all things. Therefore, there is not right or wrong for individuals. All values are relative and are to be judged by their consequences. If the consequences of an act are good, the act is good. If the consequences of an act are bad, the act is bad(1). The idea of pragmatism is favorable for most of people because it believes that man's interpretations of reality are motivated by considerations of efficacy and utility in serving his interests and needs. On the other hand, it also leads many people to believe that reality is only something that they could experience. Finally, pragmatism has greatly impact Christianity especially in America. Experiencing God becomes popular message in Christendom. It highlighted the lack of experience in Church. However, in this century man become the center of philosophy.
(1)http://www.iep.utm.edu/pragmati/
Ref:
Revolutions in Worldview: Understanding the Flow of Western Thought. Editor Andrew Hoffecker
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