Philosophy and Religion: an Evaluation

Philosophy and Religion: An Evaluation

Dr. Ani Casimir

Department of Philosophy,University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Abstract

Religion is the precinct of the hallow and the sacred. It claims the respect and obedience fate of the different professions and disciplines that a certain point in time, if was impossible to challenge the ate of mankind hung on the balance of the predominant thoughts of theology and religious dogma. But philosophy came with an ancient claim based upon rationality, that no idea is immune from the subjection of rational and metaphysical analysis, not even dogma. Thus began the effort by philosophy to evaluate and assess the values and ideas claimed as authoritative by the sponsors of religion. Religion and philosophy emerged, after the confrontation, with a new discipline known as philosophy of religion. The relationship between religion and philosophy is worth further exploration and critical analysis.

Introduction

Philosophy is fundamentally considered and regarded as the love of wisdom. This etymological conception started from ancient philosophy and it is still relevant in contemporary philosophy. But how does love of wisdom relate to religion?

This is a hard question to reflect upon, but, I bet you, it is not an easy one at that. In modern day phraseology an attempt to relate philosophy to religion will be a hard nut to crack; more so as a result of the controversy, surrounding the two subject matter. Philosophy considers religion as one of the departments in the discipline of philosophy just as science, ethics, metaphysics, language and other branches are constituents. But to do an evaluation of the relationship between religion and philosophy, we must start with a consideration of the embedded trinity of philosophy, religion and philosophy of religion.

What is Philosophy of Religion?

First of all, we must agree that philosophy of religion is not a recent invention and is an established discipline in philosophy that...