Volume 29, Number 14 · September 23, 1982
Speaking of the Unspeakable
By J.M. Cameron
Religion: If there is no God... On God, the Devil, Sin and other Worries of the so-called Philosophy of Religion
by Leszek Kolakowski
Oxford University Press, 235 pp., $19.95
Leszek Kolakowski's book is occasionally concerned with describing religious behavior, drawing upon the observations of such writers of Rudolf Otto and Mircea Eliade, but it is for the most part critical and philosophical. Religion is spoken of as 'the socially established worship of the eternal reality.' The term 'eternal reality' seems to be chosen because it is neutral as between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on the one hand, and Buddhism and Hinduism on the other. In fact, Kolakowski's chief interest seems to be in Judeo-Christian theism and his book is mainly an essay in the philosophy of religion. This is not the post-kantian subject explored by such philosophers as Karl Jaspers and Paul Ricoeur, that is, the study of the categories shown in the activities of the religious consciousness. It is rather what used to be called natural theology, that is, rational inquiry into the grounds for saying things about God and his relation to the world and to human affairs. The former inquiry answers the questions, what is it to be religious, and what things are presupposed by religious activities? The latter tries to list and elucidate the reasons we have for believing, or entertaining, a number of propositions, metaphysical and other, about God, and about God and the world.
Review, 2936 words
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