Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #523034 in Books
• Published on: 1984-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 142 pages

Customer Reviews

Key book for dealing with the nature of doctrine & religion
Lindbeck begins this important work by presenting three approaches to understanding the nature of religion which in turn are accompanied by three understandings of what doctrine is. The first he calls the cognitive, the view that religion is mostly concerned with knowledge and beliefs. It is understood in comparison with science. Doctrine, on such an understanding. consists of informative propositions. A second model is the Experiential Expressive. Personal consciousness and feeling are central here. Doctrine in this conception consists of symbolizations of inner states of mind and feeling. The third model, and the one Lindbeck finds most helpful, he calls the cultural linguistic. Using this model, doctrines are seen as analogous to grammatical rules. Lindbeck's position is motivated, first (and from a personal perspective) by his long time ecumenical interests. A cognitive view of religion and doctrine makes doctrinal change (needed in some form for ecumenism to work) hard to conceive, while an EE approach tends to minimize all distinctions between groups, short-circuiting the dialogue. The second major influence on Linbeck is postmodern philosophy of language, Wittgenstein and Austin in particular. Lindbeck's use of these two, especially of Austin, seems superficial. Austin is famous for his discussion of the performative dimension of language. Lindbeck seems to have read only the first few chapters of How to Do Things With Words - never reaching the point where Austin rejects a hard division between performatives and conatives (descriptive or truth claiming). In spite of its philosophical weaknesses, this is a book that must be reckoned with by all who would write in the field.