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WHICH ALLEGORY FOR RELIGIOUS TRUTH: PLATO'S CAVE OR NIETZSCHE'S ZARATHUSTRA? IN THE ERA of renewal in Christian theology and religious education since the days of Vatican Council II, those involved in Christian education have been stimulated by the publication of a considerable amount of material, not derived from theology, but rather from social science, speaking of religion as being intrinsic to both man and society. From psychology and sociology, authors such as P. Berger, R. May, R. Bellah, A. Maslow-to mention but a few of those one could cite-have provided the Christian educator with material which makes it possible to speak once more of essential religious values, of the meaning of creativity, spontaneity, liberation and transcendence, all of which are seen by such authors as lying at the center of the religious dimension of personal and social life.1 A new sense of freedom and dignity is provided by such authors in a way which many religious educators find expressive of .some of the basic features of Christian faith, and which give to the work of the Christian educator a new and vigorous task of promoting individual creativity and a personal sense of transcendence in the midst of a largely materialistic and computerised society. It is then with a sense of trepidation at the prospect of treading on certain fashionable feet that, in this short essay, I call attention to what appears to be a philosophical dilemma confronting the theologian and the religious educator, a dilemma born from reflection on the use of social science in the task of 1 R. May: The Courage to Create, W. W. Norton, N. Y., (1975); Love and Will,, W. W Norton, NY., (1969); A. Maslow: Religious Values and Peak Experiences , Viking, N. Y., (1970); P. Berger: Rumour of Angels, London, Pelican, (1971); T. Luckmann: The Invisible Religion, London, Macmillan, (1967). 6~5 6~6 MICHAEL QUIGLEY promoting Christian faith. My suggestion is that we clarify in our minds once more what lies at the philosophical root of our work as Christian educators. There can be no doubt that from both sociological and psychological perspectives a good deal of contemporary literature perceives an essential ' religious' dimension to man and society. But the question to which we are attempting to address ourselves in this essay is this: does the use of the term ' religious ' by authors not particularly committed to, or affiliated with, any theistic tradition, much less the Christian tradition, carry with it a valid expression of what is considered authentically religious by the Christian tradition? Conversely, is there to be found in the Christian tradition anything which might find that tradition at odds with the contemporary usage of the word ' religious ' ? Unfortunately, posing the question in this manner might convey the false impression that Christianity has, at least in the mind of this author, a hold on the meaning of ' religious' to which all else must submit. It is certainly not our intention to make this claim, much less to ask for a return to some form of rigid Barthianism, or to deny important features of secularization . The main stream of Christian theology would seem to demand that truth be found in the world, and, on the basis of the doctrines of creation and incarnation, the world is the locus of God's revelation, and that is where the Christian is called to live his faith. The philosophical issue which seems to be at stake is this: Is there anything about the world in itself which is presupposed by Christianity to such an extent that, if this philosophical understanding is radically undermined and a revolutionary kind of philosophy substituted, it would render it impossible for the Christian faith to be articulated in such terms, without that faith becoming quite different from what it has been traditionally ? Put in simpler terms: is there any philosophical sense in which what is ' religious ' might be utterly opposed to what is Christian? Clearly, this is a most difficult task, and one which many will find irrelevant in the modern climate. Let us be RELIGIOUS TRUTH: PLATO OR NIETZSCHE 627 grateful that serious authors find man ' religious ', that they provide us with a meaningful...

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