Religion 2.0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michael Dowd posted on what he calls the "New Theism" (as well as mentioning other terms). I'm not sure that I find that particular label "New Theism"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/05\/religion-2-0.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Religion 2.0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michael Dowd posted on what he calls the "New Theism" (as well as mentioning other terms). 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{"id":7895,"date":"2012-05-30T11:27:51","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T15:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=7895"},"modified":"2012-05-30T11:27:51","modified_gmt":"2012-05-30T15:27:51","slug":"religion-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/05\/religion-2-0.html","title":{"rendered":"Religion 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Michael Dowd posted on what he calls the \u201cNew Theism\u201d (as well as mentioning other terms)<\/a>. I\u2019m not sure that I find that particular label \u201cNew Theism\u201d helpful, since \u201ctheism\u201d is often associated with precisely what Dowd rejects, the idea of a personal or anthropomorphic deity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ I appreciate his comparison of the movement he is trying to spearhead with those strands of Judaism which still find religious language useful, but do not treat its depictions of an anthropomorphic deity as either literally factual or binding. I\u2019ve long suggested<\/a> that there is a need for a comparable movement within contemporary Christianity, as there have been proposals along these lines in the past, but none seem to have fully gripped the imagination of significant numbers of Christians.<\/p>\n

Dowd \u00a0suggests the following as the \u201ccreed\u201d of the new movement<\/a>: \u201cReality is our God, evidence is our scripture, and integrity is our religion.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve blogged about that creed and a previous commentary on it before<\/a>. It seems to me that, especially as \u201cReality\u201d is arguably synonymous with \u201cBeing,\u201d anyone who embraces Paul Tillich\u2019s approach to Christian theology and religious language will probably find Dowd\u2019s way of putting things compatible with their approach.<\/p>\n

I invite readers to share their thoughts and comments on this approach to religion<\/a>. Is it where you think religion in general is heading? Is it where your own religious path is leading? Is it an approach which you find helpful or problematic, even if it isn\u2019t one you personally embrace?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"