Die hermeneutiek van die geloof
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
LitNet
Abstract
Een van die vrugte van die Verligting is die neiging om ons denke te reduseer tot kennisverwerwing. Die gevolg hiervan is dat religieuse geloof geïnterpreteer word as ’n soort kennis wat na die maatstawe van die wetenskap beoordeel moet word. In hierdie artikel word geargumenteer dat religieuse geloof nie ’n soort kennis is nie maar ’n soort interpretasie van die dinge wat ons ken. Gelowiges kyk na die werklikheid met die oë van die geloof. D.w.s. hulle interpreteer hulle lewens en hulle ervaring van die wêreld in terme van die omvattende interpretasie-raamwerk van verhale en metafore wat aan hulle oorgelewer is in ’n religieuse tradisie. Hierdie interpretasie bepaal die sin van hulle lewens en hulle ervaring. In hulle spiritualiteit oefen gelowiges om met die oë van die geloof na die werklikheid te kyk. Hierdie interpretasie is nie alleen intellektueel nie maar veral eksistensieel: dit vereis ’n lewenswyse wat pas by die interpretasie. Ook veronderstel hierdie interpretasie ’n bepaalde werklikheidsbeeld waarvoor gelowiges waarheidsaansprake maak: empiriese aansprake, aansprake oor religieuse ervaring en metafisiese aansprake oor die bonatuurlike, oor God en sy verhouding met ons. Ten slotte moet hierdie geloofsinterpretasie en die waarheidsaansprake wat daarmee saamgaan, beoordeel word in die lig van die maatstawe van ’n hermeneutiese rasionaliteit en nie in die lig van die kognitiewe kriteria van die wetenskap nie.
In his Meditations René Descartes launched what is known as the Enlightenment project. This project aimed at basing all knowledge-claims on rational grounds that are universally acceptable to everybody. This project is characterised by two important features. First, it is exclusively a cognitive project. Descartes aspired to make some solid and lasting contribution to knowledge. Secondly it is a critical project. It aims at basing all knowledge claims on universally acceptable rational grounds and to eliminate claims that cannot be derived from such grounds. This project became characteristic of Enlightenment culture and gave rise to the flowering of scientific enquiry. However, this project also became the mindset of the intellectual culture in the Enlightenment. The result was that the critical search for knowledge became paradigmatic for all thinking. In some way or other all questions in life were understood as cognitive questions. The central question in all thinking became: “How do you know?” in the critical sense of “On what grounds do you base your knowledge claims?”. In the mindset of the Enlightenment, religious belief was often understood in purely cognitive terms. Like science, religion was aimed at providing us with knowledge about God, the world and ourselves. Religious beliefs were taken to be factual hypotheses, and the task of theology was to prove the truth of these hypotheses by showing that they are derived from universally acceptable rational grounds. This was a serious misrepresentation of the nature of religious faith. Believers are not purely cognitive beings. They are beings who try to make sense of their lives and experience by interpreting these in terms of the heritage of faith handed down to them in a religious tradition. In this way faith is a hermeneutical rather than a cognitive phenomenon. It is not a kind of knowledge but a kind of interpretation of the things we know. This paper explains the nature of this kind of interpretation in the light of G.K. Chesterton’s statement that “all good things look better when they look like gifts”. This statement illustrates three essential aspects of religious faith: 1. Faith is hermeneutical – good things are interpreted as gifts. 2. This interpretations requires a response: gifts call for gratitude. 3. Both the interpretation and the response entail assumptions about the nature of reality – gifts and gratitude assume the reality of a giver.
In his Meditations René Descartes launched what is known as the Enlightenment project. This project aimed at basing all knowledge-claims on rational grounds that are universally acceptable to everybody. This project is characterised by two important features. First, it is exclusively a cognitive project. Descartes aspired to make some solid and lasting contribution to knowledge. Secondly it is a critical project. It aims at basing all knowledge claims on universally acceptable rational grounds and to eliminate claims that cannot be derived from such grounds. This project became characteristic of Enlightenment culture and gave rise to the flowering of scientific enquiry. However, this project also became the mindset of the intellectual culture in the Enlightenment. The result was that the critical search for knowledge became paradigmatic for all thinking. In some way or other all questions in life were understood as cognitive questions. The central question in all thinking became: “How do you know?” in the critical sense of “On what grounds do you base your knowledge claims?”. In the mindset of the Enlightenment, religious belief was often understood in purely cognitive terms. Like science, religion was aimed at providing us with knowledge about God, the world and ourselves. Religious beliefs were taken to be factual hypotheses, and the task of theology was to prove the truth of these hypotheses by showing that they are derived from universally acceptable rational grounds. This was a serious misrepresentation of the nature of religious faith. Believers are not purely cognitive beings. They are beings who try to make sense of their lives and experience by interpreting these in terms of the heritage of faith handed down to them in a religious tradition. In this way faith is a hermeneutical rather than a cognitive phenomenon. It is not a kind of knowledge but a kind of interpretation of the things we know. This paper explains the nature of this kind of interpretation in the light of G.K. Chesterton’s statement that “all good things look better when they look like gifts”. This statement illustrates three essential aspects of religious faith: 1. Faith is hermeneutical – good things are interpreted as gifts. 2. This interpretations requires a response: gifts call for gratitude. 3. Both the interpretation and the response entail assumptions about the nature of reality – gifts and gratitude assume the reality of a giver.
Description
CITATION: Brummer, V. 2017. Die hermeneutiek van die geloof. LitNet Akademies, 14(3):542-556.
The original publication is available at https://www.litnet.co.za
The original publication is available at https://www.litnet.co.za
Keywords
Faith, Bible -- Hermeneutics, Spirituality
Citation
Brummer, V. 2017. Die hermeneutiek van die geloof. LitNet Akademies, 14(3):542-556.