H. PAUL DOUGLASS LECTURE: HEAVEN IS A WONDERFUL PLACE: THE ROLE OF REASONABLENESS IN RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE

The United States is one of the best educated countries in the world, and yet a large proportion of the public claims to believe in the existence of heaven. To understand why there is relatively little apparent conflict between reason and faith about this topic, I examine the language devices subjec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReview of religious research Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 5 - 20
Main Author WUTHNOW, ROBERT
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Galva, IL Religious Research Association 01.09.2010
Subjects
Bible
Children
Christianity
Conflict
Contemporary period
Death
Discourse
General subjects
Heaven
History and sciences of religions
Hymns
Language
Language Usage
Movies
Musical register
Philosophy
Reasonable person
Spiritual belief systems
United States of America
Belief
Faith and Reason
Religious discourse
Paradise
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Summary:The United States is one of the best educated countries in the world, and yet a large proportion of the public claims to believe in the existence of heaven. To understand why there is relatively little apparent conflict between reason and faith about this topic, I examine the language devices subjects use in qualitative interviews to avoid appearing unreasonable when talking about heaven. I discuss references to religious authority and associated disclaimers, registers and register shifts, symbolic contrasts between heaven and earth, and expressions of ambivalence about who goes to heaven and how wonderful it may be.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0034-673X
2211-4866