John Caputo's On Religion: The Love of God Explored - Essay Sample

Introduction

Caputo is an American philosopher who explores religious thinking among people. In his exploration, several compelling questions emerge along the way. The essay focuses in John Caputo's book On Religion - "The Love of God." It answers several issues concerning the understanding of chapter one and five of the book.

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Question 1

Caputo interprets Augustine's query in a quite philosophical manner. His philosophical interpretation of the question creates a dismissal of particularized dogma among many believers (Olthuis 49). In other words, his critique favors the idea of religion-ethical action that is universalized. More so, his interpretation of the query is more tied on the theme of "impossible." He reveals that the "impossible" is the domain of terra incognita that exists beyond what we foresee in the future (Olthuis 62). It is instead the absolute future that none of us is aware of or none of us knows. He relates his answer to what the older generation can refer to as the "existential question truth" that everybody will die.

Caputo's interpretations of Augustine's query relates to the theme of impossible and truth in many ways. For instance, in his argument, when one loves God, he/she loves religion. Religion is a platform where impossible occurs. "It is a pact with the uncertainty of our transitory nature (Olthuis 58)." A religious life entails exposing ourselves to a radical uncertainty of life that is commonly referred to as an absolute future. Absolute future means taking risks and giving what we cannot account for in our lives. In general, the infinite future is a risky task, and hence one must have faith and hope in all undertakings.

According to Caputo, to believe in religion means one must become unhinged. Therefore, an individual will live to have the hope of impossible above the certainty of several crunches. In other words, faith in religion is a prophetic hope of the impossible above our pragmatic forecasting. Caputo asserts that since God is love, then the religion is a disposition of our radical faith that dwells on a tenacious unhinged notion of the impossible. He claims that the best interpretation of Augustine's question is just the truth. However, the truth cannot solve the immediate matters since nobody knows what is coming next. "No one has a finger on the "Being's button" (Olthuis 55). The hypothesis raises an essential question to the believers on what they should do.

Question 2

According to Caputo, the distinction of true religion is a religion of beliefs without certainty. In other words, it is truth without knowledge. Every religion should accept that faith is an historical shape that God has given unto them. Therefore, all ways to know and love God are authentic (Caputo 103). A true religion holds the virtue of being authentically religious. Truth call for action, which means we must perform something to make truth happen. In other words, truth is not a propositional attitude. Caputo claims that human beings are called to do the fact. The name of God is a deed. Therefore, for us to love God, we must do something impossible in our lives. We should not confuse how we do the truth with our misguided approaches to oblige faith on others. Religious truth should not be confused with the knowledge to avoid enforcing truth to others through violence.

When Caputo says that religious truth is truth without knowledge, he means that our understanding should not misguide us when imparting faith to others. It is significant for a religion to have certainty (Caputo 107). However, the truth should consider doing justice to others. It should abstain from violence or down look at others. No religion has truth in the logic of factual knowledge. Religion cannot keep any secret. However, religions are true simply because they do religion.

Question 3

Religion without religion means one can have or do religion without having the passion for religion. In other words, individuals can have a deep love for religion outside their consent and end up doing actions that are against the religion. Caputo's ides on "Religion without Religion" drives the meaning that one can have a deep love of something outside oneself. In his ideas, he confesses that we don't know who we are. He adds that whatever we have is just the passion of non-knowing for our love for God. Caputo tries to bring a notion that we are not aware of whom we pray and believe (Simpson 215). More so, in his idea on "Religion without Religion", Caputo tries to explain that the faith we have can't be accounted for in our daily undertakings. Therefore, it is not clear whether we believe in God or not.

Question 4

According to my understanding, Caputo does not achieve his objective on his project. In other words, he is not convincing at all. I wonder what is likely to happen if someone is confused and transformed by an abusive religion as "impossible." I believe we should not measure the standards of religion in a world of "impossible." At no cost should we blame our quest for "religion without religion" out of our fundamentalisms. According to my perception, Caputo is not having an actual conversation with the real person. In all his interpretations, Caputo removes the revelation of God (Caputo 103). He hides God behind the epistemological blockades. He uses undefined Christian terms to explain our relationship with God. Therefore as Christian, the ideas of Caputo are driving us back to the liberal Protestantism. Also, Caputo's thoughts are filled with the criterion of judgment. It would have been better if Caputo addressed the aspect of personhood instead of dwelling so much on universal spirits.

I think Caputo lacks good ideas to encourage people how they should live in or live through the religion. Caputo does not give us the theory of religiousness. He has just given us sympathetic know-how of human religiousness that is illustrated by the language of Christians. More so, Caputo perceives Augustine's query to be the essence in itself (Simpson 233). However, he would have taken the question as an ultimate passion for loving and knowing God. Contrarily, he presumes ambiguity in itself as the best answer to the query.

Conclusion

Caputo fails to achieve the objective of his project because his ideas are not convincing to a radical believer. For instance, he treats Augustine's query as irrelevant, and hence, he gives an ambiguous answer. In his interpretation of the query, Caputo doesn't provide the revelation of God. In the long run, Caputo declares that the question has no genuine answer because he does not have trust in God. Therefore, as followers of God, it is necessary to value the love of God. We should not confine ourselves to our philosophical knowledge and forget to put trust, hope, and faith in God.

Works Cited

Caputo, John D. The prayers and tears of Jacques Derrida: Religion without Religion. Indiana University Press, 2017. 55-195 .www.amazon.com/Prayers-Tears-Jacques-Derrida-Philosophy/dp/0253211123.

Olthuis, James H., ed. Religion with/out Religion: The prayers and tears of John D. Caputo. Psychology Press, 2018. 20-85. www.philpapers.org/rec/OLTRWR

Simpson, Christopher Ben. Religion, Metaphysics, and the Postmodern: William Desmond and John D. Caputo. Indiana University Press, 2017. 200-302. www.amazon.com/Religion-Metaphysics-Postmodern-William-Philosophy-ebook/dp/B003DA3ZZ6