Philosophy of Religion Research
Religion and Myth: A Critical View on al-Sawah’s Approach to Religion
Document Type : Original Research
Author
Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Religions and Theology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
This research pursues the explanation of the approach of Firas al-Sawah (born 1941), the Syrian sociologist and theologian toward religion. Adopting the phenomenological method, he has studied and understood religion from a mythological point of view. In this article, we will show that his theory has many deficiencies coming from his focusing on the historical and mythological point of view: secularizing the foundations of the religious beliefs and origins of religious traditions, relying on unregulated interpretation, reducing revelation to religious experience, paving the way for diverse readings of religion, giving a mythical explanation of sacred events and figures in the history of religions, presenting a vague interpretation of the monotheistic nature (Fitrah) of human beings. Having an analytical method and citing excerpts from his works, we will explain these disadvantages in his theory.
Keywords
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