- What is religious knowledge?
- Characteristics of religious knowledge
- Examples of religious knowledge
- Relationship with other types of knowledge
- Other types of knowledge
We explain what religious knowledge is, characteristics and examples. In addition, its relationship with other types of knowledge.
What is religious knowledge?
Religious knowledge or religious knowledge is understood to be based on a system of beliefs indemonstrable. It serves as a moral support, ethical or emotional to the human conduct, proposing its link with the sacred: God, divinity, spirit, etc.
Generally this type of knowledge is organized around a specific creed, collected in one or more mystical or sacred texts. They are guarded, taught and interpreted by institutions religious, like the different churches and priesthoods that exist.
In general, this type of knowledge is inherited over several generations. For this reason, it houses an important cultural value and has served in different times of humanity to organize moral, social and even politically to community.
For the rest, religious knowledge responds in its own way to a set of existential doubts and questions that humanity has had since its earliest days. By doing so, you can bring containment, tranquility, and meaning to an existence that, for many, can become empty or distressing, lacking final meaning.
In fact, much of the production artistic and philosophy of the world has been influenced, motivated by religious knowledge. However, in many other cases, this type of knowledge can enter into contradiction and even competition with knowledge of a rational type.
Characteristics of religious knowledge
Religious knowledge, above all, is dogmatic: it is accepted or not, but it lacks arguments demonstrable logic, but is based on faith. It proposes, in different ways, that Humans We are the fruit of divine creation and therefore we must worship the creator.
Consequently, it imposes certain moral and ethical precepts, expressed as a doctrine. It may or may not be guarded and imparted by a church: a social organization whose purpose is to perpetuate a specific faith.
On the other hand, religious knowledge is put into practice through rituals and prayers, generally based on repetition and the forging of community ties between believers, which is why it also serves as a social meeting point and the constitution of a "we" organized. In fact, many wars they fought in the antiquity for imposing one faith over another.
Religious knowledge, then, is unquestionable and is governed by its own logic, which generally distinguishes between good and evil, or between what is just and what is sinful, depending on the values that are expressed behind each religion. For example, Christianity is a doctrine of guilt, while the religion of ancient Greece it was based on honor and balance.
Finally, religious knowledge is usually collected in sacred books, which can be one or different volumes, and which usually mix the narration with the ordinances, with the prayers and with the historical-religious recount. The Bible, the Koran or the Talmud are examples of this.
Examples of religious knowledge
Any religious practice is a good example of such knowledge. For us the best known are the Catholic Christian traditions, with their saints and abundant literature hagiographic (on the lives of the saints), and with his New Testament.
On the other hand, there are also different Vedic traditions from India and the Hinduism, with his wheel of the life, his Samsara and his reincarnation circuit. We can also mention the African mysticism of the Santeria (Yoruba religion) in the Caribbean.
Relationship with other types of knowledge
In the West, the philosophical tradition and religious thought have a common basis. This is because in ancient times the distinction between religious thought and scientific thought or empirical did not exist, but were all the same thing, often called Philosophy.
This trend continued for many centuries. At Middle Ages European, the Christian faith prevailed on all speeches, even the philosophical, and prevailed as the supreme value.Any questioning that contradicted the Christian faith was branded sinful and could lead to its author being burned.
However, the secularization of society (for example, the break between the Condition and the Church) engendered the possibility for reason to occupy the place previously held by faith. That is to say that in the Modern age religious knowledge was displaced by scientific knowledge.
This change marked the end of the Middle Ages and the Old Regime and gave way to a modern world, guided by the science and faith in human reason, rather than in divine designs. Thus, religion came to occupy a secondary, personal, almost intimate place in the lives of women. persons.
Other types of knowledge
Other forms of knowledge are the following:
- Scientific knowledge. It arises from the application of scientific method to the different hypothesis that arise from the observation of the reality. These hypotheses must be demonstrated by experiments and ultimately aim to discover the laws that govern the universe.
- Empirical knowledge. It can be obtained through direct experience, repetition, or participation. It does not require an approach to the abstract, but arises from things themselves.
- Philosophical knowledge. It comes from human thought, in the abstract, by employing various methods logical or formal reasoning. It is not always directly detached from reality, but from the imaginary representation of reality.
- Intuitive insight. It is acquired without formal reasoning, quickly and unconsciously. It is usually the result of inexplicable processes.