Book review
Book review
Huston smith, The Religion of Man—Agama-Agama Manusia—translete by Saafroedin Bahar
Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia. April 2001,
xvi+426 hlm; 21
It is an interesting case study in religion, where religion often culprit, when going to war. Although not necessarily as a religious cause. According to the authors, religious diversity is often used as a tool by person-to person responsible for not taking advantage of a conflict that caused.
In fact, we never found evidence of war based on religious differences. Only a crusade , the chopper often used as a fact of war that principle of religious differences. What is that? Let’s be careful knowledge. Crusade begins by authorities request Byzantium, Alexius, to the pope Urban II; because he felt that the local authority began empire threatened by the existence of Turkey, the chance of the Turkish Islamic groups. Then Pope Urban II mobilize to do first war of the cross, with the proposition Crusade. Let’s approach is more objective, in this war we cannot call the war between religions, as in war sentiment is due to the territorial authority, more precisely on political factors. Also with Pope Urban II, who intend to protect the holy land of the Christians, Jerusalem.
Currently, dialogged-and inter dialogged among religions is becoming a hot topic. This, according to the author, is a way to erase the existence of fanatical view excessive, so that the dispute did not arise with the pretext of religion. The meeting between leaders often held to discuss about peace, the search for equality, is not to generalize religion. Not like that offered by one of the leaders Quraish to the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad.
Religion in bahasa is agama; agama is word comes from the language that is rooted sansekreta on ‘a’ word and ‘gama’. A does not mean that and gama means chaos. The overall mean when a rule is a system or bring on a life of well-established. If we use this definition in the course History of religion, it seems less appropriate. Why is that? As in the above definition, there are no divine values that are in it. The definition above is not relevant if we use in religious studies in which the nation as a foundation principle.
There are two important things to note in describe your religion. Idealization universal and empirical approach, that is to see how the person of a religion is built from the fact-empirical reality in our lives. When the imbalance in the view of a religion and a universal approach to the formal course, it will be the ideal point of view without understanding the fact that their own religion. Conversely, if only to emphasize on purely empirical aspects of the same means to separate the life of the Hereafter. Already so many people who write about the different religions that exist. However, most of them trapped in party to against the religion which their faith.
Of all the books about religion that the author had read, The Religion of Man paper Huston Smith, is one book that has an interesting approach, so he is eligible to be read for the academician that the religious books must be even. According to the author, Smith is able to jump out of skins spiritual core of the spiritual. So it does not appear, and even, according to the author, there is no justification, and a true value of one of the many religions. Instead, it seeks to reveal the dynamics of spiritual religions of the world that never give way on the various communities and cultures. Noble values of different religions are shown with the background of the age we now face a different challenge: the crisis of values, dehumanizes process, and the uncertainty of the future.
Still in the same book, Smith is not looking for differences that cause conflict among religions. Instead, see the universal values embedded in the religions of men. He divides the religious dimensions into six criteria;
1. Divine authority, every religion believes in the divine authority in determining the choice. That is the person who was appointed to bring news of God.
2. Religious ceremony, far from the author for this view, that the religious ritual born of the prophet hood revelation also carries religious ceremonies each religion. Smith offers his view, “… this may be the religious ceremony is a hotbed of religion itself. Not ethics or theology, who was born first, then added with a religious ceremony to cover up the nature of the cold. “More thought he continued,” Religion comes from the concern and will be something, and if people want to feel something to celebrate or something to think the whole – indeed they gather together and do something together. ”
3. Speculative musing, musing speculative character born of human toward any religion, is associated with God, spiritual man, and how to connect. This relationship is in too easily to conceptualization or evidenced in empirical-second because it is immaterial that we may not find in natural materials. So until the end of this period was the only substantial speculative musing. Smith holds similar with the flow Thomisme, that the existence of God and the soul can be proved by mathematics, but not the essence of God and the soul beyond verification.
4. Tradition, religion is a tradition with divine values that are kept from generation to generation.
5. The concept of power and grace of God, every religion in the world believes the existence of human life depends on external factors that are outside people that are the concept of God. Meanwhile, Grace is a gift of God is abundant, which not only provides for human life, but also maintain and give strength to him, each time in the life.
6. And there are the most common religion in every religion is always associated with magical things, mysticism, and that all of the signs associated with the spiritualism beyond the human intellect.
by: Ngabdullah Akrom, student of ICAS Jakarta
