Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

MEANING

148

reacting against his neo-Hegelian idealism,
went on to found modern analytic phi-
losophy. McTaggart’s chief works include
Studies in the Hegelian Dialectic (1896),
“The Unreality of Time” (1908), and The
Nature of Existence (2 vols., 1921–1927).
See also TIME.

MEANING. Questions about the mean-
ing of a place, action, or event often
involve questions about the cause or
consequences of the thing in question
or its significance and value. Questions of
meaning may therefore be quite broad
in philosophy of religion, and include
the broadest of all questions: What is the
meaning of life? A Buddhist answer to
this question will differ from a Christian
answer. Questions about the meaning of
texts raise theoretical questions about the
significance of the original intention of
the author(s), the surrounding, historical
conditions, and the current conditions
in which the text is encountered. The
practice (art) of interpreting texts is called
hermeneutics (from the Greek hermenia
for “interpretation” or “explanation”).
Theories of meaning that stress the
intended meaning by the author or
speaker are called internal theories, while
theories that stress established public
usage are called external theories. See also
HERMENEUTICS.

MEDIATION. In philosophy of religion,
mediation is of concern in the context of

religious experience, prayer, Christology,

and redemption. In religious experience,

philosophers debate whether the experi-

ence of God (or the sacred) can be direct

or whether it must be mediated by sen-

sory or some other cognitive state. In

prayer, some believe that one can pray to

a saint or angel to intercede on one’s

behalf. In Christology, Jesus is tradition-

ally understood to be the mediator

between God the Father and the world.

In matters of redemption, historically there

have been controversies over whether the

church needs to function as a mediator

between the soul and God and over

whether Mary is a proper mediator in a

soul’s journey to redemption.

MEDITATION. A contemplative state of

mind that has a different but sometimes

closely related role in different religions.

So, in theistic religions, there is a common

practice of persons contemplating scrip-

ture or icons or a holy teaching in the

course of the practitioner opening her

mind to the presence of God. In Buddhism,

meditation often takes a different course

in which the goal of meditation may be to

see through the diaphanous, spurious

nature of ego-driven desire and to see the

unreality of the ostensible substantial self.

MENCIUS (a.k.a. Meng Tzu) (371–289

BCE). Mencius is the Latinized form of

Mengzi (Master Meng). Mencius was, after

Confucius himself, the most important