Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

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CRITICISM

CRITICISM. Kant called the Enlighten-
ment the age of criticism. Subsequent
Romantic philosophers set out to criticize
criticism. In theology, “lower criticism”
has focused on textual authenticity,
determining, for example, the more reli-
able primitive texts making up the New
Testament. “Higher criticism” takes up
more comprehensive questions about the
meaning, historical and theological sig-
nificance, of scripture.

CUDWORTH, RALPH (1617–1688).
A major contributor to Cambridge
Platonism and the first to use the term
“philosophy of religion” in English.
Cudworth offered one of the earliest
accounts of how in free agency a subject
steps back from his current character and
desires to elect which desires, and thus
what character, he wishes to embrace. In
the midst of the English civil war (1641–
1651), Cudworth counseled the House of
Commons to be mindful of a Platonic
view of goodness: God loves goodness
because it is good; goodness is not a mat-
ter of God’s capricious will. He defended
libertarian free will, tolerance, innate
ideas, and natural theo logy as a whole.
His works include True Intellectual System
of the Universe (1978), Eternal and Immu-
table Morality (1731), and A Treatise of
Free Will (1838).

CULTURE. From the Latin colere, mean-

ing “to cultivate or till.” The term “culture”

has more of a use in sociology than phi-

losophy of religion, but from its origina-

tion philosophers have addressed what

they take to be the good and evil of

the beliefs and practices of their society.

Insofar as “culture” stands for a commu-

nity or group’s set of beliefs, practices,

and history, then philosophers from

Socrates to Rawls have questioned the

moral integrity of the cultures of their

day. Augustine’s The City of God may

be read as a Christian critique of pagan

Greco-Roman culture. In the twentieth

century, Christian theologians such as

the Niebuhrs wrestled with the extent to

which authentic Christian faith could be

lived out in contemporary culture.

CULVERWEL, NATHANAEL (c. 1618–

1651). A Cambridge Platonist who

stressed the concord (even the amicable

relationship) between faith and reason.

Culverwel held that philosophical inquiry

into theology required a loving, wise

search for truth. His works include Spiri-

tual Opticks (1651) and An Elegant and

Learned Discourse of the Light of Nature

(1652).