A Herigate of Concern

A Heritage of Concern

Throughout history we can find examples of who the world’s peoples have been concerned with ultimate or crucial questions.

Hindus – questions of evil and guilt, karma reincarnation. Sin must be paid for.

Zoroastoer the Persian prophet 7th century BC Origin of evil

Hindu prince Gautama latter known as the Buddha – problem of suffering

Ancient Greek philosophers

Stoics – How to deal with suffering

Epicureans – Happiness and pleasure was the answer to the question of life’s meaning

Socrates & Plato – The objectivity of truth and morality in a world of relativism and cynicism.

Aristotle – Concerned with tragedy, evil and morality

5th Century Roman Empire – The meaning and purpose of history

Anselm – The place of reason in the Christian faith

Thomas Aquinas – How to relate the faith to the rapidly growing Islamic world

Martin Luther (16th Century) – Grappled with to deal with Guilt and becoming right with God

John Calvin – The relationship of Christianity to culture and to the political community

Immanuel Kant (18th Century) – Sought to explain how moral experience implies freedom and the reality of God an immorality

Soren Kierkegaard (19th Century) – Overcoming the wrongful dominance of reason in the Christian life.   

Karl Marx – The meaning of history as it related to economics.

Martin Heidegger (20th Century) – Concerned with importance of seeing life in the light of death.