Loyal Rue
| Religious Naturalism | |
|---|---|
Loyal Rue, PhD
|
|
| Fields | Philosophy of Religion, Religion and Science, Religion and Human Nature, Pragmatism |
| Institutions | Luther College |
| Alma mater |
Ph.D., Hartford Seminary |
| Known for | Naturalist Theory of Religion |
| Influences | Paul Tillich |
Ph.D., Hartford Seminary
M.Div., Luther Theological Seminary
Loyal D. Rue is professor emeritus of religion and philosophy at Luther College of Decorah, Iowa,. He focuses on naturalistic theories of religion and has been awarded two John Templeton Foundation fellowships. He has been for many years a member and lecturer at the Institute on Religion in an age of Science (IRAS)
Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, Edward O. Wilson writes about Rue’s Religion is not About God:
This book is an important step towards the naturalistic, hence truly general theory of religion. It harmonizes contemporary scientific understanding of the origin of human nature with a positive view of the centrality of religious culture”
Dr. Rue in his writings and teaching has been a leading proponent of Religious Naturalism and its environmentalism – “Religious Naturalists will be known for their reverence and awe before Nature, their love for Nature and natural forms, their sympathy for all living things, their guilt for enlarging the ecological footprints, their pride in reducing them, their sense of gratitude directed towards the matrix of life, their contempt for those who abstract themselves from natural values, and their solidarity with those who link their self-esteem to sustainable living". The individual perspectives on Religious Naturalism of Donald A. Crosby, Jerome A. Stone, Ursula Goodenough and Rue are discussed by Michael Hogue in his 2010 book The Promise of Religious Naturalism.
In the Epilogue of Everybody’s Story, Rue writes, "There is nothing in the substance of everybody's story to rule out belief in the reality of a personal deity. At the same time, such a belief is not an essential part of everybody's story. There will be theistic versions of the story, and there will be non-theistic versions as well. Those who take the theistic option will have at their disposal a range of images that may be used to arouse motivational systems. But I have confidence that everybody's story, unadorned by theological imagery, has the potential to arouse us to serve its imperatives. Let us see."
...
Wikipedia