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Gabriel Vahanian dies at 85 ["The Death of God" author]
Orlando Sentinel ^ | September 16, 2012 | Elaine Woo

Posted on 09/16/2012 2:38:19 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

......Unlike others in the God-is-dead camp, Vahanian approached the issue as a cultural critic, looking for ways to talk about God in an increasingly secular world.

"He was doing a cultural analysis, whereas the others were doing a more traditional philosophical, theological critique," said James B. Wiggins, a longtime friend and colleague in the religion department at Syracuse. "Finding ways to give expression to the theological in terms that were intelligible to an ever more secular culture was the project in which he was engaged throughout his career."

Vahanian was born Jan. 24, 1927, in Marseille, France. His parents, Mesrop and Perouse Vahanian, were Armenian refugees who had fled to France after World War I to escape persecution in Armenian areas of Turkey.

He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Grenoble in 1945, followed by studies at the Protestant Theological Faculty of Paris.

In 1958 he earned a doctorate at Princeton Theological Seminary and joined the Syracuse faculty. He led efforts to establish its graduate program in religion, which, Wiggins noted, was unusual for a secular university with no theology school. He also became a key figure in the study of religion and literature.

.....Although the public spotlight on his ideas receded, Vahanian "remained a death-of-God theologian in a profound sense," Altizer said. "He understood better than any of us the way God is dead in our culture" and especially how atheism was important to faith.

"The Christian era has bequeathed us the 'death of God,' but not without teaching us a lesson," Vahanian wrote in his 1964 book "Wait Without Idols." "God is not necessary, but he is inevitable. He is wholly other and wholly present. Faith in him, the conversion of our human reality, both culturally and existentially, is the demand he still makes upon us."

(Excerpt) Read more at articles.orlandosentinel.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: faith; god; religion

1 posted on 09/16/2012 2:38:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

God +1
Vahanian 0


2 posted on 09/16/2012 2:39:46 AM PDT by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I wonder if she said, “oops”.


3 posted on 09/16/2012 2:40:56 AM PDT by exnavy (The time is upon us, fish or cut bait, may God guide your heart.)
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To: rarestia; exnavy; All

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Vahanian


4 posted on 09/16/2012 2:46:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I guess he just found out that God is very well and alive.


5 posted on 09/16/2012 2:56:30 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Where does God exists in the day to day lives of the majority of westerners? God and religion are dead to them.Both Vahanian and Nietzsche were correct.

The secularists rule the world while bowing to Islam.

6 posted on 09/16/2012 5:25:08 AM PDT by deadrock
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To: American Constitutionalist
I guess he just found out that God is very well and alive.

You believe this. You don't know this

I did not read in this article that he did not believe in a creator. He did not believe in a creator that got involved with the planet. And looking at the planet.....it SHOWS

7 posted on 09/16/2012 5:40:30 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Vaquero
"You believe this. You don't know this"

I believe it and know it with all the certainty that I know of gravity.

8 posted on 09/16/2012 5:44:33 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: circlecity

That is faith. A powerful force in all religions world wide.


9 posted on 09/16/2012 6:23:40 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Vaquero
"That is faith."

Faith based on certainty. No different from my faith in gravity or my faith that the sun will rise in the east in the morning.

10 posted on 09/16/2012 6:25:03 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: circlecity

If you say so.

What do you say to the Muslim or Hindu who says the same thing about their god(s)

I for one believe in a creator. After creation I have no idea.


11 posted on 09/16/2012 6:35:49 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Vaquero
"What do you say to the Muslim or Hindu who says the same thing about their god(s)"

I tell about Jesus. I tell them the truth. If they are elect they will understand.

12 posted on 09/16/2012 6:38:15 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: circlecity
I suppose....

I see it as they saying the same thing about Vishnu or Buddha or in the case of the Islamics as possibly the same God as the Christians and the Jews and they even consider Jesus a prophet.

I just sit here in my computer chair and try to piece it all together...I do not see a definitive answer.

kind of like the ‘Who’ song ‘The Seeker’.

13 posted on 09/16/2012 6:49:42 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Vaquero
"I see it as they saying the same thing about Vishnu or Buddha or in the case of the Islamics as possibly the same God as the Christians and the Jews and they even consider Jesus a prophet."

Just as many scientists have disagreed throughout history up to today over various phenominon. That doesn't mean that there isn't one true correct answer among competiting theories. That Oxford chair Fred Hoyle disagreed with Einstein didn't make Einstein wrong.

14 posted on 09/16/2012 7:11:23 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Vaquero
( Gabriel Vahanian dies at 85 ["The Death of God" author )

The title is self explanatory.
15 posted on 09/17/2012 7:36:02 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: American Constitutionalist
( Gabriel Vahanian dies at 85 [”The Death of God” author )

The title is self explanatory.

Ok. I posted around 10 times on this thread. Do you want to specify ?

16 posted on 09/17/2012 9:35:17 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Vaquero
The author in their book or whatever it was said that " God is dead " i.e. there is no God.

So ? the author themselves are dead and now they are finding out that God is in fact well and alive.
17 posted on 09/17/2012 11:42:35 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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