THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL
BIOGRAPHY AND GLOSSARY

Rabanus, Maurus:

(c 776-856) Archbishop of Mainz; Benedictine

RADICAL:

See Radical empiricism

RADICAL EMPIRICISM:

A form of Pragmatism which links William James to the tradition of British empiricism and in particular to the pure phenomenalism.

RADICAL THEOLOGY:

see Existentialism, Religious.

Rahner, Karl:

(1904-1984) Liberal Roman Catholic theologian; wrote Theological Investigations; influenced Vatican II; people of God are also those who do not have any formal connection with the church.

Raikes, Robert:

(1735-1811) was a newspaper publisher; popularized the Sunday school; encouraged by John Wesley.

Rainy, Robert:

(1826-1906) Church of Scotland preacher; taught church history

RASA:

See Tabula rasa

Rashdall, Hastings:

(1858-1924) British liberal theologian; wrote 1. The Idea of Atonement in Christian Theology, 2. Philosophy and Religion, and 3. The Theory of Good and Evil; theological Personal Idealist; emphasized individual minds, not one great mind; like C. Webb

RATIONAL:

See Rational skepticism; and Rational theology

RATIONAL SKEPTICISM:

The conclusions of reason are contradictory or paradoxical.

RATIONAL THEOLOGY:

*

RATIONALISM:

in contrast with Empiricism, believes that some ideas or concepts are independent of experience and that some truth is known by reason alone. See Ethical formalism

Rauschenbusch, Walter:

(1861-1918) US Baptist pastor; father of social gospel; taught at Rochester theologian Seminary; tried to reach those in Hell's Kitchen; wrote 1. Christianity and the Social Crisis and 2. A Theology for the Social Gospel.

Ravaisson, Felix:

(1813-1900) Philosopher

Ravenna:

See Peter of Ravenna

REALISM:

See Epistemological realism; Naive realism; New realism; "Representative realism"; Classical realism; Conceptual realism; Representative realism; and Empirical realism

REALITY:

See Dynamic theory of physical reality; Kinetic theory of physical reality; Prekinetic theories of physical reality; and Ultimate reality

REALIZATION:

See Self-realization

REASON:

See Reasons, good; and Sufficient reason, principle

REASONING:

See Deductive reasoning and Inductive reasoning

REASONS:

See Good reasons; and Reasons, good

REASONS, GOOD:

*

RECONCILIATIONISM:

see Soft Determinism

RECONCILIATIONIST:

See Compatibilism

RECONSTRUCTIONISM:

* (Brameld)

Redpath, Alan:

(1907-1989) Scottish Baptist; preacher

REDUCTIONISM:

*

Rees, Henry:

(1798-1869) Calvinistic Methodist; superintendent for 33 years

Rees, Morgan:

(1760-1804) Welsh preacher; encouraged founding of Sunday Schools; promoted religious liberty; moved to US

Rees, Paul:

(1900-____) US Covenant; preacher

Rees, William:

(1802-1883) Welsh Congregational preacher

REFERENTIAL:

See Referential function of language

REFERENTIAL FUNCTION:

See Referential function of language

REFERENTIAL FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE:

*

REFLEXIVE:

See Reflexive analysis

REFLEXIVE ANALYSIS:

*

Regensburg:

See Berthold of Regensburg

Reichenbach, Hans:

(1891-1953) wrote Experience and Prediction; no certainty in knowing anything about the world because knowledge of the world involves predictions of the future; we are all gamblers

Reid, Thomas:

(1710-1796) Father of Scotland commonsense realism

Reimarus, Hermann Samuel:

(1694-1768) German rationalistic theologian who advocated a religion of pure reason; initiated quest for the historical Jesus.

Reinach, Salomon:

(1858-1932) archaeologist; Positivist; Naturalist; wrote 1. Orpheus and 2. A Short History of Christianity.

Reinhard, Franz Volkmar:

(1752-1812) German Luth preacher; produced 39 volumes of sermons

RELATIONISM:

See Axiological relationism

RELATIONS:

See Relations, internal or external

RELATIONS, INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL:

*

RELATIVISM:

The view that truth varies with circumstances and has no objective criteria or standards. See Ethical relativism; Methodological relativism; Sociological Relativism; Metaethical relativism; Sociological relativism; Axiological relativism; Moral relativism; Objective relativism; and Sociological relativism

RELATIVITY:

See Relativity, theory of; and Relativity physics

RELATIVITY PHYSICS:

*

RELATIVITY, THEORY OF:

A mathematical theory advanced by Einstein wherein space and time are no longer considered as absolute but as parts of a four-dimensional space-time continuum and relative to the particular coordinate system of the observer.

RELIGION:

*

RELIGIOUS:

See Religious empiricism; Religious ethics; Religious existentialism; Religious humanism; Religious language; and Religious pragmatism

RELIGIOUS EMPIRICISM:

*

RELIGIOUS ETHICS:

*

RELIGIOUS EXISTENTIALISM:

*

RELIGIOUS HUMANISM:

*

RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE:

*

RELIGIOUS MYTHS:

See Myths, religious

RELIGIOUS PRAGMATISM:

*

Renan, Joseph Ernest:

(1823-1892) French historian of religion; origins of Christianity were legends

Renouvier, Charles Bernard:

(1815-1903) French philosopher

Renwick, James:

(1662-1688) Last Scottish Covenanter martyr

REPRESENTATIVE:

See Representative realism

REPRESENTATIVE REALISM:

Ideas represent or correspond to the objects of an independent world.

RESEMBLANCE:

See Family resemblance

RESPONSIBILITY:

* See Moral responsibility

REVELATION:

*

REVISIONARY:

See Revisionary metaphysics

REVISIONARY METAPHYSICS:

* (Strawson)

REVOLUTIONARY:

See Revolutionary philosophy

REVOLUTIONARY PHILOSOPHY:

*

Rice, Merton Stacher:

(1872-1943) US Methodist preacher

Ridderbos, Herman:

wrote The Coming of the Kingdom.

Ridley, Nicholas:

(c 1500-1555) British Reformer; chaplain to Cranmer and Henry VIII; bishop of Rochester and London; helped produce 1st and 2nd Book of Common Prayer; burned at the stake with Hugh Latimer

RIGHT:

See Normative

RIGHT ACTS:

See Normative *

Rimini:

See Gregory of Rimini

Ritschl, Albrecht Benjamin:

(1822-1889) German theologian; liberal; emphasized value judgments instead of theoretical doctrines; emphasized ethical and social responsibilities of Christians; rejected metaphysics; wrote 1. The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation and 2. Theology and Metaphysics.

Roberts, Evan:

(1875-1951) Welsh Calvinistic Methodist; revivalist

Roberts, Robert:

(1762-1802) Welsh Calvinistic Methodist pastor

Roberts, William:

(1809-1853) Welsh Calvinistic Methodist preacher in Wales and US

Robertson, Frederick William:

(1816-1853) Anglican pastor with 2-point sermons; memorized most of NT in both Greek and English

Robinson, Ezekiel Gilman:

(1815-1894) Baptist preacher; President of Brown University and Rochester Seminary; liberal; edited Christian Review

Robinson, James Herman:

(1907-1972) Black US Presbyterian preacher

Robinson, John:

(c 1575-1625) English Separatist pastor

Rogers, John:

(c 1500-1555) British Reformer; translated Bible with Tyndale; published Matthew's Bible in 1537; burned at the stake by Queen (Bloody) Mary

Rollock, Robert:

(1555-1598) first principal and professor of theology at Edinburgh University; wrote several commentaries

Romaine, William:

(1714-1795) Anglican preacher; friend of Whitefield

ROMANTICISM:

*

Roscellinus:

(c 1050-1122) Founder of Nominalism

Ross, W.D. [William Davis]:

(1877-1940) Critic of utilitarian views; wrote The Right and the Good

Rough, John:

(1510-1557) Scottish Reformer; burned at the stake

Rowland, Daniel:

(c 1713-1790) pastor; helped found Welsh Calvinistic Methodist church

Royce, Josiah:

(1855-1916) US professor at Harvard; wrote 1. The Problem of Christianity, 2. The Religious Aspect of Philosophy, and 3. The World and the Individual; Absolute Idealism

Rucherat:

See Ruchrath, John (or Rucherat)

Ruchrath, John (or Rucherat):

(c1400-1481) AKA: Johannes Ruchrath von Wesel; German Roman Catholic whose views influenced Luther; against indulgences, festivals of fasting, pilgrimages, priestly celibacy, transubstantiation; held Scripture above pope; elect are saved wholly through the grace of God; arrested and deposed for his views

Rufinus:

(c 345-410) formed the Devil ransom theory of atonement

RULE:

* See Golden rule

RULE AGAPISM:

*

RULE DEONTOLOGY:

*

RULE TELEOLOGY:

*

RULE UTILITARIANISM:

*

RULES:

*

Ruspe:

See Fulgentius of Ruspe

Russell, Bertrand Arthur William:

(1872-1970) New Realist; popularist; wrote 1. History of Western Philosophy, 2. Mysticism and Logic, 3. An Outline of Philosophy, 4. Our Knowledge of the External World, and 5. Analysis of Matter. Reality consists in a plurality of events. Mental events are not distinguished from material events. Sense data relate both to objects they constitute as physical facts and to the minds that perceive them as mental facts. Sense data are subjective (i.e., they do not exist unperceived). Yet "there really are objects other than ourselves and our sense data which have an existence not dependent on our perceiving them." These objects are "perceptual objects" or "logical constructions" rather than physical being as such.

Rutherford, Samuel:

(c1600-1661) Scottish Presbyterian pastor; exiled from his church; wrote the devotional classic Letters of Samuel Rutherford.

Ruysbroeck, Jan Van:

(1293-1381) Flemish medieval mystic. Wrote The Spiritual Espousals; accused of pantheism. He stressed humility, charity, flight from the world, meditation on the life and passion of Christ, and abandonment to the divine will.

Ryle, Gilbert:

(1900-1976) Wrote The Concept of Mind and Dilemmas. Oxford School of analysis, ordinary language philosophy, behaviorism. "Philosophical arguments are intended not to increase what we know about minds, but to rectify the logical geography of the knowledge which we already possess." The "logical geography" of one concept needing rectification is the "official doctrine" of the "dogma of the Ghost in the Machine," i.e., historically, Descartes's beliefs concerning mind and body. This "dogma" arises from a mistaken analysis of ordinary expression about, e.g., what the "mind" or "body" does, etc. The specific error is the category mistake, which consists in "the presentation of facts belonging to one category in the idioms appropriate to another" or in the allocation of "concepts to logical types to which they do not belong." Concerning the mind-body problem, Ryle holds that all statements that refer to minds are really statements about current bodily behavior or hypothetical statements about predicted bodily behavior.

Ryle, John Charles:

(1816-1900) Anglican bishop; wrote Expository Thoughts on the Gospels.

Sign My Guestbook View My Guestbook