History

 

In the historical framework of philosophy of science, there are thinkers like Thomas Kuhn that argue that history is subjective, revolutionary, with new paradigms overturning old scientific paradigms. The old theory was that the history of science was one of gradual progress, cumulatively over the centuries.

 

If we apply these categories to religious history, would faith be cumulative and objective in advancing human knowledge of the divine, or revolutionary and subjective, disconnected from religions in the past.

 

I imagine the answer is mixed. The history of religion and theology is likely more objective and cumulative than subjective and revolutionary. As a religious moderate, I think that we generally grow theologically and get smarter with the centuries, though it is not an easy, locked-in linear progression, but it is progress and coming closer to objective truth about God, as the centuries pass, and religions die, and others replace them. It may not hurt to worship—or at least not ignore the old deities if they were good deities.