Poznanie religijne jako uczestnictwo. Filozofia religii Jana Andrzeja Kłoczowskiego

Abstrakt

The main purpose of this essay is a systematic presentation of the concept of religious experience and cognition in Jan Andrzej Kłoczowski’s philosophy of religion. The starting point is a definition of religion not only as a system of beliefs but also as an event, as a domain of reli-gious experience and practice. A religious experience in Kłoczowski’s account has no punctual characteristic but it is, in fact, a hermeneutical experience. It is a permanent dialogue with the tradition of a given religion and culture. Someone experienced is the person with a rich experience. Religious experience has both a subjective and an objective side. The subjective aspect is an innate question concerning the meaning and value of human existence. The objec-tive side includes the experience of a symbol, which refers to the transcendent reality, in which it has already been participating. The precondition of religious knowledge is previous participation in the religious order of the world and the religious values of society. The basic rule of religious epistemology is a claim that participation is ahead of cognition. In religious practice it has been carried out by initiation. In Aquinas’ thought the cognition of God is an act of grace given by the Holy Spirit as a gift of wisdom and a result of previously demon-strated act of faith, bond and love.