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Definition:
The World Parliament of Religions was a meeting of representatives from major
religious groups around the world held in Chicago in 1893 and sponsored by the
League of Liberal Clergymen. Nothing much of substance was done, but it did
serve to expose a large number of people - especially Americans - to a variety of
religious faiths of which they had no prior experience.
It also served to begin the gradual growth in the West of non-Christian religious groups. Whereas previously Christianity was unchallenged in its dominance of Western culture, people were now more aware of alternative religious beliefs and they began to explore them. This, in turn, not only caused changes in Christian doctrines as Christianity began to be modified in the face of other religions, but it caused Christian leaders to work to find more common ground with each other in order to defend the line of orthodoxy.
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What is the Philosophy of Religion?
Sometimes confused with theology, the Philosophy of Religion is the philosophical study of religious beliefs, religious doctrines, religious arguments and religious history. The line between theology and the philosophy of religion isn't always sharp, but the primary difference is that theology tends to be apologetical in nature, committed to the defense of particular religious positions, whereas Philosophy of Religion is committed to the investigation of religion itself, rather than the truth of any particular religion.
