Can a Worship-worthy Agent Command Others to Worship It?

Religious Studies 58 (1):79-95 (2022)
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Abstract

This article examines two arguments that a worship-worthy agent cannot command worship. The first argument is based on the idea that any agent who commands worship is egotistical, and hence not worship-worthy. The second argument is based on Campbell Brown and Yujin Nagasawa's (2005) idea that people cannot comply with the command to worship because if people are offering genuine worship, they cannot be motivated by a command to do so. One might then argue that a worship-worthy agent would have no reason to issue a command to worship. I argue that both these arguments fail.

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Frederick Choo
Rutgers - New Brunswick

Citations of this work

Why Does God Command?Shlomit Wygoda Cohen - 2024 - Religious Studies 60 (3):458-467.
On the rationality of prayers of praise and thanksgiving.Noam Oren - 2026 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 99 (24):1-17.
The Metaphysics of Divine Presence and the Appropriateness of Worship.Dean Zimmerman - 2024 - In Aaron Segal & Samuel Lebens, The philosophy of worship: divine and human aspects. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. pp. 296-326.
Why there is no obligation to love God.William Bell & Graham Renz - 2024 - Religious Studies 60 (1):77-88.
Moral Autonomy and Unconditional Submission to God.Colin P. Ruloff - 2024 - TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology 9 (1).

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