In this collection of essays, written over the past decade, Robert Cummings Neville addresses contemporary debates about the concept of religion and the importance of the comparative method in theology, while advancing and defending his own original definition of religion. Neville’s hypothesis is that religion is a cognitive, existential, and practical engagement of ultimate realities—five ultimate conditions of existence that need to be engaged by human beings. The essays, which range from formal articles to invited lectures, develop this hypothesis and explore its ramifications in religious experience, philosophical theology, religious studies, and the works of important thinkers in philosophy of religion.
Defining Religion is an excellent introduction to Neville’s work, especially to the systematic philosophical theology presented in his magisterial three-volume set
Philosophical Theology.
Tabella dei contenuti
List of Tables
Preface
Part I: Heuristics
Preliminary Remarks
1. Problems of Definition
2. A Heuristic Definition of Religion
3.Theory of Religion in a Pragmatic Philosophical Theology
4. Modeling Ultimate Reality: God, Consciousness, and Emergence
Part II: Pragmatics
Preliminary Remarks
5. A Pragmatic Approach to Religious Experience
6. Semiotics versus Phenomenology: Existential and Hermeneutic Dimensions
7. Hermeneutic and Validity Dimensions of Religious Experience
8. Self-Reliance and the Portability of Pragmatism
Part III: Religious Studies
Preliminary Remarks
9. Why All Theology Should Be Comparative
10. Does the Study of Religion Need Philosophy?
11. Some Recommendations for the Future of Liberal Theology
12. Naturalism: So Easily Wrong
Part IV: Philosophical Theology
Preliminary Remarks
13. A Respectful Alternative to Process Theology: A Letter of Grateful and Affectionate Response to David Ray Griffin’s
Whitehead’s Radically Different Postmodern Philosophy: An Argument for Its Contemporary Relevance
14. The Triune God and Creation
ex Nihilo, or “The One and the Many” Strikes Again
15. Perpetual Apophasis and the Existential Implosion of Worldviews
16. Ultimate Realities for the Sciences and Humanities
Part V: Players
Preliminary Remarks
17. John E. Smith: Doing Something with American Philosophy
18. Richard Rorty: Pragmatism, Metaphysics, Comparison, and Realism
19. William Desmond’s Philosophical Theology
20. Nancy Frankenberry: Philosopher of Religion, Radical Empiricist, Herald of Contingency
Index
Circa l’autore
Robert Cummings Neville is Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology and Dean Emeritus of the School of Theology at Boston University. He is the author of many books, including
The Good Is One, Its Manifestations Many: Confucian Essays on Metaphysics, Morals, Rituals, Institutions, and Genders, also published by SUNY Press.
Altri ebook dello stesso autore / Editore
124.200 Ebook in questa categoria
![Copertina di Brian Schrag & Julisa Rowe: Community Arts for God's Purposes [Chinese] 貼近神心意的社群藝術](https://static.worldofdigitals.com/thumb_webp/740/9781645083740.webp "Copertina di Brian Schrag & Julisa Rowe: Community Arts for God's Purposes [Chinese] 貼近神心意的社群藝術")
