Robert Cummings Neville 
Defining Religion [EPUB ebook] 
Essays in Philosophy of Religion

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.

Spis treści

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

O autorze

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.