Religion is the third and final volume in Robert Cummings Neville’s systematic development of a new philosophical theology. Unfolding through his earlier volumes,
Ultimates and
Existence, and now in
Religion, philosophical theology considers first-order questions generally treated by religious traditions through philosophical methods while reflecting Neville’s long engagement with philosophy, theology, and Eastern and Western religious traditions. In this capstone to the trilogy, Neville provides a theory of religion and presents a sacred worldview to guide religious participation. His philosophical theory of value enlightens religions’ approaches to ethics, spirituality, and religious institutional living and collaboration. With a detailed examination of plausibility conditions for sacred worldviews, the book concludes with an exploration of ‘religionless religion’ for which institutions of religion are of penultimate value.
Through the development of philosophical theology, Neville has built a unique, multidisciplinary, comparative, nonconfessional theological system, one that addresses concerns and provides tools for scientific and humanistic scholars of religion, postmodern thinkers, intellectuals from both secular and religious backgrounds, and those interested in the global state of religion today.
Table of Content
Cross References
Preface
Introduction
I. Theology for Whom?
II. The Question of Truth in Popular Religion
III. Explaining Religion
IV. Understanding Religion
Part I. Understanding Religion
Part I. Preliminary Remarks
1. Science and Culture
I. Cognitive Science with Evolutionary Biology
II. Social Science and Phenomenological Understandings of Religion
III. Evolution and Semiotics
IV. The Cultural Evolution
2. Axial Age Religion
I. The Axial Age Revolution
II. The Tribal Underground of Axial Age Religion
III. Religious Membership and Practice
IV. Sacred Worldviews of Axial Age Religions
3. Theology and the Religious Situation
I. Confessional Theologies
II. Interpreting between Transcendence and Intimacy
III. Back-Reading History
IV. The Religious Situation
4. A Viable Sacred Canopy
I. The Problem of Transcendent and Intimate Symbols
II. Transcendent Concepts of Ultimacy
III. The Critical Interpretation of Intimate Symbols
IV. The Religious Situation and the Axial Age
Part I. Summary Implications
Part II. Historical Religions
Part II. Preliminary Remarks
5. Abrahamic Religions
Prologue
I. Form/Value/Possibilities/Obligation
II. Components/Groundedness/Wholeness
III. Existential Location/Engagement/Love
IV. Absolute Value-Identity
6. Buddhism
Prologue
I. Form/Value/Possibilities/Obligation
II. Components/Groundedness/Wholeness
III. Existential Location/Engagement/Love
IV. Absolute Value-Identity
7. Hinduism
Prologue
I. Form/Value/Possibilities/Obligation
II. Components/Groundedness/Wholeness
III. Existential Location/Engagement/Love
IV. Absolute Value-Identity
8. Chinese Religion
Prologue
I. Form/Value/Possibilities/Obligation
II. Components/Groundedness/Wholeness
III. Existential Location/Engagement/Love
IV. Absolute Value-Identity
Part II. Summary Implications
Part III. Normative Religion
9. Value
I. Differential Value in a Purposeless Cosmos
II. The Formal Nature of Value
III. The Actualization of Value: Future, Present, Past
IV. Obligation, Responsibility, and Conjoint Action
10. Religious Ethics
I. The Religious Dimension of Ethics
II. Religious Values
III. Ritual Forms of Normative Action
IV. Minimal Ethics, Freedom, and Life Abundant
11. Spirituality
I. Wisdom: A Spirituality of Form and Choice
II. Discipline: A Spirituality of Groundedness and Comportment
III. Desire: A Spirituality of Existential Location
IV. Excellence: A Spirituality of Value-Identity
12. Religious Companionship
I. Semiotic Space
II. Religious Community Defined
III. Critical Belonging
IV. Ultimate Belonging
Part III. Summary Implications
Part IV. Religionless Religion
13. The Plausibility of Sacred Worldviews
I. Consistency
II. Appropriateness for Predicaments and Ecstatic Fulfillments
III. Sustaining Intimacy and Transcendence in Symbols
IV. Authority in Orientation
14. The Implausibility of Sacred Worldviews
I. Consistency and Science
II. Appropriateness for a Global Society
III. Transcendence and Intimacy in a Purposeless Cosmos
IV. Authority, Fallibility, and Containment
14. Imploding Worldviews and Ontological Predicaments
I. Cosmological and Ontological Boundary Conditions
II. Apophasis and Kataphasis
III. The Desperation of Meaning-Making
IV. Terror of the Infinite
16. Ontological Salvation and Ecstatic Fulfillment
I. The Dao Cannot Be Named
II. “To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruit”
III. “Love your enemies”
IV. This Is Not the Only Time or Place
Part IV. Summary Implications
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
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
Ultimates: Philosophical Theology, Volume One;
Existence: Philosophical Theology, Volume Two; and
Religion in Late Modernity, all published by SUNY Press.
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