Wesley J. Wildman 
Religious Philosophy as Multidisciplinary Comparative Inquiry [PDF ebook] 
Envisioning a Future for the Philosophy of Religion

What can philosophy contribute to the study of religion? This book argues that the study of religion needs philosophy in the form of multidisciplinary comparative inquiry. Contradicting the current tendency to regard philosophical reflection and the academic study of religion as independent endeavors best kept apart, Wesley J. Wildman brings them together, offering a broader vision than that of traditional ‘philosophy of religion’ and surmounting many of its difficulties. His newer conception of ‘religious philosophy’ is well suited to the modern, multicultural, secular university. Through multidisciplinary comparative inquiry, religious philosophy allows for a variety of approaches—from historical and analytical work to evocative description and theoretical evaluation of truth claims—and both secular and religious thinkers participate. The tasks and varieties of religious philosophy as they arc across the world’s religions and philosophies are discussed along with religious philosophy’s modern and postmodern contexts. Wildman’s thoughtful and thought-provoking book will be essential reading for all those concerned with the study of religion, present and future.

表中的内容

Preface



1. Religious Philosophy among Kindred Disciplines



Religious Philosophy as a Form of Philosophy

Religious Philosophy as a Form of Religious Studies

Religious Philosophy as a Form of Theology



2. Tasks, Contexts, and Traditions of Religious Philosophy



Tasks of Religious Philosophy

Contexts of Religious Philosophy

Traditions of Religious Philosophy



3. Religious Philosophy, Modernity, and Postmodernity



The Successes and Failures of Modern Epistemology

The Successes and Failures of Postmodern Criticism

Beyond Modernity and Postmodernity

Postmodernism and Apophasis in Religious Philosophy



4. Religious Philosophy and Multidisciplinarity



The Importance of Multidisciplinarity in Religious Philosophy 

Case Studies on Multidisciplinarity

Incommensurability as Invitation



5. Religious Philosophy and Comparison



What is Comparison?

Comparing Approaches to Comparative Philosophy

Comparison and Religious Philosophy



6. A Pragmatic Theory of Inquiry 



Problem Solving and Inquiry

The Biological and Sociological Basis of Inquiry

Controversial Features of the Pragmatic Theory of Inquiry



7. Religious Philosophy and Inquiry



Religious Dimensions of Inquiry

Religious Philosophy and the Demarcation Problem

Case Study: Religious Philosophy, Religion, and Secularism



8. Traditions in Transformation



The Ontotheological Tradition

The Cosmotheological Tradition

The Physicotheological Tradition

The Psychotheological Tradition

The Axiotheological Tradition

The Mysticotheological Tradition

Status Report



Afterword: Religious Philosophy in the Modern University

Summary of the Deconstructive Case in Support of Religious Philosophy

Summary of the Constructive Case in Support of Religious Philosophy

Religious Philosophy and the Diversity of Higher Education



Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

关于作者

Wesley J. Wildman is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics at Boston University. His books include
Fidelity with Plausibility: Modest Christologies in the Twentieth Century, also published by SUNY Press, and
Science and Religious Anthropology: A Spiritually Evocative Naturalist Interpretation of Human Life.