Engaging Philosophies of Religion
Thinking Across Boundaries
Nathan R B Loewen editor Purushottama Bilimoria editor Dr Gereon Kopf editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing:17th Apr '25
£24.99
This title is due to be published on 17th April, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Rethinks philosophy of religion by showing how it is possible to draw on a multitude of philosophical and religious traditions.
How can philosophy of religion become more diverse in content and method? How can we take a multiplicity of stories into account and teach a truly inclusive philosophy of religion?
It is now openly acknowledged that if we do not change the underlying framework of the way we do philosophy of religion, we will always create subalterns. Here is an invitation to rethink Philosophy of Religion. Engaging with texts and thinkers from multiple traditions, this book offers 18 distinct approaches to doing Philosophy of Religion and presents an opportunity to change Philosophy of Religion at a fundamental level.
Drawing on religions and philosophies from across history and around the world, each chapter outlines a framework for approaching religion from a different standpoint: monotheism in Christianity, Qi in Daoism, embodiment in neuroscience, naturalism in the atheism debates, and non-territorialism in 19th-century debates on cartography.
Contributors identify the many philosophical systems that guide metaphysical and moral truths and adhere to the principle that traditions are not monolithic but diverse. They recognise that categories such as “indigenous religions” are political rather than descriptive in nature.
Innovative and forward-looking, this collection constructs a new method and terminology that promotes active interaction. It is essential reading for students and teachers looking for a new way of doing Philosophy of Religion.
With its revolutionary “multi-entry approach”, this book offers a mind-blowing reading experience and showcases the enrichment that comes from a multiplicity of voices.
Each chapter carefully articulates its philosophical method or paradigm on religious theories, practices, assumptions, their embodied expressions, political significance, or neurological underpinnings.
A treasure of comparison, respectful engagement, and careful disagreement awaits the reader as each chapter enters in dialogue with other chapters.
This collection of essays presents to the reader a panoramic expanse of spiritual landscapes as well as a multitude of possible methodological approaches to deal with it — a breadth that has remained, in spite of all efforts to decolonialize and to diversify, beyond the usual range of the philosophy of religion. In this book, the discipline is considered as an irreducible plurality, where Christian and Muslim themes are on par with various Indian traditions, Chinese cosmology as well as African and Native American worldviews, none among them towering above the others. -- Rein Raud, Distinguished Professor of Asian and Cultural Studies, School of Humanities, Tallinn University
A rich, compelling collection challenging philosophers of religion to reimagine the discipline, confronting lingering biases and epistemic blind-spots from the colonial period and beyond. With important ideas that transcend philosophy, this multifaceted volume will interest sociologists, anthropologists and legal scholars grappling with the ‘return’ of religion and its implications across social life. -- Prof Linsey McGoey, University of Essex, author of The Unknowers and No Such Thing as a Free Gift
ISBN: 9781350348905
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
304 pages