Problems of Religious Diversity / Edition 1

by Paul J. Griffiths

Overview

Exploring Religious Diversity analyzes the philosophical questions raised by the fact that many religions in the world often appear to contradict each other in doctrine and practice.

• Analyzes the philosophical questions raised by the fact that many religions in the world often appear to contradict each other in doctrine and practice.
• Evaluates the fundamental philosophical underpinnings of the debates between religious and non-religious approaches to religious diversity.
• Contains a glossary that defines the book's key technical terms and how they are related to one another.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780631211495
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	06/29/2001
Series:	Exploring the Philosophy of Religion , #1
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Paul J. Griffiths is Schmitt Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has held academic posts at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Chicago. He is author of On Being Buddha: The Classical Doctrine of Buddhahood (1994) and Religious Reading: The Place of Reading in the Practice of Religion (1999).

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Preface ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Key Terms xiv

1 Religious Diversity 1

1.1 Religion: Some Historical Remarks 1

1.2 Religion: A Definition 7

1.3 Diversity in Religion 12

1.4 Philosophical Questions about Religious Diversity 16

1.5 Standpoints and Answers 19

2 Religious Diversity and Truth 21

2.1 Religious Claims: Doctrines and Teachings 21

2.2 Assent and Acceptance 26

2.3 Truth, Falsehood, Incompatibility 31

2.4 Parity with Respect to Truth: A Kantian View 37

2.5 Parity with Respect to Truth: A Wittgensteinean View 45

2.6 Parity with Respect to Truth: Nonreligious Views 50

2.7 Difference with Respect to Religious Truth: Exclusivism 53

2.8 Difference with Respect to Religious Truth: Inclusivism 60

2.9 A Catholic Christian Argument for Open lnclusivism 60

3 Religious Diversity and Epistemic Confidence 66

3.1 Epistemic Confidence 66

3.2 Awareness of Diversity 70

3.3 Religious Responses to the Question of Epistemic Confidence 75

3.4 Privatization 81

3.5 The Epistemic Significance of Religious Diversity: A Christian View in Conversation with William Alston 89

4 The Religious Alien 99

4.1 Toleration: Enduring the Religious Alien 101

4.2 Separation: Isolating the Religious Alien 111

4.3 Conversion: Domesticating the Religious Alien 119

4.4 Christian Evangelism 132

5 The Question of Salvation 138

5.1 Pluralism 142

5.2 Exclusivism 150

5.3 Inclusivism 159

5.4 Restrictivism and Universalism 161

A Brief Guide to Further Reading 170

Index 172