Religion: Philosophical Theology, Volume Three

by Robert Cummings Neville

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781438457017
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	01/08/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	422
File size:	1 MB

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.

Table of Contents

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