Description
Book SynopsisThese essays consider the three traditional theological virtues—faith, hope, and love—alongside their opposites—doubt, despair, and hate, from a scholarly perspective. The volume includes contributions not just from philosophers of religion, but also from psychologists, sociologists, and film and literature scholars, to paint a complex and nuanced picture of these virtues, both of how we might understand them, and how we can hope to embody them ourselves. While these virtues make up a core part of the Christian tradition, the chapters here go far and wide in search of different cultural conceptions of these universal human concerns. Inquiries are made into these virtues within Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, and Islamic thought, alongside philosophers including Aristotle, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Levinas, and Murdoch. The resulting tapestry is often beautiful, sometimes horrific, but always thoroughly human. This text appeals to students and researchers working in these fields.
Chapter [9] is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Table of Contents1. Introduction: Virtue and ViceTroy DuJardin
I: Faith and Doubt
2. Faith (and Doubt?) Among the VirtuesJennifer Herdt
3. Restoring Faith, Curing Doubt: Krsna’s Instruction in the Bhagavad Gita Francis Clooney
4. Faith, Doubt, and the Buddhist Path of Enlightenment Dale S. Wright
5. Kierkegaard on Faith, Doubt, and Uncertainty C. Stephen Evans
6. Wilfred Cantwell Smith: Scholar, Mentor, and HumanistCharles Kimball
II: Hope and Despair
7. Dante’s Commedia: from Despair to Hope to GloryPeter Hawkins
8. Radical Hope, Despair and Time: Responses to NietzscheRyan Coyne
9. Hope but not Optimism: The Kantian Mind at the End of All Things Andrew Chignell
III: Love and Hate
10. How to ‘Love Thy Neighbor’: Lessons from G.W.F. Hegel on Conflict and ReconciliationMolly Farneth
11. Making Lovers: Emmanuel Levinas and Iris Murdoch on Moral FormationStephen Bush
12. Empathy and its CriticsPaul Bloom
13. What Muslim Scholars Talk About When They Talk About LoveMarion Katz
14. Bhakti and Accidental Grace: Hate as Love in the Hindu TraditionWendy Doniger
15. Obedience and Love in Christian EthicsRobert Merrihew Adams
16. The Happiness of Promise: Ferdinand Holler and Alexander Nehamas on Love and CareFannie Bialek
