Description
Book SynopsisVaught identifies the place where religion and philosophy meet--and he does so in constant conversation with Augustine, Hegel, Heidegger and Jaspers. Vaught argues that both religious and philosophical discourse assume one of four modes: figurative, analytical, systematic, and analogical. Any real innovation occurs by moving from one mode of discourse to another. Vaught also explores the relationship among ""space,"" ""time,"" and ""place"" as well as ""mystery,"" ""power,"" and ""structure."" Remarkably, Vaught shows how the category of ""place"" serves as the intersection of both triads. In the end, ""place"" is the orientation that guides the discussions of Being and God, where philosophy and religion are joined.
Trade ReviewOnly someone as well-versed in Anglo-American analytical philosophy's demand for rigor and clarity could tread so nimbly where such philosophers rarely venture, namely, in relating Being and God to time and space as well as relating Continental philosophers such as Hegel and Heidegger to ancient and medieval philosophers. Vaught offers a grand philosophical vision with deft attention to detail, promising medieval philosophy as the bridge that can span mystery and structure, metaphor and realism, Being and God. --Dan R. Stiver, Hardin-Simmons University and author of Theology After Ricoeur
Carl Vaught is one of the very few philosophers to have a deep, participative knowledge of religious life coupled with a command of both metaphysics and philosophy of language. For years he has been developing a metaphysics of analogy for understanding God as Being. At the same time he has elaborated an extraordinary interpretation of Augustine. Now he demonstrates a remarkable subtlety in distinguishing and connecting different types of religious and theological discourse. In this book he brings all these together to present a genuinely systematic philosophical theology. A splendid dividend is that he uses the systematic position and its language to reflect back on the history of Western philosophy, with remarkable insights. Metaphor, Analogy, and the Place of Places makes Vaught's position a major contender in contemporary philosophical theology and philosophy of religion. At the very least, after this book, no one can claim that philosophy and religion are not integral to each other. --Robert C. Neville, School of Theology, Boston University
He holds that both philosophy and faith start in childhood with the power of imagination, in advance of reflection... The distinction between imagination and reflection prompts people to seek wholeness and unity... Recommended. -- CHOICE
Table of Contents
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- PART ONE: The Relation Between Religion and Philosophy
- 1. The Origins, the Context, and the Language of Religion and Philosophy
- 2. A New Conception of the History of Philosophy
- 3. Athens and Jerusalem
- PART TWO: Augustine, Hegel, Heidegger, and Jaspers
- 4. The Rhetoric of Augustine's Confessions
- 5. Immanence and Transcendence in Augustine's Confessions
- 6. Hegel and the Problem of Difference
- 7. Being and Existenz in Heidegger and Jaspers
- PART THREE: Mystery, Power, and Structure
- 8. The Quest for Wholeness
- 9. Being and God
- 10. Metaphor, Analogy, and the Nature of Truth
- Notes
- Index
