Description
Book SynopsisPhilosophy and the Study of Religions: A Manifestoadvocates a radical transformation of the discipline from its current, narrow focus on questions of God, to a fully global form of critical reflection on religions in all their variety and dimensions.
- Opens the discipline of philosophy of religion to the religious diversity that characterizes the world today
- Builds bridges between philosophy of religion and the other interpretative and explanatory approaches in the field of religious studies
- Provides a manifesto for a global approach to the subject that is a practice-centred rather than a belief-centred activity
- Gives attention to reflexive critical studies of ''religion'' as socially constructed and historically located
Trade Review"Here, informed by the work of a wide range of social theorists, anthropologists, and others, Schilbrack seeks to draw philosophers of religion out of their cultural insularity, through a consideration of concepts such as 'embodied knowledge,' to contemplate what 'religion' might be, feel like, and mean in 'the rest' of the world." (Church Times, 4 September 2015)
"The book adds considerable momentum to the most innovative developments in philosophy of religion today." (Int J Philos Religion, 1 March 2015)
"Schilbrack concludes with strong arguments on the cross-cultural study of religion and suggests a combination of functional (the work religion does in human lives) and substantive (what religion enables people to know). Each chapter includes a bibliographic essay that will make this book a delight for classroom use. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above." (Choice, 1 January 2015)
"This book is a valuable resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in either field. Similarly, scholars will find important issues raised in this volume that they often ignore given, as Schilbrack argues, the insularity that characterizes the philosophy of religion." (Religious Studies Review, 1 September 2014)
Table of ContentsPreface xi
Acknowledgments xix
Chapter 1: The Full Task of Philosophy of Religion 1
i. What is “Traditional Philosophy of Religion”? 3
ii. The First Task of Philosophy of Religion 10
iii. The Second Task of Philosophy of Religion 14
iv. The Third Task of Philosophy of Religion 19
v. What is the Big Idea? 24
Bibliographic Essay 25
Endnotes 27
Chapter 2: Are Religious Practices Philosophical? 29
i. Toward a Philosophy of Religious Practice 31
ii. Embodiment as a Paradigm for Philosophy of Religion 33
iii. Conceptual Metaphors and Embodied Religious Reason 36
iv. Religious Material Culture as Cognitive Prosthetics 40
v. A Toolkit for the Philosophical Study of Religious Practices 47
Bibliographic Essay 49
Endnotes 51
Chapter 3: Must Religious People Have Religious Beliefs? 53
i. The Place of Belief in the Study of Religions 55
ii. Objections to the Concept of Religious Belief 57
iii. Holding One’s Beliefs in Public 61
iv. What We Presuppose When We Attribute Beliefs 66
v. The Universality of Belief 70
Bibliographic Essay 76
Endnotes 80
Chapter 4: Do Religions Exist? 83
i. The Critique of “Religion” 85
ii. The Ontology of “Religion” 89
iii. Can There be Religion Without “Religion”? 92
iv. “Religion” as Distortion 96
v. The Ideology of “Religion” 101
Bibliographic Essay 105
Endnotes 110
Chapter 5: What Isn’t Religion? 113
i. Strategies for Defining Religion 115
ii. Making Promises: The Functional or Pragmatic Aspect of Religion 121
iii. Keeping Promises: The Substantive or Ontological Aspect of Religion 127
iv. The Growing Variety of Religious Realities 129
v. What this Definition Excludes 135
Bibliographic Essay 141
Endnotes 147
Chapter 6: Are Religions Out of Touch With Reality? 149
i. Religious Metaphysics in a Postmetaphysical Age 151
ii. Antimetaphysics Today 154
iii. Constructive Postmodernism and Unmediated Experience 158
iv. Unmediated Experience and Metaphysics 163
v. The Rehabilitation of Religious Metaphysics 167
Bibliographic Essay 171
Endnotes 172
Chapter 7: The Academic Study of Religions: a Map With Bridges 175
i. Religious Studies as a Tripartite Field 177
ii. Describing and Explaining Religious Phenomena 180
iii. Evaluating Religious Phenomena 185
iv. Do Evaluative Approaches Belong in the Academy? 189
v. Interdisciplinary Bridges 197
Bibliographic Essay 203
Endnotes 205
Works Cited 207
Index 223
