Religion and Practical Reason

New Essays in the Comparative Philosophy of Religions

Edited by Frank E. Reynolds & David Tracy

Subjects: American Religion
Series: SUNY series, Toward a Comparative Philosophy of Religions
Paperback : 9780791422182, 444 pages, October 1994
Hardcover : 9780791422175, 444 pages, October 1994

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Table of contents

Introduction
Frank E. Reynolds

Part I: Self-Understanding and Issues of Practice

1. A Foreword to Comparative Philosophy of Religion
Franklin I. Gamwell

2. What Are Buddhists Doing When They Deny the Self?
Steven Collins

Part II. Types of Reasoning and Issues of Practice

3. Al-Farabi on Religion and Practical Reason
Paul E. Walker

4. In Defense of Rather Fragile and Local Achievement:Reflections on the Work of Gurulugomi
Charles Hallisey

Part III: Practical Reason and the Flow of Time

5. Chronophagous Discourse: A Study of Clerico-Legal Appropriation of the World in an Islamic Tradition
Aziz Al-Azmeh

6. Dis-solving a Debate: Toward a Practical Theory of Myth, with a Case Study in Vedic Mythology
Laurie L. Patton

7. The Reason of Myth and the Rationality of History:The Logic of the Mythic in Bimin-Kuskusmin "Modes of Thought"
Fitz John Porter Poole

Part IV: Practical Reason and the Negotiation of Difference

8. The Rhetoric of Revolution: Comparative Ethics after Kuhn and Gunnemann
Jeffrey Stout

9. The Fear of Qing : Confucian and Buddhist Discourses on Desire
Francisca Cho Bantly

Concluding Reflections

10. Comparison, Pragmatics, and Interpretation in the Comparative Philosophy of Religions
Richard J. Parmentier

Index

Description

This book contains programmatic essays that focus on broad-ranging proposals for re-envisioning a discipline of comparative philosophy of religions. It also contains a number of case studies focussing on the interpretation of particular religio-historical data from comparatively oriented philosophical perspectives.

Frank E. Reynolds is Professor of History of Religions and Buddhist Studies at The Divinity School at The University of Chicago. David Tracy is Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor of Catholic Studies and Theology at The Divinity School at The University of Chicago. They are the editors of Myth and Philosophy and Discourse and Practice, both published by SUNY Press.

Reviews

"It is exciting to read this kind of intellectual adventure in process. The material is at the cutting edge of an aspect of contemporary religious studies. It is probing towards methodological principles that could be used to further comparative philosophy of religion. The bridges across traditions at a metalevel are intriguing and challenging. " — Earle H. Waugh, St. Thomas University

"The juxtaposition of the doctrinal, theoretical, and the practical, pragmatic aspects of religions and religious comparisons is a very fruitful approach. " — Winston L. King, Vanderbilt University