Much philosophical thinking about religion in the Anglophone world has been hampered by the constraints of Eurocentrism, colonialism and orientalism. Addressing such limitations head-on, this exciting collection develops models for exploring global diversity in order to bring philosophical studies of religion into the globalized 21st century.
Drawing on a wide range of critical theories and methodologies, and incorporating ethnographic, feminist, computational, New Animist and cognitive science approaches, an international team of contributors outline the methods and aims of global philosophy of religion. From considering the importance of orality in African worldviews to interacting with Native American perspectives on the cosmos and investigating contemplative studies in Hinduism, each chapter demonstrates how expertise in different methods can be applied to various geographical regions, building constructive options for philosophical reflections on religion.
Diversifying Philosophy of Religion raises important questions regarding who speaks for and represents religious traditions, setting the agenda for a truly inclusive philosophy of religion that facilitates multiple standpoints.
List of Figures Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction, Nathan Loewen and Agnieszka Rostalska Part I. Critique and Methods 1. Deprovincializing Philosophy of Religion: from “Faith and Reason” to the Postcolonial Revaluation of Religious Epistemologies, Jacob Sherman 2. Postcolonialism and the Question of Global-Critical Philosophy of Religion, Andrew Irvine and Purushottama Bilimoria 3. Why Philosophers of Religion Don’t Need “Religion”— At Least Not for Now, Tim Knepper 4. Re-envisioning Philosophy of Religion from a Feminist Perspective, Morny Joy 5. Is Philosophy of Religion Racist?, Sonia Sikka 6. Philosophy of Religion beyond Belief: Thinking with Anthropology’s New Animists, Lisa Landoe-Hedrick 7. Theory and Method in the Philosophy of Religion in China’s Song-Dynasty, Leah Kalmanson 8. The Theory and Practice of the Multi-Entry Approach, Gereon Kopf 9. Comparison of Religious Ideas in Philosophy of Religion, Robert Neville 10. The Relevance of Scriptures, Steve Smith Part II. Case Studies 11. Ethnographically Informed Philosophy of Religion in a Study of Assamese Goddess Worship, Mikel Burley 12. Praxis, Louis Komjathy 13. Nishida Kitaro's ‘I and Thou’ through the Work of Jessica Benjamin: Toward the Issue of Equality, Mayuko Uehara 14. The Nguni traditional ‘religious’ thoughts: The Isintu philosophy of the Zulu/Ndebele, Herbert Moyo 15. Approaching a Lakota Philosophy of Religion, Fritz Detwiler 16. Yasukuni, Okinawa and Fukushima: Philosophy of Sacrifice in the Nuclear Age, Ching-Yuen Cheung 17. Technology and the Spiritual: From Prayer Bots to the Singularity, Yvonne Förster 18. Can you see the seer? Approaching Consciousness from an Advaita Vedanta Perspective , Varun Khanna 19. The Danger in Diversifying Philosophy of Religion, Kevin Schilbrack Index
Nathan R. B. Loewen is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, USA. Agnieszka Rostalska is FWO Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Languages and Cultures at Ghent University, Belgium.
Reviews for Diversifying Philosophy of Religion: Critiques, Methods and Case Studies
Philosophy of religion needs to be diversified, but it is not clear exactly how it should be diversified. Loewen and Rostalska address this important question with leading contributors from a variety of religious and intellectual traditions. This is a must read for any philosopher of religion in the twenty-first century. * Yujin Nagasawa, H. G. Wood Professor of the Philosophy of Religion, University of Birmingham, UK * Philosophy of religion is sliding into obsolescence. By constructing “philosophy” and “religion” from genetically Christian norms, philosophers have failed to be relevant to the non-Christian world. This volume offers a lifeline by using concrete case studies to reimagine a truly global philosophy of religion. I hope we grab on. * J. R. Hustwit, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Methodist University, USA *
