Philosophy and the Study of Religions: A Manifesto - Softcover

Schilbrack, Kevin

9781444330533: Philosophy and the Study of Religions: A Manifesto

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444330535 ISBN 13: 9781444330533

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014

Philosophy and the Study of Religions: A Manifesto advocates 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

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From the Back Cover:

The knowledge we share of the world is growing and its boundaries shrinking, and consequently the field of religious studies is developing and changing as we become more familiar with the variety of religions across the globe in the twenty-first century. It is within this context of growth that Schilbrack provides a rallying call for a long-overdue transformation of the philosophy of religion. He argues for a shift from its current narrow focus on questions of God – primarily of interest to Christian theologians – to one providing a fully global critical reflection on religions in all their variety and dimensions. The time has come to shed the restrictive nature of traditional philosophy of religion, and open the discipline to the religious diversity that characterizes the world today.

This is a manifesto for a philosophy of religion centered on the study of how religions are lived and practiced rather than an imposition of a set of intellectual values. It advocates a cross-cultural approach, not limited to questions of classical monotheism, but one in conversation with other fields of religious study. Philosophy of religion was invented in the Enlightenment and reflected the Eurocentric understanding of the world in that day; this manifesto persuasively argues that the discipline now needs reinventing in order to function in, and reflect our present, more complicated world.

About the Author:

Kevin Schilbrack is Professor and Head of Department of Religion and Philosophy at Western Carolina University. Schilbrack has served as president of the American Academy of Religion for the Southeast, as a senior fellow with Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions, and as a participant in a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Development Seminar in Taiwan and Thailand. An award-winning teacher, he has published numerous articles in philosophy and theory of religion, and is the contributing editor of Thinking through Rituals: Philosophical Perspectives (2007) and The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religious Diversity (forthcoming).

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