Philosophies of Liturgy: Explorations of Embodied Religious Practice

Mainstream philosophy of religion has primarily focused on the truth and justification of religious beliefs even though belief is only one small facet of religious life. This collection remedies this by taking practice and embodied action seriously as fundamental elements of any philosophy of religion. Emerging and established voices across different philosophical traditions come together to consider religious actions, including public worship, from perspectives such as trauma and social ontology, sound and silence, and knowledge and hope. Embodied religious practice is viewed through the lens of liturgy, intrinsically connecting religious rituals to human existence to show clearly that, no matter where one finds oneself in terms of the so-called ‘analytic-continental’ divide, philosophy of religion must be concerned with more than just beliefs if it is to adequately deal with the subject matter of ‘religion.’ The purpose of these studies is not to reject what has gone before but to expand the focus of philosophy of religion. This approach lays the groundwork for investigations into how beliefs are situated in our theological, moral, and social frameworks. For any philosophy of religion student or scholar interested in how thinking and living well are intimately related, this is a go-to resource. It takes seriously the importance of historical religious traditions and communities, opening the space for cross-cultural and interdisciplinary debates.

J. Aaron Simmons is Professor of Philosophy at Furman University, USA.

Bruce Ellis Benson is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Vienna, Austria. He is the Executive Director of the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology, former co-chair of the Theology and Continental Philosophy Unit of the American Academy of Religion, and a member of the Board of Editorial Consultants for the journal Faith & Philosophy.

Kevin Schilbrack is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Appalachian State University, USA.

Neal DeRoo is Senior Member and Professor of Philosophy at The Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, Canada. He is the author or editor of 10 books at the intersection of phenomenology, philosophy of religion, and critical phenomenology, including Futurity in Phenomenology (Fordham UP 2013), The Political Logic of Experience (Fordham UP 2022), and the Oxford Handbook in Phenomenology and Religion (Oxford UP, forthcoming).