Pictures of the World: Three Views of Life, the Universe, and Everything

What is real? What is the foundation of right and wrong? How can we know? There are many ways to answer these questions—Western religious views in which humanity is part of God’s creation, Eastern religious views in which delusion traps humanity in a cycle of reincarnation, and secular views in which humanity evolved as part of the material universe driven by nothing other than the impersonal forces of evolution.

Each of these views paints unique and comprehensive pictures of the world to convey their vision. These pictures are as different from each other as if they were of three different lands separated from each other by patrolled borders. The border between Eastern and Western religions is guarded by arguments over the nature of the divine and rational versus experiential approaches to salvation. Both of these territories are separated from the land of scientific atheists who deny the existence of any supernatural reality and see the scientific method as the sole valid arbiter of truth.

This book presents all three views for non-specialists, enabling readers to enter them imaginatively. It then compares these approaches on different contemporary topics. This book is for anyone who wonders why people believe what they do.

Scott Steinkerchner, OP, is a traveling preacher and a theology professor based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His previous books are Beyond Agreement (2011) and Watching Clouds (2009).

Peter Hunter, OP, teaches philosophy at Blackfriars, Oxford, England. Both are members of the Order of Preachers.

Peter C. Phan is the Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University. He is the author and editor of many books, including Being Religious Interreligiously (2004).