The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity

By Philip L. Quinn

Book Overview

This unique volume collects some of the best recent work on the philosophical challenge that religious diversity poses for religious belief. Featuring contributors from philosophy, religious studies, and theology, it is unified by the way in which many of the authors engage in sustained critical examination of one another's positions. John Hick's pluralism provides one focal point of the collection. Hick argues that all the major religious traditions make contact with the same ultimate reality, each encountering it through a variety of culturally shaped forms of thought and experience but all offering equally effective paths to salvation or liberation. Another central position is William P. Alston's defense of the Christian practice of forming beliefs about manifestations of God in response to experiences of divine presence or activity. Articles by Hick and Alston develop their arguments and other selections respond, criticizing or defending various aspects of one or both positions. Religious skepticism, religious exclusivism, religious inclusivism, and other perspectives are also represented. In the introduction, the editors suggest connections among the articles and report on additional exchanges between the contributors.
The only anthology that provides comprehensive coverage of the current philosophical debate about religious diversity, The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity is ideal for courses and seminars on the philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, and world religions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195121554
• ISBN13: 9780195121551
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Of Most Pressing Significance

So now we live in a world in which competing worldviews are constantly clamoring for our attention, and we can no longer hide in a bubble in order to protect ourselves. What are we to make of the incredible scope and diversity of the religions in the world? Should we treat them all as false and misguided? As all "true," whatever that means? Or is one of them correct and the others either completely or mostly false? If you take seriously the hypothesis that there may actually be something "going on" with the world religions, then you must think seriously about the hypothesis (or theory, whatever . . .) that they are all somehow "linked" to some common "source." This book is a highly disciplined look at this idea, its strengths and weaknesses, and its competitors. This is no lightweight book. It is composed by a group of professional philosophers who employ the discpline of modern analytic philosophy on the subject, which is primarily motivated by the "religious pluralism" of John Hick. I generally commend the choices for this anthology, which have improved my understanding of this issue so significantly that I am embarassed ever to have thought about this issue before having read it. Most highly recommended!