Religious Pluralism in Christian and Islamic Philosophy: The Thought of John Hick and Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Description

The philosophy of religion and theology are related to the culture in which they have developed. These disciplines provide a source of values and vision to the cultures of which they are part, while at the same time they are delimited and defined by their cultures. This book compares the ideas of two contemporary philosophers, John Hick and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, on the issues of religion, religions, the concept of the ultimate reality, and the notion of sacred knowledge. On a broader level, it compares two world-views: the one formed by Western Christian culture, which is religious in intention but secular in essence; the other Islamic, formed through the assimilation of traditional wisdom, which is turned against the norms of secular culture and is thus religious both in intention and essence. Cover RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter One Intellectual Biographies John Hick Seyyed Hossein Nasr Chapter Two Religion and Tradition The Origin of Religion Religion and Change The Sophia Perennis What is Tradition? Chapter Three Knowledge and the Ultimate The Religious 'Neutrality' of the Universe Religious Experience Religious Language Knowledge as Vision 'Given Knowledge' or 'Gained Knowledge': Intellect and Reason Is God Knowable? To Know is to be Saved Chapter Four The Need for a Pluralistic Approach in Religion Globalization and Religion Religious Identity and Fortuity of 'Birth' Absolute Truth Claims of Religions The Diversity of Religions The Cultural Limits of Hick's Hypothesis of Religious Pluralism The Traditional Conception of Religions Secularisation Process and the Eclipse of the Sacred The Rediscovery of Tradition The Limits of the Traditional Outlook Chapter Five The Ultimate and Pluralism The Ineffable Deity Does the Real Possess any Qualities? The Real and the 'gods' of Religions Salvation as Transformation Some Critical Remarks on Hick's Hypothesis God as Reality The Ultimate in the Manifested Order The Absolute in Diverse Religious Forms An Assessment of Nasr's Account of Reality Chapter Six Christianity and Islam: Manifestations of the Ultimate Christianity and Pluralism A New Christology for a New World Hick's Perception of Islam Islam and Pluralism A Theoretical Framework for an 'Islamic Religious Pluralism' Historical Manifestation of the Principle of 'Islamic Pluralism' Islam and Modernity Christianity and Christ: A Muslim View Notes Appendix: Religions and the Concept of Ultimate Bibliography Index