The Future of Post-Human Religion: A Preface to a New Theory of Spirituality

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CONTENTS TABLES FOREWORD ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABBREVIATIONS PART ONE Introduction CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION — THE AWE OF RELIGION The Secular Underestimation of Religion Religious Studies vs. Theology Religious Studies Theology Religion vs. Spirituality Religion Spirituality Religion and Supernatural Reality Monotheism vs. Polytheism Pantheism vs. Deism vs. Panentheism The Theoretical Debate The Theistic Argument The Skeptical Argument The Critical Argument The Comparative-Substitutive Argument The Comparative-Substitutive Theory of Religion Theory and Meta-Theory A Unified Theory of Everything The Logic of Existential Dialectics The Conception of Existential Dialectics (or Its Ontics) The Syntax of Existential Dialectics (or Its Ontomethodology and Ontologic) The Semantics of Existential Dialectics (or Its Ontosemantics) The Pragmatics of Existential Dialectics (or Its Ontopragmatics) Sophisticated Methodological Holism Chapter Outline Some Clarifications In Conversation with My Previous Books Case Studies and Examples Detailed Analysis versus Overall Synthesis Two Distinctive Features of Using Quotations The Use of Neologisms PART TWO Sacredness CHAPTER 2. SACREDNESS AND ITS LIMITS The Importance of Sacredness Sacredness and the Mind Faith, Reason, and Religion Magical Thinking, and Religion Sacredness and ˙ature Religious Cosmology, and the Teleological Argument Evolutionary Theory, and Religion Sacredness and Society Religious Converson, and the Politics of Rights New Religious Movements, and the Sociology of Religion Sacredness and Culture Shamanism, the Outer-World, and the Role of Culture Animism, the Spirits, and Cultural Traditions The Limitation of Sacredness PART THREE Secularness CHAPTER 3. SECULARNESS AND ITS FAULTS The Promise of Secularness Secularness and the Mind Mental Delusion, and the Secular Origin of Religions Power Drive, Developmental Stages, and the Search for Faith Secularness and Nature Evolutionary Biology, and the Debate on Creation in Religion Heliocentrism, and Its Conflict with Organized Religion Secularness and Society Religion, and the Challenge of Secularization Religion, and the Politics of Antireligion Secularness and Culture The Anti-Christian, and the Quest for Life Affirmation Philosophy of Religion, and Its Critical Questions for Religion The Pitfall of Secularness PART FOUR Conclusion CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION — THE FUTURE OF RELIGION Beyond Sacredness and Secularness Other Relevant Principles 1st Thesis: The Absoluteness-Relativeness Principle 2nd Thesis: The Predictability-Unpredictability Principle 3rd Thesis: The Explicability-Inexplicability Principle 4th Thesis: The Preciseness-Vagueness Principle 5th Thesis: The Simpleness-Complicatedness Principle 6th Thesis: The Openness-Hiddenness Principle 7th Thesis: The Denseness-Emptiness Principle 8th Thesis: The Slowness-Quickness Principle 9th Thesis: The Expansion-Contraction Principle 10th Thesis: The Convention-Novelty Principle 11th Thesis: The Evolution-Transformation Principle 12th Thesis: The Symmetry-Asymmetry Principle 13th Thesis: The Softness-Hardness Principle 14th Thesis: The Regression-Progression Principle 15th Thesis: The Same-Difference Principle 16th Thesis: The Post-Human Substitution Towards the Higher Spirituality BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX