The Tao and the Daimon: Segments of a Religious Inquiry

Description

The 'Tao and the Daimon' examines a central theme in religious studies: the question of the authority and authenticity of traditional religious faith and practice (tao) in light of the challenge from the spirit of critical reason (Socrates daimon). From a non-judgmental, historical standpoint, it develops the dialectical relation between religion and rational inquiry. Neville employs a philosophical system to set a task for reflection, making it possible to see how Eastern and Western religious traditions differ, overlap, contradict, and reinforce one another. The central chapters are detailed studies of theologically interesting elements in Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Neoconfucianism. How can one judge of the higher truths of another religion without having practiced it? Can the tao and the daimon, after all, be reconciled purely in the conceptual realm of speculative philosophy? Neville recognizes the very real differences between conceptualizing and practicing and the very real differences in understanding that can result. At the same time, he transcends the problem by identifying (and exemplifying in his own work) speculative philosophy as a tao in itself, “a new locus of religious significance, our own scholarly interpretation, new creations of the holy out of practiced scholarly piety toward the old.” The Tao and the Daimon Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Accountability in Theology I. Theology II. Accountability and Inquiry III. Practical Implications 2 Authority and Experience in Religious Ethics I. Decline of Authority II. Ontology and Cosmology in Religion III. Cosmological Ethics, Ontological Religion 3 Philosophical Theology: The Case of the Holy I. The Holy Spirit as the Creator’s Presence II. God the Creator and Trinity III. The Holy Spirit as a Systematic Speculative Problem IV. God and the Holy Spirit in Public Inquiry 4 Creation and the Trinity I. The Metaphysics of Creation II. Trinitarian Persons III. Economy and Immanence IV. Begetting and Creating 5 Can God Create People and Address Them Too? I. That God Can II. How God Might Address III. The Address and Life in the Spirit 6 The Empirical Cases of World Religions I. The Speculative Hypothesis II. The Empirical Task of Theology III. Practical Conclusions 7 The Notion of Creation in Chinese Thought I. Creation Ex Nihilo II. Taoism III. Confucianism 8 Process and the Neo-Confucian Cosmos I. Manifesting the Clear Character II. Loving the People III. Abiding in the Highest Good IV. Investigation of Things V. Harmony and Creation 9 Buddhism and Process Philosophy I. Process II. Relationships and Causation III. Unity and Interpenetration IV. Creation 10 The Daimon and the Tao of Faith I. Faith as Preparation II. Faith as Certainty III. Forsaking Wrong Attachments 11 The Daimon and the Tao of Practice I. Two Levels of Truth II. Two Truths as a Philosophie Claim III. Concepts in the Higher Truth IV. Scholarship in Practice Postscript I. The Daimon in the Tao II. Four Loci of the Tao III. Silence and the Sufficient Conditions Notes Index