An Interpretation of Religion; Human Responses to the Transcendent, Second Edition

by John Hick

• ISBN13: 9780300106688
• ISBN10: 0300106688
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2005-02-11
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

In this classic work, prominent religious philosopher John Hick presents a global interpretation of religion, arguing for a religious response to our ambiguous universe and showing how the world's different religions are culturally conditioned forms of that response. For this Second Edition, Hick addresses the major critics of his interpretation of religion, thereby enabling fresh discussion of his work. Praise for the first edition:"This book strengthens Hick's position as one of the most significant thinkers of the second half of the twentieth century. . . . I highly recommend [it] to students of philosophy, history of religions, and comparative studies, as well as theology."Chester Gillis,Journal of Religion"The most persuasive philosophical advocacy for religious pluralism ever written."Yandall Woodfin,Southwestern Journal of Theology"[This work] evinces Hick's many virtues: ingenuity; fairness toward all arguments; deference to the standards of analytic philosophy; familiarity with Eastern as well as Western religions; and, not least, a clean, clear prose."Robert A. Segal,Christian Century"A leader in interfaith interpretation of religion, Hick has written what will probably become a classic. . . . Clear, readable, and comprehensive."Library Journal"Should be read by the adherents of all faiths."Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok

Author Biography

John Hick is a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham (U.K.) and has held appointments at the Claremont Graduate University, California, the University of Cambridge, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Cornell University. His many previous books include Disputed Questions in Theology and the Philosophy of Religion, published by Yale University Press.

Table of Contents

Preface to the First Edition	xiii
Introduction to the Second Edition	xvii
Introduction
A religious interpretation of religion	1	(2)
Religion as a family-resemblance concept	3	(2)
Belief in the transcendent	5	(4)
Problems of terminology	9	(3)
Outline of the argument	12	(9)
PART ONE PHENOMENOLOGICAL
The Soteriological Character of Post-Axial Religion
The universality of religion	21	(1)
Pre-axial religion	22	(7)
The axial age	29	(3)
The axial shift to soteriology	32	(4)
Salvation/Liberation as Human Transformation
According to the Hindu tradition	36	(5)
According to the Buddhist tradition	41	(2)
According to the Christian tradition	43	(4)
According to the Jewish and Muslim traditions	47	(4)
Two possible objections	51	(5)
The Cosmic Optimism of Post-Axial Religion
Cosmic optimism	56	(1)
The temporal character of experience	57	(4)
The eschatological character of the Semitic traditions	61	(3)
The eschatological character of the Indian traditions	64	(1)
Realised eschatology	65	(2)
Darkness and light	67	(6)
PART TWO THE RELIGIOUS AMBIGUITY OF THE UNIVERSE
Ontological, Cosmological and Design Arguments
The issue	73	(2)
The ontological argument	75	(4)
Cosmological arguments	79	(2)
Contemporary scientific theism	81	(10)
The anthropic principle	91	(5)
Morality, Religious Experience and Overall Probability
Moral arguments	96	(3)
Religious experience	99	(5)
Swinburne's probability argument	104	(7)
The Naturalistic Option
The needlessness of the theistic hypothesis	111	(7)
The challenge of evil to theism	118	(4)
Conclusion	122	(7)
PART THREE EPISTEMOLOGICAL
Natural Meaning and Experience
Meaning	129	(5)
Natural meaning	134	(6)
Experiencing-as	140	(4)
Ethical and Aesthetic Meaning and Experience
Socio-ethical meaning	144	(7)
Aesthetic meaning	151	(2)
Religious Meaning and Experience
Religious experience	153	(5)
Faith as the interpretive element in religious experience	158	(2)
Faith as the exercise of cognitive freedom	160	(2)
Religion as cognitive filter	162	(3)
Mystical experience	165	(7)
Religion and Reality
Religious realism and non-realism	172	(3)
The realist intention of traditional religion	175	(2)
Linguistic analysis and religious realism	177	(3)
Realism and Hindu language	180	(3)
Realism and Buddhist language	183	(7)
Contemporary Non-Realist Religion
Feuerbach	190	(3)
Braithwaite and Randall	193	(5)
Phillips and Cupitt	198	(3)
Penultimate issues	201	(3)
The ultimate issue	204	(6)
The Rationality of Religious Belief
Identifying the question	210	(3)
Theistic belief as a foundational natural belief	213	(1)
Trusting our experience	214	(6)
Complications	220	(3)
The problem of criteria	223	(4)
The right to believe	227	(6)
PART FOUR RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
The Pluralistic Hypothesis
The need for such an hypothesis	233	(3)
The Real in itself and as humanly experienced	236	(5)
Kant's epistemological model	241	(5)
The relation between the Real an sich and its personae and impersonae	246	(6)
The Personae of the Real
The need to think-and-experience the Real as personal	252	(5)
The phenomenological finitude of the gods	257	(7)
The gods as personae of the Real	264	(3)
Two divine personae: The Hindu Krishna and the Jahweh of Israel	267	(2)
The ontological status of the divine personae	269	(9)
The Impersonae of the Real
Extending the hypothesis	278	(1)
Brahman	279	(4)
Nirvana	283	(4)
Sunyata	287	(5)
Unmediated mystical experience of the Real?	292	(7)
PART FIVE CRITERIOLOGICAL
Soteriology and Ethics
The soteriological criterion	299	(1)
Saintliness	300	(3)
Spiritual and politico-economic liberation	303	(4)
The traditions as productive of saints	307	(2)
The universality of the Golden Rule	309	(7)
The Ethical Criterion
The ideal of generous goodwill, love, compassion	316	(9)
Agape/Karuna as the ethical criterion	325	(6)
Ideals and applications: the examples of Christianity and Islam	331	(6)
Ethics and religious belief	337	(6)
Myth, Mystery and the Unanswered Questions
Unanswered and unanswerable questions	343	(4)
Expository myths	347	(2)
The mythological character of language about the Real	349	(4)
The mythological character of religious thought	353	(9)
Appendix: Theodicy as mythology	359	(3)
The Problem of Conflicting Truth-Claims
The problem	362	(1)
Conflicting historical truth-claims	363	(2)
Conflicting trans-historical truth-claims	365	(7)
Conclusions	372	(5)
Epilogue: The Future	377	(4)
Reference Bibliography	381	(28)
Index of Names	409	(5)
Index of Subjects	414