Reason and the Question of God An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion

by Schaeffler, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780824518042
• ISBN10: 0824518047
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Herder & Herder

Summary

This book offers a masterful presentation of the basic themes of the philosophy of religion and the various approaches to the question of religion.

Author Biography

Richard Schaeffler is emeritus Professor of Philosophical and Theological Boundary Questions at the University of Bochum in Germany.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Foreword to the Second Edition, 1997	xiii
Introduction	xv
The Oldest Type: Philosophy of Religion as Critique of a ``Prerational Consciousness''	1	(4)
A Widely Diffused Type: Philosophy of Religion as Conversion of Religion into Philosophy	5	(12)
A First Program: Philosophical Allegorization of Religious Tradition	5	(1)
The Platonic Source of a Second Program: Philosophy as Religion Become Conscious of Itself	6	(2)
Modifications of This Program in the History of Philosophy	8	(8)
Philosophy of Religion as Transformation of Religion into Philosophy: Backward Glance on a Journey	16	(1)
The Prevailing Type in Several Eras: Philosophy of Religion on the Basis of Philosophical Theology	17	(33)
Theme and Argumentation of Philosophical Theology	18	(3)
From the Critical Hermeneutics of Religion to Onto-Theology	21	(4)
Kant's ``Copernican Revolution'' and the Crisis of Onto-Theology	25	(5)
On the History and Typology of Discourse upon God in Transcendental Philosophy	30	(8)
Discourse upon God in Transcendental Philosophy, and Theology of Hope	38	(7)
Philosophy of Religion on the Basis of Philosophical Theology: Review of a Journey and Critical Evaluation	45	(5)
A More Recent Type of Philosophy of Religion: The Phenomenology of Religion	50	(23)
Phenomenology of Religions: Outcome of an Encounter between Philosophical Phenomenology and Empirical Religious Science	51	(6)
Phenomenology of Religion as Doctrine of the Apparition of the Holy: Positions, Programs, and Developments	57	(4)
The Question of Possibilities and Boundaries of the Phenomenological Method in Religious Science	61	(10)
Outlook: The Program of the Phenomenology of Religion and Its Maintenance by Way of a Transcendental Analytics of Religious Language	71	(2)
The ``Linguistic Turn,'' and the Philosophy of Religion as Analysis of Religious Language	73	(33)
Positivism and the Analysis of Religious Language	74	(10)
The ``Linguistic Turn'' and Transcendental Philosophy: Analysis of Religious Language beyond the Struggle with Positivism	84	(12)
Philosophy of Language and Theology of the Word: The Linguistic Turn in the Encounter of Philosophy of Religion and Christian Theology	96	(10)
Philosophical Theology, Phenomenology of Religion, Analytics of Religious Language: A Review of Three Methodological Approaches to the Philosophy of Religion, and a Systematic Outlook	106	(33)
Comparative Review and Critical Evaluation	106	(13)
A Systematic View	119	(20)
Supplementary Material for the Second Edition	139	(39)
An Altered Orientation Requirement	139	(16)
The Secularization Process as a Question to Be Addressed to the Philosophy of Religion	139	(3)
Secularization of Politics and Environmental Ethics, and the Need for a New Orientation of the Philosophy of Religion	142	(4)
Intercultural Encounter and Dialogue of the Religions	146	(3)
``New Religions'' and the Question of Criteria for the Distinction of the ``Genuinely Religious'' from ``Pseudomorphoses of Religion''	149	(4)
Questions for the Philosophy of Religion on the Part of Theology	153	(2)
Problems of Method	155	(4)
The Method-Combination Suggested in This Book	156	(1)
Methodological Objections	157	(2)
Attempts at an Application	159	(19)
Religion's Rationality and Capacity for Critique	159	(5)
Differentiation of the Religious from Its Distortions as Task of Argumentation in Theology and the Philosophy of Religion	164	(5)
Religion, Culture, and Society	169	(6)
On the Question of Method: Primacy of Intentionality?	175	(3)
Works Cited	178	(14)
Index	192