Spiritual Titanism

Nicholas F. Gier is Professor of Philosophy and Coordinator of Religious Studies at the University of Idaho. He is the author of Wittgenstein and Phenomenology: A Comparative Study of the Later Wittgenstein, Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty, also published by SUNY Press, and God, Reason, and the Evangelicals: The Case Against Evangelical Rationalism.

"The act of cross-cultural comparison, particularly in religious studies, is an art that once flourished but is now routinely challenged from a whole host of technical and specialist fronts. Gier's text, essentially a comprehensive essay of normative comparative philosophy, is especially refreshing in such a world, as it effectively brings together an impressive range of scholarship (Western philosophy and theology, comparative mythology, Jaina, Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian Studies) to create a truly comparative text with a distinct, original, philosophically and religiously important thesis. Gier's category of 'Titanism,' which functions as an ethical critique of mystical religiosities from the standpoint of a constructive postmodern and humanistic standpoint, enables him to accomplish this synthetic and normative feat, and to do it in a way that does not collapse the very real differences between these traditions into a simplistic perennialism or universalism. This is one of the few books that I have read that actually makes sense of what a 'postmodern' perspective is and how it might function. This is no mean accomplishment." — Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna

• PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION IntroductionThe Titans: Superhuman and SuperdivineUttaravada versus AvataravadaSummaries of the ChaptersNietzsche's Übermensch Not a Titan 1. TITANISM IN THE WEST IntroductionHumanism and SuperhumanismExistentialism and TitanismChristian Titanism and the IncarnationWestern Answers to Titanism 2. THE SELF AND CONSTRUCTIVE POSTMODERNISM IntroductionPremodernism, Modernism, and PostmodernismHebraic and Buddhist SkandhasProblems with Indian DualismsACritique of Advaita VedantaABuddhist Dialectic of ReconstructionConclusions 3. PROMETHEUS EAST: GREEK AND HINDU TITANS IntroductionAsura TitanismHuman Titans in the PuranasTitans and OlympiansConclusions 4. JAINA SUPERHUMANISM AND GNOSTIC TITANISM IntroductionJaina Colossi and the Cosmic ManThe Status of the Jaina GodsMan Is God and Homo MensuraOmniscience: Mahavira and the BuddhaAnekantavada and Gnostic TitanismPanzooism, Mind-Body, and Process PhilosophyConclusions 5. HINDU TITANISM IntroductionTypes of Indian TitanismYoga TitanismThe Purusa Hymn and its LegacyThe Purusa as Cosmic YogiMonism, Ecology, and Titanism 6. THE YOGI AND THE GODDESS Prologue: The Dancing GoddessIntroductionThe Material Principle: East and WestThe Goddess in Indian PhilosophyPuranic Expressions of the GoddessKurtz's Psychoanalytic InterpretationDoes the Goddess Speak with a Woman's Voice?ConclusionsEpilogue: The Triumph of the Goddess 7. NEO-VEDANTA AND AUROBINDOS SUPERMAN IntroductionRamakrishna: Kali's ChildVivekananda's "Manly" Neo-VedantaSupermind, Superman, and SupernatureConclusions 8. BUDDHISM, HUMANISM, AND TITANISM IntroductionBuddhist HumanismThe Buddha Is Just the BuddhaThe Buddha as MahapurisaThe Cosmological Buddha of MahayanaThe Siddhas: Buddha's LionsZen, the Body, and Society Conclusions 9. ON THE DEIFICATION OF CONFUCIUS IntroductionA History of Confucius' ElevationIs the Sage God?The Sage as a Great Person 10. XUNZI AND NEO-CONFUCIANISM IntroductionXunzi, Tian, and the Cosmic TriadIs Xunzi a Technological Titan?Machle: Xunzi Not a TitanNeo-Confucianism and TitanismSelf, Body, and Society 11. LAOZI, ZHUANGZI, AND NIETZSCHE IntroductionPurusa and PankuImmortality and the ImmortalsZhuangzi and PostmodernismZhuangzi and the Perfect PersonZhuangzi and NietzscheThe Triumph of the Confucian Sage NOTES SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX