Religious Philosophy as Multidisciplinary Comparative Inquiry

Wesley J. Wildman is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics at Boston University. His books include Fidelity with Plausibility: Modest Christologies in the Twentieth Century, also published by SUNY Press, and Science and Religious Anthropology: A Spiritually Evocative Naturalist Interpretation of Human Life.

"…Religious Philosophy as Multidisciplinary Comparative Inquiry has the potential to be a significant game changer for scholars of theology, philosophy, and religion." — American Journal of Theology and Philosophy"Wildman offers a bold and sweeping work that defends the relevance and necessity of the enterprise traditionally known as philosophy of religion by offering a comprehensive overhaul of its basic methods and self-understanding." — CHOICE"This is an immensely ambitious and wide-ranging book, advocating 'religious philosophy' as a multidisciplinary comparative inquiry, with an important part to play in any liberal college education. It expounds a view of rational inquiry as fallibilist, hypothetical and pragmatic. Although it is primarily an inquiry into the methodology of religious philosophy, in fact it provides a mine of information about postmodernity, comparative religion, and trends in modern philosophy of religion, among other things. The book sets a positive agenda for future work in theology, religious studies, and comparative philosophy. It is an agenda that is new, well argued, and which I hope will be very influential in higher education, and it is set to be a formative work in the field." — Keith Ward, author of The Word of God? The Bible after Modern Scholarship

• Preface1. Religious Philosophy among Kindred DisciplinesReligious Philosophy as a Form of PhilosophyReligious Philosophy as a Form of Religious StudiesReligious Philosophy as a Form of Theology2. Tasks, Contexts, and Traditions of Religious PhilosophyTasks of Religious PhilosophyContexts of Religious PhilosophyTraditions of Religious Philosophy3. Religious Philosophy, Modernity, and PostmodernityThe Successes and Failures of Modern EpistemologyThe Successes and Failures of Postmodern CriticismBeyond Modernity and PostmodernityPostmodernism and Apophasis in Religious Philosophy4. Religious Philosophy and MultidisciplinarityThe Importance of Multidisciplinarity in Religious Philosophy Case Studies on MultidisciplinarityIncommensurability as Invitation5. Religious Philosophy and ComparisonWhat is Comparison?Comparing Approaches to Comparative PhilosophyComparison and Religious Philosophy6. A Pragmatic Theory of Inquiry Problem Solving and InquiryThe Biological and Sociological Basis of InquiryControversial Features of the Pragmatic Theory of Inquiry7. Religious Philosophy and InquiryReligious Dimensions of InquiryReligious Philosophy and the Demarcation ProblemCase Study: Religious Philosophy, Religion, and Secularism8. Traditions in TransformationThe Ontotheological TraditionThe Cosmotheological TraditionThe Physicotheological TraditionThe Psychotheological TraditionThe Axiotheological TraditionThe Mysticotheological TraditionStatus ReportAfterword: Religious Philosophy in the Modern UniversitySummary of the Deconstructive Case in Support of Religious PhilosophySummary of the Constructive Case in Support of Religious PhilosophyReligious Philosophy and the Diversity of Higher EducationConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex