Defining Religion

Robert Cummings Neville is Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology and Dean Emeritus of the School of Theology at Boston University. He is the author of many books, including The Good Is One, Its Manifestations Many: Confucian Essays on Metaphysics, Morals, Rituals, Institutions, and Genders, also published by SUNY Press.

"Defining Religion demonstrates the importance of philosophy for critical inquiry into religious phenomena while not excluding questions of truth about first-order issues (such as the nature of ultimate reality). I highly recommend it to comparative theologians, philosophers of religion, and religious studies scholars working in the areas of theory and method." — Stephen Dawson, Reading Religion"…the real strength of Neville's book lies in the establishment of a solid, innovative, and axiological well-grounded theory of values … With this book we can—inter alia—learn that even though our opinions, principles, and views are partly conditioned by our practical, theoretical, and cultural experiences, cross-cultural dialogues on such a high level of contemplation offer us genuine hope for expanding our imagination and broadening our horizons." — China Review International

• List of TablesPreface Part I: HeuristicsPreliminary Remarks1. Problems of Definition2. A Heuristic Definition of Religion3.Theory of Religion in a Pragmatic Philosophical Theology4. Modeling Ultimate Reality: God, Consciousness, and Emergence Part II: PragmaticsPreliminary Remarks5. A Pragmatic Approach to Religious Experience6. Semiotics versus Phenomenology: Existential and Hermeneutic Dimensions7. Hermeneutic and Validity Dimensions of Religious Experience8. Self-Reliance and the Portability of PragmatismPart III: Religious StudiesPreliminary Remarks 9. Why All Theology Should Be Comparative10. Does the Study of Religion Need Philosophy?11. Some Recommendations for the Future of Liberal Theology12. Naturalism: So Easily Wrong Part IV: Philosophical TheologyPreliminary Remarks 13. A Respectful Alternative to Process Theology: A Letter of Grateful and Affectionate Response to David Ray Griffin’s Whitehead’s Radically Different Postmodern Philosophy: An Argument for Its Contemporary Relevance14. The Triune God and Creation ex Nihilo, or "The One and the Many" Strikes Again15. Perpetual Apophasis and the Existential Implosion of Worldviews16. Ultimate Realities for the Sciences and Humanities Part V: PlayersPreliminary Remarks 17. John E. Smith: Doing Something with American Philosophy18. Richard Rorty: Pragmatism, Metaphysics, Comparison, and Realism19. William Desmond’s Philosophical Theology20. Nancy Frankenberry: Philosopher of Religion, Radical Empiricist, Herald of ContingencyIndex