Reenchantment without Supernaturalism: A Process Philosophy of Religion

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Cornell University Press, Aug 6, 2018 - Religion - 440 pages

Occasionally, a book comes along that is definitive for its field of study, a book that marks a milestone in thought.... Griffin has written just such a book―a book that, by all rights, should mark a watershed in the academic study of religion.... Griffin makes about as strong a case as one can in a single volume for a genuine and viable alternative. ― The Journal of Religion

The process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne has made many distinctive contributions to the philosophy of religion. David Ray Griffin now offers the first full-scale philosophy of religion written from this perspective, discussing such topics as the relationship between science and religion, the validity of religious experience, the nature and existence of God, religious pluralism, creation and evolution, and the problem of evil. Griffin's clear and comprehensive book also serves as a valuable introduction to process philosophy itself.

In his vigorous defense of a worldview that is fully naturalistic and fully religious, Griffin shows not only how this position reconciles naturalism with freedom, genuine religious experience, and even life after death, but also how its naturalistic theism "reenchants" the world in the sense of providing cosmic support for moral values.

Highly original and sometimes controversial, Griffin's book develops its stance in conversation with influential proponents of other philosophical positions, including William P. Alston, Jürgen Habermas, John Hick, Colin McGinn, Alvin Plantinga, Hilary Putnam, Willard Quine, Ninian Smart, Jeffrey Stout, and Bernard Williams.

 

Contents

A Process Philosophy of Religion
1
1 Religion Science and Naturalism
20
2 Perception and Religious Experience
52
3 Panexperientialism Freedom and the MindBody Relation
94
4 Naturalistic Dipolar Theism
129
5 Natural Theology Based on Naturalistic Theism
169
6 Evolution Evil and Eschatology
204
7 The Two Ultimates and the Religions
247
8 Religion Morality and Civilization
285
9 Religious Language and Truth
320
10 Religious Knowledge and Common Sense
352
References
393
Index
417
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About the author (2018)

David Ray Griffin is Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University. Among his many books are Religion and Scientific Naturalism: Overcoming the Conflicts; Unsnarling the World-Knot: Consciousness, Freedom, and the Mind-Body Problem; and Evil Revisited: Responses and Reconsiderations.

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