This new collection covers a wide range of cutting-edge and timely questions in contemporary philosophy of religion from a rich variety of backgrounds and perspectives. The essays in the volume deal with a range of fascinating topics in the philosophy of religion such as views of God's nature in process philosophy and theology, process views compared with traditional views (such as that found in St Thomas Aquinas), teleology and purpose in human life and in the universe, religion and evolution, the problem of evil both in human experience and in the natural world, and ethical questions concerning the human road to God, and the question of human rights in pluralist, democratic states. The essays in the first section, "Approaches to God," examine the rationality of the approach to the nature of God defended in process philosophy, particularly in the work of two pioneering thinkers, Charles Hartshorne and A.N. Whitehead. The second section of the book, "Science, Evolution and God," turns to the engagement of Christian views regarding the nature of God and creation with modern developments in science and philosophy. The last section, "Philosophy of Religion and Ethics," takes up broader, more foundational questions. Santiago Sia concludes the volume with a sustained reflection on the nature of philosophy, and philosophizing, a discussion to which he brings many insights and experiences from his own academic career.

Presents the process theistic thought of Whitehead as a third alternative between classical theism and religious skepticism. This original interpretation of the religious thought of Alfred North Whitehead highlights Whitehead’s moves from mechanism to organism, and from force to persuasion to offer a third alternative between classical theism and religious skepticism. Daniel A. Dombrowski argues that the move from force to persuasion, in particular, is not only fundamental to Whitehead’s own thought and to process thought in general, but is a necessary condition for the continuing existence of civilized life. Following this line of analysis, Dombrowski demonstrates Whitehead’s relevance to contemporary work in philosophy of mind, political philosophy, and environmental ethics by placing him in dialogue with six major thinkers: David Ray Griffin, Isabelle Stengers, John Rawls, Charles Hartshorne, Judith Butler, and William Wordsworth. “This mature synthesis of the full range of central concerns that have played out across Dombrowski’s long and extraordinarily productive career represents an important contribution to the contemporary literature of process thought. Moreover, because his work has always embraced influences from outside of the process community, this book will have the additional value of introducing many process-oriented readers to nonprocess perspectives, which Dombrowski presents with great care and accuracy.” — Derek Malone-France, author of Faith, Fallibility, and the Virtue of Anxiety: An Essay in Religion and Political Liberalism

Fifteen important papers about Hegel covering forty-five years of work by one of America's most prominent Hegel scholars: 1. "What Marx Could ... and Should Have Learned from Hegel" (1974) 2. "Hegel and the Marxist-Leninist Critique of Religion" and "Reply to Commentators" (1970) 3. "Present, Past, and Future in the Writings of Alexander Herzen" (1990) 4. "The Use and Abuse of Hegel by Nietzsche and Marx" (1989) 5. "Hegel and Solovyov" (1974) 6. "The Existentialist Rediscovery of Hegel and Marx" (1971) 7. "Concept and Concrescence: An Essay in Hegelian-Whiteheadian Ontology" (1986) 8. "Some Recent Reinterpretations of Hegel's Philosophy" (1964) 9. "Gustav G. Shpet as Interpreter of Hegel" (1999) 10. "The Hegelian Roots of S.L. Frank's Ethics and Social Philosophy" (1994) 11. "Lukács's Use and Abuse of Hegel and Marx" (1987) 12. "Pierre Macherey's Hegel ou Spinoza" (1990) 13. "The Dialectic of Action and Passion in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit" (1970) 14. "Life as Ontological Category: A Whiteheadian Note on Hegel" (1980) 15. "Shpet as Translator of Hegel's Phänomenologie des Geistes" (2009)

"It provides an account of the criticism of religion by key Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire, Lessing, Hume, and Kant. This is followed by an analysis of how the Romantic thinkers, such as Rousseau, Jacobi, and Schleiermacher, responded to these challenges. For Hegel, the views of these thinkers from both the Enlightenment and Romanticism tended to empty religion of its content. The goal that he sets for his own philosophy of religion is to restore this lost content. " -- back cover.

Comparing Averroes’ and Hegel’s positions on the relation between philosophy and religion, this book explores the theme of the authorities of faith and reason, and the origin of truth, in a medieval Islamic and a modern Christian context respectively. Through an in-depth analysis of Averroes’ and Hegel’s parallel views on the nature of philosophical and religious discourse, Belo presents new insights into their perspectives on the relation between philosophical knowledge and religious knowledge, and the differences between philosophy and religion. In addition, Belo explores particular works which have not yet been studied by modern scholarship.

"If one takes a panoramic view of Hegel's entire philosophical endeavor—the endeavor to come to grips with and to be committed to reality in the concrete—one is struck by one inescapable idea: The Hegelian enterprise is an extraordinarily unified and grandiose attempt to elaborate one concept, which Hegel sees as the root of all intelligibility—the concept of God, whatever that term is going to turn out to mean... "...The question with which we are faced ... is neither whether Hegel is correct in what he says nor whether his interpreters are justified in what they say of him. Rather the question is one of finding out just what Hegel does say and of determining what impact that can have on our own thinking... "...Why, then, the 'Concept of God'? The answer is to be found in the culmination of the entire Hegelian system, 'The Philosophy of Absolute Spirit.' Only in the light of 'absolute Spirit' is anything Hegel says intelligible ... in Hegel's view, 'absolute Spirit' is in fact to be identified with God and that, therefore, only if Hegel's 'Concept of God' is intelligible, will anything Hegel says be intelligible." — from the Introduction

With all the messages that come our way through social media and in sophisticated gadgets, does the Christian message of love, hope and redemption still have an importance and relevance? What does it have to offer to enable us to meet the various challenges which beset present-day living? Today there is an even greater and more urgent need to focus on it. After all, the Christian message is not merely information because it is also about a way of life. Neither is it simply an exhortation since it also presents a definite goal. This book provides some philosophical considerations which underpin its central teaching. While aware of its richness and complexity, the essays concentrate on the Christian message insofar as it provides a vision for humanity and articulates a mission to implement it. The book serves to establish points of encounter, rather than points of departure, in order to contribute to the ongoing reflection by those who believe in that message, as well as to the debates with those who oppose it.

This book brings together the work of two significant figures in contemporary philosophy. By considering the work of Tanabe Hajime, the Japanese philosopher of the Kyoto School, and William Desmond, the contemporary Irish philosopher, Takeshi Morisato offers a clear presentation of contemporary comparative solutions to the problems of the philosophy of religion. Importantly, this is the first book-length English-language study of Tanabe Hajime's philosophy of religion that consults the original Japanese texts. Considering the examples of Christianity and Buddhism, Faith and Reason in Continental and Japanese Philosophy focuses on finding the solution to the problem of philosophy of religion through comparative examinations of Tanabe's metanoetics and Desmond's metaxology. It aims to conclude that these contemporary thinkers - while they draw their inspiration from the different religious traditions of Christianity and Mahayana Buddhism - successfully reconfigure the relation of faith and reason. Faith and Reason in Continental and Japanese Philosophy marks an important intervention into comparative philosophy by bringing into dialogue these thinkers, both major figures within their respective traditions yet rarely discussed in tandem.

Fundamental questions about life arise in various contexts, making us wonder about the real worth of living. However, it is certainly a sign of our times when one is alerted to the fundamental question about the meaning and significance of life by an ominous text message. The main character of this book, Professor Enrique de los Reyes, receives such a warning: the onset of super-typhoon Haiyan, the strongest ever to hit landfall, and the impending danger to his friend and his relatives in the Philippines. As he anxiously awaits more news, he recalls and reviews in the context of this tragedy his philosophical wanderings throughout a long academic career in pursuit of the meaning of life. He wonders how these could now be reconciled with the urgent need for him to attend to this particular situation. The response to his query comes from a most unexpected source as he assesses Alexander Pope’s advice to drink deeply from the Pierian spring and realises its import for one’s conduct in life. This reflective account of a human quest is the last volume in a trilogy which probes into philosophical themes in a narrative way. The first book, Those Distant Shores: A Narrative of Human Restlessness, looks at human restlessness and explores the fundamental theme of human transcendence by following the life-stories of three boyhood friends and of another young student as they embark on their respective journeys in life. The second book, That Elusive Fountain of Wisdom: A Tale of the Human Thirst for Knowledge, deals with the fundamental craving of human beings for fulfilment as depicted in the various characters from different countries who pursue their respective academic interests and ambitions.