Religion and Practical Reason: New Essays in the Comparative Philosophy of Religions(SUNY series, Toward a Comparative Philosophy of Religions)

This book contains programmatic essays that focus on broad-ranging proposals for re-envisioning a discipline of comparative philosophy of religions. It also contains a number of case studies focussing on the interpretation of particular religio-historical data from comparatively oriented philosophical perspectives.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Frank E. Reynolds Part I: Self-Understanding and Issues of Practice 1. A Foreword to Comparative Philosophy of Religion Franklin I. Gamwell 2. What Are Buddhists Doing When They Deny the Self? Steven Collins Part II. Types of Reasoning and Issues of Practice 3. Al-Farabi on Religion and Practical Reason Paul E. Walker 4. In Defense of Rather Fragile and Local Achievement:Reflections on the Work of Gurulugomi Charles Hallisey Part III: Practical Reason and the Flow of Time 5. Chronophagous Discourse: A Study of Clerico-Legal Appropriation of the World in an Islamic Tradition Aziz Al-Azmeh 6. Dis-solving a Debate: Toward a Practical Theory of Myth, with a Case Study in Vedic Mythology Laurie L. Patton 7. The Reason of Myth and the Rationality of History:The Logic of the Mythic in Bimin-Kuskusmin "Modes of Thought" Fitz John Porter Poole Part IV: Practical Reason and the Negotiation of Difference 8. The Rhetoric of Revolution: Comparative Ethics after Kuhn and Gunnemann Jeffrey Stout 9. The Fear of Qing : Confucian and Buddhist Discourses on Desire Francisca Cho Bantly Concluding Reflections 10. Comparison, Pragmatics, and Interpretation in the Comparative Philosophy of Religions Richard J. Parmentier Index

About the Author :
Frank E. Reynolds is Professor of History of Religions and Buddhist Studies at The Divinity School at The University of Chicago. David Tracy is Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor of Catholic Studies and Theology at The Divinity School at The University of Chicago. They are the editors of Myth and Philosophy and Discourse and Practice, both published by SUNY Press.

Review :
"It is exciting to read this kind of intellectual adventure in process. The material is at the cutting edge of an aspect of contemporary religious studies. It is probing towards methodological principles that could be used to further comparative philosophy of religion. The bridges across traditions at a metalevel are intriguing and challenging." - Earle H. Waugh, St. Thomas University "The juxtaposition of the doctrinal, theoretical, and the practical, pragmatic aspects of religions and religious comparisons is a very fruitful approach." - Winston L. King, Vanderbilt University