Narrative Philosophy of Religion
Studying Religious Complexities through Literature and Myth
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing:18th Feb '27
£85.00
This title is due to be published on 18th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Mikel Burley breaks new ground by extending and deepening philosophical engagement with narrative sources to investigate the complexities of religious life.
This open access book breaks new ground by extending and deepening philosophical engagement with narrative sources to investigate the complexities of religious life.
After expounding the connections between philosophy, narrative, and the study of religion, Mikel Burley examines a diverse selection of religiously significant stories. These include Indian classics such as the Buddhist Vessantara Jataka (about a former life of the Buddha) and Hindu Devi Mahatmya (about the goddess Durga); traditional Yorùbá myths involving the enigmatic figure of Èshù, who embodies chance and indeterminacy; and the twentieth-century novel Silence by Endo Shusaku, which has been adapted as feature films by Shinoda Masahiro and Martin Scorsese.
Advancing a pluralist interpretive approach to these sources, the book discusses issues such as alternative visions of the spiritual and ethical life; the relation between myth, history, and politics; the role of chance and indeterminacy in human existence; the apparent silence of God in the face of human suffering; and whether faith and virtue might yield a form of invulnerability to harm. Unified by the overarching theme of narrativity, these discussions will appeal to students, scholars, and general readers interested in the intersections between philosophy, religion, mythology, and literature.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on Bloomsbury Collections.
Mikel Burley’s previous work developed a radical pluralist philosophy of religion, and in his latest book he develops this approach through a creative and original discussion of narrative. Beautifully and clearly written, Burley suggests the rich possibilities of a narrative approach for enabling a philosophy of religion that takes seriously the complexity and diversity of religious perspectives. An important and insightful book for the ongoing debate as to what form philosophy of religion might best take for the 21st century.
-- Beverley Clack, Professor Emerita in Philosophy of Religion, Oxford Brookes University, UKThis book constitutes a significant contribution to not only the globalization of philosophy of religion but also its de-insularization and the expansion of its purview beyond purely intellectual matters. Building upon his radically pluralist philosophy of religion, Burley turns to the “disorderly richness” of religious narratives in an appreciation of the 'messy realities' of religion and an elucidation of its different possibilities. Narrative Philosophy of Religion offers a productive path forward for global-critical philosophy of religion, one yet unexplored by others in the field. -- Timothy Knepper, Professor of Philosophy, Drake University,
ISBN: 9781350575493
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
272 pages