In Defense of Religious Moderation

Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-0-231-14879-5
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 131 mm x 204 mm, Gewicht: 240 g

In his latest book, William Egginton laments the current debate over religion in America, in which religious fundamentalists have set the tone of political discourse no one can get elected without advertising a personal relation to God, for example and prominent atheists treat religious belief as the root of all evil. Neither of these positions, Egginton argues, adequately represents the attitudes of a majority of Americans who, while identifying as Christians, Jews, and Muslims, do not find fault with those who support different faiths and philosophies. In fact, Egginton goes so far as to question whether fundamentalists and atheists truly oppose each other, united as they are in their commitment to a "code of codes." In his view, being a religious fundamentalist does not require adhering to a particular religious creed. Fundamentalists and stringent atheists unconsciously believe that the methods we use to understand the world are all versions of an underlying master code. This code of codes represents an ultimate truth, explaining everything. Surprisingly, perhaps the most effective weapon against such thinking is religious moderation, a way of believing that questions the very possibility of a code of codes as the source of all human knowledge. The moderately religious, with their inherent skepticism toward a master code, are best suited to protect science, politics, and other diverse strains of knowledge from fundamentalist attack, and to promote a worldview based on the compatibility between religious faith and scientific method.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Egginton, William

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments (and Apologies)Introduction: An Uncertain Faith1. Dogmatic Atheism2. The Fundamentalism of Everyday Life3. The Language of God4. Faith in Science5. In Defense of Religious ModerationSelected Bibliography and Recommended ReadingIndex

Über Autor(innen)

William Egginton is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and chair of the Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures at the Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of How the World Became a Stage, Perversity and Ethics, A Wrinkle in History, The Philosopher's Desire, and The Theater of Truth. He is also coeditor of Thinking with Borges and The Pragmatic Turn in Philosophy, and translator of Lisa Block de Behar's Borges: The Passion of an Endless Quotation.