“The Happy Side of Babel”: radical plurality, narrative fiction and the philosophy of religion$nElektronische Ressource

Philosophers and other scholars of religion are increasingly recognizing that if philosophy of religion is to remain relevant to the study of religion, its scope must be expanded well beyond the confines of a highly intellectualized and abstract “theism.” Means of engendering this expansion include...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Burley, Mikel 1972- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2017
In: Method & theory in the study of religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 29, Issue: 2, Pages: 101-132
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Soyinka, Wole 1934-, Death and the king's horseman / Religious philosophy / Pluralism / Novel
IxTheo Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
AG Religious life; material religion
Further subjects:B contemplative philosophy narrative fiction D.Z. Phillips philosophy of religion radical pluralism Wole Soyinka Ludwig Wittgenstein
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Summary:Philosophers and other scholars of religion are increasingly recognizing that if philosophy of religion is to remain relevant to the study of religion, its scope must be expanded well beyond the confines of a highly intellectualized and abstract “theism.” Means of engendering this expansion include methodological diversification—drawing upon thickly described accounts of religious life such as those afforded by ethnographies and certain narrative artworks. Focusing on the latter, this article engages with the question of whether works of narrative fiction—literary or cinematic—can do philosophy of religion in ways that illuminate what D.Z. Phillips characterizes as the “radical plurality” of contemporary religion. Closely examining the examples of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and especially Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, my discussion is contextualized within broader debates over whether philosophy’s purpose is to advocate certain religious and moral perspectives or to elucidate those perspectives in more disinterested terms.
ISSN:1570-0682
Contains:In: Method & theory in the study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700682-12341384