This title was first published in 2003. Can difference be subordinated to identity, simplicity or diversity? Or does it make a difference to the entire way in which we think? This book challenges the dominant agenda in the discipline of philosophy of religion by exploring issues of difference that have hitherto been obscured. It draws together some of the most innovative work in philosophical thinking about religion by some of the most creative and radical new thinkers in the field. Moving beyond debates between believers and skeptics, the contributors draw on critical theory to address differences in rationality, gender, tradition, culture and politics, showing how it is possible to think differently. Assumptions about rational neutrality, belief, tradition, experience and identity that undergird the rational exploration of classical theism are deconstructed. Instead it becomes important to explore a critical ethical reasoning, religious performance, internal religious tensions, location in culture, and a relation to exteriority as the groundwork for a future philosophy of religion.
Biography
Philip Goodchild
'It is an excellent volume, continuing the recent development of an alternative approach to philosophy of religion: a breath of fresh air in a discipline which was becoming moribund.' Grace M. Jantzen, Research Professor of Religion, Culture and Gender, University of Manchester, UK 'Having read the whole book I am left with a wide variety of new insights into the philosophy of religion... its editor Philip Goodchild [...] has succeeded in bringing together examples of difference as an illustration of the clear need to talk and think about difference in philosophy of religion... a serious acknowledgment of the issues raised in this book will almost certainly call for a shift of power within the community itself.' Arsdisputandi.org '... the book is to be welcomed.' Theology 'This volume would be a useful resource for graduate students and faculty who have a solid background in contemporary debates in philosophy of religion and religious studies.' Religious Studies Review '... an important, provocative and often highly stimulating collection that opens genuinely new areas for enquiry for philosophy and theology in the continental tradition.' Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory
