Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction
Religious Pluralisms
Radical Plurality and Critical Description
Narrative Fiction and Philosophical Inquiry
'Compassion beyond Our Imagination' : Radical Plurality in Buddhist Ethics
'Ways of Being Human' : Cannibalism and Respecting the Dead
'Awe at the Terrible' : Divine Possession, Blood Sacrifice and the Grotesque Body
'A Language in Which to Think of the World' : Animism, Philosophy and Indigenous Traditions
Conclusions : Loosening Up Our Lives

This book is a unique introduction to studying the philosophy of religion, drawing on a wide range of cultures and literary sources in an approach that is both methodologically innovative and expansive in its cross-cultural and multi-religious scope. Employing his expertise in interdisciplinary and Wittgenstein-influenced methods, the author draws on works of ethnography and narrative fiction, including Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, to critically engage with existing approaches to the philosophy of religion and advocate a radical, pluralist approach. Breaking away from the standard fixation on a narrow construal of theism, topics discussed include conceptions of compassion in Buddhist ethics, cannibalism in mortuary rituals, divine possession and animal sacrifice in Hindu Goddess worship, and animism in indigenous traditions. Original and engaging, this synthesis of philosophical, anthropological, and literary elements expands and diversifies the philosophy of religion, providing an essential introduction for anyone interested in studying the radical plurality of forms that religion takes in human life. --

Publisher description

College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Studies Master of Arts in Philosophy

In English