1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Religious Naturalism
Ecological crisis is being widely discussed in society today and therefore, the subject of religious naturalism has emerged as a major topic in religion. The Routledge Handbook of Religious Naturalism is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems, and debates in this exciting subject and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising thirty-four chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into seven parts:
• Varieties of religious naturalism and its relations to other outlooks
• Some earlier religious naturalists
• Pantheism, materialism, and the value-ladenness of nature
• Ecology, humans, and politics in naturalistic perspective
• Religious naturalism and traditional religions
• Putting religious naturalism into practice
• Critical discussions of religious naturalism.
Within these sections central issues, debates, and problems are examined, including: defining religious naturalism; religious underpinnings of ecology; natural piety; the religious-aesthetic; ecstatic naturalism as deep pantheism; spiritual ecology; African-American religious naturalism; Christian religious naturalism; Dao and water; Confucianism; environmental action; and practices in religious naturalism.
The Routledge Handbook of Religious Naturalism is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies, theology, and philosophy. The Handbook will also be useful for those in related fields, such as environmental ethics and ecology.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS. INTRODUCTION. Donald A. Crosby and Jerome A. Stone. PART I. VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS NATURALISM AND ITS RELATIONS TO OTHER OUTLOOKS. 1. Defining and Defending Religious Naturalism. Jerome A. Stone. 2. Religious Naturalism and Its Near Neighbors: Some Live Options. Willem B. Drees. PART II. SOME EARLIER RELIGIOUS NATURALISTS. 3. Ernst Haeckel’s Creation: Developing a Non-Reductive Religious Naturalism. Whitney Bauman. 4. The Religious Naturalism of Henry Nelson Wieman. Cedric L. Heppler. 5. A Unity with the Universe: Schelling, Herder, and Dewey on Natural Piety. John Shook. 6. The Sublime as Sacred: Reading Schopenhauer as a Religious Naturalist. Abigail T. Wernicki. 7. Jaspers’s Philosophical Faith: Toward a Form of Religious Naturalism. Nicholas J. Wernicki. PART III. PANTHEISM, MATERIALISM, AND THE VALUE-LADENNESS OF NATURE. 8. Ecstatic Naturalism as Deep Pantheism. Robert S. Corrington. 9. Deus sive Natura: Pantheism as a Variety of Religious Naturalism. Demian Wheeler. 10. Matter, Mind, and Meaning. Donald A. Crosby. 11. The Solemnity of the World. George Allan. PART IV. ECOLOGY, HUMANS, AND POLITICS IN NATURALISTIC PERSPECTIVE. 12. Spiritual Ecology and Religious Naturalism: Exploring their Interrelationships. Leslie E. Sponsel. 13. African American Religious Naturalism and the Question of the Human. Carol Wayne White. 14. A Political Theology for the Anthropocene. Michael S. Hogue. 15. Pragmatic Naturalism and Public Theology: Prospects of Creative Exchange. Victor Anderson. PART V. RELIGIOUS NATURALISM AND TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS. 16. Buddhism and Religious Naturalism. Jay N. Forrest. 17. Zen Buddhist Perspectives on Religious Naturalism. Stephanie Kaza. 18. One Shawnee’s Reflections on Religious Naturalism. Thomas Norton-Smith. 19. Dao and Water: Rethinking Daoism as Naturalism. Jea Sophia Oh. 20. A Christian Religious Naturalism. Karl E. Peters. 21. Religious Naturalism: Hindu Perspectives. Varadaraja V. Raman. 22. Naturalizing Religion. Loyal Rue. 23. A Jewish Perspective on Religious Naturalism. Dan Solomon. 24. Confucianism as a Form of Religious Naturalism. Mary Evelyn Tucker. PART VI. PUTTING RELIGIOUS NATURALISM INTO PRACTICE. 25. Religious Naturalism and the Spirit of Query: Taking Adult Religious Education in a New Direction. Pamela C. Crosby. 26. Bringing Religious Naturalism Together Online. Ursula Goodenough. 27. Whither Religious Naturalism? Walter Gulick. 28. The Society of Nature and the Religion of Nature. Bruce M. Hannon. 29. Practices in Religious Naturalism. Eric Steinhart. 30. Naturalistic Spirituality as a Practice. Daniel Strain. PART VII. CRITICAL DISCUSSIONS OF RELIGIOUS NATURALISM. 31. The Religious Availability of Religious Naturalism. David E. Conner. 32. Holy Nostalgia: Toward a Sympathetic Critique of Religious Naturalism. Michael L. Raposa. 33. Concerning Consecrated Science: The Suspect Wonder of the New Cosmology. Lisa H. Sideris. 34. Reflecting on Religious Naturalism: Possibilities and Critiques. Philip Hefner. INDEX
Biography
Donald A. Crosby is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Colorado State University, USA.
Jerome A. Stone is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, William Rainey Harper College, USA.
"This collection does far more than describe and defend religious naturalism. The authors explore widely differing varieties of religious naturalism, including varieties found within or evolvable from existing historical religious traditions. The collection also extends beyond religious naturalism as a thought-experiment into investigations of ways in which religious naturalism has formed or might form robust communities of belief, religious reflection, and practice. Other essays probe the soft spots of religiously naturalistic positions, either in the spirit of skepticism regarding their viability or in that of constructive criticism. Altogether the volume is a rich resource that will be a touchstone for discussions of religious naturalism into the foreseeable future." Andrew Dole, Amherst College, USA
"Arguably, only by re-centring religious sentiment on the awe-inspiring workings of nature can the modern world shift to the earth-ethic that is so sorely needed in this era of ecological derangement. Science and philosophy have proved incapable of bringing about the needed value shift. Perhaps only religion, as has been well attested in recent decades, can move hearts and minds on the scale required. This book argues, rigorously and self-critically, for a religion of nature that might indeed, without sacrificing reason, begin to nudge us towards sanity and hope." Freya Mathews, Latrobe University, Australia
"Anderson, Hogue, and White provide fruitful avenues for connecting religious naturalism with liberative frameworks. This handbook acts as a resource for both the layperson and the scholar in the areas of religion and ecology, science and religion, philosophy of religion, ethics, and naturalistic religious practice. The shift away from anthropocentric thinking introduces a myriad of options and invites us to generate new questions, possibilities, and opportunities." Rudolph Reyes III<
