Religion: A Study in Beauty, Truth, and Goodness

by Kent Richter

Overview

Religion: A Study in Beauty, Truth, and Goodness covers the wide array of elements, including the concepts of ultimate being, scripture, ritual, morality, and beauty, which make up the fascinating entity known as religion. Taking a phenomenological approach that emphasizes the standpoint of the religious believer—a view from the inside of religion—Kent Richter uses the categories of experience, belief, and behavior ("Beauty, Truth, and Goodness") as a way to think about religion in general. This approach helps students understand both the great variety in religious traditions and the internal coherence that religion holds for its practitioners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190291198
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Kent Richter is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at College of DuPage. He is the coauthor of Understanding Religion in a Global Society (2004).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Defining 'Religion'Too Broad and Too NarrowThe Dialectic of Definition and ExampleReductionism and Functional EquivalenceGetting at Last to DefinitionsA Working Definition of "Religion"Part I: Truth, or What Religion Would Have Us BelieveChapter 2. Concepts of Ultimate BeingGod and GodsMonismMiscellany and MixturesSummariesChapter 3. Historical Claims: Founders and ManifestationsProphetsSages"Incarnations" of "God"Secondary FoundersNon-historical OriginsChapter 4. Scripture as Source and AuthoritySikhism and the Adi Granth: A Case StudyThe General Concept of ScriptureScripture and ProphetsScripture and SagesCanonSecondary ScripturesConclusions on Scripture and the Possibility of Anti-scriptureChapter 5. The Languages of ReligionReligious Languages and Their ImportanceStories: Myth, History, and ParablesPoetryWisdom and InstructionExegesis and Hermeneutics: The Science of InterpretationChapter 6. Miscellaneous Doctrines: The Truth of Self, Suffering, and SalvationThe SelfSuffering and the Religious Problem of EvilSalvationEpilogue to Part I: The Promise and the Problems of Religious TruthPart II: Goodness, or What Religion Would Have Us DoChapter 7. RitualRitual and Religious RitualThe Value and Uses of RitualCommemorative RitualEffective Ritual and Ritual MagicWorshipProblems of Religious RitualChapter 8. Moral ActionObligation and the "Queerness" of MoralityMonotheism and Divine CommandsThe Virtue of the SagesMonism and Teleological MoralityReligious ExemplarsProblems of Religious MoralityMotivation for MoralityChapter 9. Social Order and GovernmentReligion and Social OrderReligion and Economic Equality"Church and State"Religion and WarEpilogue to Part II: The Promise and the Problems of Religious GoodnessPart III: Beauty, or What Religion Would Have Us FeelChapter 10. Religious ExperienceThe Variety of Religious ExperienceVisions, Voices and the Prophetic CallEnlightenmentMystical ExperienceThe Epistemology of Religious ExperienceConclusionChapter 11. Religion and ArtPictorial ArtOther Visual Arts: Calligraphy and ArchitecturePoetry and MusicArt as PerformanceSummationChapter 12. Beatitude, or Salvation ReconsideredVarieties of Beatitude"What Must I Do to be Saved?"The Problem of HellThe Goodness of the Highest GoodEpilogue to Part III: The Promise and the Problems of Religious BeautyEpilogue: Religion as Trinity

Editorial Reviews

"I can see my undergraduate students not just reading Religion, but liking it too. Richter has a gift for expressing complex concepts in religious studies in very accessible language."—Thomas W. Martin, Susquehanna University

"I love the beauty/truth/goodness central metaphor—there is something immediately appealing about it."—James G. Lochtefeld, Carthage College

"This is exactly what new college students need as a bridge to the academic study of religion."—Stephen Lahey, University of Alaska

From the Publisher