The Fifth Dimension: An Exploration of the Spiritual Realm

by John Hick

Overview

The case for a bigger, more complete picture of reality in which a fifth, spiritual dimension plays a central role

Drawing on mystical and religious traditions ancient and modern, and spiritual thinkers as diverse as Julian of Norwich and Mahatma Gandhi, The Fifth Dimension is John Hick's eloquent argument for a more complete reality, in which a fifth, spiritual dimension plays a central role. Taking into account recent global crises - including the 9/11 attacks and war in Iraq - Hick addresses a variety of timeless issues, from the validity of religious experience to the science versus religion debate. Erudite, provocative and deeply moving, Hick's persuasive narrative will prompt all curious readers to re-examine their own spiritual horizons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780741826
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

John Hick was one of the most influential philosophers of religion of his time. He was HG Wood Professor of Theology at Birmingham University from 1967 to 1982, and before that taught at Cambridge. His books have been translated into seventeen languages and more than twenty have been published about his work in English, German, French, Chinese and Japanese.
John Hick, a world renowned theologian and philosopher of religion, is the author of numerous books, many of which have become classics in their field. He is currently a Fellow of the Insitute for Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Educated at Edinburgh and Oxford, he delivered the Gifford Lectures in 1986-7 and received the Grawemeyr Award for significant new thinking in religion in 1991.

Table of Contents

	Preface	xi
	Acknowledgements	xiii
	Introduction: The Big Picture	1
	Alternative pictures
	The fifth dimension of our nature
	The axial age
	Sin or false consciousness?
	Guilt or dukkha as the problem?
	Transcategorial reality
Part I	Drawing the Picture
1.	Where We Start Today: The Naturalistic Assumption	13
2.	Naturalism as Bad News for the Many	19
	Hard and soft naturalism
	No hope for the many
3.	The Big Bang and the Ambiguity of the Universe	25
	Science versus religion: a false opposition
4.	Windows on the Transcendent	31
	The window of the mind
	Windows in the natural world
	Windows in human life
5.	The key to Understanding	38
	Perception as interpretation
	Cognitive freedom ...
	... in religious awareness
6.	Turning the Critical Realist Key	45
	The transformation of information
	Critical realism
Part II	The Meaning of Life
7.	The Religious Meaning of Life	53
	Practical meaning
	Religious meaning
	Cosmic optimism
8.	Cosmic Optimism in the East	61
	In Hinduism
	In Buddhism
9.	And in the West	70
	In Judaism
	In Christianity
	In Islam
Part III	The Gods and Absolutes as Manifestations of the Real
10.	The Real Experienced as God	83
	The pluralist hypothesis
	Pseudo-Dionysius
	Dionysius' dilemma
	Meister Eckhart and others
11.	The Real Experienced as the Absolute	97
	In Hinduism
	In Buddhism
Part IV	Religious Experience and Mysticism
12.	Altered States of Consciousness	105
	Some distinctions
	Altered states
	Drugs and altered states
	Self-transcendence
	The influence of set and setting
13.	Religious Experience	116
	Preliminary distinctions
	The sense of presence
	Some examples
14.	Visions--A Case Study of Julian of Norwich	124
	The emergence of women visionaries
	Julian herself
	The historical setting
	The visions
15.	Lady Julian's Fruitful Heresies	135
	The fall-redemption model
	The lord-servant parable
	The godly will within us
	Universal salvation?
16.	Unitive Mysticism: Literal Unity	142
	Literal or metaphorical?
	Advaita Vedanta
	An epistemological problem
	Neoplatonism
17.	Unitive Mysticism: Metaphorical Unity	150
	Christian Neoplatonism
	Pseudo-Dionysius
	Deification
	The love poetry of the mystics
	The Jewish Kabbala
	The Sufis of Islam
18.	The Dark Side	161
	The dark side of the cults
	The dark side of the great religions
	Harmless eccentricities
19.	The Criterion	169
	The fruits in human life
	Operating the criterion
	Trusting religious experience
Part V	The Saints Come Marching In
20.	One Living Saint is Worth Ten Dead Ones	179
	Saints, mahatmas and others
	The founders
	Living saints
	The profile of the saint
	Modern political saints
21.	Gandhi: A Case Study	186
	My life is my message
	A very human saint
	A rock-like integrity
22.	The Politics of Truth	197
	God is Truth, Truth is God
	A Hindu critic of Hinduism
	Non-violence
23.	Gandhi's Truth for Us Today	205
	Non-violent conflict resolution
	Green thinking
	The position of women
	Religious pluralism
24.	An Activist and a Contemplative	211
	Kushdeva Singh
	Nyanaponika Mahathera
Part VI	Time Present and Time Future
25.	What We Don't Need to Know	225
	The beginning and the end
	The Buddha's 'unanswered questions'
	Living on a need-to-know basis
	What then do we need to know?
26.	Living Within a True Myth	235
	Myth and metaphor
	The use and misuse of myths
	The Jewish myth
	The Christian myth
	Living consciously within a true myth
27.	Death and Beyond	247
	Our contemporary confusion
	Traditional possibilities
	Many lives
	What reincarnates?
	Dying
	Conclusion	259
	Bibliography	261
	Index	271

Editorial Reviews

Noted theologian Hick believes that humans are living in such a highly technological "Western" culture that we have accepted an exclusively humanistic/scientific account of our existence and ignored the importance of the "fifth dimension"--our spirituality and its influences upon our lives. To this end, Hick's long, rambling book, borrowing liberally and heavily from all world religions, considers our spiritual nature and its importance to our well-being. Deeply, intelligently, and passionately, he explores the meaning of life as stated by different faiths, the nature and validity of religious experiences, and the necessary influence of the spiritual over the physical. His general premise leaves little room for argument, though, which makes for a less engaging book. He is preaching to the converted, giving them arguments to use against those who raise the scientific over the religious. Yet the book does a good job of reiterating its major theme and can be read for enjoyment by those interested in spirituality. Marginally recommended for all libraries.--Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. of Honolulu Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

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