Blackwell Reference Online

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This Companion is a guide to philosophy of religion for nonspecialists, but it will also engage specialists. It aims to provide the reader with a fairly detailed map of the territory covered by philosophical thought about religion in the English-speaking world. All philosophical thought is shaped by its cultural context. The volume therefore begins with three parts that discuss the main contexts in which English-speaking philosophers do their thinking about religion. The religions of the world are irreducibly diverse and likely to remain so. Part I surveys the plurality of philosophical issues to which this religious diversity gives rise. Much philosophical thought about religion in the English-speaking world focuses on problems specific to theism or distinctive of Christianity. However, it would be extremely parochial to suppose that these are the only problems of philosophical interest generated by religion. As cultural contacts among religions increase, philosophical thought about religion is acquiring a growing awareness of and sensitivity to both similarities and differences among the ways in which diverse religious traditions raise issues for philosophers to ponder. The philosophy of religion of the English-speaking world is the product of a long history of Western philosophical thought. Part II retraces some of the historical developments in philosophy that led up to the ... log in or subscribe to read full text