Myth and Philosophy

Edited by Frank E. Reynolds & David Tracy

Subjects: Myth, Religion
Series: SUNY series, Toward a Comparative Philosophy of Religions
Paperback : 9780791404188, 382 pages, October 1990
Hardcover : 9780791404171, 382 pages, November 1990

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Table of contents

Introduction
Frank E. Reynolds

PART I
Philosophical Perspectives
1. On the Origins of Philosophy of Religion: The Need for a New Narrative of Its Founding
David Tracy

2. Comparison, History, Truth
Charles Taylor

3. Denaturalizing Discourse: Abhidharmikas, Propositionalists, and the Comparative Philosophy of Religion
Paul J. Griffiths

PART II
Myth and Philosophy: Similarities and Differences
4. Myth, Philosophy, and Religion in Ancient Greece
Arthur W. H. Adkins

5. Kukai: Philosophizing in the Archaic
Thomas P. Kasulis

6. Antinomy and Cosmology: Kant Among the Maori
Gregory Schrempp

Myth, Philosophy, and Poetics
7. Hymn to Vac: Myth or Philosophy?
Laurie L. Patton

8. Beyond Philosophy: Suhrawardi's Illuminationist Path to Wisdom
Hossein Ziai

Myth, Philosophy, and Exegesis
9. Myth, Inference, and the Relativism of Reason: An Argument from the History of Judaism Howard Eilberg-Schwartz

10. Vedanta, Commentary, and the Theological Component of Cross-Cultural Study
Francis X. Clooney S. J.

Myth, Philosophy, and Secularization
11. Natural Law: A Study of Myth in a World Without Foundations
Winston Davis

12. Natural Law and Natural Right: The Role of Myth in the Discourses of Exchange and Community
Winston Davis

Index

Frank E. Reynolds and David Tracy are at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

"The book as a whole seeks to reinvigorate an academic discipline (philosophy of religion) which has fallen on hard times, and to do so by building a bridge between philosophy and empirical-historical studies of religion. The topic is both significant and timely. Too long the empiricists have been inadequately sophisticated philosophically and too long the philosophers have ignored historical data both in its breadth and depth. In not only calling for bridges between these disciplines, but actually building some, the work makes a significant contribution to both. " — Alan Miller

"This book is useful because it provides some insights both into the ways scholars think about various aspects of religious behavior, and also information about important features of such behavior. Both myth and philosophy are topics of great significance, and have been discussed by many philosophers and historians of religions and some anthropologists. An interesting set of questions about the nature of religion, and nature of philosophy and their relationships (and also about the nature of myth and its relationship to philosophy) is emerging at the forefront of academic discussions in departments of religion, departments of philosophy, and departments of anthropology. It contains some well-written and conceptually interesting essays. " — E. Thomas Lawson