Religion and human nature
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Bibliographic Information
Religion and human nature
Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, 1998
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Includes bibliographical references and indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Continuing Keith Ward's series on comparative religion, this book deals with religious views of human nature and destiny. The beliefs of six major traditions are presented: the view of Advaita Vedanta that there is one Supreme Self, unfolding into the illusion of individual existence; the Vaishnava belief that there is an infinite number of souls, whose destiny is to be released from material embodiment; the Buddhist view that there is no eternal Self; the Abrahamic
belief that persons are essentially embodied souls; and the materialistic position that persons are complex material organisms.
Indian ideas of rebirth, karma, and liberation from samsara are critically analysed and compared with semitic belief in the intermediate state of Sheol, Purgatory or Paradise, the Final Judgement and the resurrection of the body. The impact of scientific theories of cosmic and biological evolution on religious beliefs is assessed, and a form of 'soft emergent materialism' is defended, with regard to the soul. In this context, a Christian doctrine of original sin and atonement is presented,
stressing the idea of soterial, as opposed to forensic, justice. Finally, a Christian view of personal immortality and the 'end of all things' is developed in conversation with Jewish and Muslim beliefs about judgement and resurrection.
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Non-Dualism (Advaita Vedanta)
- 3. The Search for the Self (Vaishnava Hinduism)
- 4. The Doctrine of Rebirth
- 5. Buddhism and the Self
- 6. Evolutionary Naturalism
- 7. The Embodied Soul
- 8. Original Sin
- 9. The Doctrine of Atonement
- 10. Salvation by Grace
- 11. The World to Come
- 12. Human Destiny in Judaism and Islam
- 13. Human Destiny in Christianity
- 14. The Ultimate End of All Things
- 15. Conclusion
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