Living with Ambiguity: Religious Naturalism and the Menace of EvilHow a religion based on the sacredness of nature deals with the problem of evil. In this book Donald A. Crosby looks at how a religion based on the sacredness of nature deals with the problem of evil. Further developing and defending the vision of religious thought and life elaborated in his previous work, A Religion of Nature, Crosby explores how such a vision can enable us to interpret, respond to, and cope with the diverse forms of evil in the world, arguing that an ambiguity of goods and evils in human life, in nature as a whole, and in any conceivable or desirable realm of existence is inevitable. It is therefore futile to seek recourse in powers, presences, states, or realms thought to wholly transcend a combination of goods and evils or to be entirely devoid of evil. This being the case, the central problem of an adequate religious faith is how to live a constructive, meaningful life in the face of this intractable ambiguity. Religion of nature, as it is laid out and explained here, confronts this problem and offers a comprehensive, sustaining, and fully adequate way of conceiving and living a religious life. |
Contents
1 RELIGION OF NATURE AS A FORM OF RELIGIOUS NATURALISM | 1 |
2 AMBIGUITIES OF NATURE | 21 |
3 NATURE AS THE FOCUS OF RELIGIOUS FAITH | 43 |
4 PERSPECTIVISM PLURALISM AND AMBIGUITY | 67 |
5 RELIGIOUS RIGHTNESS AND MORAL VALUE | 79 |
6 COPING WITH AMBIGUITY | 91 |
NOTES | 113 |
| 117 | |
| 121 | |
Other editions - View all
Living with Ambiguity: Religious Naturalism and the Menace of Evil Donald A. Crosby Limited preview - 2009 |
Living with Ambiguity: Religious Naturalism and the Menace of Evil Donald A. Crosby No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
absolute Advaita Vedanta affirm afterlife Alfred North Whitehead ambiguities of nature aspects of nature assumption believe Benedict Spinoza Book of Job Brahman causal chapter character claims completely conceive concept conscious context creativity D. A. Crosby death deeply deity dependent distinctive diverse entities events of grace everything example existence experience fact finite focus of religious forms free will defense human and nonhuman imagined world important infinite Iris Chang Japanese lives Loomer Martin Buber meaning moral ambiguity moral evils moral principles mysterious natural environment nature naturing nihilist object of religious one’s ourselves persons perspectival possible present problem processes purpose question radically ambiguous reality reason relation religion of nature religious faith religious naturalism religious naturalists religious outlook religious rightness religious ultimate response rightness of nature sense species suffering systemic natural evils things tion truth and value tsunami unambiguous universe vision whole of nature Wieman