The Philosophy of Religion: A Buddhist Perspective

This important work does much to extend and redefine the ground of the philosophy of religion. Much of the development in the philosophy of religion, from William James to Paul Tillich, has been conducted in a purely Western context. The discussion, whether it be the soteriological nature of religion, the grounds for belief in God, the problem of evil or the question of verifiability, takes on quite a different complexion in the context of Eastern religions. Arvind Sharma seeks to place this debate with particular reference to the work of such writers as William James, F.R. Tennant, Paul Tillich, J.H. Randall, R.B. Braithwaite, D.Z. Phillips, R.M. Harre, Basil Mitchell, John Hick, W.A. Christian, and W.C. Smith, in the Buddhist context. At the same time he clarifies some of the possible misapprehensions which result from a commonality of religious language shared between Buddhism and Hinduism as regards the nature of religious revelation, immortality, karma and reincarnation.