Introduction
Part I: The Pluralism Debates in Western Philosophy of Religion
1. The Pluralism Dilemma
2. Western Approaches to the Pluralism Dilemma
3. The Claremont Legacy & A Plurality of Pluralisms
Part II: Foundations for Religious Pluralism: A Jain
Perspective
4. The Jain Doctrine of Relativity
5. Truth and Falsity in Jainism
6. Jain Responses to the Pluralism Dilemma
Part III: New Considerations: The Structure of Pluralistic
Thinking
7. The One and the Many: Universals, Unity, Paradox, and Truth
8 Absolute Relativity: The Paradoxical Logic of Pluralism
Conclusion
Wm. Andrew Schwartz is executive director of the Center for Process Studies, cofounder and executive vice president of EcoCiv, and adjunct professor of philosophy and theology at Claremont School of Theology.
This book makes two excellent contributions. First, it is a
thorough account of the Western discussion of religious pluralism,
an important topic that has become quite central to both philosophy
of religion and theology. Second, it introduces the thinking
of an important Indian tradition, Jainism, to a largely uninformed
West. This is not just of general interest, for it turns out
that the Jain discussion of this topic for centuries is at least as
sophisticated as the current Western tradition. I am glad to
say that, in addition to offering a great deal of information about
what others think, Schwartz evaluates and becomes thereby a serious
participant in the scholarly conversation.
*John B. Cobb, Claremont School of Theology*
This is a most valuable and needed book. Wm. Andrew Schwartz
tackles one of the most important problems of our time, that of
difference in general and religious pluralism in particular, by
highlighting the Jain perspective on the ongoing debates around
these questions. Not only is this a significant contribution in
making better known a relatively neglected voice in contemporary
discussions about these themes, but he is also able to show
convincingly how the Jain thinking in fact advances these
discussions. This is comparative philosophy at its best and all
interested parties stand in debt to the author.
*Joseph Prabhu, California State University, Los Angeles*
Schwartz advances the conversation about religious pluralism by
summarizing primary Christian-centric theorists including Cobb,
Hick, and Panikkar, and introducing the Asian perspective on
pluralism espoused by the Jains. Rather than relying on normative
or pragmatic models, the Jains suggest that grappling with
contradiction lies at the heart of philosophical practice. Schwartz
argues that the Jains teach absolute relativity, not a relativism.
This important and useful paradox suggests that the Jain dialectic
of conditional predication mandates a view on life that is
simultaneously relational and ethical. Schwartz's book will be
excellent for use in upper division and graduate seminars in the
philosophy of religion and comparative theology.
*Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount University*
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