Living words : studies in dialogues over religion / by Terence J. Martin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Martin, Terence J., 1951-

Series:

Reflection and theory in the study of religion ; no. 12.

AAR reflection and theory in the study of religion ; no. 12

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dialogue--Religious aspects.

Dialogue.

Religions--Relations.

Religions.

Relations.

Physical Description:

viii, 374 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Atlanta, Ga. : Scholars Press, [1998]

Summary:

Efforts to speak about religion regularly get mired in confusion and conflict. Terence Martin argues that such talk might go better if participants adopted certain postures and practices of speech -- in particular, the habit of critical thinking, a sense of irony, and an irenic approach to opposition. In this book, he takes his method from the conviction that literary dialogues on religious topics are useful tutors with respect to both the problems and the possibilities of religious discussion. In demonstrating the value of religious dialogue, Martin also provides fresh readings of Plato and Lucian, Anselm and Erasmus, and Hume and Diderot.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Religious Dialogue and Dialogues on Religion 1

1 Four Examples and Three Issues 2

2 Dialogue in Contemporary Religious Studies 12

3 Dialogue as Literary Genre 22

4 Dialogues as Philosophical Tutors 34

5 Criticism, Irony, and Irenicism 40

Part I Faith and Reason in Dialogue

Chapter 2 Faith Seeking Understanding through Dialogue: Anselm's Paradigm 55

1 Meditation and Conversation 60

2 Anselm's Linguistic Turn 71

3 Anselm's Penultimate Dialogue 80

4 The Fitting and the Necessary 87

Chapter 3 Eclectic Criticism and the Art of Dialogue: The Example of Diderot 105

1 "One Giant Conversation" 108

2 Diderot's Dialogical Dream 116

3 Two Dialogues Over Religion 130

4 Diderot's Mimetic Monster 142

Part II Irony and Religion

Chapter 4 Duplicity and Shiftiness: A Reading of Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion 173

1 A Sampling of the Dialogues 177

2 Shiftiness and Duplicity 183

3 Hume's Shiftiness 191

4 Reading the Dialogues 206

Chapter 5 When the Dead Speak: Lucian's Serio-Comic Dialogue and the Elision of Irony 217

1 Serio-Comic Patterns 220

2 Cynicism and Menippean Humor 223

3 Serio-Comedy and Religious Discourse 226

4 The Elision of Irony 232

Part III An Ethic of Discourse

Chapter 6 Irenicism: Erasmus' Conversational Imperative 249

1 The Dialogue of Christian Humanism 254

2 Dialogues of Folly 263

3 At the Limits of Irenicism 273

4 A Utopian Banquet 291

Chapter 7 At Play with Pharmaceia: Plato's Phaedrus as Ethic of Discourse 317

1 Beyond a "Life of Mere Words" 320

2 Plato's Ethic of Discourse 331

3 A Self-Propagating Artifact 340

4 Embracing the Pharmakon 350.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0788505122

OCLC:

39886961