Nature is enough : religious naturalism and the meaning of life / Loyal Rue.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rue, Loyal D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nature--Religious aspects.

Nature.

Naturalism--Religious aspects.

Naturalism.

Physical Description:

x, 165 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2011]

Summary:

Nature is enough: enough to allow us to find meaning in life and to answer our religious sensibilities. This is the position of religious naturalists, who deny the existence of a deity and a supernatural realm. In this book, Loyal Rue answers critics by describing how religious naturalism can provide a satisfying vision of the meaning of human existence.

The work begins with a discussion of how to evaluate the meaning of life itself, referencing a range of thought from ancient Greek philosophy to the Abrahamic traditions to the Enlightenment to contemporary process and postmodern philosophies. Ultimately proposing meaning as an emergent property of living organisms, Rue writes that a meaningful life comes through happiness and virtue. Spiritual qualities that combine evolutionary cosmology and biocentric morality are described: reverence, gratitude, awe, humility, relatedness, compassion, and hope. Rue looks at why religious naturalism is not currently more of a movement, but nevertheless predicts that it will become the prevailing religious sensibility. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction: What Is a Human Being For? 1

Questioning the Question 1

The Meaning of Meaning 7

Part 1 The Meaning of Life

Chapter 2 The Reality of Meaning 19

Meaning in the World 19

Meaning in the Mind 33

The Illusion of Meaning 42

Chapter 3 The Emergence of Meaning 51

What Is Emergence? 51

Revisiting the Options 54

Interlude: A Model of Emergence 78

The Miracle of Meaning 83

Part 2 Religious Naturalism

Chapter 4 Religion Naturalized, Nature Sanctified 91

Bringing Religion Down to Earth 92

The Heart of Naturalism 96

Taking Nature to Heart 109

Is Nature Enough? 116

The Promise of Religious Naturalism 122

Chapter 5 Confessions of a Religious Naturalist 131

God and Creation 132

Sin and Grace 137

Evil and Suffering 140

Death and Salvation 144

Faith, Hope, and Love 149.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438437996

1438437994

OCLC:

701242241