Ineffability: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion (Comparative Philosophy of Religion (1))

"This collection of essays is an exercise in comparative philosophy of religion that explores the different ways in which humans express the inexpressible. It brings together scholars of over a dozen religious, literary, and artistic traditions, as part of The Comparison Project's 2013-15 lecture and dialogue series on "religion beyond words". Specialist scholars first detailed the grammars of ineffability in nine different religious traditions as well as the adjacent fields of literature, poetry, music, and art. The Comparison Project's directors then compared this diverse set of phenomena, offering explanations for their patterning, and raising philosophical questions of truth and value about religious ineffability in comparative perspective. This book is the inaugural publication of The Comparison Project, an innovative new approach to the philosophy of religion housed at Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa, USA). The Comparison Project organizes a biennial series of scholar lectures, practitioner dialogues, and comparative panels about core, cross-cultural topics in the philosophy of religion. Specialist scholars of religion first explore this topic in their religions of expertise; comparativist philosophers of religion then raise questions of meaning, truth, and value about this topic in comparative perspective. The Comparison Project stands apart from traditional approaches to the philosophy of religion in its commitment to religious inclusivity. It is the future of the philosophy of religion in a diverse, global world."-- Back cover Front Matter ....Pages i-x Introduction: Ineffability in Comparative Philosophical Perspective (Timothy D. Knepper)....Pages 1-8 From Communicable Matter to Incommunicable “Stuff”: Extreme Combinatorics and the Return of Ineffability (Barbara Maria Stafford)....Pages 9-27 Pseudo-Dionysius and Paul’s Sermon to the Unknown God (Timothy D. Knepper)....Pages 29-40 After Silence, That Which Comes Nearest (Jonathan D. Bellman)....Pages 41-58 “Names Are the Guest of Reality”: Apophasis, Mysticism, and Soteriology in Daoist Perspective (Louis Komjathy 康思奇)....Pages 59-94 Translating the Ineffable: How Hunters Consult the Dead in Northwestern Côte d’Ivoire (Joseph Hellweg)....Pages 95-112 Sikh Mysticism and Sensuous Reproductions (Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh)....Pages 113-134 When Expression Is Expressed, Non-expression Is Not-Expressed: A Zen Buddhist Approach to Talking About the Ineffable (Gereon Kopf)....Pages 135-156 “That From Which All Words Return”: The Distinctive Methods of Language Utilization in Advaita Vedānta (Anantanand Rambachan)....Pages 157-168 Using a Net to Catch the Air: Poetry, Ineffability, and Small Stones in the Shoe: A Lecturish (Christopher Janke)....Pages 169-186 The Sayings and Missayings of Samuel Beckett: Literature, Writing, and Method (Craig N. Owens)....Pages 187-206 Jewish Mysticism Wrestles with Language (Steven T. Katz)....Pages 207-218 Meanings, Words, and Names: Rābi‘a’s Mystical Dance of the Letters (Tamara Albertini)....Pages 219-243 Dharma and Dao: Key Terms in the Comparative Philosophy of Religion (Leah E. Kalmanson)....Pages 245-255 Ineffability in Comparative Philosophical Perspective (Timothy D. Knepper)....Pages 257-288 Annotation This collection of essays is an exercise in comparative philosophy of religion that explores the different ways in which humans express the inexpressible. It brings together scholars of over a dozen religious, literary, and artistic traditions, as part of The Comparison Project's 2013-15 lecture and dialogue series on "religion beyond words." Specialist scholars first detailed the grammars of ineffability in nine different religious traditions as well as the adjacent fields of literature, poetry, music, and art. The Comparison Project's directors then compared this diverse set of phenomena, offering explanations for their patterning, and raising philosophical questions of truth and value about religious ineffability in comparative perspective. This book is the inaugural publication of The Comparison Project, an innovative new approach to the philosophy of religion housed at Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa, USA). The Comparison Project organizes a biennial series of scholar lectures, practitioner dialogues, and comparative panels about core, cross-cultural topics in the philosophy of religion. Specialist scholars of religion first explore this topic in their religions of expertise; comparativist philosophers of religion then raise questions of meaning, truth, and value about this topic in comparative perspective. The Comparison Project stands apart from traditional approaches to the philosophy of religion in its commitment to religious inclusivity. It is the future of the philosophy of religion in a diverse, global world