Syllabus Fall 2008

Philosophy 410, Philosophy of Religion

48631 - HPHI 410 - 01

MWF 10:00-10:50 AM, Aug 27, 2008 - Dec 12, 2008, Sale Hall 107

Instructor: Dr. Nathan Nobis; nathan.nobis@gmail.com

Office hours: MWF 11-12, 1-1:30 and by appointment

Course blog: http://philosophy410.blogspot.com

Syllabus: http://aphilosopher.googlepages.com/phil-rel.pdf

Email announcement group: http://groups.google.com/group/morehouse-philosophy-of-religion/

Catalogue Description:

Examination of philosophical questions involved in religion and religious beliefs. Prerequisite: PHI 201 or consent of the instructor.

Extended course description:

In a 2007 article published in the American Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, the author claims that:

While religion has been at the center of the African-American experience, substantive philosophical questions and issues about theodicy, the epistemological nature of religious beliefs, and even creationism have been avoided.[1]

The purpose of this course is to ensure that this author is mistaken. We will thereby inquire into the “epistemological nature” of religious beliefs, i.e., seek to understand whether religious beliefs – theistic and Christian beliefs, in particular – are supported by strong evidence, good reasons and sound arguments or not. We will evaluate “theodicies,” attempts to explain what (if anything) might justify an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good being in permitting certain kinds of evil, especially the evils of racism, slavery, lynchings, and discrimination: we will read many African American thinkers who address this issue and evaluate arguments for the view that the existence of evils like these give good reason to believe that God does not exist. We will discuss many other philosophical issues that arise from religious belief and practice, such as the existence of hell, the nature of reason and faith, surviving death, and how we should respond to religious diversity and disagreements, whether religious belief is “important” in various senses, and many other issues.

Throughout the course our main methods involve (A) getting very clear on what exact claims we are evaluating (e.g., what is meant by ‘God’?) and (B) patiently, carefully and thoroughly finding and evaluating the reasons given for and against the claim in question (as well as the reasons that might be given in response to those reasons). Philosophy courses require questioning assumptions, seeking reasons and evidence and demand intellectual responsibility, i.e., being careful with what you believe because you wish to believe the truth and effectively pursue it, even if this requires changing your own beliefs. This course offers the opportunity to develop these intellectual skills in identifying and evaluating arguments and cultivating an intellectually virtuous outlook based in the requirement for good reasons for belief and action that can be beneficial for everything you do and who you are.

Three required texts, all of which are available used, cheaper online (e.g., at Amazon, Abebooks.com, etc.):

1. Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology, edited by Steven M. Cahn (Oxford 2008). This book contains within it as an appendix a short, introductory text by Cahn entitled God, Reason, and Religion that was originally published by Wadsworth in 2006.

2. Why Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology by Anthony Pinn (Continuum, 1999).

3. Writing Philosophy: A Student's Guide to Writing Philosophy Essays by Lewis Vaughn (Oxford 2005).

4. Optional, not ordered by bookstore: Is God a White Racist? A Preamble to Black Theology, 2^nd ed., by William R. Jones (Beacon 1997).

Responsibilities:

To succeed in this class, you must be disciplined: are responsible to understand and meet the requirements outlined below and discussed in class:

• Attendance: Always come to class, as Morehouse College policy requires. Sign the role sheet: if it is not passed to you, then you need to find it. Each unexcused absence will result in a 2% grade reduction to your final grade. An absence is excused only if you get the instructor an official Morehouse excuse in writing that he can keep.
• Punctuality: Come to class on time.
• After the add-drop period, no one will be admitted into class who is late. Tardiness is a disruption, so be on time. Assignments will be collected only at the beginning of class and at no other time, unless you have a documented, College-excused absence. Thus, no late work will be accepted.
• Preparation: Bring all your books, handouts and other materials – including materials that you must print off from the internet – and have them out on your desk and ready to discuss at the beginning of class.
• Students who do not bring their materials may be asked to leave, as they are not prepared for class.
• Doing the Reading: For every hour spent in class, spend at least two hours doing the reading and writing outlines, paraphrases &/or summaries of the readings (see Vaughn’s Writing Philosophy, Ch. 1).
• You must set aside adequate time and find a solitary, quiet, distraction-free environment (no/little noise and music with words, no access to the internet, etc.) to do your work.
• The reading assignments should be done before you come to class. Many of the readings are challenging and take time and effort to understand. They need to be read at least three times. See the chapters on reading philosophy from Writing Philosophy.
• To better comprehend the readings, you should first skim the article or chapter, then you should read more carefully, taking notes, making an outline, underlining and highlighting, etc. Doing this kind of work is necessary for an adequate understanding of any challenging material. Your books should show evidence that they have been read: underlining, highlighting, marks, etc. See Writing Philosophy on how to read philosophy.
• Preparation for engaged, production discussion, not passive lectures:
• Morehouse College is a liberal arts college, not a university. Classes are small and thus we are able to discuss issues and arguments and have a more interactive learning environment. The instructor, therefore, will rarely “lecture” in any traditional sense, since lecturing encourages student passivity, disengagement, and not doing the reading.
• You have excellent texts that are readable, you can learn a lot from, and learn even more from discussing; lecturing, if lecturing summarizes the reading, discourages you from getting the benefits from careful reading. Thus, again, you need to read to be prepared for class.
• We hope that our classroom discussions will go beyond what’s presented in the text: so you will gain a basic understanding of the issues, facts and arguments from the reading and then we will use class time to more deeply process and evaluate these arguments, consider new arguments and engage in other learning activities that you can’t get on your own. You can get these latter benefits only if you have carefully done the reading.
• For a critique of the educational value of lecturing see, “To Lecture or Not to Lecture, an Age-Old Question” at http://www.morehouse.edu/news/archives/001176.html
• Honesty: Any plagiarism or cheating on any assignment – including any extra credit assignments – will immediately result in failing the course: no exceptions, no excuses.
• “The Division of Humanities & Social Sciences at Morehouse College endorses the highest standards and expectations of academic honesty and integrity. Plagiarism or any other form of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Sanctions for violation of these standards include possible suspension or dismissal from the College. It is each student’s responsibility to be familiar with the expected codes of conduct as outlined in the College Catalogue and Student Handbook.”
• Cheating and plagiarism are forms of lying (to the instructor, the school, future teachers and employers, and yourself, among others), theft (of other people’s ideas and words), unfairness (to other students who do the work as they should) and are grounds for failing the course. If you submit a plagiarized paper (e.g., a paper you took in whole or in part from the internet or some other illegitimate source, such as a peer who has had this course before), the instructor (with the help of Turnitin.com) will notice this and you will then fail this course immediately. Although we will discuss this, it is your responsibility to know what plagiarism is.
• Here are some suggestions to avoid plagiarism: do not check the internet for anything related to your papers: instead use the texts required for the course and think for yourself; do not take phrases from the texts; put all of your writings in your own words; do not cut and paste anything from the internet into your paper; do not visit Wikipedia, an extremely unreliable source for academic philosophy; do not take articles from online encyclopedias; do not visit online dictionaries; use an acceptable citation method (e.g., MLA, APA, etc.), which you learned to do in Introductory English courses. If you would like additional sources to learn more about a topic, see the instructor. See Writing Philosophy, Ch. 6, for additional guidance on avoiding plagiarism.
• Basic Manners:
• No phone / PDA / I-pod / Sidekick / computer use is permitted after the first 5 minutes of class when students might type assignments into a device. If you use such a device in class, you will be asked to leave as such use is distracting, is disrespectful, and reveals a lack of participation and interest in classroom activities.

• Computers cannot be used in class, even for note-taking, because too many students are unable to resist surfing the internet, checking email, chatting, etc. If you attempt to use a computer, you will be asked to leave.
• No newspapers, magazines or work for other classes: if you wish to work on other classes and do not wish to participate in our class, you will be asked to leave.
• Any students who engage in disruptive and distracting behavior (e.g., non-class-related “private” chatting, etc.) will be asked to leave.
1. Disability Services:
• Morehouse College is committed to equal opportunity in education for all students, including those with documented disabilities. Students with disabilities or those who suspect they have a disability must register with the Office of Disability Services (“ODS”) in order to receive accommodations. Students currently registered with the ODS are required to present their Disability Services Accommodation Letter to faculty immediately upon receiving the accommodation. If you have any questions, contact the Office of Disability Services, 104 Sale Hall Annex, Morehouse College, 830 Westview Dr. S.W., Atlanta, GA 30314, (404) 215-2636, FAX: (404) 215-2749.
• For students who use the services above, it is the students’ responsibility to remind the instructor of any special assistance, testing arrangements, etc. before an exam, assignment, etc.
2. “Help me help you”:
• The instructor should be informed of medical, family, or other problems that necessitate missing class or that interfere with your work. In addition, students are encouraged to visit with the instructor during his office hours if they are having difficulty reading or understanding the materials presented in class. If you ever have any questions about anything, please just ask!

Assignments and grading:

1. “OPS” (Outline, Paraphrase, &/or Summarize the Argument) writing assignments: 25% of grade

The absolute most important thing you can do to succeed in this class is to do the reading and do the reading well. A (tentative) schedule of readings is below and will be announced in class. To encourage you do the readings well and so be prepared for class discussion, you will be required to write 1-3 page outlines, paraphrases &/or summaries of the arguments of nearly all of the readings or selections of them. Vaughn’s Writing Philosophy, Ch. 1 provides instruction on how to do this. What most important for these assignments is that you (a) identify the author’s main conclusions, and (b) explain the reasons he or she gives in favor of these conclusions and (c) explain whether these reasons are a valid and sound argument for that conclusion or not. Merely copying a writing’s Introduction will result in a zero for the assignment, as will any other kind of plagiarism.

2. “Lead the Discussion by Presenting the Arguments” assignments:

For the first weeks of the course, the instructor will be mainly in charge of presenting the arguments from the readings. After this, however, the students and the instructor will take turns presenting the main arguments from the readings and generating discussion about these arguments’ logical form (e.g., their validity or cogency) and whether their premises are true or not (i.e., the arguments soundness). In many ways, these presentations are just presentations of enhanced OPS assignments. They require thinking about how to teach the materials to others, so require that you show that you genuinely understand the material and the arguments’ strengths and weaknesses. To do an excellent presentation, handouts are encouraged; the instructor will photocopy them for you if given adequate time to make copies. 25% of grade

3. Two Exams: 50% total grade, 25% each exam.

Either in class or take-home. All of lecture, discussion and reading content is testable. Study guides will be available with possible questions for each exam to help focus your studying. Exams will mostly be short answer and short essay questions. No electronic devices can be used or accessed during tests, nor can you have any books, bags, notes or hats near your desk: all such materials must be left at the front of the room. You are not permitted to leave the classroom and return to keep working on the test, so please plan accordingly (e.g., visit the restroom before the test).

4. Argumentative Research Paper and Presentation 25% of grade

This provides an opportunity to pursue, in greater detail, a topic in philosophy of religion that you find interesting. Likely the most productive paper for most students will be focused “critical response paper.” This will involve you finding a (ideally recent) article(s) or writing(s) on an issue where an argument is presented and you present, explain and evaluate that argument as sound or unsound and why. 3000 words maximum length. Your topic must be approved by the instructor to ensure appropriateness for this course: failing to do so may result in a zero for the paper. The instructor can help you find topics and writings to evaluate, and you should check the various research tools on the blog. You must also give an organized, clear, and well-thought out presentation to the class on your paper.

Note: A syllabus is not a contract, but rather a guide to course procedures. The instructor reserves the right to alter the course requirements and/or assignments based on new materials, class discussions, or other legitimate pedagogical objectives.

Order of Readings; exact dates will be announced in class and posted on the course blog.

Initial readings:

· ONLINE ARTICLE or HANDOUT: Allen Stairs, “A Right To Be Wrong?” http://brindedcow.umd.edu/philosophy/opinions.html

• 37. The Ethics of Belief , W. K. Clifford , p. 195 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

• Preface , viii in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion
• Introduction, 1 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion
• ONLINE ARTICLE or HANDOUT: William Lane Craig, "God Is Not Dead Yet: How current philosophers argue for his existence," Christianity Today, July 2008. At http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/july/13.22.html
• Introduction. p. 327 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

· Proving God's Existence? P. 328 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

· Vaughn:

o Ch. 1, How to Read Philosophy;

o Ch. 2, How to Read an Argument;

o Ch. 5, Avoiding Fallacious Reasoning

o Basic Logic handout: http://aphilosopher.googlepages.com/arguments.pdf

Part I: The Concept of God: If God exists, then what is God like?

1. God and Goodness , James Rachels, p. 5, in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

2. God's Omnipotence , George Mavrodes , p. 8 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

3. God's Foreknowledge and Free Will , Augustine , p. 11 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

4. God's Omniscience and Contingent Events , Levi Gersonides , p. 13 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

5. Does God Know the Future? , Steven M. Cahn , p. 16 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

6. Does God Change? , William Hacker , p. 20 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

8. God and the Concept of Worship , James Rachels , p. 38 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

Part II: The Existence of God: The Classical Arguments for and against God’s Existence

Arguments for God’s existence:

Re-read 1. Proving God's Existence? P. 328 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

13. The Five Ways , Thomas Aquinas , p. 59 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

14. The Cosmological Argument , Richard Taylor , p. 62 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

15. The Cosmological Argument: An Assessment , John H. Hick , p. 71 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

16. The Argument to Design , William Paley , p. 74 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

17. The Argument to Design and the Problem of Evil , David Hume , p. 78 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

9. The Ontological Argument , Anselm and Gaunilo , p. 47 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

10. The Ontological Argument : A Restatement , Rene Déscartes , p. 51 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

11. The Ontological Argument: A Critique , Immanuel Kant , p. 53 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

12. The Ontological Argument: An Assessment , John H. Hick , p. 55 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

Vaughn, Writing Philosophy

Re-read earlier assignment from Vaughn

3. Rules of Style and Content for Philosophical Writing

4. Defending a Thesis in an Argumentative Essay

6. Using, Quoting, and Citing Sources

7. Writing Effective Sentences

8. Choosing the Right Words

Appendix A: Formatting Your Philosophy Paper

Appendix B: Documenting Your Sources

Exam 1

Arguments against God’s existence, i.e., for the conclusion that God does not exist or probably, God does not exist:

2. The Problem of Evil. P. 331 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology
3. The Problem of Goodness. P. 333 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

4. The Moriarty Hypothesis. P. 335 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology
5. Dummy Hypotheses. P. 336 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

18. The Problem of Evil , John H. Hick , p. 97 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

19. A Defense of Atheism , Ernest Nagel , p. 103 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

20. Why God Allows Evil , Richard Swinburne , p. 109 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

21. Suffering and Evil , George Schlesinger , p. 120 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

22. A Reply to Schlesinger , Jeremy Gwiazda , p. 123 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

ONLINE ARTICLE or HANDOUT: Mark Vuletic, The Tale of the Twelve Officers

http://www.vuletic.com/hume/at/12.html

http://www.vuletic.com/hume/pdfs/12.pdf

23. Theism and Modern Science , Nicholas Everitt , p. 124 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

ONLINE ARTICLE or HANDOUT: Karl Marx, "The Opium of the Masses"
ONLINE ARTICLE or HANDOUT: Sigmund Freud, "The Future of an Illusion"
ONLINE ARTICLE or HANDOUT: Stephen C. Ferguson, II, “Teaching Hurricane Katrina: Understanding Divine Racism and Theodicy,” Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Fall 2007Volume 07, Number 1, at http://www.apaonline.org/publications/newsletters/v07n1_Black_02.aspx

Why Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology by Anthony Pinn Preface Introduction 1. Spirituals as an Early Reflection on Suffering 2. Nineteenth Century Black Thought on Suffering 3. Black Suffering in the Twentieth Century 4. Alternative Theological Views on Suffering 5. Blues, Rap and Nitty-Gritty Hermeneutics 6. Black Humanism and Black Religion

45. The Hiddenness of God , Robert McKim , p. 248 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

14. Heaven and Hell. P. 357 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

ONLINE ARTICLE or HANDOUT: Stephen T. Davis, "Universalism, Hell, and the Fate of the Ignorant"
ONLINE ARTICLE or HANDOUT Marilyn McCord Adams, "The Problem of Hell: A Problem of Evil for Christians"

Part IV: Miracles and Mysticism

9. Miracles. P. 345 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

30. Of Miracles , David Hume , p. 151 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

31. On Miracles , Paul J. Dietl , p. 157 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

32. Mysticism , William James , p. 162 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

33. Perceiving God , William Alston , p. 174 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

34. Perceiving God: A Critique , William L. Rowe , p. 183 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

Part V: Belief in God

11. Playing the Odds. P. 350 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

35. The Wager , Blaise Pascal , p. 191 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

36. Pascal's Wager: A Critique , Simon Blackburn , p. 193 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

37. The Ethics of Belief , W. K. Clifford , p. 195 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

40. Belief Without Argument , Alvin Plantinga, p. 218 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

41. Belief Without Argument: A Critique , Michael Martin , p. 227 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

6. The Appeal to Faith. P. 339 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology
7. Skepticism about Faith. P. 340 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

42. Faith , Richard Taylor , p. 230 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

43. Faith and Reason , Michael Scriven , p. 234 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

8. The Problem of Meaning. P. 343 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

44. Theology and Falsification , Anthony Flew, R. M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell , p. 238 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

Part VI: Resurrection and Immortality

46. Resurrection , John H. Hick , p. 257 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

47. Life After Death , Terence Penelhum , p. 259 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

48. Do We Need Immortality? , Grace M. Jantzen , p. 270 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

Part VII: Religious Pluralism

49. The Dimensions of Religion , Ninian Smart , p. 285 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

50. Religious Pluralism and Salvation , John H. Hick , p. 292 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

51. A Defense of Religious Exclusivism , Alvin Plantinga , p. 304 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

52. Religion Versus the Religious , John Dewey , p. 311 in Cahn’s Exploring Philosophy of Religion

10. God Without Religion. P. 348 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

12. Religions. P. 351 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

13. Religion Without God. P. 353 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

15. Life Without God. P. 359 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

16. A Religious Life. P. 363 in Cahn’s appendix book God, Reason, and Religion in his Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology

---

[1] Stephen Ferguson, II, “Teaching Hurricane Katrina: Understanding Divine Racism and Theodicy,” Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Fall 2007, Volume 07, Number 1, at http://www.apaonline.org/publications/newsletters/v07n1_Black_02.aspx

Here are the books for this class:
1. Steven Cahn, Exploring Philosophy of Religion: An Introductory Anthology
2. Anthony Pinn, Why Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology
3. Lewis Vaughn , Writing Philosophy: A Student's Guide to Writing Philosophy Essays

Religion professor backs atheistic view

Anthony B. Pinn, once an African Methodist Episcopal minister, says he could not reconcile the concept of a loving God with the reality of the world faced by African-Americans. (JUSTINE HUNT/GLOBE STAFF)

By Rich Barlow | December 16, 2006

Where would African-Americans be without black churches? Many chained by slavery were sustained by belief in a better world awaiting God's people. A century later, gentle armies of the churched, led by a Christian minister named Martin Luther King Jr., forced the national conscience to confront the gap between its ideals and the reality of segregation.

Yet in the month when Christians of all colors celebrate the birth of the man whose teachings inspired King, a professor of religion argued, counterintuitively, to a Harvard audience that blacks who don't believe in God offer his fellow African-Americans a more realistic worldview.

Anthony B. Pinn of Rice University in Texas has been on both sides of the is-there-a-God divide. Once an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he now evangelizes for African-American humanism (atheism to those outside the ivory tower).

"Religion is not confined to the institutional structures that dot the landscape," he told a crowd of 30 last week in a talk sponsored by Harvard's humanist chaplaincy. Humanism, in his view, is a religious system that, while rejecting supernatural agency in the universe, nonetheless offers a "thick and robust existence" through an appreciation of the connections between all living things with ritual rooted in the mundane pleasures of life such as sharing a meal or walking in the woods.

Pinn's belief in the divine foundered on a reef that has shipwrecked many a believer's faith, an inability to reconcile human misery with the existence of a loving God. He felt a call to ministry very early in life and preached for the first time when he was just 10. Ordained after college, he served an African Methodist Episcopal church in Brooklyn. But his religious certainty bled away in the light of what he could see out his window in his drug-riddled neighborhood.

"It became increasingly difficult to preach 'Jesus saves' when young men across the street were dying in the park over a vial of crack," he said. "The theology didn't work for me. . . . I was willing to be a lot of things, but I was not going to be a hypocrite."

His streetwise disillusionment blossomed into an intellectual critique of religion after he earned a degree at Harvard Divinity School. In constructing this critique, Pinn acknowledged a debt, ironically, to the late Howard Thurman, the Christian theologian and Boston University dean, as well as to author Richard Wright, who rejected religion in some of his work.

Pinn's theology parts ways with the black church over such issues as the latter's view of the human body. White racists historically mocked black bodies, saying, for instance, that they naturally smelled bad, Pinn said. The black church rescued the body from this condemnation, regarding it as "a vessel for the divine" and practicing a physical, ecstatic form of worship. Pinn recalled from his ministry days that church mothers didn't consider him to have really preached on a Sunday unless his shirt was soaked with sweat.

Rejecting supernatural explanations and the body-soul divide, Pinn said humanists like himself see salvation as "a means to a fuller sense of self in relationship to others and the larger world," in a word, community.

An African Methodist Episcopal minister and friend of Pinn's in the audience applauded his intellectual performance.

"In an imperfect world -- for me, with a perfect God -- I love to hear viewpoints that provoke honest thought, and he certainly did that," said the woman, who requested anonymity because her comments had not been approved by her bishop.

Pinn made clear that he's not attempting a hostile takeover of America's dominant religious mindset. "I am not trying to close down churches," he assured the audience.

Questioned by a young woman as to why black people would accept religion, which she denigrated as a system handed to them by white people, Pinn replied that "black churches have done a wonderful job of helping African-Americans survive in an absurd world," providing psychological support against such torments as slavery. "That is a very good thing," he said.

The appeal of black churches is not a relic of antebellum history, he added, as the last two decades saw middle-class American blacks, disillusioned with secular life, migrating back to church. Moreover, in get-ahead America, the so-called megachurches, whether you love or loathe them, have a pitch-perfect message, which he summed up as, "Jesus wants you to be successful."

"That's appealing," Pinn said. "It's better than a lottery ticket."

Philosophia-Africana.

TI: Modernity and the Problem of Evil

AU: Schrift,-Alan-D (ed)

PB: Indiana-Univ-Pr : Bloomington, 2005

IB: 025321758X

AB: What motivates human beings to do evil? Is evil simply the sheer perverse desire to do harm or wrong? Can evil be explained or made intelligible, or does it resist all efforts at comprehension? What atrocities are human beings capable of, and what might God allow to occur? Alan D. Schrift and the contributors to this volume explore evil from a postmodern perspective. While giving particular attention to modern evils such as the Holocaust, South African apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, and the events of September 11, 2001, the essays collected here cover broad philosophical and religious ground as they illustrate how society deals with evil. Readers will find new ways to think about the concept of evil and discover new tools for sorting out the moral and ethical issues surrounding evil in today's world. (publisher, edited)

DE: EVIL-; MODERNITY-; POLITICAL-PHILOSOPHY; VIOLENCE-

TI: Gods and Ethics in Traditional African Religion and Philosophy

AU: Gbadebo,-Moses-Debo

SO: Essence-. 2005; 2: 144-151

IS: 1118-8170

AB: What are the activities of the deity/deities in African societies? Are they custodians or violators of moral codes? Are the deities attending to human problems on behalf of the Supreme Being or are they compounding it? Do they have any influence or control on the morality of the people? Do the deities punish or celebrates offenders? Answers to these and other related questions as to what constitutes crime and punishment in African societies will be attempted in this paper. We begin with a brief explanation of traditional African religion. Thereafter, we briefly explain the concept of ethics and concludes with an examination of the role of ethics in traditional African religion. (edited)

DE: AFRICAN-; ETHICS-; GODS-; RELIGION-; TRADITION-

TI: An Epistemological Defense of Religious Tolerance: Faith, Citizenship, and Crises of Religious and Cultural Identities in Post-Western Missionary Africa

AU: Oladipo,-Caleb-O

SO: Philosophia-Africana. Mr 2005; 8(1): 21-35

IS: 1369-6823

AB: The relationship between Christianity and other religions was clouded in post-Western Christian Africa. The article is about three arguments in defense of religious tolerance in post-Western Christianity: (1) there is no epistemological justification for exclusivist interpretation of religions; (2) if the place of one's birth has an effect on what religion one follows, there is no justification for accepting one religion over another; (3) Jesus advocates for religious tolerance, teaching that only one God is real. The article proposes a cross-fertilization method for religious discussion, and concludes that religions hold the promise to be catalysts for uniting people that hold divergent views.

DE: AFRICAN-; CITIZENSHIP-; FAITH-; RELIGION-; TOLERANCE-

LA: English

24 TI: Mapping "Whiteness": The Complexity of Racial Formation and the Subversive Moral Imagination of the "Motley Crowd"

AU: Mikulich,-Alex

SO: Journal-of-the-Society-of-Christian-Ethics. Spr-Sum 2005; 25(1): 99-122

IS: 1540-7942

AB: This essay maps social historical and social scientific interpretations of 'whiteness' to develop an understanding of the complexity and rootedness of whiteness as a social construction. Mapping whiteness helps clarify historical pitfalls in the interpretation of racial formation, including the problems of essentialism, dualism, and assimilationism. A social historical perspective retrieves the multiethnic and multiclass reality of the "motley crowd" -- sailors, slaves, and commoners whose religious and radical praxis subverted the dominant political and economic forces of the revolutionary Atlantic. The subversive praxis of the motley crowd suggests an alternative moral imagination, moored by Black Catholic political theology, that affirms the historical complexity of racial formation, critiques and subverts White privilege, and celebrates the need to extend multiple struggles for social, political, and economic liberation.

DE: ASSIMILATION-; CATHOLICISM-; RACE-; RELIGION-; THEOLOGY-; WHITENESS-

TI: A Companion to African Philosophy: Blackwell Companions to Philosophy

AU: Wiredu,-Kwasi (ed); Abraham,-William-E (ed); Irele,-Abiola (and-others)

PB: Blackwell-Publishing : Malden MA, 2004

IB: 0631207511

AB: The 42 essays encompass all the main branches of philosophy--logic, epistemology, metaphysics, aesthetics, ethics, religion, and politics, among others--as these have occupied the African mind in both communal and individual conceptions. A special feature of the volume is its historical dimension, including a substantial treatment of ancient African philosophy as encountered in ancient Egypt, an extended study of medieval North African thinkers, an enlightening discussion of precolonial African philosophy, and a history of African political thought in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (publisher, edited)

3 TI: "A Mingling of Heathen Rites": Representing Black Religion in The Souls of Black Folk

AU: Young,-Jason

SO: Philosophia-Africana. Ag 04; 7(2): 47-58

IS: 1369-6823

AB: This paper focuses on the vocabulary that W.E.B. Du Bois mobilizes in his treatment of the religious expression of slaves in The Souls of Black Folk. I argue that the schism that one notes in Du Bois's discussion of black religious expression reflects a larger double-consciousness--a critical two-ness, reflective of Du Bois's own cultural position as regards Black American culture. In addition, Du Bois's discussion of black religious expression highlights the currency of early twentieth century debates regarding the readiness of African Americans, then recently removed from slavery, for an impending modern age. In an attempt to answer these questions, Du Bois resorts to the problematic discourse of a newly burgeoning social science as a means of effecting social reform and redress. (edited)

4 TI: Religion and the Binding of The Souls of Black Folk

AU: Kahn,-Jonathon-S

SO: Philosophia-Africana. Ag 04; 7(2): 17-31

IS: 1369-6823

AB: This paper considers the role that religion plays in Du Bois's construction of The Souls of Black Folk. It argues that Du Bois creates a cohesive text through original writings, along with revisions in earlier work, that center on African American religious life. In turn, Du Bois's neglected call for a "new religious ideal" in "Of the Faith of the Fathers" represents the text's overarching drama-adapting religious tradition to meet modern political demands. Du Bois works through this dilemma in his account of double consciousness in religious life and in the confrontation in "Of the Coming of John" between John and his community.

TI: "Culture, Religion, and the Pursuit of Science: The African Experience" in To the Mountain: Essays in Honour of Professor George F. McLean, Sweet, William (ed), 323-347

AU: Gyekye,-Kwame

PB: Fu-Jen-Catholic-Univ-Pr : Taipei, 2004

DE: AFRICAN-; CULTURE-; RELIGION-; SCIENCE-

LA: English

DT: Contribution

TI: "Okot p'Bitek's Critique of Western Scholarship on African Religion" in A Companion to African Philosophy: Blackwell Companions to Philosophy, Wiredu, Kwasi (ed), 364-373

AU: Imbo,-Samuel-O

PB: Blackwell-Publishing : Malden MA, 2004

DE: AFRICAN-; RELIGION-; WESTERN-

PS: P'BITEK,-O

LA: English

DT: Contribution

AN: 1718369

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39 TI: "Religion in African Culture: Some Conceptual Issues" in A Companion to African Philosophy: Blackwell Companions to Philosophy, Wiredu, Kwasi (ed), 355-363

AU: Oladipo,-Olusegun

PB: Blackwell-Publishing : Malden MA, 2004

AB: The paper attempts to define the substance of African traditional religion. This is done in relation to the claim of some African scholars that Africans are religious in all things. The position advanced is that the role of religion in African culture has been, to a large extent, misrepresented. It is therefore suggested that the correction of some of these distortions should be one of the tasks of an African philosophy of religion.

I: Anger and Human Transcendence: A Response to "A Rahnerian Reading of Black Rage"

AU: Massingale,-Bryan-N

SO: Philosophy-and-Theology. 2003; 15(1): 217-228

IS: 0890-2461

AB: Given the indisputable influence of racism and the ideology of white supremacy upon our national character, Carmichael Peters has done the theological guild a great service in bringing the insights of Karl Rahner to bear upon one of the manifestations of this tragic legacy: the existence of "black rage." This response to Peter's paper will further this discussion by examining four questions: What is "black rage?" What does Rahner add to our understanding and/or assessment of black rage? What does black rage offer to our understanding of Rahner? What does the phenomenon of black rage tell us regarding the adequacy of the Rahnerian project? (edited)

TI: A Rahnerian Reading of Black Rage

AU: Peters,-Carmichael

SO: Philosophy-and-Theology. 2003; 15(1): 191-215

IS: 0890-2461

AB: This paper brings Karl Rahner's understanding of human ex-sistence (L. ex 'out, forth' and sistere 'to stand')--that is, human 'standing forth'--to bear upon the phenomenon of black rage in the United States. The reason for this application is the emancipatory potential of Rahner's transcendental realism, which basically understands human life as a dynamism at once rooted 'in the world' and yet called, in obediential potency, to the qualitative 'more'. (edited)

The African Philosophy Reader (Second Edition): A Text with Readings

AU: Coetzee,-P-H (ed); Roux,-A-P-J (ed)

PB: Routledge : New York, 2002

IB: 0415968097

AB: This considerably revised second edition of The African Philosophy Reader presents the current philosophical debate in Africa to a diverse, multicultural world. Its major themes include decolonization, Afro-centrism vs. Euro-centrism, the struggle for cultural freedoms on the continent, and the historic role of Black consciousness in the African liberation struggle. Writers and thinkers Steve Biko, Kwasi Wiredu, Abiola Irele, Mogobe Ramose, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and Wole Soyinka, among others, explore the debates surrounding: restitution and reconciliation in the postcolonial milieu, pressures on the tradition of African philosophy in the modern world, the reconstitution of the African self, the conflict between African and Western epistemological paradigms, justice and globalization, and the continuity of religion and metaphysics in African thought. (publisher, edited)

"Black Women's Experiences, Philosophy of Religion and Womanist Theology: An Introduction through Jacquelyn Grant's Hermeneutics of Location in Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, John McCledon and George Yancy (eds)

AU: Yancy,-George

SO: American-Philosophical-Association-Newsletters. Fall 2002; 02(1): 56-65

IS: 1067-9464

AB: In this article, I show that African-American theologian Jacquelyn Grant's White Women's Christ and Black Women's Jesus is undergirded by a Christological hermeneutics of location. She shares important assumptions that motivate white feminist Christology, but her text involves a womanist apologia regarding the unique nature of Black women's suffering. The practice of many white feminists to homogenize differential experiences of suffering de-politicizes the gravity and specificity of non-White women's experiences of oppression. Grants is a theological liberationist polemical text, where faith searches for both understanding and especially liberation through engaging biblical reflection vis-a-vis African-American women's concrete modes being-in-the-world.

TI: "The Impact of Non-African Religions, Philosophies, and Systems of Thought on African Life, and on the Interpretation of African Philosophies" in Thought and Practice in African Philosophy (Selected Papers from the Sixth Annual Conference of the International Society for African Philosophy and Studies (ISAPS), Presbey, Gail M; Smith, Daniel; Abuya, Pamela A; Nyarwath, Oriare (eds), 131-137

AU: Hecht,-Elisabeth-Dorothea

PB: Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation : Nairobi, 2002

AB: Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam have impacted African religion, philosophy, and moral values. Deep and helpful insights of these foreign religions do not take root. Instead, the worst aspects of materialism and egoism spread. Hypocrisy reigns, as politicians gain praise for their large donations during church services, without exposing the corrupt dealings that amassed the fortune in the first place. Many Kenyans are trained in Western philosophy which emphasizes critical reflection in search of the truth. However, Western-trained African philosophers have been analyzing African religions, and then distort it because of their Western training. Many Africans live by a narrow value which insists that "we must help our family, those close to us," but recent Kenyan novelists have portrayed characters who go beyond narrow concerns to embrace the humanity of the poor.

: "A Critique of Cornel West's Christo-Marxian Prescription for Social Justice" in Social Philosophy Today: Race, Social Identity, and Human Dignity, Volume 16, Hughes, Cheryl L (ed), 95-112

AU: Johnson,-Clarence-Shole

PB: Philosophy-Doc-Ctr : Charlottesville, 2002

AB: This essay examines Cornel West's position that social justice for the socially marginalized, especially African Americans, can only be obtained through, among other things, a synthesis of Marxian critique of capitalistic culture and hegemony, and Black prophetic theological outlook. I bring out certain limitations in West's position, in particular, what I construe as his tendency to reduce all forms of oppression to the economic. Furthermore, even as I agree with West that capitalism needs to be examined, I argue, on the contrary, that social justice can still be effected within a reformed liberal capitalist system.

TI: Cornel West: A Critical Reader

AU: Yancy,-George (ed)

PB: Blackwell-Publishers : Oxford, 2001

IB: 063122291X

AB: This comprehensive philosophical text offers a systematic and thematic approach to philosopher Cornel West's philosophical work. It moves the reader through his distinctive form of prophetic pragmatism, his historicist and improvisational philosophy of religion, his socialist democratic and truncated Marxist political philosophy, and his reflections on a range of cultural issues.

DE: AFRICAN-AMERICAN; CULTURAL-STUDIES; POLITICAL-PHILOSOPHY; PRAGMATISM-; RACE-; RELIGION-

PS: WEST,-CORNEL

66 TI: Africana Slave Religious Thought and the Philosophy of Education

AU: Haymes,-Stephen-Nathan

SO: Philosophy-of-Education. 2001; 132-140

IS: 1575-6866

DE: AFRICAN-; EDUCATION-; RELIGION-

PS: RORTY,-R

LA: English

DT: Journal-Article

AN: 1695548

TI: Theistic Humanism--African Philosophical Tradition AU: Dukor,-Maduabuchi SO: Journal-of-Indian-Council-of-Philosophical-Research. Jl-S 01; 18(3): 47-76 IS: 0970-7794 AB: Despite errors of identity and fallacies as well as misconceptions about Africa, African philosophical tradition that I call "Theistic humanism" can be described as "Afraa" just in the fashion of Darshana, Confucianism, Taoism etc. This is the philosophical import of religious world views, folklores, proverbs and myths and symbols of the Africans. African philosophy is a philosophy of culture on the myths, symbols, rituals and the world views of the African. Theistic humanism is a philosophical doctrine designating African ideas of man, universe and God. (edited)

70 TI: Culture, Worldview and Religion: A Perspective from the African Continent AU: Van-der-Walt,-Bennie-J SO: Philosophia-Reformata. 2001; 66(1): 23-38 IS: 0031-8035 AB: In defining the concepts and relationship between culture, worldview and religion, the following steps are taken: (1) Cultural diversity is explained as different reactions to God's creational revelation. Therefore, ethnocentrism (in the form of either Eurocentrism or Afrocentrism) is rejected as well as cultural relativism. (2) From a world-viewish perspective traditional African and modern Western cultures are compared. (3) The failure of Western developmental efforts in Africa is explained as a clash between two different cultures. (4) Finally, the correct relationship between the Gospel (and Christianity) is indicated: they are closely related, but the Gospel should have a transforming influence on the culture in which it is embodied.

TI: "Existential Aptness and Epistemological Correctness: West and the Identity of the 'Lord'" in Cornel West: A Critical Reader, Yancy, George (ed), 167-175 AU: Young-III,-Josiah-Ulysses PB: Blackwell-Publishers : Oxford, 2001 AB: Josiah Young draws upon West's categories of "existential aptness" and "epistemological correctness," maintaining that individual rights to self-expression involve existential aptness and that democratic structures championed by Marxist praxis involve epistemological correctness. Consistent with other liberation theological standpoints, for Young, God plays a significant role in West's project of speaking truth to power. Hence, Young sees West's "theo-praxic" position as counter to the atheology of Ludwig A. Feuerbach. Lastly, Young links his concerns with the devastation of the African world within the context of West's exposition of "post-industrial cosmopolitan American culture" where a humane God and a humane form of human interaction have been marginalized. DE: ATHEOLOGY-; MARXISM-; PRAXIS-

TI: "'Let Suffering Speak': The Vocation of a Black Intellectual" in Cornel West: A Critical Reader, Yancy, George (ed), 105-114 AU: Cone,-James-H PB: Blackwell-Publishers : Oxford, 2001 AB: James Cone provides a partly personal narrative/essay where he shares his memory of having first met the twenty-four year old West and being captivated by his intellectual brilliance. Cone explicates some of the mutual influences that he and West had on each other and some of their shared conclusions. For example, both came to accept that black theology and the black church needed Marxism to gain an understanding of various socio-political structures that are in need of change. Yet, both of them held the conviction that the black church provided deep cultural and spiritual power to resist.

TI: Existentia Africana: Understanding Africana Existential Thought AU: Gordon,-Lewis-R PB: Routledge : New York, 2000 IB: 0415926432 AB: The intellectual history of the last quarter of this century has been market by the growing influence of Africana thought--an area of philosophy that focuses on issues raised by the struggle over ideas in African cultures and their hybrid forms in Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean. The book is an engaging and highly readable introduction to the field of Africana philosophy and will help to define this rapidly growing field. Lewis R. Gordon clearly explicates Africana existential thought to a general audience, covering a wide range of both classic and contemporary thinkers--from Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois to Frantz Fanon, Angela Davis and Naomi Zack. (publisher, edited)

TI: "'Handsome Is as Handsome Does'" in The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, Volume 4: Philosophies of Religion, Art, and Creativity, Stoehr, Kevin L (ed), 187-196 AU: Hallen,-Barry PB: Philosophy-Doc-Ctr : Bowling Green, 1999 AB: Today the study of African aesthetics constitutes one of the most exciting and dynamic subdisciplines in African and intercultural studies. Yet, because it is also a discipline in which African meanings must of necessity be translated into and expressed by one of the few 'world' languages (English, French), it is in the interests of all concerned--Africans and non-Africans--to work together to ensure that the highest possible professional standards are maintained. (edited) DE: AESTHETICS-; AFRICAN-; EPISTEMOLOGY-

TI: Philosophy from Africa: A Text with Readings AU: Coetzee,-P-H (ed); Roux,-A-P-J (ed) PB: Intl-Thomson-Publ : Halfway House, 1998 IB: 1868640078 AB: From early sage philosophers to Leopold Senghor of Senegal and Steven Biko of South Africa, African thinking has challenged the way we think. As we enter a new millennium, the perspectives provided in this volume offer wise and refreshing alternatives to problems of self and society, culture, aesthetics, metaphysics and religion. Out of Africa always something new, and in these pages contemporary problems of cross-cultural cognition and postcoloniality are not only addressed, but also enacted. The reader witnesses the collision and the coalescence of cultures in the writings of philosophers from Africa. (publisher, edited)

TI: Pragmatism and Womanist Theology: Interpretive Possibilities AU: Smith,-Chandra-Taylor SO: American-Journal-of-Theology-and-Philosophy. My 98; 19(2): 209-223 IS: 0194-3448 DE: AFRICAN-AMERICAN; PRAGMATISM-; RELIGION-; THEOLOGY- PS: WEST,-C LA: English DT: Journal-Article AN: 1658979

TI: Rethinking the Nature and Tasks of African American Theology: A Pragmatic Perspective AU: Pinn,-Anthony-B SO: American-Journal-of-Theology-and-Philosophy. My 98; 19(2): 191-208 IS: 0194-3448 AB: African-American theology has too often embraced a limited canon of black religion that does not acknowledge the full range of African-American experiences. As a result, African-American theology is too apologetic and provincial, failing to appreciate complex African-American experience. This essay seeks to offer, from a pragmatic posture, some initial thoughts on the nature and look of reworked African-American theology. This is accomplished by: (1) rethinking the canon of black religions theologians draw from; (2) redefining the objective of black theology to embrace Victor Anderson's sense of "fulfillment;" and (3) using the work of Gordon Kaufman and Charles Long to make shifts methodologically and, in this way, open African-American theology to Anderson's sense of "fulfillment."

TI: "Cornel West" in African-American Philosophers: 17 Conversations, Yancy, George (ed), 31-48 AU: Yancy,-George; West,-Cornel PB: Routledge : New York, 1998 AB: George Yancy interviews African-American philosopher Cornel West about his life and work as a philosopher. West explores his early philosophical development and the influence of Kierkegaard on his early thinking. We also explore the importance of Harvard's philosophy department on West, and his relationship with Richard Rorty while at Princeton University. We also discuss the meaning of African-American philosophy, racism, existentialism, philosophy of religion, and West's pragmatist and contextualist leanings regarding issues of knowledge and truth. DE: AFRICAN-AMERICAN; ANTIFOUNDATIONALISM-; MARXISM-

TI: In Darkness with God: The Life of Joseph Gomez, a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church AU: Gomez-Jefferson,-Annetta-Louise RV: Jefferson,-Alphine-W SO: American-Philosophical-Association-Newsletters. Fall 2003; 03(1): 56-61 IS: 1067-9464 PB: Kent-State-Univ-Pr : Kent, 1998

TI: Liberation Theologies, Postmodernity, and the Americas AU: Batstone,-David (ed); Mendieta,-Eduardo (ed); Lorentzen,-Lois-Ann (and-other-eds) PB: Routledge : New York, 1997 IB: 0415916593 AB: Over the last thirty years, liberation theology has irrevocably altered religious thinking and practice throughout the Americas. Liberation theology rises up at the margins of social power. Drawing its energies from the black community in the United States, grassroots religious communities in Latin America and feminist circles in North Atlantic countries, theologies of liberation have emerged as a resource and inspiration for people seeking social and political freedom.(publisher, edited) DE: AMERICAN-; CHRISTIANITY-; POSTMODERNISM-; RELIGION-; THEOLOGY-; WORLD-

TI: Interview with the African Philosopher Kwame Gyekye AU: Lolke,-Ulrich SO: Quest-. 1997; 11(1-2): 80-99 IS: 1011-226X AB: The paper gives an outline of both the enhancement of the Philosophy Department at the University of Ghana and of Professor Gyekye's own contributions to a corpus of an African philosophy. Professor in Legon since the seventies, he began his career with contributions to Arabic philosophy and started later on to deal with the explicit question of an African philosophy. Its content as a discourse within an "African experience" has been his main interest. In the interview, he discusses in detail the problematics of philosophical key concepts as: technology, culture, development, sage philosophy, religion, tradition and modernity.

TI: An African American Looks at Death AU: Secundy,-Marian-Gray SO: Bioethics-Forum. Spr 97; 13(1): 28-30 IS: 1065-7274 DE: AFRICAN-AMERICAN; DEATH-; ETHICS-; GOD-; GOOD-

TI: "Self-Transformation in American Blacks: The Harlem Renaissance and Black Theology" in Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy, Gordon, Lewis R (ed), 37-47 AU: Morrison-II,-Roy-D PB: Routledge : New York, 1997 DE: AFRICAN-AMERICAN; HISTORY-; THEOLOGY-; TRANSFORMATION- LA: English DT: Contribution

113 TI: Religion and the New African American Intellectuals AU: Allen,-Norm-R SO: Nature,-Society,-and-Thought. 1996; 9(2): 159-187 IS: 0890-6130 AB: Contemporary African-American intellectuals are taking a prominent place in debates on a range of social and moral issues. Cornel West attempts a fusion of progressive politics with Christian values, while Stephen Carter links these values with more middle-of-the-road views. But critical thinking makes for an unstable fusion with religious beliefs, and hence, the present situation for African-American intellectuals is fraught with tensions and contradictory cross currents, at the same time as they support progressive politics in general.

African Philosophy: Selected Readings AU: Mosley,-Albert-G (ed) PB: Prentice-Hall : Englewood Cliffs, 1995 IB: 0023841818 DE: AFRICAN-; ETHICS-; ETHNOPHILOSOPHY-; MAGIC-; PHILOSOPHY-; RELIGION- LA: English

TI: "African Religions and Philosophy" in African Philosophy: Selected Readings, Mosley, Albert G (ed) AU: Mbiti,-John PB: Prentice-Hall : Englewood Cliffs, 1995 DE: AFRICAN-; PHILOSOPHY-; RELIGION-

TI: Womanist Ethics: Contemporary Trends and Themes AU: Sanders,-Cheryl-J SO: Annual-of-the-Society-of-Christian-Ethics. 1994; 299-305 IS: 0732-4928 AB: This essay is a survey of ethical and theological writings by African-American women religious scholars from 1985 to 1994. Their books, articles, dissertations, and anthologies use black women's lives and literature as resources for constructing ethical claims. Attention is given to works by Katie Cannon, Jacquelyn Grant, Delores Williams, Emilie Townes, Toinette Eugene, Marcia Riggs, Karen Baker-Fletcher, Cheryl Sanders, Annete Dula, Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Clarice Martin, Renita Weems, and others. Several contemporary trends in womanist ethics are described, including spirituality, theodicy, ontology, dialogue with black male and white feminist theologians, biblical ethics, biomedical ethics, and black church relations.

TI: In Pursuit of a Just Society: Martin Luther King, Jr, and John Rawls AU: Franklin,-Robert-Michael SO: Journal-of-Religious-Ethics. Fall 90; 18(2): 57-77 IS: 0384-9694 AB: The social thought of Martin Luther King, Jr, creatively joins the particularity of the African-American freedom struggle, with its roots deep in Black religious experience, to the universalist rhetoric of America's constitutive documents to produce an inclusive conception of justice for all in American society. This essay places King's thought in dialogue with that of the contemporary American moral philosopher John Rawls. Such conversation is important in both directions. Secular moral philosophers such as Rawls are challenged by King's thought to take account of the importance of religion in offering critical and constructive resources for public life, while King's project and the tradition of Black Christian activism in which he stood are strengthened in their relation to public discourse by taking account of the challenge of a moral philosophy based on reason. This essay has two parts: an overview of King's vision of the just society and a comparative examination of this vision through selected elements of Rawls' theory of justice.

0 TI: Who Cares: Theory, Research and Educational Implications of the Ethic of Care. AU: BRABECK,-MARY-M PB: Greenwood-Pr : Westport, 1989 AB: This book presents the work of scholars from philosophy, theology, psychology, and education who critically examine the ethic of care. The book begins with a historical discussion of caring as described by women philosophers of the past two millennia. Further chapters discuss the ethic of care; the gender relatedness of care; the political and psychological price of attributing care to women; the socialization experiences that shape and develop the caring response and the caring self; the relationship between care and rationality and between care and justice; the distinction between a theory of care based on the norms of society and moral philosophy; ethical framework of Black, Third World, and "pink collar" women.

TI: Process Theology and Black Liberation: Testing the Whiteheadian Metaphysical Foundations. AU: YOUNG,-Henry-James SO: Contemporary-Philosophy. My 89; 26-30 IS: 0732-4944 DE: BLACKS-; LIBERATION-; METAPHYSICS-; PROCESS-THEOLOGY

TI: "I've Known Rivers": Black Theology's Response to Process Theology. AU: THANDEKA, SO: Process-Studies. Wint 89; 18(4): 282-293 IS: 0360-6503 AB: William R Jones, Theodore Walker and Henry James Young share a worldview which is not apparent. The purpose of this essay is to identify their common vision. This paper demonstrates that much of their vision cannot be interpreted by process categories. Their worldview has the integrity of the hard-edged hope of the oppressed. This worldview is not an adventure of ideas but rather the pathway of a people moving toward liberation. To the extent that process theologians understand this, they will be forced to acknowledge the partisan nature of their own metaphysical claims. This acknowledgement should bring forth a reevaluation of the implicit paternalism that allows process theologians to maintain a comfortable intellectual separation from the lived experiences of the oppressed. This paper accomplishes its task by analyzing the arguments of Jones, Walker and Young in support of their contention that process theology's current theodicy is inadequate. DE: BLACK-STUDIES; METAPHYSICS-; PROCESS-THEOLOGY

163 TI: Process Theology and Black Liberation: Testing the Whiteheadian Metaphysical Foundations. AU: YOUNG,-HENRY-JAMES SO: Process-Studies. Wint 89; 18(4): 259-267 IS: 0360-6503 DE: BLACKS-; LIBERATION-THEOLOGY; PROCESS-THEOLOGY; RELIGION- LA: ENGLISH DT: Journal-Article AN: 1187989

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164 TI: Hartshorne's Neoclassical Theism and Black Theology. AU: WALKER-JR,-THEODORE SO: Process-Studies. Wint 89; 18(4): 240-258 IS: 0360-6503 DE: BLACK-STUDIES; NEOCLASSICISM-; RELIGION-; THEISM-; THEOLOGY- LA: ENGLISH DT: Journal-Article AN: 1187988

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AFRICAN POLYMONOTHEISM: AN EXISTENTIAL HUMANISTIC CULTURE. AU: DUKOR,-MADUABUCHI SO: Philosophy-and-Social-Action. JA-JE 89; 15: 23-31 IS: 0377-2772 AB: THE EXISTENCE OF POLYTHEISTIC AND MONOTHEISTIC ELEMENTS IN ANCIENT AFRICAN COSMOLOGY JUSTIFIES THE FORMULATION OF THE CONCEPT, 'POLYMONOTHEISM', THAT IS, UNITY IN DIVERSITY. POLYMONOTHEISM IS A PRAGMATIC CULTURE; IT HELPED THE AFRICANS TO ACCOMPLISH A LOT OF THINGS MEDICALLY AND TECHNOLOGICALLY, UNLIKE THE 'BARE MONOTHEISM' AND DEISM OF WESTERN AND ARABIAN CULTURES. POLYMONOTHEISM IS, THEREFORE, 'HUMANISTIC THEISM' BECAUSE OF ITS INTEREST IN MAN, AND BELIEF IN GOD. SINCE HUMANISTIC-THEISM SEEMS TO BE A COMMON FEATURE OF ANCIENT AFRICAN AND ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS, IT COULD BE A POSSIBLE COMMON BASIS OF THE THIRD WORLD'S STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE IN THE WORLD. DE: AFRICAN-; CULTURE-; EXISTENTIAL-; GOD-; SOCIAL-PHILOSOPHY

196 TI: PHILOSOPHY BORN OF STRUGGLE: ANTHOLOGY OF AFRO-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY FROM 1917. AU: HARRIS,-LEONARD (ED) PB: KENDALL-HUNT : DUBUQUE, 1983 DE: AESTHETICS-; AFRICAN-; BLACKS-; CLASS-; POLITICAL-THEORY; RACISM-; SOCIAL-ETHICS; SOCIAL-PHILOSOPHY; THEOLOGY-; TWENTIETH-

TI: FREE AT LAST: THE PRAGMATISM AND PREDICAMENT OF BLACK RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. AU: ROTH,-JOHN-K SO: American-Journal-of-Theology-and-Philosophy. 1980; 1: 29-36 IS: 0194-3448 AB: BLACK RELIGION, INCLUDING MUCH BLACK THOUGHT ABOUT RELIGION, HAS AN UNABASHEDLY PRAGMATIC ORIENTATION. GROUNDED IN THE PARTICULAR EXPERIENCE OF A PEOPLE, IT AIMS AT LIBERATION FOR BLACK MEN AND WOMEN. AT THE SAME TIME, THEODICY IS THE PREDICAMENT OF BLACK THEOLOGY. DRAWING ON THE RECENT WORK OF WILLIAM R JONES, C ERIC LINCOLN, J DEOTIS ROBERTS, AND OTHERS, THIS ARTICLE EXPLORES HOW THE VITALITY OF RELIGION IN AMERICA MAY BE INFLUENCED BY BLACK RESPONSES TO THE QUESTION, "IS GOD A WHITE RACIST?"

216 TI: AN EXAMINATION OF JAMES CONE'S CONCEPT OF GOD AND ITS ROLE IN BLACK LIBERATION. AU: BIRT,-ROBERT-E SO: Philosophical-Forum-(Boston). WINT-SPR 77-78; 9: 339-350

I: BLACK THEOLOGICAL ETHICS: A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY. AU: ROBERTS-SR,-J-DEOTIS SO: Journal-of-Religious-Ethics. SPR 75; 3: 69-109 IS: 0384-9694 AB: A CRITICAL DISCUSSION OF THE LITERATURE IN THEOLOGICAL ETHICS BY AND/OR ABOUT BLACKS, DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS. THE FIRST PART TREATS THE AUTHOR'S VIEW OF WHAT CONSTITUTES BLACK THEOLOGICAL ETHICS AND THE RESOURCES RELEVANT TO UNDERSTANDING ITS CONCERNS. THE SECOND SECTION FOCUSES ON THE BLACK RELIGIOUS HERITAGE. AND IN THE FINAL SECTION THE AUTHOR DEVELOPS HIS OWN CONSTRUCTIVE STATEMENT OF BLACK THEOLOGICAL ETHICS BY MEANS OF COMMENT ON RECENT LITERATURE.

TI: African American Humanist Principles: Living and Thinking Like the Children of Nimrod AU: Pinn,-Anthony-B RV: Allen-Jr,-Norm-R SO: Free-Inquiry. Ag-S 2006; 26(5): 65-66 IS: 0272-0701 PB: Palgrave-Macmillan-Pr : New York, 2004 DT: Book-Review