Philosophy And Religion
Humans have for millennia sought to understand their place in the cosmos and in culture via philosophical and religious reflection on their core narratives. Familiarity with these traditions expands our grasp of the human search for meaning, truth, and purpose, and immerses us in the minds and hearts and creative energies of our kind.
Offered below are links to books and websites that explore philosophy and religion from perspectives relevant to the development of religious naturalist orientations.
If you have suggestions of additional materials, please contact us at: RNAcomments@gmail.com.
Books
Religion Is Not About God, by Loyal D. Rue
Faith and Freedom: Contexts, Choices, and Crises in Religious Commitments, by Donald A. Crosby
Religion without God, by Ronald Dworkin
Truth and Tension in Science and Religion, by Varadaraja V. Raman
Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue, by Paul Woodruff
The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James
Religious and Spiritual Experiences, by Wesley J. Wildman
The Sacred and the Profane, by Mircea Eliade
The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell
Religion for Atheists, by Alain De Botton
Breaking the Spell Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel Dennett
Encountering Naturalism: A Worldview and Its Uses, by Thomas W. Clark
Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story, by Jim Holt
Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion, by Sam Harris
The Secret Sorrow: A Memoir of Mourning the Death of God, by Jay E. Valusek
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science, by Philip Clayton (editor)
Religious Philosophy as Multidisciplinary Comparative Inquiry, by Wesley J. Wildman
World Religions: The Great Faiths Explored and Explained, by John Bowker
The Bodhisattva’s Brain: Buddhism Naturalized, by Owen Flanagen
The Bonobo and the Atheist, by Frans de Waal
After God: The Future of Religion, by Don Cupitt
The New Sciences of Religion: Exploring Spirituality from the Outside In and Bottom Up, by William Grassie
In the Beginning…Creativity, by Gordon Kaufman
Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile, by John Shelby Spong
Life After Faith: The Case for Secular Humanism, by Philip Kitcher
Amythia: Crisis in the Natural History of Western Culture, by Loyal D. Rue
The Meaning of Existence, by Edward O. Wilson
Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization, by Stephen Cave
The Illusion of God’s Presence: The Biological Origins of Spiritual Longing, by John C. Wathey
Evolutionary Religion, by John Schellenberg
The Religion of The Future by Roberto Mangabeira Unger
Websites
The International Society for Science and Religion
Institute on Religion in an Age of Science
Center for the Study of Science and Religion
Zygon Center for Religion and Science
Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion
Faraday Institute for Science and Religion
Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences
Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought
Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion
Photo of Star Island by Pauline Rosenberg