The Religion of the Future PDF
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The Religion of the Future The Religion of the Future roberto mangabeira unger Cambridge, Massachusetts London, En gland 2014 Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Unger, Roberto Mangabeira. Th e religion of the future / Roberto Mangabeira Unger. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-674-72907-0 (alk. paper) 1. Religion. 2. Forecasting. I. Title. BL51.U645 2014 200—dc23 2013034082 Contents 1. Beyond Wishful Thinking: Life without Illusion 1 Death 1 Groundlessness 5 Insatiability 17 Belittlement 23 Religion and the fl aws in human life 35 Th e common element in past religious revolution 40 What religion is, or has been 49 2. Overcoming the World 62 Central idea, historical presence, and metaphysical vision 62 Incitements to overcoming the world 72 Serenity and benevolence 74 Criticism: betrayal of the past 77 Criticism: the school of experience 80 Criticism: betrayal of the future 84 3. Humanizing the World 90 Central idea, historical presence, and metaphysical vision 90 Making meaning in a meaningless world 96 Our situation and our task 98 Th e ennoblement of our relations to one another 103 Criticism: betrayal of the past 106 Criticism: the school of experience 113 Criticism: betrayal of the future 117 viii contents 4. Struggling with the World 121 Central idea, spoken in sacred and profane voice 121 Metaphysical vision 125 Conception of the self 136 Only one regime 143 Spirit and structure 162 Self and others 170 Twin orthodoxies suppressed 180 Criticism: strength and weakness of the struggle with the world 182 Criticism: estrangement from life in the present 188 5. Religious Revolution Now: Its Occasions and Instruments 196 Reasons for religious revolution 196 Th e unique position of the struggle with the world 199 Resolving the ambivalence of the higher religions to the transformation of the world 204 Radicalizing the signifi cance of the struggle with the world for our ideas and institutions 207 Achieving a greater life, without Prometheanism 213 Recognizing the defects in human existence 216 Occasions and sources of religious revolution 221 In what sense a religious revolution 236 Th e practice of religious revolution 239 A tragic contradiction in the history of religion 245 Philosophy and religion 250 Direction and indirections of the religion of the future 255 Christianity as the religion of the future? 257 6. Deep Freedom: The Politics of the Religion of the Future 290 Po liti cal theology without God 290 Conception of a free society 293 Four principles 300 Th e principle of apostasy 303 Th e principle of plurality 308 contents ix Th e principle of deep freedom 314 Th e principle of higher cooperation 324 7. Becoming More Human by Becoming More Godlike: The Conduct of Life in the Religion of the Future 341 Th e enhancement of life 341 Method and vision 344 Th e overthrow: from self- subversion to self- transformation 355 Virtue as self- transformation 366 Virtues of connection 370 Virtues of purifi cation 378 Virtues of divinization 382 Th e course of life: decentering 387 Th e course of life: downfall 393 Th e course of life: mutilation 397 Th e course of life: mummifi cation 405 Th e reward 438 Countercurrents 439 Life itself 443 A Note on the Three Orientations and the Idea of the Axial Age 445 Proper Name Index 457 Thematic Index 459 The Religion of the Future
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