Comparative Religious Ethics: A Narrative Approach to Global Ethics, 2nd Edition

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Part I Religion, Ethics, and Stories of War and Peace 1

1 Religion, Ethics, and Storytelling 3

Storytelling: from Comparative Ethics to Global Ethics 4

Religion: the Sacred and the Holy 9

The Deep Structures of the Sacred and the Holy and Their Mediations 19

The Awakening of Ethical Consciousness: the Power of Religious Stories, East and West 20

The Great Religious Stories of the World – an Overview 30

A Postscript on Religious Language 36

Questions for Discussion 39

Sources 40

2 Stories of War and Peace in an Age of Globalization 41

Tales of Madness: from Auschwitz to Hiroshima 42

Auschwitz and Hiroshima: the Formative Religious Events of the Postmodern World 45

Techno-Bureaucratic Rationality and the Demise of Ethical Consciousness 51

Doubling and the Myth of Life through Death: the Spiritual Logic of Mass Death in the Twentieth Century 56

The Way of All the Earth: Global Ethics and Tales of Divine Madness 63

Questions for Discussion 72

Sources 73

Part II War and Peace: Ancient Stories and Postmodern Life Stories 75

Introduction: Ethics after Auschwitz and Hiroshima 77

3 Gilgamesh and the Religious Quest 85

The Story of Gilgamesh 86

Urbanization, Doubling, Death, and the Possibility of Ethical Reflection 91

The Quest – the Way of the Virtues 94

Questions for Discussion 99

Sources 99

4 The Socratic Religious Experience: from the Birth of Ethics to the Quest for Cosmopolis 100

The Story of the Trial of Socrates 101

The Socratic Invention of Ethics – the Way of Doubt 105

The Polis and the Quest for Cosmopolis: the Classical Era 109

The Story of Augustine’ s Confessions – Faith as a Surrender to Doubt 116

The Augustinian-Kantian Quest for a Global Ethic 126

Questions for Discussion 135

Sources 136

5 Hindu Stories – Ancient and Postmodern 137

Cosmic Story: the Myth of Liberation 138

Formative Story: Arjuna and Krishna 143

Life Story: Mohandas K. Gandhi and the Way of Brahmacharya 148

Comparative Reflections: the Paradoxes of War and Peace 159

Questions for Discussion 163

Sources 164

6 Buddhist Stories – Ancient and Postmodern 165

Formative Story: Siddhartha 166

The Cosmic Story Revised: the Myth of Liberation 173

Life Story: Thich Nhat Hanh, the Way of Mindfulness and the Dao of Zen 181

Comparative Reflections: Gandhi and Thich Nhat Hanh 196

Postscript: the Virtues of the Quest in Gilgamesh, Augustine, and Siddhartha 199

Questions for Discussion 203

Sources 203

7 Jewish Stories – Ancient and Postmodern 205

Cosmic Story: the Myth of History 206

Formative Story: the Audacity of Job 213

Life Story: Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Way of Audacity 223

Comparative Reflections: Heschel, Gandhi, and Thich Nhat Hanh 229

Questions for Discussion 232

Sources 233

8 Christian Stories – Ancient and Postmodern 234

Formative Story: Jesus of Nazareth 235

The Cosmic Story Revised: the Incarnation of the Word 242

Life Story: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Way of the Cross 247

Comparative Reflections: King, Heschel, Gandhi, and Thich Nhat Hanh 257

Questions for Discussion 260

Sources 260

9 Islamic Stories – Ancient and Postmodern 262

Formative Story: Muhammad 263

Cosmic Story: Further Revisions of the Myth of History 269

Life Story: Malcolm X and the Way of Pilgrimage 275

Comparative Reflections: Just War or Non-Violence? – Malcolm X’s Argument with the Gandhian Tradition 286

Questions for Discussion 295

Sources 296

Part III The Path to Global Ethics – the Way of All the Earth 297

Introduction 299

10 Feminist Audacity and the Ethics of Interdependence 300

The Feminist Challenge to the Myths of Life through Death 301

The Feminist Alternative: Interdependence and the Ethics of Care 305

Life Story: Joanna Macy and Buddhist Ecofeminism 311

Life Story: Rosemary Ruether and Christian Ecofeminism 316

Conclusion 324

Questions for Discussion 325

Sources 326

11 Cosmopolis: the Way of All the Earth 327

Globalization and the Story of Babel: from Ethnocentrism to Interdependence 327

Ecofeminism: from the Social Ecology of Conscience to the Social Ecology of Justice 330

The Way of All the Earth 343

Questions for Discussion 347

Sources 348

Index of Names and Terms 349

Index of Subjects 355