The Varieties of Transcendence: Pragmatism and the Theory of Religion (American Philosophy) - Hardcover

This volume explores the rich seam of religious meaning running through the classical figures of pragmatism. The essays employ topical, historical, and speculative approaches to a wide array of texts, with an emphasis on Peirce, comprising a feast of ideas and continuing questions circulating pragmatism's role in the tradition of philosophy, transcendence, and God. -- -Roger A. Ward * Georgetown College * While much scholarship has focused on naturalism in American pragmatism, this is the first anthology that offers a comprehensive look at transcendence in that tradition. It is thus an extremely important contribution to scholarship in the field. -- -Kenneth Stikkers * Southern Illinois University *

The Varieties of Transcendence traces American pragmatist thought on religion and its relevance for theorizing religion today. The volume establishes pragmatist concepts of religious individualization as powerful alternatives to the more common secularization discourse. In stressing the importance of Josiah Royce's work, it emphasizes religious individualism's compatibility with community. At the same time, by covering all of the major classical pragmatist theories of religion, it shows their kinship and common focus on the interrelation between the challenges of contingency and the semiotic significance of transcendence.