Many contemporary discussions of religion take an absolute, intractable approach to belief and nonbelief that privileges faith and dogmatism while treating doubt as a threat to religious values. As Madhuri M. Yadlapati demonstrates, however, there is another way: a faith (or nonfaith) that embraces doubt and its potential for exploring both the depths and heights of spiritual reflection and speculation. Through three distinct discussions of faith, doubt, and hope, Yadlapati explores what it means to live creatively and responsibly in the everyday world as limited, imaginative, and questioning creatures. She begins with a perceptive survey of diverse faith experiences in Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Protestant Christianity and then narrows her focus to Protestant Christianity and Hinduism to explore how the great thinkers of those faiths have embraced doubt in the service of spiritual transcendence.

Yadlapati traces religious perspectives on trust, humility, belonging, commitment, and lively skepticism as they relate to faith and doubt. Drawing on various doctrines, scriptures, and the writings of great religious thinkers such as C. S. Lewis, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, and Raimon Panikkar, Yadlapati demonstrates how doubt can serve to enhance faith, not hinder it. Defending the rich tapestry of faith and doubt against polarization, Against Dogmatism reveals an ecumenical middle way, a spiritual approach native to traditions in which faith and doubt are interwoven in constructive and dynamic ways.

|Introduction: Beyond Fundamentalism and Atheism 1
PART ONE. RE-EXAMINING FAITH IN ACTION
One. Postures of Trust 15 Humility as the Door to Faith 17
Friedrich Schleiermacher: Religious Consciousness of Absolute Dependence 24
Hindu Puja: Belonging to a Protected World 29
Conclusion 33 Two. What Is Our Sacred Responsibility in the World? 35 Hindu Dharma 35
What Can Mere Humans Do in Narnia? 41
God's Caliph on Earth 46
Covenantal Responsibility, Partnership, and Struggle 51
Conclusion 63 PART TWO. THE CENTRALITY OF DOUBT
Three. Christian Faith and the Protestant Principle 67 Soren Kierkagaard 68
Karl Barth 76
Paul Tillich 85
Conclusion 96 Four. Faith and Transcendence in Hindu Traditions 97 Mystical Experience and the Limits of Understanding in the Upanishads 100
Bhakti, Transcendence, and Freedom in the Bhagavad Gita 103
Maya: That Which Is Not 107
The Ambiguity of Hindu Theism: Shiva 112
Conclusion 118 PART THREE. RECONCILING WAYS OF FAITH AND DOUBT
Five. Resisting the Reification of Religion 123 Humanist Criticisms of Religious Dogmatism 124
The Mystical Path of Unknowing or Unlearning 131
Buddhist Teachings on Emptiness 140
Conclusion 145 Six. Faith and Hope for the Twenty-First Century 147 Jurgen Moltmann on Eschatology 148
Raimon Panikkar's Pluralistic Theology 156
John Caputo's Postmodern Religion 162
Conclusion 170 Conclusion: Dwelling in Uncertainty 171
Notes 175
Index 197|"A refreshing approach to the interplay between fundamentalism and atheism. . . . The author offers a convincing critique of the opposition of faith and doubt, but also provides a means by which they can engage one another in the hope of countering dogmatism. Recommended."—Choice
"The detailed book demonstrates Yadlapati's scholarship in the field of religious studies and the philosophy of religion, but challenges the reader to follow a rigorous review of the aforementioned religious traditions, myths, and scholarship. . . . Exploring religious traditions in a post dogmatic form is successfully achieved in this masterful work."—Religious Studies...

...read more