Library of philosophy and religion

Many western philosophers have claimed that there are no psychical powers, that the human being is simply an advanced form of matter, that the world has no purpose, and that the very notion that a person could survive the death of the physical body is not just false but nonsensical. H. H. Price is an important English philosopher who did not share these views. If it should be true that we have psychical powers, and Price was convinced that we do, this has very important implications for human nature and destiny - we have souls, there is some purpose to the features of nature, and this life may be just a portion of the process of soul-building that is our destiny. H. H. Price is widely credited as being the first, modern western philosopher to develop a coherent picture of what the life beyond might look like.

"After a review of Eliade's life, this work considers the scientific possibilities of his methodology within the context of recent contributions of selected philosophers of science, and examines the fore-structure of his hermeneutics by comparing it to the deconstructive position of Derrida. It is argued that the key to understanding his theological reflections is the role of nostalgia, and how it is reflected in his notion of cosmic Christianity. Eliade's theological thoughts are also compared with the post-modern a/theology of Taylor. After a discussion of the ecumenical and dialogical spirit of the history of religions, a discussion of his theory of language and myth helps one to understand how myth plays a salvific role in his work. And since myths and symbols reveal Being, it is necessary to consider Eliade's theory of archaic ontology and to apply a verification test by comparing his theory with the world-views of some tribal religions and the anti-ontological stance of a post-modernist thinker."--BOOK JACKET. "In order to elucidate the peculiarities of Eliade's theory of power, his theory is compared with that of Gerardus van der Leeuw, the Dutch historian of religion, and Michel Foucault, a post-modern historian. Likewise, this work compares Eliade's view of time with those of Augustine, Hegel and Foucault. Finally, the importance of the symbolism of the centre for his personal quest for truth is examined."--BOOK JACKET.