Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2017

Ineffability: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion

  • Represents the first concerted effort in religiously diverse and inclusive philosophy of religion
  • Is the only book that brings together scholars of diverse religious and artistic traditions in a cross-cultural inquiry of ineffability
  • Examines religious ineffability without neglecting its important connections to artistic and literary expressions of inexpressibility

Part of the book series: Comparative Philosophy of Religion (COPR, volume 1)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. After Silence, That Which Comes Nearest

    • Jonathan D. Bellman
    Pages 41-58
  3. Sikh Mysticism and Sensuous Reproductions

    • Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh
    Pages 113-134
  4. Jewish Mysticism Wrestles with Language

    • Steven T. Katz
    Pages 207-218

About this book

This collection of essays is an exercise in comparative philosophy of religion that explores the different ways in which humans express the inexpressible. It brings together scholars of over a dozen religious, literary, and artistic traditions, as part of The Comparison Project's 2013-15 lecture and dialogue series on "religion beyond words."  Specialist scholars first detailed the grammars of ineffability in nine different religious traditions as well as the adjacent fields of literature, poetry, music, and art. The Comparison Project's directors then compared this diverse set of phenomena, offering explanations for their patterning, and raising philosophical questions of truth and value about religious ineffability in comparative perspective. 

This book is the inaugural publication of The Comparison Project, an innovative new approach to the philosophy of religion housed at Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa, USA). The Comparison Project organizes a biennial series of scholar lectures, practitioner dialogues, and comparative panels about core, cross-cultural topics in the philosophy of religion. Specialist scholars of religion first explore this topic in their religions of expertise; comparativist philosophers of religion then raise questions of meaning, truth, and value about this topic in comparative perspective. The Comparison Project stands apart from traditional approaches to the philosophy of religion in its commitment to religious inclusivity. It is the future of the philosophy of religion in a diverse, global world.


Reviews

“I fully recommend all chapters as richly deserving and important for philosophical attention to ineffability.” (Jerome Gellman, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 86, 2019)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Philosophy and Religion, Drake University, Des Moines, USA

    Timothy D. Knepper, Leah E. Kalmanson

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Ineffability: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion

  • Editors: Timothy D. Knepper, Leah E. Kalmanson

  • Series Title: Comparative Philosophy of Religion

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64165-2

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-64163-8Published: 11 December 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-87738-9Published: 11 September 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-64165-2Published: 24 November 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2522-0020

  • Series E-ISSN: 2522-0039

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 288

  • Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations, 8 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies, general

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access