Philosophy and Religion

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Mary Oliver

Humans have for millennia sought to understand their place in the cosmos and in culture via philosophical and religious reflection on their core narratives. Familiarity with these traditions expands our grasp of the human search for meaning, truth, and purpose, and immerses us in the minds and hearts and creative energies of our kind.

Offered below are links to books and websites that explore philosophy and religion from perspectives relevant to the development of religious naturalist orientations.

If you have suggestions of additional materials, please contact us at: RNAcomments@gmail.com.

Books

After God: The Future of Religion	by Don Cupitt
Amythia: Crisis in the Natural History of Western Culture	by Loyal D. Rue
Breaking the Spell Religion as a Natural Phenomenon	by Daniel Dennett
Encountering Naturalism: A Worldview and Its Uses,	by Thomas W. Clark
Evolutionary Religion	by John Schellenberg
Faith and Freedom: Contexts, Choices, and Crises in Religious Commitments	by Donald A. Crosby
Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization	by Stephen Cave
In the Beginning…Creativity	by Gordon Kaufman
Life After Faith: The Case for Secular Humanism	by Philip Kitcher
Reinventing Society with Philosophy, Religion, and Science	by Neil Wollman, Carolyn J. Love
Religion for Atheists	by Alain De Botton
Religion Is Not About God	by Loyal D. Rue
Religion without God	by Ronald Dworkin
Religious and Spiritual Experiences	by Wesley J. Wildman
Religious Philosophy as Multidisciplinary Comparative Inquiry	by Wesley J. Wildman
Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue	by Paul Woodruff
The Bodhisattva’s Brain: Buddhism Naturalized	by Owen Flanagen
The Bonobo and the Atheist	by Frans de Waal
The Illusion of God’s Presence: The Biological Origins of Spiritual Longing	by John C. Wathey
The Meaning of Existence	by Edward O. Wilson
The New Sciences of Religion: Exploring Spirituality from the Outside In and Bottom Up	by William Grassie
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science	by Philip Clayton (editor)
The Power of Myth	by Joseph Campbell
The Religion of The Future	by Roberto Mangabeira Unger
The Sacred and the Profane	by Mircea Eliade
The Varieties of Religious Experience	by William James
Truth and Tension in Science and Religion	by Varadaraja V. Raman
Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion	by Sam Harris
Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile	by John Shelby Spong
Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story	by Jim Holt
World Religions: The Great Faiths Explored and Explained	by John Bowker

Websites

Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences

Forum on Religion and Ecology

Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion

Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought

Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion

Institute on Religion in an Age of Science

The International Society for Science and Religion

Science and Religion Forum

Science Meets Religion

Science on Religion

Scientia Salon

Zygon Center for Religion and Science

Photo of Star Island by Pauline Rosenberg

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