Models of God and Alternative Ultimate Realities

Forewords.- Introduction.- A. Conceptual Foundations.- 1. What is a model of ultimate reality?.- 2. Meta-theoretical questions about models of ultimate reality.- B. Specific Models of Ultimate Reality.- Overview of specific models; Ted Peters, James E. Taylor.- 1. Classical and neo-classical theism.- 2. Pantheism.- 3. Process theology.- 4. Open theism.- 5. Panentheism.- 6. Deism.- 7. Ground of being theology.- 8. Religious naturalism/naturalistic theism.- 9. Dualism.- 10. Polytheism.- 11. Communotheism.- 12. Via Negativa/apophatic tradition (against all models).- 13. Skeptical or non-theistic views.- C. Diversity of Models of Ultimate Reality.- D. Practical Impacts of Models of Ultimate Reality.- References.- Index.

Jeanine Diller is an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and Director of the Center for Religious Understanding at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, USA. Her research interests include philosophy of religion and philosophical theology, and her outreach efforts aim to increase religious literacy and reduce poverty. Her work has appeared in Philosophia, Southwest Philosophy Review and Religious Studies, and she was recently selected to be a Fellow of the American Academy of Religion/Luce Summer Seminars on Theologies of Religious Pluralism and Comparative Theology.

Professor Asa Kasher is Laura Schwarz-Kipp Professor Emeritus of Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He published numerous papers in ethics, philosophy of language and philosophy of Judaism, among other areas, and many ethical documents. He has also been one of the leading public intellectuals of Israel. In a number of papers and the recent book Judaism and Idolatry, he has put forward a clear and thorough presentation of much of the Jewish religious tradition in terms of practices of fighting idolatry, in the spirit of the via negativa. Professor Kasher was given the Israel Prize, the highest national prize, in 2000, for his works in philosophy and ethics.