Background
Neville, Robert Cummings was born on May 1, 1939 in Saint Louis. Son of Richard Perry and Rose Naomi (Cummings) Neville.
(This is a philosophic study of some aspects of spiritual ...)
This is a philosophic study of some aspects of spiritual development, broadly defined. Professor Neville has been influenced significantly by comparison between several of the world's great spiritual traditions, and he has tried to be faithful to experiences in those traditions. Readers whose interest in spiritual development come out of non-Western traditions will find this book congenial. But this is a philosophical study, and the book puts forward a philosophical theory of spiritual development, paying attention to personal, social, and metaphysical concerns, and analyzing three central images of spiritual heroism.The central contribution attempted here is a way of understanding the quest for spiritual liberation or perfection through the models of the spiritual soldier, the sage, and the saint. At times the argument aims, not just to understand, but to promote spiritual liberation, and to do so through philosophic understanding.
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(The great civilizations of the world are very different f...)
The great civilizations of the world are very different from one another, indeed more strangely different the closer they come in economic, social, and cultural interaction. Yet each claims to be a normative way of being human. At the very minimum human achievement requires competence in the conventions of one's own civilization. To be human is to participate in a conventional culture, and the normatively human conventional cultures are different. Here is the "clash of civilizations": Without commitment to some conventions of civilized humanity, no one can be human; yet the conventions are different, perhaps even opposed. Two problems bring philosophy to the refiner's fire. How can we conceive of human culture across the differences of civilized cultures? This is a problem about the nature of theory itself. It calls for a new theory of theorizing that at once provides synoptic understanding and recognized differences and incommensurabilities. Many postmodern critics have thundered against theories that oppress by the value-laden bias of their own forms, and by the interest guiding their forms. Neville provides a theory of theories that responds to these challenges and addresses the problem of theorizing across different cultures. The other problem is how to exercise practical reason across cultures expressive of different civilizations. How can human beings be responsible in a world where all values seem culture-bound and the obvious solution seems to be moral relativism that trivializes responsibility? Neville presents a theory of practical reason oriented to objective norms determined cross-culturally and based on a Confucian sense of the ritual character of the most important levels of moral life. This book completes Neville's series, Axiology of Thinking, a trilogy of systematically related studies of valuation in four kinds of thinking: imagination, interpretation, theorizing, and the pursuit of responsibility. Reconstruction of Thinking and Recovery of the Measure, both published by SUNY Press, are companion volumes.
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("The book is very interesting -- dense and complicated th...)
"The book is very interesting -- dense and complicated theological issues are reframed and the issues and arguments are adumbrated in clear fashion." -- Lonnie D. Kliever, Southern Methodist University "Neville has written an elementary textbook of Christian theology that is both readable for the layperson and is also philosophically and theologically sophisticated. He does not exhaust theological doctrines; but, instead, provides a classical framework for the discussion of contemporary social and political issues. He is sensitive to the implications of non-Christian religions as they bear upon the questions and formulations of Christian belief systems. He also provides a place for a discussion of feminist and third world liberation theologies within the context of classical theological formulations. Neville writes with clarity and force." -- Charles E. Winquist, Syracuse University "It presents a concise systematic summary of the Christian faith. In addition to getting it all together within a very few pages, it makes interesting connections to major world religions. I also liked the author's invitation to enter into critical dialogue with his perspective. The work goes to the central task of Christian theology, and is a significant contribution to the field, in so far as it represents the outline of a well-known scholar's systematic views." -- Walter E. Wyman, Jr., Whitman College
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("Robert Neville's book is most welcome and most timely. I...)
"Robert Neville's book is most welcome and most timely. It introduces a neglected but important voice to the debate on postmodernism -- the voice of 'speculative pragmatism.' Neville shows convincingly that certain distinctively non-modernist forms of philosophy -- from Peirce and Whitehead to Weiss and his own writing -- do not fall under the scythe of postmodernist critique. Having never been modernist, they cannot rightly be rejected or dismissed in the company of views which they had themselves effectively criticized. In arguing for an extended (and renewed) hearing for a vital strand of philosophical thought, the author offers telling judgments of contemporary philosophers such as Derrida and Rorty -- and behind them, Heidegger and Nietzsche. A forceful and engaging book." -- Edward S. Casey Discussions of modernism and postmodernism in philosophy and the arts are usually based on a narrow reading of the Western tradition and are not conscious of the narrowness. The modern period, beginning with the European Renaissance, spawned many developments, not just the modernist one in terms of which the tradition has been read. From the standpoint of the highroad around modernism, both modernism and post-modernism look like nothing more than two late modern movements, perhaps too preoccupied with themselves and their historical place to engage a swiftly changing world containing more than the Western tradition. The Highroad Around Modernism develops and defends an explicitly non-modernist and non-postmodernist extension of modernity applicable to the problems of world-wide cultural interactions. "I think this is in all respects an exceptionally good book. Few authors are able to use tradition originally as has been done here. Moreover, the book has the potential to mark an important historical turn in late twentieth century thinking." -- Douglas R. Anderson "It's hard to put down! Neville's style is elegant; his gentle wit interposes a chuckle in the midst of metaphysical profundities; his command of the philosophical, historical, and political literature is amazing and adds an unexpected richness to the text. The quagmire of post-modernism has reduced twenty-three centuries of Western metaphysical thought to the level of the silly. Others have attempted a rescue, but none so brilliantly as Neville." -- Elizabeth M. Kraus
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("The world is as we interpret it." Arguing that this assu...)
"The world is as we interpret it." Arguing that this assumption is a major and pervasive error, Neville demonstrates that the world is the measure of our interpretations. Distinguishing two traditions of hermeneutics, the continental tradition focusing on the interpretation of texts and the American tradition on the interpretation of nature; Neville argues that, since interpretation itself is part of the natural world, a philosophical vision of nature must be restored to currency in order to provide an interpretive theory of the world that can be a measure of interpretation. The natural world must be construed richly enough to be inclusive of human intention and purpose. By taking the discussion of hermeneutics from the context of textuality and placing it within that of nature, Recovery of the Measure provides a non-modernist and non-postmodernist theory of interpretation. The first four chapters and the last four constitute a hermeneutical theory addressing contemporary problems of interpretation situated in the context of the philosophy of nature. The middle chapters provide a compact philosophy of nature dealing with being, identity, value, space, time, motion, and causation. "Neville's systematic, self-conscious employment of Peirce's theory of the sign as a means of locating the project of a philosophy of nature within the context of contemporary hermeneutical thinking is extremely fortunate. By so doing Neville has opened his thought to a ready assessment by continental thinkers and has placed himself near the center of contemporary philosophic debate. Because of its timeliness, the brilliance of its arguments, and the profundity of its conclusions, there is good reason to believe that this work will shortly become the focus of genuine and widespread discussion. With the publication of this latest installment of his Axiology of Thinking, Neville emerges as one of the strongest voices in American philosophy." -- David L. Hall
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(This book provides a cross-cultural analysis of how relig...)
This book provides a cross-cultural analysis of how religious symbols function from a theological and philosophical perspective. This book provides a cross-cultural analysis of how religious symbols function from a theological and philosophical perspective. Showing how religious symbols can be true in various qualified senses, Neville presents a theory of religious symbolism in the American pragmatic tradition extending and elaborating Tillich's claim that religious symbols participate in the divine realities to which they refer and yet must be broken in order not to be idolatrous or demonic. The Truth of Broken Symbols offers a theory of religious symbolism treating reference, meaning, and interpretation, and discussing different functions of religious symbols in theological, practical, and devotional contexts. It shows that religious symbols are to be properly understood as true or false and that symbol-systems such as myths, theologies, or liturgical symbols are to be used to engage divine realities while internally exhibiting semiotic structures of reference, meaning, and interpretation. "It is a comprehensive, intricately argued, original treatment of a topic that is of central importance in both theology and philosophy of religion. Its inclusion of the referential element in symbols distinguishes it in a sensible and needed way from much of the current discussion." -- John. B. Cobb, Jr., Claremont Graduate School "I was engaged by the careful theological and theoretical treatment of spiritual issues. The burgeoning field of spirituality needs this kind of discussion. It is a distinctive development of the pragmatic tradition." -- Anne Carr, University of Chicago Divinity School
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(Neville's The Cosmology of Freedom corrects the tendency ...)
Neville's The Cosmology of Freedom corrects the tendency to believe that freedom consists in one thing alone, for instance not being constrained, or being able to choose between live options, or participating in a democratic political process. He lays out in systematic fashion the connections between personal dimensions of freedom, such as external liberty (Hobbes), the ability to act on the basis of one's intentions (Spinoza), choice between live options (James), and creativity (Whitehead), and social dimensions of freedom, such as opportunity (Du Bois), social pluralism (Dewey), integral life-style (Tillich), and participatory politics (Dahl). Discerning the nuances of these dimensions of freedom, it becomes a matter of experience and empirical investigation to determine in specific circumstance whether, in what senses, and to what degree a person or society is free. To distinguish and to relate these senses of freedom, a broad philosophical perspective is required. Neville provides a functional philosophical cosmology that shows how all the senses of freedom are functions of the natural cosmos. In conjunction with his theory of divine creation in God the Creator, this book is an important argument for reconciling human freedom and divine creativity.
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philosophy and religion educator
Neville, Robert Cummings was born on May 1, 1939 in Saint Louis. Son of Richard Perry and Rose Naomi (Cummings) Neville.
Bachelor, Yale University, New Haven, 1960. Master of Arts, Yale University, New Haven, 1962. Doctor of Philosophy, Yale University, New Haven, 1963.
Ordained as elder United Methodist Church, 1966. Instructor philosophy Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1963-1965. From assistant to associate professor philosophy Fordham University, Bronx, 1965-1971.
Associate professor philosophy State University of New York-Purchase, 1971-1974, professor 1974-1977.
Professor philosophy and religion, chair religion department State University of New York-Stony Brook, New York, 1978-1982, dean humanitiesand arts, 1982-1985, department chairman religion, 1986-1987. Professor religion, philosophy and theology, chairman religion department Boston University, 1987-1988, dean School of Theology, 1988.
(Neville's The Cosmology of Freedom corrects the tendency ...)
(The great civilizations of the world are very different f...)
("The book is very interesting -- dense and complicated th...)
(This book provides a cross-cultural analysis of how relig...)
(This is a philosophic study of some aspects of spiritual ...)
("Robert Neville's book is most welcome and most timely. I...)
("The world is as we interpret it." Arguing that this assu...)
(Book by Neville, Robert Cummings)
(Book by Neville, Robert Cummings)
(Book by Neville, Robert Cummings)
(Book by Neville, Robert Cummings)
(. no dw, 1982, 281pp bookplate)
(Book by Neville, Robert C.)
Member Missouri East. Annual Conference, United Methodist Church, 1963. Member American Academy Religion (board directors 1982-1993, chairman research committee 1984-1989, vice president, president elect, president 1990-1992), American Theological Society (Executive Committee 1980-1983), American Philosophical Association (Executive Committee 1983-1985), Metaphys. Society American (president 1988), International Society Chinese Philosophical (president 1992-1993).
Married Elizabeth Egan, June 8, 1963. Children: Gwendolyn (deceased), Naomi, Leonora.