Description

A three-volume philosophical theology by Robert Cummings Neville that redefines ultimacy, human existence, and religion for believers and skeptics alike.

From one of the most distinguished contemporary philosophers of religion, Robert Cummings Neville presents a bold, systematic rethinking of ultimate reality, human existence, and the meaning of religion for our time.

This three-volume work advances a comprehensive philosophical theology addressed equally to believers, unbelievers, and scholars across traditions.
Across Ultimates, Existence, and Religion, Neville confronts the great first-order questions of the Axial Age traditions: Why is there something rather than nothing? What grounds obligation? How do we seek wholeness? How should we engage others? Where is meaning to be found?

Volume One: Ultimates
Neville begins with a daring metaphysical hypothesis: reality is grounded in an ontological act of creation that gives rise to five ultimates--the act itself, the form and components of determinate things, their existential location, and their value-identity. From these emerge five universal religious problematics that shape every major tradition. With philosophical rigor and cross-cultural depth, Neville analyzes what can--and cannot--be known about ultimacy.

Volume Two: Existence
Turning to the human condition, Neville explores religion as the engagement with ultimate boundary conditions common to all people. Religion articulates existential predicaments while opening venues for ecstatic fulfillment. Both universal and historically embodied, religion emerges as humanity's response to contingency, obligation, wholeness, community, and meaning.

Volume Three: Religion
In this culminating volume, Neville develops a theory of religion and articulates a plausible sacred worldview to guide religious participation today. His philosophical account of value reshapes discussions of ethics, spirituality, and institutional religious life, and concludes with a provocative exploration of "religionless religion," in which institutions are penultimate to ultimate concerns.
Together, these volumes form a unique, multidisciplinary, comparative, and nonconfessional theological system--running counter to dominant intellectual trends while drawing deeply from both Eastern and Western traditions.