Review of Jay L. Garfield, Engaging Buddhism: Why it Matters to Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015)

Authors

  • Karsten J. Struhl John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.31774

Keywords:

Buddhism, cross-cultural philosophy, Madhyamaka, two truths doctrine, meditation

Abstract

Throughout Australia’s European history, its political leaders have invoked a construction of Australian identity which contends that Australia is ‘a Christian country’: a claim made as recently as November 2014 by Pauline Hanson in her speech to re-launch her One Nation party. Published in 1988, Carey’s novel Oscar and Lucinda was seen by many as his response to Australia’s bicentenary, and it can be read as a challenge to several of the mainstays used in dominant constructions of ideal Australian life, its ‘Christian heritage’ included. In this article, therefore, I will explore the novel’s critique of the Anglican Church more speci?cally, and Christianity more generally, which it employs as a means of challenging the myth of Australia as a Christian nation. This discussion will call upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Benedict Anderson, as well as Lyn Spillman and Kate Mitchell who examine commemoration and literature as productions of cultural memory.

Author Biography

  • Karsten J. Struhl, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
    Karsten J. Struhl teaches political philosophy, philosophy of religion, and cross-cultural philosophy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) and the New School for Public Engagement. He has also taught in a number of adult education programs, at senior citizen centers, and at the Queens House of Detention. He has co-edited Philosophy Now, Ethics in Perspective, The Philosophical Quest: A Cross-Cultural Reader, and When Young People Break the Law: Debating Issues on Punishment for Juveniles. He writes about human nature, just war theory, problems of revenge and punishment, global ethics, visions of communism, ecology, Marxism, and Buddhist philosophy. His articles have appeared in a variety of journals, books, and encyclopedias.

References

Bodhi, Bhikkhu. 2009. Socially Engaged Buddhism and the Trajectory of Buddhist Ethical Consciousness. Religion East and West 9: 1-23.

Gar?eld, Jay L. 2015. Engaging Buddhism: Why It Matters to Philosophy. Oxford University Press, New York.

Hadot, Pierre. 1995. Philosophy as a Way of Life, edited by Arnold I. Davidson. Blackwell, Oxford.

Nhat Hanh, Thich. 1993. Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism, rev. edn, edited by Fred Eppsteiner. Parallex Press, Berkeley, CA.

Shulman, Eviatar. 2014. Rethinking the Buddha: Early Buddhist Philosophy as Meditative Perception. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Downloads

Published

2017-04-06

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 3 (2016)

Section

East West Dialogues in Buddhism

License

Equinox Publishing Ltd.

How to Cite

Struhl, K. J. (2017). Review of Jay L. Garfield, Engaging Buddhism: Why it Matters to Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 29(3), 265-279. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.31774