One God Of All: Probing Pluralist Identities

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The claim has repeatedly been made, and has often been contested, that a single transcendent being is present or active in all of the world's major religions. In this view, names such as 'God,' 'Allah,' 'nirvana,' 'Vishnu,' and 'Brahman' all refer to the same transcendent reality. Absent from the debate and here provided is a serious study of such claims in the light of the most pertinent philosophical literature, namely that concerning questions of identity and individuation. Of necessity, the terms that the claims employ are very general and abstract: the world's religions, it is said, all refer to the same 'thing,' 'being,' or 'reality.' Although analogy, rightly understood, can back the transcendent extension of descriptive expressions such as 'wise,' 'good,' and 'powerful,' it cannot do likewise for expressions such as 'one,' 'same,' and 'many.' So pluralists' identity claims appear empty. Hallett scrutinizes the soundness of this critique, its broad implications, and the possibility of replacing empty identity claims with suitable parables or comparisons.

Reviews

One God of All is a remarkable achievement that brings needed clarity, religiously sensitive and philosophically incisive, to the debates surrounding today's religious diversity. With Wittgenstein as his ally and John Hick his major debating partner, Hallett offers specific and penetrating insights into how we experience diversity and put it into words, and shows how we can sensibly think it through, without surrendering to fideism or relativism. This book should be a necessary reference for all those wishing to philosophize the meaning of today's pluralism. -- Professor Francis X. Clooney, S.J., Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University, USA
Hallett's Wittgensteinian sensitivities produce a fresh and original contribution to the critical examination of the pluralist thesis (all religions point to the same God). In his attention to the many problems of pluralism, he is able to tentatively but instructively develop a new approach to this vexed question. -- Gavin D'Costa, Professor of Catholic Theology, University of Bristol, UK
It may seem plausible to argue that the same divine reality - whether called God, Allah, Tao, or Sunyata - is active in all religions. But what is meant by words like same' when applied to terms which are themselves strictly beyond definition Language, and the way we use and mis-use it, is Hallett's theme. Indeed proper attention to language and the way in which it is used to speak of identity and individuation may open up some of the ethical, as much as philosophical, questions which underlie one of the most important theological issues of our time. -- Michael Barnes, Senior Tutor, Heythrop College, UK
Those who are well read in the field of religious pluralism will find this book a pleasant change from the typical debates concerning whether or why Allah, Vishnu, Tao, Brahman, Yahweh, God, and nirvana are one and the same. One God of All is an important reminder to take a step back and consider the meaning, and not just the apparent truth, of the claims that are being made... The work is clear, careful, and in true Wittgensteinian fashion, provides the reader with an ample diet of examples. -- Philosophy in Review XXXI

Author Bio

Garth Hallett, SJ, was formerly Dean of the College of Philosophy and Letters at Saint Louis University, USA. He has previously published fourteen books, including A Middle Way to God (2000), Identity and Mystery in Themes of Christian Faith (2005), and Linguistic Philosophy: The Central Story (2008).