Spiritual Dimension: Religion, Philosophy and Human Value, The

Anglican Theological Review, Fall 2006 by Wood, William D

The Spiritual Dimension: Religion, Philosophy and Human Value. By John Cottingham. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. xii 186 pp. $24.99 (paper).

John Cottingham's The Spiritual Dimension is a genteel manifesto. It argues that the philosophy of religion should turn away from an exclusive focus on the assessment of propositional truth claims and toward a richer understanding of religious adherence as a form of spiritual practice that aims at self-understanding and moral growth. It is at once a brief in favor of this conception of the religious life and a prima facie defense of its reasonableness: religions adherence, so understood, answers a genuine human need and is consonant with the basic facts of human experience, according to Cottingham.

He argues that religious adherence is best understood as structured program of moral and spiritual askesis, an interior journey of transformation in which we are gradually freed from the mental and volitional defects that block the path of moral excellence, Such practices are temporally, heuristically, psychologically, and morally prior to the metaphysical doctrines that comprise a religion's truth-claims, according to Cottingham (pp. 150-151). By this he means, roughly, that one must already be steeped in the practices of a religious tradition in order to appreciate fully what its truth claims mean, and what it means to live them out. In short, religious truths are "such that to try to grasp them purely intellectually is to avoid them" (p. 11). Perhaps surprisingly-for a work of philosophy, at least-the book culminates with the claim that the spiritual practice par excellence is participation in the liturgy: "For a striking characteristic of the great religions is that their life blood, their very continued existence in the lives of their adherents, derives . . . from repeated practices of prayer and worship, which find an articulate voice in traditional language that contains a very large measure of symbolic and figurative discourse" (p. 163).

One of Cottingham's great virtues is his ability to hold together diverse ideas that other scholars keep apart. The synthesis of theoria and praxis is the book's major theme, and Cottingham repeatedly emphasizes that his attention to the latter does not mean that he rejects the former. More interestingly, Cottingham also draws both psychoanalysis and the Enlightenment into this synthesis. He sees psychoanalysis as continuous with-indeed, essential to-the quest for moral development and self-knowledge (chap. 4). He also devotes an entire chapter to defending the legacy of the Enlightenment and arguing that a commitment to "free and open debate as opposed to deference to authority" is "an inextricable part of our human commitment to rationality itself," which is a commitment to "the very essence of our humanity" (p. 116). It is hard to say which is more remarkable: an analytic philosopher defending psychoanalysis, or a religious thinker defending the Enlightenment. The tact that Cottingham does both is a testament to the breadth of his philosophical vision.

The Spiritual Dimension is aimed primarily at analytic philosophers of religion, though it also seeks (and deserves) a more general readership. As a work of philosophy, it is-by intention-more suggestive than conclusive. It advances many fruitful lines of inquiry, but it does not raise and answer philosophical objections in a systematic way. Readers more steeped in contemporary theological discussions may already be convinced of the importance of practice in the religious life, but they can still benefit from Cottingham's clear presentation and defense of the issues involved. All readers will benefit from the erudition displayed in his rich footnotes. Finally, it should be noted that the book is a pleasure to read. Cottingham's prose is clear and direct. He frequently illustrates his points with citations from poetry, often using his own original translations. And his cultural touchstones even include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (p. 51) and South Park (p. 167). I warmly recommend this book to all who wish to deepen their understanding of what religious adherence is, and why it is desirable.

WILLIAM D. WOOD

University of Chicago Divinity School

Chicago, Illinois