Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities (MBZUH) has released “A Guide to the Philosophy of Religion,” a three-volume encyclopedia that examines the relationship between religion, reason, and faith.
The work frames the philosophy of religion as a substantive intellectual space for inquiry into foundational questions concerning the human condition, truth, existence, and meaning.
The encyclopedia reflects the university's commitment to advancing humanities scholarship and rigorous philosophical inquiry, and to engaging with questions that have occupied human thought across civilizations and centuries.
To mark the publication, MBZUH convened an academic seminar attended by Dr. Khalifa Mubarak Al Dhaheri, university chancellor, together with a gathering of scholars, researchers, and specialists in philosophical, religious, and humanistic studies.
“A companion to the Philosophy of Religion” moves beyond conventional academic treatment of the discipline. It engages one of the most intellectually complex fields of inquiry, where questions of faith intersect with reason, metaphysics with lived human experience, and religion with questions of meaning, truth, freedom, and consciousness.
Through a critical and analytical approach, the encyclopedia aims to move beyond reductive binaries, offering readers a comprehensive intellectual framework for understanding the philosophy of religion across its conceptual and humanistic dimensions.
The first volume establishes the theoretical foundations of the companion, addressing the central problems that constitute the philosophy of religion: from arguments for the existence of God and the problem of evil, to the nature of revelation, prophecy, and religious pluralism.
The volume situates these themes within an intellectual dialogue that extends beyond traditional theological frameworks, building connections between the classical Islamic philosophical tradition and contemporary methodologies, from phenomenology to analytic philosophy of religion.
The second volume shifts from conceptual foundations to the canonical texts that have shaped the field's major intellectual turning points. It surveys pivotal works spanning from Philo of Alexandria to Kant and Rudolf Otto, with sustained attention to Ibn Maymun (Maimonides), Al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Spinoza, and Hegel.
The volume reads these classical sources as participants in an ongoing dialogue between reason and revelation, science and faith, spiritual experience and philosophical reflection, positioning the intellectual past as an active resource for understanding present-day questions rather than as mere historical artifact.
The third volume traces the contributions of thinkers who fundamentally reshaped modern religious thought, examining how figures including Friedrich Schleiermacher, Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricoeur, and John Hick reconceived humanity's understanding of faith, meaning, and existence.
The volume demonstrates how diverse “The publication of ‘A Guide to the Philosophy of Religion’ reflects the university’s commitment to producing rigorous humanities scholarship that reengages the foundational questions shaping human consciousness,” said Dr. Al Dhaheri.
“This work contributes to our capacity to understand cultural and philosophical transformations with depth and balance. Societies best equipped to navigate change are those that invest in knowledge, critical thought, and the formation of individuals.”
Dr. Al Dhaheri further described the companion as “a comprehensive scholarly project that deepens human understanding of questions related to meaning, existence, faith, values, and truth, in ways that strengthen a culture of measured thought and responsible dialogue, and give individuals greater capacity to understand themselves and the world.”
He concluded by situating the guide within the University’s broader institutional mission: “We regard these publications as part of the University’s responsibility to produce scholarship that enriches the Arabic intellectual library and strengthens our engagement with humanistic and philosophical inquiry.
We aspire through this work to build deeper connections between human thought, the philosophy of religion, and the defining questions of our time; and to develop generations with greater capacity for understanding, critical engagement, and the values of dialogue, openness, and intellectual responsibility.”
