Author: Gananath Obeyesekere
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 448
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8120826094
Description
Exploring in rich detail the beliefs of small-scale indigenous societies of West Africa, Melanesia, and North America, Obeyesekere compares
their ideas with those of the ancient and modern Indic civilizations and with the Greek rebirth theories of Pythagoras, Empedocles, Pindar, and Plato. His groundbreaking and authoritative discussion decenters the popular notion that India was the origin and locus of ideas of rebirth.
As Obeyesekere compares the responses of geographically disparate
religions to the most fundamental questions of human existence, he
challenges readers to re-examine accepted ideas about morality, death, eschatology, and cosmology.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
List of Abbreviations
1. Karma and Rebirth in Indic Religions:
Origins and Transformations
2. Non-Indic Theories of Rebirth
3. The Imaginary Experiment and the
Buddhist Implications
4. The Buddhist Ascesis
5. Eschatology and Soteriology in Greek
Rebirth
6. Rebirth and Reason
7. Imprisoning Frames and Open Debates
Notes
Bibliography
Index