The philosophical significance of Jainism extends far beyond its statistical presence in India and the world. This book is an attempt to take its insights into account for the light they shed on issues customarily debated in the Philosophy of Religion. Though we have many studies on Jain Religion, Dr. Sharma’s approach hcis surpassed the earlier studies. As Jainism does not believe in the existence of Creator-god, rational theology for the existence of God does not have any place in it. So also is the case with revealed theology. The others’ approach to religious studies based on natural theology or apologetics is quite alien to the system of Jain religion. Dr. Sharma has not discussed the subject from the point of view of natural theology which "was to demonstrate rationally the existence of God/ thus preparing the way for the claims of revelation." Apologetics refers to the "philosophical defence of religious beliefs."It must, however, be distinguished from Jain philosophy," says Dr. Sharma "just as apologetics itself must be carefully distinguished from the philosophy of religion." To all intent and purposes. Dr. Sharma discusses the problem in a lucid way from a new angle of vision.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arvind Sharma
ARVIND SHARMA was born in Varanasi, India. He earned a B.A. in History, Economics, and Sanskrit from Allahabad University in 1958 and continued his interests in economics at Syracuse University, earning an M.A. in 1970. Pursuing a lifelong interest in comparative religion, Dr. Sharma gained an M.T.S. in 1974 and then a Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard University in 1978. He succeeded to the Birks Chair of Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and was the first Infinity Foundation Visiting Professor of Indic Studies at Harvard University. He has published over fifty books and five hundred articles in the fields of comparative religion, Hinduism, Indian philosophy and ethics, and the role of women in religion. Widely cited as an authority on Hinduism, amongst his most note-worthy publications are The Hindu Gita: Ancient and Classical Interpretations of the Bhagavadgita (1986), The Experien-tial Dimension of Advaita Vedanta (1993), Our Religions: The Seven World Religions Introduced by Pre-eminent Scholars from Each Tradition (1994), The Philosophy of Religion: A Buddhist Perspective (1995), Classical Hindu Thought: An Introduction (2000), and The Study of Hinduism (2003).
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