Dedicated to exploring the enormous variety of ultimate realities at the center of the world s great religions and philosophical traditions, this volume is a richly varied collection of essays on how we conceive this central notion, whether expressed as God, or as an ultimate reality of another kind. Years in the making, the collection examines the guiding principles of 15 major philosophical traditions and 6 living religions. A publication of monumental scale and detail, it features an innovative thematic structure that aggregates traditions according to their core models, allowing the reader to grasp the common features of ultimate realities as understood in diverse traditions such as Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and in some non-religious discussions.

Borne out of proceedings at both the American Philosophical Association and the American Academy of Religion, the volume also examines foundational questions related to the human propensity for creating and using such models, including the issue of whether we are capable of acquiring knowledge of ultimate reality. It features a sustained analysis of the concept that modeling such an ultimate reality is a fruitless endeavor doomed to failure since the ultimate might well be beyond human conception, as well as reflections on the staggering diversity of these models and their application to concepts such as spirituality, gender equality, war, and global warming. Accessible and authoritative, the collection combines section primers for those new to the field, deeper treatment in dedicated essays, and a wealth of references for further reading and study.

Jeanine Diller is an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and Director of the Center for Religious Understanding at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, USA. Her research interests include philosophy of religion and philosophical theology, and her outreach efforts aim to increase religious literacy and reduce poverty. Her work has appeared in Philosophia, Southwest Philosophy Review and Religious Studies, and she was recently selected to be a Fellow of the American Academy of Religion/Luce Summer Seminars on Theologies of Religious Pluralism and Comparative Theology.

Professor Asa Kasher is Laura Schwarz-Kipp Professor Emeritus of Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He published numerous papers in ethics, philosophy of language and philosophy of Judaism, among other areas, and many ethical documents. He has also been one of the leading public intellectuals of Israel. In a number of papers and the recent book Judaism and Idolatry, he has put forward a clear and thorough presentation of much of the Jewish religious tradition in terms of practices of fighting idolatry, in the spirit of the via negativa. Professor Kasher was given the Israel Prize, the highest national prize, in 2000, for his works in philosophy and ethics.