A Religion without Fanaticism

Religion can be traced throughout all of Santayana's writings. Readers can readily perceive that it is one of his constant areas of concern. Santayana regards religion—the source of so many adhesions and controversies, as the pretext for a thorough reinterpretation and rewriting of tradition. It is precisely this "loose" way of rethinking it, capable of questioning the Western canon as it engages in a dialogical relationship with Eastern otherness, which grants it a unique perspective. At the same time, we may draw from it valuable lessons of wisdom that both transcend their own moment in time, and throw some clear light upon the darkness of our own age. Santayana points the way to a new grammar of knowledge and of the heart with which to rewrite the story of our journey through the world we have, towards the one we long for. By doing so, he crafts together, in his own words, "materials for a utopia." After all, the function of religion is to anticipate the world we yearn for

Epistemology · Fanaticism · Political science · Politics · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy