Works

#1

The Upanishads

Anonymous / composite (multiple ṛṣis over four centuries) · c. 800–200 BC

Verse-and-prose dialogues appended to the Vedas · Vedic / proto-Vedānta

The reduction of all multiplicity to a single, knowable, immaterial reality — Brahman / Ātman are one

70% advaita-vedanta 15% idealism 10% samkhya 5% yogacara +1

#2

Fragments

Heraclitus of Ephesus · c. 500 BC

Aphoristic fragments (originally part of a single prose work, On Nature) · Pre-Socratic Greek philosophy

Reality is process, not substance: the world is fire, the river never the same, the logos the only stable thing

55% process-philosophy 20% relationalism 10% spinozist-pantheism 15% stoicism +1

#3

The Bhagavad Gita

Anonymous; traditionally Vyasa, redacted into the Mahabharata · c. 200 BC – 200 AD

Theological dialogue in 700 verses, 18 chapters · Vedānta / classical Hinduism

Three yogas — knowledge, action, devotion — converge on a personal Lord who is also the impersonal absolute

40% advaita-vedanta 25% dvaita-vedanta 20% samkhya 5% pure-land-buddhism 10% sufism-wahdat-al-wujud +2

#4

The Dhammapada

Anonymous (attributed to the Buddha, compiled by the early sangha) · c. 3rd century BC (Pali recension; verses likely older)

Verse anthology, 26 chapters · Theravāda Buddhism (received across all Buddhist traditions)

No self, no enduring substance, no creator — liberation is the cessation of craving in this very life

70% buddhism 15% process-philosophy 5% yogacara 5% nihilism 5% tibetan-vajrayana-buddhism +2

#5

Tao Te Ching

Attributed to Laozi (Lao Tzu); likely composite, possibly c. 4th–3rd century BC · c. 4th century BC (received text); Guodian bamboo slips c. 300 BC

Aphoristic poetry, 81 short chapters · Daoism / Daojia

The dao that can be named is not the eternal dao — the way of nature is yielding, paradoxical, and beyond determinate concepts

75% taoism 10% process-philosophy 5% spinozist-pantheism 5% animism-relational-indigenous 5% pyrrhonism +2

#6

Zhuangzi — Inner Chapters

Zhuang Zhou (with later editorial layers; Inner Chapters most likely by his hand) · c. late 4th century BC

Philosophical narrative, parable, and dialogue · Daoism / Daojia

Perspective-relativity, the dream of the butterfly, and the great clod — Daoism's most playful and most radical book

55% taoism 15% pyrrhonism 10% relativism 10% postmodernism 10% process-philosophy +2

#7

The Republic

Plato · c. 380–375 BC

Philosophical dialogue in ten books · Classical Greek philosophy / Platonism

Reality is the Forms; the visible world is their shadow; the just city is the just soul writ large

65% platonism-classical 15% idealism 10% rationalism 10% neo-platonism +1

#8

Timaeus (Late)

Plato · c. 360 BC (late dialogue)

Cosmological monologue framed as a dialogue · Classical Greek philosophy / Platonism

A "likely story" of how a rational Demiurge ordered the receptacle of matter into a living cosmos modelled on the Forms

45% platonism-classical 20% neo-platonism 15% pythagoreanism 10% hylomorphism 10% catholic-thomistic +2

#9

Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle (edited by Nicomachus) · c. 340 BC (lecture notes, Lyceum period)

Treatise in ten books · Classical Greek philosophy / Aristotelianism

Eudaimonia is the activity of soul in accordance with virtue, in a complete life — the foundation of every later virtue ethics

30% realism 20% hylomorphism 25% catholic-thomistic 10% stoicism 15% critical-realism +2

#10

Letter to Menoeceus

Epicurus · c. 300 BC

Personal letter (one of three surviving complete letters) · Hellenistic philosophy / Epicureanism

Death is nothing to us; the gods do not concern themselves with us; pleasure rightly understood is the absence of pain

75% epicureanism 15% naturalism 5% stoicism 5% deism 8% atomism +2

#11

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus · c. 170–180 AD

Personal notebooks in twelve books · Roman Stoicism

The cosmos is a single rational order, the self is governed by reason, and what is not in one's power is not one's concern

75% stoicism 5% pragmatism 5% naturalism 10% spinozist-pantheism 5% reformed-calvinist-theology +2

#12

Confessions (Early)

Augustine of Hippo · c. 397–400 AD

Spiritual autobiography in dialogue with God · Latin Christianity / Augustinianism

A restless heart finds rest in God — and along the way invents Western philosophical autobiography, the modern self, and the philosophy of time

25% reformed-calvinist-theology 25% catholic-thomistic 20% neo-platonism 15% lutheranism 15% existentialism 8% augustinianism +3

#13

Summa Theologiae

Thomas Aquinas · 1265–1274 (left incomplete at Aquinas's death)

Disputational treatise — questions, articles, objections, replies · Western Catholicism / Scholasticism / Thomism

Faith and reason in concord — Aristotle baptised, Augustine systematised, the act of being made foundational

70% catholic-thomistic 10% hylomorphism 10% realism 5% reformed-calvinist-theology 5% eastern-orthodox-christianity 8% thomism +3

#14

On the Bondage of the Will

Martin Luther · 1525

Theological polemic — point-by-point reply · Reformation theology / Lutheranism

The human will is bound under sin; salvation is by grace alone, without contribution from the creature

50% lutheranism 30% reformed-calvinist-theology 20% determinism

#15

Institutes of the Christian Religion (Late)

John Calvin · 1536 (first ed.); 1559 (final, expanded ed.)

Systematic theological treatise in four books, 80 chapters · Reformed Protestantism / Calvinism

Knowledge of God and of ourselves are inseparable — and both are the gift of the Word, by the Spirit, to fallen creatures

75% reformed-calvinist-theology 15% lutheranism 5% evangelical-protestantism 5% catholic-thomistic +1

#16

Meditations on First Philosophy

René Descartes · 1641 (Latin); French translation by Duc de Luynes 1647

Six first-person meditations with appended Objections and Replies · Early modern rationalism / continental philosophy

Cogito ergo sum — radical doubt as method, the thinking thing as foundation, the world re-erected on the certainty of consciousness

45% rationalism 25% dualism 10% idealism 10% phenomenology 10% occasionalism 8% cartesianism +3

#17

Pensées

Blaise Pascal · c. 1657–62 (Pascal d. 1662); first published 1670

Fragments — sometimes single sentences, sometimes substantial essays · Catholic Jansenism / Christian apologetics

Man is a thinking reed in an infinite cosmos — wagering on God is rational, the heart has reasons reason does not know

25% catholic-thomistic 20% reformed-calvinist-theology 25% existentialism 15% pragmatism 15% absurdism +2

#18

Ethics

Baruch Spinoza · completed c. 1675; published posthumously 1677

Geometrical treatise — definitions, axioms, propositions, demonstrations, scholia · Early modern rationalism / Spinozism

Deus sive natura — God or nature, one infinite substance, expressed in infinite attributes, of which we know two — extension and thought

60% spinozist-pantheism 15% rationalism 10% determinism 5% neutral-monism 5% process-philosophy 5% jewish-philosophy-maimonidean +3

#19

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Late)

David Hume · 1748 (first published as Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding)

Philosophical essays in twelve sections · British empiricism / Scottish Enlightenment

All knowledge starts from impressions; causation is custom, not necessary connection; reason is and ought to be the slave of the passions

50% empiricism 20% phenomenalism 10% pyrrhonism 10% naturalism 10% logical-positivism +2

#20

Critique of Pure Reason

Immanuel Kant · 1781 (A edition); 1787 (B edition, substantially revised)

Systematic philosophical treatise · Modern German philosophy / transcendental idealism

The "Copernican revolution" — the conditions of any possible experience are supplied by the mind, not by things in themselves

70% kantian-transcendental-idealism 10% idealism 5% rationalism 5% empiricism 10% phenomenology +2

#21

Phenomenology of Spirit (Early)

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel · 1806–07 (finished as Napoleon entered Jena)

Systematic philosophical narrative in eight stages · German idealism / Hegelianism

Consciousness ascends through self-correcting stages of error toward Spirit's self-recognition in history

50% idealism 20% dialectical-materialism 10% process-philosophy 10% existentialism 10% liberation-theology 8% hegelianism +3

#22

Fear and Trembling (Early)

Søren Kierkegaard (under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio) · 1843

Pseudonymous philosophical-religious meditation in four problems · Christian existentialism / Danish Lutheranism

Faith requires a "teleological suspension of the ethical" — Abraham is great because he believes the absurd

50% existentialism 20% lutheranism 5% reformed-calvinist-theology 10% absurdism 15% phenomenology +2

#23

On the Origin of Species

Charles Darwin · 1859 (first edition); five subsequent revised editions in Darwin's lifetime

Scientific treatise with extensive empirical case studies · Modern biology / scientific naturalism

Descent with modification by natural selection — the most consequential single book in the natural sciences

50% naturalism 15% critical-realism 10% process-philosophy 10% pragmatism 5% dialectical-materialism 10% deism +3

#24

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Friedrich Nietzsche · 1883 (parts I, II); 1884 (III); 1885 (IV, private printing)

Philosophical fiction in mock-biblical prose, with songs and parables · Continental philosophy / Nietzsche's post-Christian project

God is dead — the Übermensch is the meaning of the earth — life affirms its own eternal recurrence

30% nihilism 25% existentialism 15% postmodernism 10% process-philosophy 10% transcendentalism 10% absurdism +3

#25

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Early)

Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1918 (drafted in the trenches); 1921 (German pub.); 1922 (Ogden English ed.)

Numbered propositions (1, 1.1, 1.11, 1.12...) with seven theses · Analytic philosophy / logical atomism

The world is the totality of facts, not of things — and whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent

40% analytic-metaphysics 30% logical-positivism 5% pyrrhonism 10% kantian-transcendental-idealism 5% phenomenology 10% realism 20% solipsism 8% analytic-philosophy +5

#26

Being and Time (Early)

Martin Heidegger · 1927 (Jahrbuch für Philosophie publication; only Divisions I and II of the planned three completed)

Systematic phenomenological treatise · Continental philosophy / phenomenology / fundamental ontology

Being is the question; Dasein is the being whose being is in question for it; time is the horizon of meaning

40% phenomenology 30% existentialism 10% process-philosophy 10% kantian-transcendental-idealism 5% hermeticism 5% postmodernism 8% continental-philosophy +4

#27

The Myth of Sisyphus

Albert Camus · 1942 (Paris, under German occupation)

Philosophical essay in four chapters and an appendix on Kafka · French existentialism / absurdism

There is only one really serious philosophical problem — suicide. The answer is to imagine Sisyphus happy.

60% absurdism 20% existentialism 5% nihilism 10% stoicism 5% pragmatism +2

#28

Being and Nothingness

Jean-Paul Sartre · 1943 (Paris, under German occupation)

Systematic phenomenological treatise in four parts · French existentialism / phenomenological ontology

Being-for-itself is the freedom that always precedes essence — we are condemned to be free, and bad faith is the flight from this freedom

55% existentialism 25% phenomenology 5% dialectical-materialism 10% constructivism 5% absurdism 8% continental-philosophy +3

#29

Mere Christianity

C. S. Lewis · 1941–44 (BBC talks); 1952 (single-volume book form)

Popular apologetic essays in four books · Anglican Christianity / classical Christian apologetics

The "trilemma" of Lord, liar, or lunatic; the moral law as evidence of a moral Lawgiver; the common Christianity beneath denominational difference

40% evangelical-protestantism 20% catholic-thomistic 15% reformed-calvinist-theology 15% realism 5% eastern-orthodox-christianity 5% liberal-theology 6% anglicanism +4

#30

Philosophical Investigations (Late)

Ludwig Wittgenstein · c. 1929–49 (drafted across two decades); 1953 (posthumous publication, ed. Anscombe & Rhees)

Numbered remarks (§1–§693) plus Part II / "Philosophy of Psychology — A Fragment" · Analytic philosophy / ordinary-language philosophy

Meaning is use — language is a family of games — philosophy leaves everything as it is, and the picture of the inner that held us captive is dismantled

25% pragmatism 15% constructivism 10% postmodernism 10% phenomenology 10% pyrrhonism 10% analytic-metaphysics 20% relationalism 8% analytic-philosophy +5

#31

The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)

Anonymous / composite (many authors, redactors, scribal communities over a millennium) · c. 1200 BC (oldest core) – c. 165 BC (Daniel); canon stabilised c. 100 AD

Composite scripture in 24 books — Torah (5), Nevi'im (8), Ketuvim (11) · Judaism (read also as the Old Testament in all branches of Christianity)

One God, creator of heaven and earth; a chosen people; a covenant with concrete moral demands; history as the arena of divine action

20% reformed-calvinist-theology 15% catholic-thomistic 30% jewish-philosophy-maimonidean 10% lutheranism 10% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 10% kabbalah-lurianic 5% evangelical-protestantism +4

#32

The New Testament

Anonymous and pseudonymous; the named Pauline letters (Romans, 1–2 Cor, Gal, Phil, Phlm, 1 Thess) are widely accepted as authentically Paul's · c. 50–110 AD; canon stabilised by late 4th century

Gospels, historical narrative, occasional letters, apocalyptic · Christianity (all branches)

The Word became flesh — the cross and resurrection of Jesus reorder time, matter, observer, and information at once

20% reformed-calvinist-theology 20% catholic-thomistic 15% lutheranism 15% evangelical-protestantism 10% eastern-orthodox-christianity 10% liberation-theology 10% christian-personalism +4

#33

The Quran

Considered by Muslims the direct word of God; transmitted through Muhammad; collected under 'Uthmān (c. 650) · c. 610–632 AD (the period of the Prophet's mission); 'Uthmānic codex c. 650

114 sūras (chapters), c. 6,236 āyāt (verses) · Islam (all branches)

There is no god but God; the recitation is the direct, untranslatable speech of God; submission (islām) is the human posture before the divine

40% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 25% sufism-wahdat-al-wujud 10% reformed-calvinist-theology 5% bahai-faith 5% jewish-philosophy-maimonidean 10% liberation-theology 5% catholic-thomistic +4

#34

The Analects

Compiled by Confucius's disciples and their disciples · Compiled c. 5th–3rd century BC; core sayings reflect Confucius (551–479 BC)

Twenty books of brief sayings, dialogues, and anecdotes · Confucianism / Ru tradition

Ren, li, junzi — the cultivation of humane character through ritual propriety makes social order possible

75% confucianism 5% taoism 5% ubuntu-african-communal-ontology 5% pragmatism 5% catholic-thomistic 5% realism +3

#35

Metaphysics

Aristotle (compiled posthumously by Andronicus of Rhodes c. 70 BC) · c. 350 BC (lecture notes, second Athenian period)

Treatise in fourteen books (Α–Ν), assembled from lecture courses · Classical Greek philosophy / Aristotelianism

Being is said in many ways — substance is the focal sense — and the unmoved mover is the eternal actuality at the apex of nature

35% hylomorphism 20% realism 25% catholic-thomistic 10% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 5% critical-realism 5% process-philosophy +3

#36

Leviathan

Thomas Hobbes · 1651

Political-philosophical treatise in four parts · Early modern political philosophy / materialist naturalism

The state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short; the social contract erects the Leviathan to keep us out of it

30% naturalism 15% realism 15% determinism 10% pragmatic-realism 10% analytic-metaphysics 10% liberal-theology 10% constructivism 6% mechanism 6% social-contract +6

#37

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

John Locke · 1689 (first ed.); fourth ed. with significant revisions 1700

Philosophical treatise in four books · British empiricism / Enlightenment epistemology

The mind at birth is a tabula rasa; all ideas come from sensation and reflection; certainty is bounded, but knowledge is real

55% empiricism 10% pragmatic-realism 15% realism 10% phenomenalism 10% deism 6% social-contract +3

#38

Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica

Isaac Newton · 1687 (first ed.); 1713, 1726 (second and third revised eds)

Mathematical-physical treatise in three books, with Definitions, Laws of Motion, and General Scholium · Early modern natural philosophy / classical physics

Absolute space and time; universal gravitation; the system of the world deduced from three laws — the founding text of mathematical physics

25% realism 10% rationalism 20% deism 15% naturalism 10% critical-realism 10% analytic-metaphysics 10% eternalism 8% newtonianism +5

#39

Capital, Volume I (Late)

Karl Marx · 1867 (German first ed.); Volume II 1885, Volume III 1894 (posthumous, ed. Engels)

Critique of political economy in seven parts · Dialectical materialism / Marxism / classical socialist political economy

The commodity form is the cell of capitalist society — value, labour, surplus, accumulation, and crisis follow from its dialectical analysis

55% dialectical-materialism 10% naturalism 10% liberation-theology 5% process-philosophy 10% critical-realism 5% constructivism 5% realism 8% marxism +5

#40

On Liberty

John Stuart Mill · 1859

Philosophical essay in five chapters · British liberalism / utilitarianism

The sole end for which mankind are warranted in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self-protection

20% empiricism 20% pragmatism 10% liberal-theology 10% constructivism 10% realism 15% pragmatic-realism 5% liberation-theology 10% naturalism 8% classical-political-economy +6

#41

The Second Sex

Simone de Beauvoir · 1949 (French two-vol. ed.)

Philosophical-anthropological treatise in two volumes · French existentialism / philosophical feminism

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman — the founding text of philosophical feminism, applying existentialist freedom to the situation of women

45% existentialism 20% phenomenology 5% liberation-theology 10% dialectical-materialism 10% constructivism 5% postmodernism 5% naturalism 8% continental-philosophy +5

#42

Phaedo

Plato · c. 380 BC (middle dialogue)

Philosophical dialogue framed as Phaedo's narration of Socrates's last day · Classical Greek philosophy / Platonism

Philosophy is preparation for death — and four arguments that the soul, being akin to the Forms, must be immortal

45% platonism-classical 15% idealism 15% neo-platonism 15% catholic-thomistic 10% dualism +2

#43

City of God (Late)

Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 AD (composed in stages over thirteen years)

Theological treatise in twenty-two books · Latin Christianity / political theology

Two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, intermingled through history — the city of God is the people whose love is God's

25% reformed-calvinist-theology 30% catholic-thomistic 15% neo-platonism 10% lutheranism 10% liberation-theology 10% christian-personalism 8% augustinianism +4

#44

Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill · 1861 (Fraser's Magazine); 1863 (book form)

Philosophical essay in five chapters · British utilitarianism / classical liberalism

Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness — and pleasures differ in kind, not only in quantity

30% pragmatism 20% empiricism 15% naturalism 15% constructivism 10% pragmatic-realism 10% liberal-theology 8% classical-political-economy +4

#45

The Communist Manifesto (Early)

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels · February 1848 (commissioned by the Communist League, London)

Political pamphlet in four sections · Marxism / revolutionary socialism

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles — workers of the world, unite

55% dialectical-materialism 15% liberation-theology 10% naturalism 5% constructivism 5% pragmatic-realism 10% critical-realism 8% marxism +4

#46

The Consolation of Philosophy

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius · c. 524 AD (in prison at Pavia, awaiting execution by Theodoric)

Prosimetric dialogue in five books (alternating prose and verse) · Late antique Christian Platonism

Lady Philosophy consoles a doomed man — fortune is fickle, providence is just, eternity is the simultaneous and complete possession of unending life

35% neo-platonism 25% catholic-thomistic 15% platonism-classical 10% stoicism 10% reformed-calvinist-theology 5% eastern-orthodox-christianity +3

#47

Proslogion

Anselm of Canterbury · 1077–78 (Abbey of Bec)

Twenty-six chapters of meditative prayer-and-argument · Medieval Christian theology / scholasticism

God is "that than which nothing greater can be thought" — and from this single thought, the ontological argument for his existence follows

25% catholic-thomistic 25% rationalism 15% idealism 10% platonism-classical 15% reformed-calvinist-theology 5% eastern-orthodox-christianity 5% analytic-metaphysics +4

#48

A Theory of Justice

John Rawls · 1971; revised edition 1999

Systematic political-philosophical treatise in three parts · Anglo-American liberal political philosophy

Justice is fairness — the principles rational persons would choose behind a veil of ignorance, ignorant of their own social position

30% constructivism 20% kantian-transcendental-idealism 15% pragmatic-realism 10% liberal-theology 10% critical-realism 5% empiricism 10% liberation-theology 6% social-democracy +5

#49

The Guide of the Perplexed

Moses Maimonides (Rambam) · c. 1185–1190 (Cairo)

Philosophical letter-treatise in three parts · Medieval Jewish philosophy / Aristotelian falsafa

Reason and revelation in concord — God is purely incorporeal, the Torah's anthropomorphisms are figurative, and the perplexed reader can be guided

55% jewish-philosophy-maimonidean 15% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 15% catholic-thomistic 10% rationalism 5% neo-platonism +2

#50

Cartesian Meditations (Late)

Edmund Husserl · 1929 (Sorbonne lectures); 1931 (French publication); 1950 (German publication)

Five meditations modelled on Descartes's six · Transcendental phenomenology

Husserl rereads Descartes as the inaugurator of phenomenology — the transcendental ego, intersubjectivity, and the constitution of the world

65% phenomenology 10% rationalism 10% idealism 10% kantian-transcendental-idealism 5% existentialism +2

#51

The Enneads

Plotinus (edited by Porphyry c. 301) · Composed c. 254–270 AD; edited by Porphyry c. 301

Fifty-four philosophical treatises arranged in six "Enneads" (groups of nine) · Late antique philosophy / Neo-Platonism

The One emanates Intellect, which emanates Soul, which emanates Nature — and the philosophical life is the soul's ascent back to its source

65% neo-platonism 10% platonism-classical 5% sufism-wahdat-al-wujud 10% catholic-thomistic 5% idealism 5% spinozist-pantheism +3

#52

Yoga Sutras

Patañjali (the historical author or compiler; possibly composite) · c. 2nd century BC – 4th century AD (composite redaction likely)

196 aphoristic sutras in four pādas (chapters) · Hindu philosophy / one of the six classical darshanas

Yoga is the cessation of the modifications of the mind (yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ) — the eightfold path leads to liberating samādhi

35% samkhya 15% advaita-vedanta 15% buddhism 5% jainism-anekantavada 10% yogacara 5% tibetan-vajrayana-buddhism 15% energetic-wellness +4

#53

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Late)

Adam Smith · 1776 (first ed.); five revised editions in Smith's lifetime

Treatise on political economy in five books · Scottish Enlightenment / classical political economy

The division of labour, the invisible hand, and the wealth of nations grounded in productive labour rather than gold

20% pragmatic-realism 15% naturalism 15% empiricism 10% deism 15% realism 10% liberal-theology 10% dialectical-materialism 5% pragmatism 8% classical-political-economy +6

#54

Process and Reality (Late)

Alfred North Whitehead · 1929 (delivered as Gifford Lectures, Edinburgh, 1927–28)

Systematic cosmological treatise in five parts · Process philosophy / philosophy of organism

Reality consists of actual occasions of experience — drops of process — concrescent with their relations; God is the principle of concretion

65% process-philosophy 20% process-theology 5% panpsychism 5% relationalism 5% spinozist-pantheism +2

#55

The World as Will and Representation

Arthur Schopenhauer · 1818 (first ed.); 1844 (expanded with second volume); 1859 (final third edition)

Systematic philosophical treatise in four books, with supplementary second volume · German post-Kantian philosophy / pessimist metaphysics

The world we perceive is representation; the inner thing-in-itself is blind, ceaseless Will; release comes through aesthetic contemplation and ascetic denial

25% kantian-transcendental-idealism 20% buddhism 15% idealism 20% nihilism 10% advaita-vedanta 5% transcendentalism 5% realism +4

#56

Letters and Papers from Prison (Late)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer · 1943–45 (Tegel and Flossenbürg prisons); 1951 (first German edition by Eberhard Bethge)

Correspondence, theological essays, poetry, occasional fragments · Confessing Church / twentieth-century Christian dissent

Religionless Christianity, costly grace, and the etsi deus non daretur — to live before God as if there were no God

30% lutheranism 15% reformed-calvinist-theology 15% evangelical-protestantism 15% liberation-theology 10% existentialism 10% christian-personalism 5% liberal-theology 8% neo-orthodoxy +5

#57

The Kingdom of God Is Within You (Late)

Leo Tolstoy · Written 1890–93; banned in Russia, published 1894 in Berlin

Religious-political treatise in twelve chapters · Late Tolstoyan Christian anarchism / Christian non-violence

The Sermon on the Mount taken at its word — non-resistance to evil dissolves both state coercion and ecclesiastical hierarchy

15% evangelical-protestantism 15% liberation-theology 5% eastern-orthodox-christianity 15% liberal-theology 5% pragmatic-realism 5% absurdism 5% lutheranism 5% realism 5% animism-relational-indigenous 25% christian-personalism +7

#58

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

Nāgārjuna · c. 150–250 AD (South India)

Twenty-seven chapters of philosophical verse, c. 450 stanzas · Mahāyāna Buddhism / Madhyamaka

Everything that arises does so dependently — nothing has intrinsic nature (svabhāva), emptiness (śūnyatā) is the truth of dependent origination

50% buddhism 15% tibetan-vajrayana-buddhism 10% yogacara 10% pyrrhonism 5% postmodernism 5% process-philosophy 5% relationalism 8% mahayana-buddhism 8% madhyamaka +6

#59

Letter on Humanism (Late)

Martin Heidegger · 1946 (drafted as a letter to Jean Beaufret); 1947 (published)

Philosophical letter / treatise · Continental philosophy / late Heidegger

After the Kehre — language is the house of being, the human is the shepherd of being, and humanism is the metaphysical forgetfulness to be overcome

30% phenomenology 25% postmodernism 5% existentialism 5% hermeticism 10% process-philosophy 5% kantian-transcendental-idealism 5% object-oriented-ontology 5% deep-ecology 10% relationalism 8% continental-philosophy +7

#60

The Varieties of Religious Experience

William James · 1901–02 (Gifford Lectures, Edinburgh); 1902 (book form)

Twenty Gifford Lectures with extensive case studies · American pragmatism / psychology of religion

Religion is real because its effects are real — judged not by origins but by fruits, the "more" disclosed in religious experience deserves respect

40% pragmatism 20% liberal-theology 15% empiricism 10% phenomenology 5% naturalism 5% psychedelic-entheogenic 5% transcendentalism +4