[SydPhil] CALL FOR PAPERS: Special issue on Concepts of God in Underrepresented Religious Traditions

[FRANCISCO MARIANO]

Please circulate widely. Apologies for multiple emails.
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Special issue on Concepts of God in Underrepresented Religious Traditions
Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions

Guest-editors: Ricardo Sousa Silvestre, Alan Herbert & Purushottama
Bilimoria
Deadline: November 3rd, 2025
Submission: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/elR8C3QNPBiRMDZMgcgfGUQiMVb?domain=editorialmanager.com

Although the debates concerning concepts of God have regained considerable
momentum in Western philosophy of religion since the 1960s, they mainly
focus on concepts of God emerging out of the Abrahamic religions and the
philosophical traditions informed by Western theology. There is a growing
awareness nowadays that such an approach might conceal and prohibit a
culturally sensitive and philosophically adequate appreciation of the
numerous concepts of God found in religious traditions outside of the
Abrahamic domain. This increasing awareness, which is part of the
motivation beyond what has become known as cross-cultural and global
philosophy of religion, encompasses both the need for and the encouragement
of new dialogues between Western philosophy of religion and so-called
underrepresented religious traditions.

By “underrepresented religious traditions,” we mean religious traditions
that have been largely excluded from the philosophical debate on God
throughout the history of philosophy, especially in the past few decades
within analytic philosophy of religion. These traditions include, but are
not limited to: Indian religious traditions, Confucianism, Taoism and
Zoroastrianism, Afro-Brazilian and African religions, and Amerindian and
Australian Aboriginal religions.

Regarding the concepts of God or divinity found in these underrepresented
religious traditions, the following questions might be posed:

• Can the concepts of Divine of such traditions be regarded monotheistic in
the Western sense of the term? Or are they closer to panentheism,
pantheism, henotheism or polytheism?
• What divine properties do the traditions ascribe to their respective
divinity or sets of divinity?
• If these concepts of the Divine cannot be neatly categorized as
monotheistic, panentheistic, henotheistic, or polytheistic, or if they do
not align with a divine properties approach, are there other
philosophically coherent models that can be applied to them?
• Can the corresponding concepts of God be described in a consistent way?
And is it sensible to presuppose that they should be describable in such a
way?
• Do any of these concepts of God possess an advantage over Western
philosophical accounts of God?

The goal of this special issue of Sophia is to bring together high-quality
papers that engage with these thought-provoking philosophical issues.

Deadline for submission: November 3rd, 2025.

Full papers should be submitted via Sophia’s Editorial Manager:
https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/elR8C3QNPBiRMDZMgcgfGUQiMVb?domain=editorialmanager.com

Sincerely yours,

Ricardo Sousa Silvestre (Universidade Federal de Campina Grande), Alan
Herberth (Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies) & Purushottama Bilimoria
(University of San Francisco)
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