Its memory lives even now...

Its memory lives even now: memory heals, memory liberates, and memory manifests the power and rhythms of the sacred cosmos itself.[^25] That cosmos the archaic traditions can teach us to see anew with the always youthful eyes of their healing memory. Ninian Smart[^26] Ninian Smart argues that the philosophy of religions should be extended to the philosophy of worldviews in order to develop a new understanding of religious pluralism.

For Smart, the Western philosopher of religious studies deals at the intellectual level with a relatively simplified system of ideas in comparison with the complexities of the modern systematic interpretation of Christianity and Judaism. He argues that the philosophy of religions should be broader.[^27] Thus, the new term “the philosophy of worldviews” seems more appropriate.

The philosophy of worldviews is tied to worldviews as they actually exist in the world as well as their developmental historical contexts. Such a philosophy, Smart claims, is closer to the analysis of reality which is absent in the modern philosophy of religions. The task, then, is to clarify the criteria for determining the truth between the different worldviews and outline an inventory of considerations relative to the truth of worldviews.

These considerations are related to consistency, tension, epistemological tension, rivalry, ethical insights, and psychology. This makes systematic theology more difficult, but richer. For Smart, the major consequence of applying this philosophy is the sense of inclusiveness that becomes requisite for reflections on the nature and the destiny of human beings.

Smart argues that a major consequence of his intellectual enterprise is that, “the philosophy of worldviews reminds one how much the practical and the theoretical are interwoven in humankind’s system of belief in a way which leads to a gap between epistemology and commitment, that is, between the softness of evidence and the deep meaning of a movement or tradition.”[^28] A serious challenge to Smart’s views is how to define the term “worldview” and “religion.” These terms remain so very ambiguous and possibly could have so many conflicting interpretations.

Stephen Kaplan[^29] Stephen Kaplan argues that religious pluralism is a modern position born not out of openness of one religious tradition to another, but rather out of a philosophical attempt to confront the confluence of cultural boundaries and the growth of relativism.