Many-Titled One; Elephant and Blind Men; Hand and Fingers: Classic Metaphors of Religious Pluralism

Eric Ziolkowski

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Chapter 6 Many-Titled One; Elephant and Blind Men; Hand and Fingers: Classic Metaphors of Religious Pluralism

In: Explaining, Interpreting, and Theorizing Religion and Myth

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Eric Ziolkowski

Eric Ziolkowski
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 122–146

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004435025_008

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Abstract

This essay focuses on several classic analogies from different societies that account for religious pluralism. The earliest is the Ṛgvedic notion of the “One” to whom “sages give many a title.” The next is the parable of the elephant and blind men, putatively of South Asian origins. The third analogy is of the hand with multiple fingers, used by the medieval Mongol Khan, Möngke. The fourth is the parable of the three rings, most famously found in Boccaccio and Lessing. This essay considers these four analogies comparatively in the religio-historical contexts in which they emerged, and demonstrates that the analogies reveal much about the development of critical reflection on religion.

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Explaining, Interpreting, and Theorizing Religion and Myth

Contributions in Honor of Robert A. Segal

Series: Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Volume: 16

Cover Explaining, Interpreting, and Theorizing Religion and Myth

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004435025

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 09 Jun 2020

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- Religious Studies
  - Comparative Religion & Religious Studies
  - History of Religion
- Social Sciences
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  - Religion & Society

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Chapter 6 Many-Titled One; Elephant and Blind Men; Hand and Fingers: Classic Metaphors of Religious Pluralism

Abstract

Citation Info

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Explaining, Interpreting, and Theorizing Religion and Myth

Contributions in Honor of Robert A. Segal

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