Rebirth and the Stream of Life

Mikel Burley is Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Leeds, UK. He is the author of three previous books, including Contemplating Religious Forms of Life: Wittgenstein and D. Z. Phillips (2012). He is also a co-editor of Language, Ethics and Animal Life: Wittgenstein and Beyond (2012).

• AcknowledgementsAbbreviationsIntroduction: Thinking about Rebirth‘Stream of life’Terminological mattersAn expanded conception of philosophy of religionChapter summaries1) Varieties of RebirthSoteriological orientationsRetributive correlationsAffinitive and consanguineous continuitiesConcluding remarks2) Remembering Having Lived Before?‘Infamous puzzle cases’Rebirth and rememberingRemembering and merely seeming to rememberLived examplesConcluding remarks3) Finding Meaning in Multiple LivesAllegedly fatal objections to rebirthThe ethical significance of ‘same person’Simultaneous multiplicityRebirth and the spirit worldConcluding remarks4) Integrating Rebirth and EthicsTransmigration and moral outlooks in ancient GreeceEschatologies and ‘ethicization’Instances of non-karmic ethical integrationConcluding remarks5) Demythologizing Rebirth?‘Demythologizing’ in theology and the study of religionsKarma and rebirth without personal continuationCritical discussionConcluding remarks6) Karma and EvilKarma as a principle of moral guidanceIs the doctrine of karma incoherent?The problem of ‘blaming the victim’A deep disagreementAlternative aspects of karmaConcluding remarks7) Conclusions Disrupting assumptionsDiversity and dispute Methodological reflectionsBibliography Index

Mikel Burley has written a profound and intriguing study of reincarnation and its relation to karma and ethics using his depth of knowledge of religious traditions and discussions by philosophers, religious studies experts, and anthropologists of the ethical and experiential meaning of rebirth … Burley not only shares an immense knowledge of Western, Hindu, and Buddhist scholarship on all dimensions of rebirth, he also uses his words very artfully and insightfully.