Ninian Smart
Roderick Ninian Smart (born May 6, 1927 in Cambridge , † January 27, 2001 in Lancaster (Lancashire) ) was a British religious scholar and historian of religion .
Life
Ninian Smart was born in 1927 to Scottish parents in Cambridge, England.
He went to Glasgow University and Queens' College , Cambridge. Positions at Yale University , University of London , Banaras Hindu University and the University of Birmingham followed .
Smart was Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Lancaster (England) from 1967 to 1982 and at the University of California from 1976 to 1998 .
Ninian Smart passed away unexpectedly in January 2001, just days after moving back to Lancaster from Santa Barbara .
Smart has worked out 7 dimensions that are essential for religions . Basically it is about
- Rituals ( practice )
- artistic representation (also architecture , holy places etc.)
- Institutions (social)
- Legislation ( ethics )
- Philosophy (teaching building)
- Mythology (narrative)
- Emotions (experience).
Smart's work World Philosophies was published in German translation in 2002 ( Weltgeschichte des Denkens ). It is a guide through the philosophies of the world, whereby he did not take into account living contemporaries, but only "closed philosophers". In doing so, he deliberately goes beyond the framework of Western philosophy and also presents the philosophies of South Asia, China, Korea, Japan, Islam, Judaism, Latin America and Africa from the beginnings to modern times.
Works
-
World Philosophies . Routledge, London 1999
- World history of thought. The spiritual traditions of mankind Translated by Nikolaus de Palézieux. Primus or WBG , Darmstadt 2002 ISBN 3896784439 , 2nd rev . Edition WBG 2009 ISBN 3534160312
- The great religions (from the English translated by Eva Gärtner) Universitäts-Verlag, Munich 1988 ISBN 3800411709
- Beyond Ideology: Religion and the Future of Western Civilization. Harper & Row, New York 1981, ISBN 0060674024
literature
- Ninian Smart , in: Udo Tworuschka: Religionswissenschaft. Trailblazer and classic , UTB 3492, Cologne-Weimar-Wien 2011, pp. 335–351
Web links
- Literature by and about Ninian Smart in the catalog of the German National Library
- University of California Obituary
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smart, Ninian |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Smart, Roderick Ninian (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British religious scholar and historian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 6, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cambridge |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 27, 2001 |
| Place of death | Lancaster |