191

R

RADHAKRISHNAN, SARVEPALLI
(1888–1975). Indian philosopher and
statesman. Radhakrishnan is one of the
major twentieth-century philosophers
of religion to comprehensively bridge
Eastern and Western religious thought.
He was the first Vice President of India
(1952–1962) and the second President of
India (1962–1967). He influenced the
development of Indian philosophy through
introducing Western Idealism and was
instrumental in shaping Western under-
standing of Hinduism. Radhakrishnan’s
hierarchy of religions gives preference to
Hinduism as the most unifying form of
religious expression and defends Advaita
Ve d a n t a, the school of Hinduism to which
he belonged. He ranks worship of the
Absolute (Brahman) highest, followed in
descending order by worship of the per-
sonal God, worshiping incarnations (e.g.,
Buddha), worship of ancestors and dei-
ties, and finally worshipers of forces and
spirits. Radhakrishnan saw Western reli-
gious thought as flawed because it relied on
purely intellectual thinking rather than
intuition. In his view, the value of reli-
gious claims was supported by experience

and spiritual intuition rather than biblical

texts. His works include Indian Philoso-

phy (2 vols., 1923–1927), The Philosophy

of the Upanishads (1924), An Ideal View of

Life (1929), Freedom and Culture (1936),

Eastern Religions in Western Thought

(1939), Contemporary Indian Philosophy

(1950), East and West: Some Reflections

(1956), A Source Book in Indian Philoso-

phy (with C. A. Moore, 1957), and Religion

in a Changing World (1967).

RADICAL ORTHODOXY. A movement

involving high Anglican and Roman

Catholic thinkers who contend that the

form of secular reason that we today have

inherited from the Enlightenment inevi-

tably leads to a denial of values or nihil-

ism. Radical orthodoxy seeks a concept of

theological reason that is not held hostage

to secular values or reasoning. Prominent

advocates of radical orthodoxy include

John Millbank and Graham Ward.

RAHNER, KARL (1904–1984). A twen-

tieth-century German Jesuit and Roman