24 PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIONTo offer an even partial answer as to what sorts of religion there are,
examples are crucial. Consider, then, four traditions that are generally
accepted as being religious: Christianity, Advaita Vedanta Hinduism,
Jainism, and Theravada Buddhism. Christendom contains an incredible
variety of perspectives. Hinduism, even if it is not the invention of
nineteenth-century British scholars, is at least as diverse as Christendom.
Buddhism is also a collection of quite diverse traditions and even Jainism
has its complications. Nonetheless, there is such a thing as orthodox
Christianity (“orthodox” with a small “o”), and an absolutist variety of
Hinduism, Advaita Vedanta, whose greatest figure is Shankara. Indian
Buddhism splits into Mahayana or “Great Vehicle” as well as Hinayana or
“Small Vehicle;” our present concern is with Hinayana or Theravada
Buddhism, the “Tradition of the Elders.” Jainism, by contrast, is doctrinally
uniform. A description of each of these four traditions in terms that would
be accepted by its own adherents^2 will tell us a good deal about what sorts
of religion there are. Each tradition represents a distinct sort of religion.^3
Monotheism
Christianity
Christianity, of course, is a variety of monotheism. It shares with Judaism
the exhortation to “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one God.” Like Judaism and
Islam, it holds that an omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect God
created the world and is providential over it.^4 God depends for existence on
nothing else, and everything else that exists^5 depends on God for its
existence. The created world is real, not illusory, and that it exists is a good,
not an evil, state of affairs. Human beings are created in God’s image, and
thus have some degree of knowledge, power, and (potential) goodness. This
has two consequences. One is that every person, as a person, has (in
Immanuel Kant’s terms) dignity and not price – if you like, has
irreplaceable worth by virtue of being in God’s image. Persons having
inherent worth as creatures made in God’s image is different from their
being inherently morally good; whether a person becomes morally good or
not depends on his or her choices. We might put the point this way: being
created in God’s image comprises a metaphysical goodness that is a gift
provided in the very circumstance of being created; being morally virtuous
constitutes moral goodness and it is not involved in the very act of being
created. The other consequence is that the basis of morality lies in realizing
one’s nature by imitating the behavior biblically ascribed to God, insofar as
this is humanly possible. God is holy, so we are to be holy. God unselfishly