Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion

This is an unusual book, not least because it focuses largely on the ideas of the second author, but was basically written and put together by the first. Equally unusual, perhaps, is that the ideas of a third thinker—Noam Chomsky—loom large throughout the book, even with the nature of religion, about which Chomsky has written virtuallythough it deals primarily nothing. When Huston Smith’s original lecture and my response to it were being readied for publication in Religion East & West during the late summer of 2005, it became clear that together they were not sufficiently extensive for publication in the series of books that have been based on the Master Hsüan Hua Memorial Lectures. When asked by members of the IWR what might be done, I began to think of a joint effort between us, analogous to the collaborative work Huston did with David Ray Griffin in 1989, published under the title Primordial Truth and Postmodern Theology.1 Therein Griffin first gave a critique of Smith’s “perennialist” position, followed by Smith’s reply and critique of Griffin’s postmodern stance. Griffin then penned a counter-reply, Smith a counter-rejoinder, and they then collaborated in writing an afterword.