Rationality and the Study of Religion
Title | Rationality and the Study of Religion PDF eBook |
Author | Jeppe Sinding Jensen |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 224 |
Release | 2013-09-13 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1136480242 |
Does rationality, the intellectual bedrock of all science, apply to the study of religion? Religion, arguably the most subjective area of human behaviour, has particular challenges associated with its study. Attracting crowd-healers, conjurers, the pious and the prophetic alongside comparativists and sceptics, it excites opinions and generalizations whilst seldom explicitly staking out the territory for the discussions in which it partakes. Increasingly, scholars argue that religious study needs to define and critique its own field, and to distinguish itself from theology and other non-objective disciplines. Yet how can rational techniques be applied to beliefs and states of mind regarded by some as beyond the scope of human reason? Can these be made empirically testable, or comparable and replicable within academic communities? Can science explicate religion without reducing it to mere superstition, or redefine its truth in some empirical but meaningful way? Featuring contributions from leading international experts including Donald Wiebe, Roger Trigg and Michael Pye, Rationality and the Study of Religion gets under the surface of the religious studies discipline to expose the ideologies beneath. Reopening debate in a neglected yet philosophically significant field, it questions the role of rationality in religious anthropology, natural history and anti-scientific theologies, with implications not only for supposedly objective disciplines but for our deepest attitudes to personal experience. 'Interesting and important. Religion has long been associated with irrationality, both by its defenders and its critics, and the topic of rationality has been unjustly neglected The book certainly deserves to be widely circulated.' Greg Alles, Western Maryland College
Rationality and the Study of Religion
Title | Rationality and the Study of Religion PDF eBook |
Author | Jeppe Sinding Jensen |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 323 |
Release | 2013-09-13 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1136480315 |
Does rationality, the intellectual bedrock of all science, apply to the study of religion? Religion, arguably the most subjective area of human behaviour, has particular challenges associated with its study. Attracting crowd-healers, conjurers, the pious and the prophetic alongside comparativists and sceptics, it excites opinions and generalizations whilst seldom explicitly staking out the territory for the discussions in which it partakes. Increasingly, scholars argue that religious study needs to define and critique its own field, and to distinguish itself from theology and other non-objective disciplines. Yet how can rational techniques be applied to beliefs and states of mind regarded by some as beyond the scope of human reason? Can these be made empirically testable, or comparable and replicable within academic communities? Can science explicate religion without reducing it to mere superstition, or redefine its truth in some empirical but meaningful way? Featuring contributions from leading international experts including Donald Wiebe, Roger Trigg and Michael Pye, Rationality and the Study of Religion gets under the surface of the religious studies discipline to expose the ideologies beneath. Reopening debate in a neglected yet philosophically significant field, it questions the role of rationality in religious anthropology, natural history and anti-scientific theologies, with implications not only for supposedly objective disciplines but for our deepest attitudes to personal experience. 'Interesting and important. Religion has long been associated with irrationality, both by its defenders and its critics, and the topic of rationality has been unjustly neglected The book certainly deserves to be widely circulated.' Greg Alles, Western Maryland College
Rationality in Science, Religion, and Everyday Life
Title | Rationality in Science, Religion, and Everyday Life PDF eBook |
Author | Mikael Stenmark |
Publisher | University of Notre Dame Pess |
Pages | 408 |
Release | 2016-09-15 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0268091676 |
Mikael Stenmark examines four models of rationality and argues for a discussion of rationality that takes into account the function and aim of such human practices as science and religion.
Feminist Philosophy of Religion
Title | Feminist Philosophy of Religion PDF eBook |
Author | Pamela Sue Anderson |
Publisher | Psychology Press |
Pages | 296 |
Release | 2004 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 9780415257497 |
Feminist Philosophy of Religion: Critical Readings brings together key new writings in this growing field.
New Developments in the Cognitive Science of Religion
Title | New Developments in the Cognitive Science of Religion PDF eBook |
Author | Hans van Eyghen |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 224 |
Release | 2018-07-14 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 3319902393 |
It is widely thought that the cognitive science of religion (CSR) may have a bearing on the epistemic status of religious beliefs and on other topics in philosophy of religion. Epistemologists have used theories from CSR to argue both for and against the rationality of religious beliefs, or they have claimed that CSR is neutral vis-à-vis the epistemic status of religious belief. However, since CSR is a rapidly evolving discipline, a great deal of earlier research on the topic has become dated. Furthermore, most of the debate on the epistemic consequences of CSR has not taken into account insights from the philosophy of science, such as explanatory pluralism and explanatory levels. This volume overcomes these deficiencies. This volume brings together new philosophical reflection on CSR. It examines the influence of CSR theories on the epistemic status of religious beliefs; it discusses its impact on philosophy of religion; and it offers new insights for CSR. The book addresses the question of whether or not the plurality of theories in CSR makes epistemic conclusions about religious belief unwarranted. It also explores the impact of CSR on other topics in philosophy of religion like the cognitive consequences of sin and naturalism. Finally, the book investigates what the main theories in CSR aim to explain, and addresses the strengths and weaknesses of CSR.
Magic, Science and Religion and the Scope of Rationality
Title | Magic, Science and Religion and the Scope of Rationality PDF eBook |
Author | Stanley J. Tambiah |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 204 |
Release | 1990-03-22 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780521376310 |
This accessible and illuminating book explores the classical opposition between magic, science and religion.
Rationality and Religion
Title | Rationality and Religion PDF eBook |
Author | Roger Trigg |
Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
Pages | 236 |
Release | 1998-06-08 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780631197485 |
Rationality and Religion deals with the perennial question of how far religious faith needs reason.