The Maturity of Belief: Critically Assessing Religious Faith

Erscheinungsjahr 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8264-9853-3
Verlag: BLOOMSBURY 3PL

Buch, Englisch, 184 Seiten, Format (B × H): 146 mm x 214 mm, Gewicht: 354 g

Today there is growing concern with the problems posed by dogmatic religious belief. Throughout history religion has too often been a source of contention between groups of people and has frequently stifled intellectual (especially scientific) and social progress.

Rather than abandon religious belief altogether, as some suggest, Kevin Lowery contends that the real problem is the intellectual immaturity with which religious beliefs are held. This book thus explores the nature and dynamics of religious belief, and it offers constructive criticism in order to promote the intellectual maturity of religious belief.

Rather than artificially resolving points of tension by simply dismissing particular viewpoints out of hand, as with the radical skeptics and the dogmatists, Lowery argues that intellectual maturity requires us to acknowledge the limitations of our beliefs.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lowery, Kevin Twain

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Christliche Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Section 1: How and Why we Believe
1. The Nature of Belief
2. Moving Beyond Simplistic Concepts
Section 2: Belief in Historical Perspective
3. Religious Belief before the Enlightenment
4. The Early Enlightenment
5. The Burgeoning of the Enlightenment
6. More Recent Developments
Section 3: Constructing Belief
7. The Basis of Belief
8. Systematized Belief
9. Sources of Religious Belief
10. Subjective and Objective Sources
11. The Four Sources
12. Religious Authority
Section 4: Mature Belief
13. Religious Belief and Certainty
14. Faith and Belief
15. Cultivating Religious Intellectual Maturity

Über Autor(innen)

Kevin Twain Lowery is an associate professor at Olivet Nazarene University, where he teaches theology and philosophy.