Knowledge, Belief, and God

New Insights in Religious Epistemology

Edited by Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne, and Dani Rabinowitz

Ground-breaking application of new work in epistemology to religious topics
Shows how philosophy of religion and epistemology can be mutually illuminating
Aims to set the agenda for religious epistemology for the foreseeable future

Knowledge, Belief, and God

New Insights in Religious Epistemology

Edited by Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne, and Dani Rabinowitz

Description

Recent decades have seen a fertile period of theorizing within mainstream epistemology which has had a dramatic impact on how epistemology is done. Investigations into contextualist and pragmatic dimensions of knowledge suggest radically new ways of meeting skeptical challenges and of understanding the relation between the epistemological and practical environment. New insights from social epistemology and formal epistemology about defeat, testimony, a priority, probability, and the nature of evidence all have a potentially revolutionary effect on how we understand our epistemological place in the world. Religion is the place where such rethinking can potentially have its deepest impact and importance. Yet there has been surprisingly little infiltration of these new ideas into philosophy of religion and the epistemology of religious belief.

Knowledge, Belief, and God incorporates these myriad new developments in mainstream epistemology, and extends these developments to questions and arguments in religious epistemology. The investigations proposed in this volume offer substantial new life, breadth, and sophistication to issues in the philosophy of religion and analytic theology. They pose original questions and shed new light on long-standing issues in religious epistemology; and these developments will in turn generate contributions to epistemology itself, since religious belief provides a vital testing ground for recent epistemological ideas.

Knowledge, Belief, and God

New Insights in Religious Epistemology

Edited by Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne, and Dani Rabinowitz

Introduction, Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne, and Dani Rabinowitz
I. Historical
1. Hume, Defeat, and Miracle Reports, Charity Anderson
2. Testimony, Error, and Reasonable Belief in Medieval Religious Epistemology, Richard Cross
3. Duns Scotus' Epistemic Argument against Divine Illumination, Billy Dunaway
4. Knowledge and the Cathartic Value of Repentance, Dani Rabinowitz
II. Formal
5. Infinite Cardinalities, Measuring Knowledge, and Probabilities in Fine-Tuning Arguments, Isaac Choi
6. A Theological Critique of the Fine-Tuning Argument, Hans Halvorson
7. Fine-Tuning Fine-Tuning, John Hawthorne and Yoaav Isaacs
8. Reasoning with Plenitude, Roger White
III. Social
9. Testimony Amidst Diversity, Max Baker-Hytch
10. Testimonial Pessimism, Rachel Elizabeth Fraser
11. Experts and Peer Disagreement, Jennifer Lackey
12. Know How and Acts of Faith, Paulina Sliwa
IV. Rational
13. Pragmatic Encroachment and Theistic Knowledge, Matthew A. Benton
14. Delusions of Knowledge Concerning God's Existence: A Skeptical Look at Religious Experience, Keith DeRose
15. Moderate Modal Skepticism, Margot Strohminger and Juhani Yli-Vakkuri
16. Phenomenal Conservatism and Religious Experience, Richard Swinburne

Knowledge, Belief, and God

New Insights in Religious Epistemology

Edited by Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne, and Dani Rabinowitz

Author Information

Matthew A. Benton is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Seattle Pacific University. Prior to that he held postdoctoral research fellowships at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Oxford. He earned his PhD in philosophy from Rutgers University.

John Hawthorne is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, and formerly Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford.

Dani Rabinowitz earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Oxford; he then held a Junior Research Fellowship at Somerville College, Oxford. He is currently a trainee solicitor with Clifford Chance LLP.

Contributors:

Charity Anderson, Baylor University
Max Baker-Hytch, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, & the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics
Matthew Benton, Seattle Pacific University
Isaac Choi, Rivendell Institute at Yale University & Sacred Heart University
Richard Cross, University of Notre Dame
Keith DeRose, Yale University
Billy Dunaway, University of Missouri, Saint Louis
Rachel Elizabeth Fraser, University of Cambridge
Hans Halvorson, Princeton University.
John Hawthorne, University of Southern California
Yoaav Isaacs, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Jennifer Lackey, Northwestern University
Dani Rabinowitz, Clifford Chance, LLP, London
Paulina Sliwa is University Lecturer and Fellow in Philosophy, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Margot Strohminger is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Salzburg.
Richard Swinburne is Nolloth Professor of Christian Philosophy Emeritus at Oriel College, University of Oxford.
Roger White is Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Juhani Yli-Vakkuri is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Mind in Nature at the University of Oslo.

Knowledge, Belief, and God

New Insights in Religious Epistemology

Edited by Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne, and Dani Rabinowitz

Reviews and Awards

"an overall very high standard of ... contributions ... a fascinating field of discussion beyond the familiar or even well-trodden paths of the continentental tradition and reformed epistemology." -- Matthias Ruf, Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences

"[This book] is rich in suggestions for future reflection" -- David Brown, University of St Andrews, Theology

"The collection of papers in this volume is impressive. All of the papers are solid pieces of scholarly work..." -- Hans Van Eyghen, Sophia

"The papers are very good, and the book delivers what its title advertises: lots of new insights in religious epistemology. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to dig into cutting-edge religious epistemology." -- Andrew Moon, Faith & Philosophy

"This collection is brimming with insights for religious epistemology and more sparingly contains signposts toward new directions for the field" -- T. Ryan Byerly, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"It gives a survey of the different views and new ideas that exist in the epistemology of religion. The book contains extremely valuable essays and it should be recommended to anyone with an interest in religious epistemology." -- Tyler Dalton McNabb, Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies

"This collection is, on the whole, a sizable step forward in the epistemology of religion ... and warmly recommended. The editors have engaged a cast of high-powered, creative, analytic philosophers who go well beyond what are now the stock battles on the topic." --Jerome Yehuda Gellman, Reading Religion

Knowledge, Belief, and God

New Insights in Religious Epistemology

Edited by Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne, and Dani Rabinowitz

From Our Blog

Revitalizing the Epistemology of Religion

Philosophers studying epistemology debate the exact nature of knowledge, typically by examining the 'evidence' behind one's beliefs: logical processes, sensory perception, and so on.

Posted on June 16, 2018

Read the blog post