The Why and the How of Renewal in Philosophy of Religion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2022.3289Abstract
Recently, we co-edited a volume of essays (Draper & Schellenberg 2017) dedicated to the proposition that our field, the philosophy of religion, is not all that it could be. The new set of essays we’re joining here shows that this sentiment is, at the least, not going away. That’s encouraging, but how can we get beyond sentiment? In this our own essay we hope to do so by focusing very precisely and persuasively on problems and solutions: on why our field needs renewal and how to achieve it. More specifically, we hope to get every reader to recognize and accept at least one problem from the range of problems in the field as it exists today that we propose to identify, and to select for special thought and supportive effort at least one solution from the range of solutions we’ll be promoting. Let’s adjust that slightly: one extra problem and one extra solution – for we’re going to start by setting the right mood with some thoughts about a very basic problem/solution pair that we should all be able to recognize/support.
References
Bellah, Robert N. 2011. Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.
Draper, Paul, and Ryan Nichols. 2013. “Diagnosing Bias in Philosophy of Religion”. Monist 96, no. 3: 420–46. doi:10.5840/monist201396319.
Draper, Paul, and J. L. Schellenberg, eds. 2017. Renewing Philosophy of Religion: Exploratory Essays. Oxford Univ. Press.
Green, Adam. 2018. “Review of: Paul Draper and J. L. Schellenberg (eds.) Renewing Philosophy of Religion: Exploratory Essays, Oxford Univ. Press 2017”. https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/renewing-philosophy-of-religion-exploratory-essays/.
Johnston, Mark. 2019. “Is Hope for Another Life Rational?”. In Current Controversies in Philosophy of Religion, edited by Paul Draper, 47–68. New York, NY: Routledge.
Klein, Richard G. 1999. The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins. Chicago, IL.: Univ. of Chicago Press.
Leiter, Brian. 2012. Why Tolerate Religion?. Princeton, NY: Princeton Univ. Press.
McKim, Robert. 2017. “The Future of Philosophy of Religion, the Future of the Study of Religion, and (Even) the Future of Religion”. In Renewing Philosophy of Religion: Exploratory Essays, edited by Paul Draper and J. L. Schellenberg, 112–29. Oxford Univ. Press.
Mellars, Paul, Kate Boyle, Ofer Bar-Yosef, and Chris Stinger, eds. 2007. Rethinking the Human Revolution: New Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans. Cambridge: Oxbow.
Oppy, Graham. 2017. “Rationality and Worldview”. In Current Controversies in Philosophy of Religion, edited by Paul Draper, 174–86. New York, NY: Routledge.
Pfeifer, John. 1982. The Creative Explosion: An Inquiry into the Origins of Art and Religion. New York, NY: Harper&Row.
Rennie, Bryan. 2010. “After This Strange Starting: Method, Theory and the Philosophy of Religion(s)”. Method and Theory in Study of Religions 22, no. 2–3: 116–35. doi:10.1163/157006810X512329.
Rossano, Matt J. 2006. “The Religious Mind and the Evolution of Religion”. Review of General Psychology 10, no. 4: 346–64. doi:10.1037/1089–2680.10.4.346.
Schellenberg, J. L. 2018. “Is Plantinga-Style Christian Philosophy Really Philosophy?”. In Christian Philosophy: Conceptions, Continuations, and Challenges, edited by Aaron J. Simmons, 229–43. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Siegel, Harvey. 2009. “Open-Mindedness, Critical Thinking, and Indoctrination: Homage to William Hare”. Paideusis 18, no. 1: 26–34. doi:10.7202/1072336ar.
