Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T12:36:36.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2023

Jonathan Fuqua
Affiliation:
Conception Seminary College, Missouri
John Greco
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Tyler McNabb
Affiliation:
Saint Francis University, Pennsylvania
Get access

Summary

The questions of faith and reason, taken up in this book in great detail, are universal across time and place; nor have they gone away with the Enlightenment, the rise of modern science, or the epistemological cynicism of postmodernism. One finds extensive and serious philosophical discussion of things divine, of God and the gods, throughout the history of philosophy, East and West, down to the present day. The human being is an animal, but in most cases is also a “believer.” In a nod to the extensive body of scientific work on humanity’s religious proclivities, some have even called the human being “the believing primate” (Schloss and Murray 2009). As the “believing primate” designation suggests, religious belief seems to bear an interesting and unclear relationship with reason. For one thing, without reason, no one could have any religious beliefs nor engage in any religious practices based on those beliefs. To be a believing primate, you have to be a rational animal (the latter designation being, of course, Aristotle’s famous definition of the human person). In that sense, at least, religion is rational: To be religious you have to be rational.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×