The Justification of Religious Faith: In Soren Kierkegaard, John Henry Newman, And William James

by Paul F. Sands

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), John Henry Newman (1801-1890), and William James (1842-1910) all defended the right of persons to embrace religious beliefs that are not strictly warranted by empirical evidence and logical argumentation. Faith must not be hampered, they argued, by the demands of reason narrowly conceived. Paul Sands notes, however, important differences in the way each relates faith to reason. He probes the writings of each author in three key areas: the role of evidence in religious faith, the nature and legitimacy of the so-called "venture" of faith, and the question of how best to adjudicate disputed religious truth claims. In the end, Sands concludes that William James incorporates and transcends the best insights of Kierkegaard and Newman while offering a pragmatic method of verification that provides a modest, but workable approach to the rational adjudication of religious truth claims.

310 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2003