Reason & the Contours of Faith / Rice, Richard /(PB/1991-1991/B+/USED)

*Condition Note: Book is gently used and clean.*

Can reason and religion get together? Should believers think? Can thinking people believe? Does religion have to make sense? Does careful thinking help or hinder religious experience? People have wrestled with such questions for hundreds of years, and they are just as perplexing today as ever. Reason & the Contours of Faith explores the wide-ranging issues these questions raise, from biblical interpretation and proofs for God's existence to the nature of religious conversion. Its central purpose is to find an alternative to both fideism, the idea that reason has nothing to do with faith, and rationalism, the conviction that reason has everything to do with it. Part One, "Reason and the Contents of Faith," argues that reason contributes in important but limited ways to our understanding of religion. Part Two, "Reason and the Experience of Faith," shows that reason can support religious commitment, but never produces it. About the Contributor(s): Richard Rice is Professor of Religion at Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California.

Contents

Preface vii

Introduction 1

Part 1 The Meanings of Faith and Reason

1 The Contours of Faith 11

Faith in General

Biblical Descriptions of Faith

The Receptive Dimensions of Faith

The Cognitive Dimension of Faith

The Concessive Quality of Faith

The Volitional Dimension of Faith

2 Reason and Responsible Belief 31

Reason and Rationality

The Nature of Knowledge

The Rational Ideal

Evidence and the Sources of Knowledge

Evidence and Argument

Reason and the Rational Ideal

The Rational Ideal Reconsidered

Responsible Belief: An Alternative to the Rational Ideal

Part 2 Reason and the Contents of Faith

3 Christian Theology 71

Framing the Question of Faith and Reason

Definitions of Theology

Theology and the Bible

Theology and Doctrine

4 The Question of General Revelation 101

The Central Topic in Natural Theology

General Revelation and Natural Theology

John Calvin on Revelation in Nature

Karl Barth's Critique of General Revelation

The Case Against Natural Theology

The Case for Natural Theology

Conclusion

5 Natural Theology: The Philosophical Question 123

Attitudes Toward Arguments for God

The Nature and Purpose of Theistic Argument

The Cosmological Argument

The Teleological Argument

The Problem of Evil

The Moral Argument

The Ontological Argument

What the Proofs for God Accomplish

The Limits of Philosophical Theology

6 Natural Theology: The Theological Question 167

Framing the Question of Natural Theology

Natural Theology as Apologetics

Natural Theology as Theological Foundation

Philosophy of Religion as Natural Theology

The Rejection of Natural Theology

Natural Theology as Part of the Theological System

The Need for Natural Theology

The Role of Natural Theology

Summary

Part 3 Reason and the Experience of Faith 213

7 The Relevance of Reason to Faith 215

Support for the Relevance of Reason to Faith

Various Approaches to Faith and Reason

Conclusion

8 The Contribution of Reason to Faith 247

Variables Affecting Faith and Reason

The Role of Reason Within Faith

The Role of Reason Prior to Faith

The Limitations of Reason in Relation to Faith

Concept and Metaphor: Reason and the Language of Faith

Conclusion

Conclusion 285

Afterword 289

Bibliography 293

Index 301

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