Language Truth And Religious Belief

This book is a collection of essays on the question of whether or not religion is subjective, symbolic, and non-rational. The editors show that these questions are both quite modern and influential in our Western thinking about religious belief. They also lead directly into three popular theories that attempt to make sense of religion: positivism, functionalism, and relativism. The book includes essays that represent each of these three theoretical positions, and the editors demonstrate the incoherence and weaknesses of each. They argue for a new method and theory for understanding religious beliefs, which they call "constructive empiricism."

Why do many people think religion is subjective? Or symbolic? Or non-rational? This book brings together eighteen important twentieth-century essaus on these questions, by authors ranging from Ludwig Wittgenstein to Richard Rorty and Clifford Geertz. The editors show that such questions are both quite modern and powerfully influential in our Western thinking about religious belief. Moreover, they lead directly into the three most popular theories that attempt to make sense of religion: positivism, functionalism, and relativism. Selecting essays that represent each of these three theoretical positions, Frankenberry and Penner trace their incoherence and argue for a new method and theory for understanding religious beliefs. Review: They are essays which students of religion should know and be able to evaluate critically. Theology Digest