Document Type
Journal Article
Department/Unit
Department of Religion and Philosophy
Title
Language
English
Abstract
It is sometimes said that religious belief and empiricism are different or even incompatible ways of believing. However, William James and notable twentieth-century philosophers representing Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity have argued that there is a high degree of compatibility between religious faith and empiricism. Their analyses suggest that there are three characteristics of empiricism - that an empiricist bases his beliefs on past experience, that he seeks to test his beliefs in future experience, and that he holds his beliefs with a degree of tentativeness in case future experience should uncover evidence against them. The epistemological insights of these philosophers, along with Augustine, show that Christian theology is consistent with empiricism. Indeed, reliance on faith fails to distinguish Christianity from science, and Christian theology is even to a significant extent both verifiable and falsifiable.
Publication Date
4-2020
Source Publication Title
Science and Christian Belief
Volume
32
Issue
1
Start Page
63
End Page
82
Publisher
Paternoster Periodicals
Link to Publisher's Edition
https://www.scienceandchristianbelief.org/view_abstract.php?ID=1471
ISSN (print)
09544194
APA Citation
Boone, M. (2020). Can Faith Be Empirical?. Science and Christian Belief, 32 (1), 63-82. Retrieved from https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/hkbu_staff_publication/6994