Abstract
‘If we submit everything to reason, our religion will have no mysterious or supernatural element’ (1). Pascal’s statement very aptly expresses the persistent fear and suspicion of philosophy within the Christian tradition that has existed alongside the religious intellectualism we have just been discussing. Once philosophy is allowed a foothold within the domain of religious faith, it inevitably ends, so it is claimed, by rationalising away the mysterious and supernatural dimension of faith, and by making religion appear as all man’s own work and achievement instead of being a free gift and gratuitous disclosure from God. Again, the philosophising of religious faith makes it into a kind of speculative assent, so that the practical or moral or personal dimension of religion becomes secondary; or, put in another way, philosophical religion is necessarily ‘objective’ in the sense that it is concerned with impersonal truths that are available to all, and the ‘subjective’ or ‘personal’ or ‘inward’ character of religious faith is neglected. The God of the philosophers, as Pascal says again, is not the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob (2).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
W. Montgomery Watt, ‘Muslim Intellectual: A Study of Al Ghazzali’ (Edinburgh, 1963).
J. Chevalier, ‘Pascal’ (London, 1970).
A. Leroy, ‘David Hume’ (Paris, 1953).
N. Kemp Smith (ed.), ‘Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion’ (Oxford, 1935).
R. Grimsley, ‘Rousseau and the Religious Quest’ (Oxford, 1968).
F. E. England, ‘Kant’s Conception of God’ (London, 1929).
C. C. J. Webb, ‘Kant’s Philosophy of Religion’ (Oxford, 1926).
W. H. Walsh, ‘Kant’s Moral Theology’, in ‘Proceedings of the British Academy’, xlix (1963).
L. W. Beck, ‘Studies in the Philosophy of Kant’ (New York, 1965).
L. Dupré, ‘Kierkegaard as Theologian’ (London, 1964).
J. Collins, ‘The Mind of Kierkegaard’ (London, 1954).
J. L. Adams, ‘Paul Tillich’s Philosophy of Culture, Science and Religion’ (New York, 1965).
C. W. Hegley (ed.), ‘The Theology of Rudolf Bultmann’ (London, 1966).
H. Zahrnt, ‘The Question of God’ (London, 1969).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1972 M. J. Charlesworth
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Charlesworth, M.J. (1972). Philosophy as Making Room for Faith. In: Philosophy of Religion: The Historic Approaches. Philosophy of Religion Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00201-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00201-6_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-00203-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-00201-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Religion & Philosophy CollectionPhilosophy and Religion (R0)