The Maturity of Belief Critically Assessing Religious Faith

includes index and biblioraphy

Section One: How and Why We Believe 1 The nature of belief Making sense of reality The desire to believe Reasons for believing 2 Moving beyond simplistic beliefs Why people hold onto simplistic beliefs Reasons for embracing new concepts Exceptions The difficulty of replacing religious beliefs A familiar example Section Two: Belief in Historical Perspective 3 Religious belief before the Enlightenment The ancient mindset Plato and Aristotle The medieval period Scholasticism The Renaissance The Reformation 4 The Early Enlightenment Rationalism Empiricism Metaphysical perspectives 5 The burgeoning of the Enlightenment Kant Hegel Existentialism Pragmatism 6 More recent developments Fundamentalism Logical positivism Postmodernism Conclusion Section Three: Constructing Belief 7 The basis of belief Truth Objectivity Reliability Justification Verification Knowledge Evidence 8 Systematized belief Constructing paradigms Adapting paradigms Replacing paradigms Group dynamics Religious paradigms 9 Sources of religious belief Subjective and objective sources The four sources Religious authority Scripture Tradition Orthodoxy Section Four: Mature Belief 10 Religious belief and certainty The desire for certainty Extremes to be avoided Naivete Scepticism Dogmatism Trust Certainty and doubt 11 Faith and belief Faith and reason Reconciling the empirical with the metaphysical Characteristics of mature religious faith 12 Cultivating religious intellectual maturity Types of religious intellectual immaturity Superstition Authoritarianism Emotionalism Dogmatism Safe havens for religious intellectual immaturity Rationalism Pragmatism Radical scepticism Steps towards religious intellectual maturity Deepening understanding Broadening perspective Accountability and mentoring