RT Article
T1 Praise and Blame in Philosophy of Religion
JF Toronto journal of theology
VO 29
IS 2
SP 227
OP 244
A1 Taliaferro, Charles 1952-
A1 Dressen, Austin
A2 Dressen, Austin
LA English
YR 2013
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1961157594
AB Of all the sub-fields of philosophy, it appears to us that philosophy of religion (or philosophical theology) arouses the most skepticism and derision from non-philosophers of religion. It is not unusual for secular philosophers to accuse philosophers of religion of engaging in a practice without any hope of gaining serious philosophical insights. We offer some examples of such disdain and record how some see the field of philosophy of religion as dominated by Christian apologists who are not really practising philosophy at all. We believe that praise and blame have a rightful place in philosophy of religion, and philosophy in general, but our main focus is on times when blame seems inappropriate. We argue that some of the blame levelled by prominent philosophers against philosophers of religion and the field itself are, in fact, unjustified and not in the spirit of constructive, fruitful philosophical dialogue. We contend that by any fair assessment of the field of philosophy of religion, it is not dominated by Christian apologists and, on the basis of a number of non-question-begging criteria, the field seems as healthy as any other respected sub-field of philosophy. We conclude with a modest explanation as to why philosophy of religion arouses the disparagement it does.
K1 Blame
K1 Dialogue
K1 Philosophy of religion
K1 Praise
K1 Theology
DO 10.3138/tjt.2026