The Spiritual Dimension: Religion, Philosophy and Human Value

"To a certain extent, that’s true. I think his main objective in writing the book is to say that the way we typically do philosophy of religion is perhaps not wrong, but it can be somewhat unproductive and a bit sterile. He wants to say that when it comes to understanding religion, praxis comes first. From that, we can then begin to analyse. “There’s a more receptive way to read, which often takes place when we read fiction or religious texts” It’s not that we can’t use rationality. On the contrary, rationality and consistency are criteria for religion; but there are some things you can only fully understand by doing them and experiencing them, and religion is one of those. So the form of rationality we use should not be narrowly analytical. Religion is about making sense in the broadest possible way, so the sort of sense-making we use in art, history, literature, experience, morality, even the logic of the emotions, are all part of making sense of religion. I was talking to a colleague recently about the evidence for the claim that reading fiction increases empathy. It turns out that those who don’t read fiction, only nonfiction, tend to be less empathetic. I think there’s a similar theme in this book. There’s a very kind of controlling way to read that we often use when we’re seeking information, in which we criticise and analyse arguments. But there’s a more receptive way to read, which often takes place when we read fiction or religious texts. This mode of reading has a different feel. Perhaps it’s a different mode of accessing a kind of truth that’s closed off when we’re a bit more hardened and controlling. I thought it was a nice contrast and gave us a nice spread of topics. I also thought if a teen is studying religion or philosophy at school (or both), this would be quite a different approach to the one they would have met already—different than simply studying the theistic proofs. He also does a pretty good job of tackling many of the big problems that anyone who wants to believe responsibly in religion in the twenty-first century has to deal with, such as science, the problem of evil, the idea of heteronomy (which is that religion makes us in some way childish or not fully autonomous). He talks about religious language and the place of the emotions in religion. He deals with modernism, and post-modernism, and so on. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . It’s quite an impressively broad spectrum of major topics, but it’s not too jargon-heavy. I think it’s relatively accessible. And again, it is the sort of book that, although it is a cumulative argument, if a teen were particularly interested in just one of those philosophical topics, you could just read a chapter and come away with a lot from it."