1st Edition

Theological Philosophy Rethinking the Rationality of Christian Faith

By Lydia Schumacher Copyright 2015
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    For much of the modern period, theologians and philosophers of religion have struggled with the problem of proving that it is rational to believe in God. Drawing on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, Theological Philosophy seeks to overturn the longstanding problem of proving faith's rationality and to establish instead that rationality requires to be explained by appeals to faith. Building on a constructive argument developed in a companion book, Rationality as Virtue, Lydia Schumacher advances the conclusion that belief in the God of Christian faith provides an exceptionally robust rationale for rationality and is as such intrinsically rational. At the same time, Schumacher overcomes a common tendency to separate spiritual from ordinary life, and construes the latter as the locus of proof for the rationality of Christian faith.

    Introduction; Pre-conditions for theological philosophy; Necessary conditions for theological philosophy; Christian creedal reasoning I: creation and fall; Christian creedal reasoning II: redemption and Church; Sufficient conditions for theological philosophy; Consequences of theological philosophy; Towards a Trinitarian philosophy

    Biography

    Dr Lydia Schumacher is Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, School of Divinity. Her previous books include Divine Illumination: The History and Future of Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge and the three-volume Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine, for which she served as both co-editor and contributor.

    "This project is welcome in that there is a clear need for a theological accout of human knowing that doesn't just illustrate that faith and reason are not in conflict or even tension with one another, but that goes beyond this to give a theological account of reason itself, and in treating theseas two actions of a rational creature, both of which issue in knowledge, illustrates the fundamental unity of faith and reason." -- Junius Johnson, Baylor University