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Cognitive science of religion and theism: how can they be compatible?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2013

LEO NÄREAHO
LEO NÄREAHO*
Affiliation:
Department of Systematic Theology, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Theology, P. O. Box 4, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland e-mail: leo.nareaho@helsinki.fi
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Abstract

In this article, I examine the compatibility thesis, according to which the assumptions and results of cognitive (and other bio-psychological) theories of religion are compatible with the theistic world-view. In particular, I analyse the conception of world-view neutrality concerning scientific theories of religion. I also investigate the nature of pro-theistic argumentation; one aspect of this is the role that various forms of naturalism have in theistic compatibility claims. I point out that the version of theism guiding the argumentation of the proponents of the compatibility thesis is seldom explicated. A commitment to classical theism is problematic because of the ultimate metaphysical separation of God and the world. Instead, I support the compatibility view with a notion of God construed as the structuring cause of the world.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 51 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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