The ground and nature of religious belief in the work of John Macmurray, John Baillie and John Oman, with special reference to their understanding of the relation between ordinary experience and religious belief
The study expounds the views of Macmurray, Baillie and Oman on religious belief in the context of their other epistemological, anthropological and theological convictions. It is shown that each of the writers argues that religious belief is a response to a feature of everyday experience (human alienation, moral intuition and the sense of the holy respectively), that each of them takes the view that religious belief functions in order to achieve a valued end (community, willing obedience to divinely ordained duties and the on-going development of moral personality) which is regarded as both the will of God and essential to human flourishing, and that they also hold that religious beliefs may be confirmed in relation to the valued end which they aim to promote. I argue that whilst each is not without their lacunas and inadequacies, the three writers provide insights which may be useful in understanding religious belief in a Christian context. I maintain, for instance, that Macmurray's argument that religion is a derivative response to a critical dimension of ordinary experience is an illuminating perspective. Again, it is argued that there are resources in Baillie's work to help in the articulation of the view
Hood, Adam
Belief and doubt ; Faith
The ground and nature of religious belief in the work of John Macmurray, John Baillie and John Oman, with special reference to their understanding of the relation between ordinary experience and religious belief. The study expounds the views of Macmurray, Baillie and Oman on religious belief in the context of their other epistemological, anthropological and theological convictions. It is shown that each of the writers argues that religious belief is a response to a feature of everyday experience (human alienation, moral intuition and the sense of the holy respectively), that each of them takes the view that religious belief functions in order to achieve a valued end (community, willing obedience to divinely ordained duties and the on-going development of moral personality) which is regarded as both the will of God and essential to human flourishing, and that they also hold that religious beliefs may be confirmed in relation to the valued end which they aim to promote. I argue that whilst each is not without their lacunas and inadequacies, the three writers provide insights which may be useful in understanding religious belief in a Christian context. I maintain, for instance, that Macmurray's argument that religion is a derivative response to a critical dimension of ordinary experience is an illuminating perspective. Again, it is argued that there are resources in Baillie's work to help in the articulation of the view
ground nature religious_belief work john john john oman special_reference relation ordinary experience religious_belief study expound view oman religious_belief context epistemological anthropological theological conviction show writer argue religious_belief response feature everyday_experience human alienation moral intuition sense holy respectively take view religious_belief function order_achieve value end community willing obedience divinely duty going development moral personality regard god essential human flourishing also hold religious_belief may confirm relation value end aim_promote argue_whilst without inadequacy writer provide_insight may useful religious_belief christian context maintain instance argument religion derivative response critical dimension ordinary experience illuminate perspective argue resource work help articulation view