Plantingian Religious Epistemology and World Religions

Prospects and Problems

Erik Baldwin and Tyler Dalton McNabb

To what extent can non-Christian religious traditions utilize Plantinga’s epistemology? And, if there are believers from differing religious traditions that can rightfully utilize Plantinga’s religious epistemology, does this somehow prevent a Plantingian’s creedal-specific religious belief from being warranted? In order to answer these questions, Baldwin and McNabb first provide an introduction to Plantinga’s religious epistemology. Second, they explore the prospects and problems that members of non-Christian religions face when they attempt to utilize Plantingian religious epistemology. Finally, they sketch out possible approaches to holding that a Plantingian’s creedal-specific religious belief can be warranted, even given believers from other religious traditions who can also rightfully make full use of Plantinga’s religious epistemology.

Lexington Books

Pages: 332 • Trim: 6½ x 9

978-1-4985-5293-6 • Hardback • November 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-5294-3 • eBook • November 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Series: Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion

Subjects: Philosophy / Religious, Philosophy / History & Surveys / Modern, Philosophy / Individual Philosophers, Religion / General

Plantingian Religious Epistemology and World Religions

Prospects and Problems

Hardback

eBook

Summary

To what extent can non-Christian religious traditions utilize Plantinga’s epistemology? And, if there are believers from differing religious traditions that can rightfully utilize Plantinga’s religious epistemology, does this somehow prevent a Plantingian’s creedal-specific religious belief from being warranted? In order to answer these questions, Baldwin and McNabb first provide an introduction to Plantinga’s religious epistemology. Second, they explore the prospects and problems that members of non-Christian religions face when they attempt to utilize Plantingian religious epistemology. Finally, they sketch out possible approaches to holding that a Plantingian’s creedal-specific religious belief can be warranted, even given believers from other religious traditions who can also rightfully make full use of Plantinga’s religious epistemology.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 332 • Trim: 6½ x 9

978-1-4985-5293-6 • Hardback • November 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-5294-3 • eBook • November 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Series: Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion

Subjects: Philosophy / Religious, Philosophy / History & Surveys / Modern, Philosophy / Individual Philosophers, Religion / General

Author

Erik Baldwin teaches at Indiana University, Northwest.

Tyler Dalton McNabb is assistant professor of philosophy at Houston Baptist University.

Table of Contents

Part One: Plantingian Religious Epistemology and the World Religions

Preface

Chapter 1: Plantingian Religious Epistemology and the World Religions

Chapter 2: Naturalism, Proper Functionalism, and the Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism

Chapter 3: Plantingian Religious Epistemology and World Religions

Part Two: The Prospects of Plantingian Religious Epistemology in Non-Christian Religions I: India and China

Chapter 4: Plantingian Religious Epistemology and Advaita Vedānta and Sāṃkhya

Chapter 5: Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta

Chapter 6: A Mādhva Vedānta Extension of the Standard Aquinas/Calvin Model

Chapter 7: Buddhism

Chapter 8: Neo-Confucianism and Daoism

Part Three: The Prospects of Plantingian Religious Epistemology in Non-Christian Religions II: The Abrahamic Religions

Chapter 9: Judaism

Chapter 10: An Islamic Extension of the Standard Aquinas/Calvin Model

Part Four: Objections to Plantingian Religious Epistemology

Chapter 11: Objections to Plantingian Religious Epistemology

Reviews

Plantingian Religious Epistemology and World Religions succeeds insofar as it provides a wealth of material that should serve to move the eponymous conversation in a meaningful directions for quite some time. The considerable value of Baldwin and McNabb's impressive work, though, is the wealth of resources that have been adapted to address the growing discussion surronding these issues. Thoughful readers will be able to discern which is which and can expect to come away with a deeper appreciation for the almost innumberable insights to be found along the journey.

— Journal of Chinese Philosophy

Contrary to the pronouncements of a vocal few, the increasingly religiously plural nature of our world has not brought about the irrelevance of the questions of religious epistemology. Proposals about how to think about the epistemic status of religious belief remain crucially important, and Alvin Plantinga’s proposal stands out among those as uniquely valuable and powerful. What our religiously plural world does require is more of what Baldwin and McNabb do in this important volume — engage religious traditions in deep and substantive ways and then ask how those religious traditions might employ the resources of Plantinga’s work. This book is a valuable contribution to scholarship on Plantinga’s religious epistemology and on the broader question of religious epistemology within and among the world’s religious traditions.
— James Beilby, Bethel University

Plantingian Religious Epistemology and World Religions is a substantial work that deserves a wide readership. This volume establishes Baldwin and McNabb as pioneers in the emerging field of comparative religious epistemology. While covering a wide selection of Asian and Western traditions and incorporating both historical and contemporary sources, Baldwin and McNabb present a sustained and engaging argument. This work should become required reading for all those interested in Plantingian religious epistemology and its potential applications.
— Victoria S. Harrison, University of Macau, China