Walking the Tightrope of Faith (Philosophical Conversations. About Reason and Religion)

This book expands upon the dialogue between the atheist philosopher Kai Nielsen and the Christian philosopher Hendrik Hart in the book Search for Community in A Withering Tradition. Collected here for the first time are the responses of several prominent Canadian philosophers to Nielsen's outspoken work in the philosophy of religion, including their responses to Hart's criticisms of Nielsen. New replies by Hart and Nielsen to these added voices are also included. This volume is of interest for students in the philosophy of religion who wish to examine the encounter between religious faith and secular humanism at the close of the twentieth century, an increasingly postmodern time in which the appeal to an a historical standard of rationality is no longer sought or even thought possible. This book tackles tough topics like the appropriate role of reason in the intellectual criticism and defense of faith, the limits of the rational justification of human knowledge, the role of pre-reflective commitments in human intellectual life, the nature of truth, and the possibility for peace in a world consisting of a plural and often violent collection of cultural and religious groups.