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Reforming reformed epistemology: a new take on the sensus divinitatis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2018

BLAKE MCALLISTER  and
TRENT DOUGHERTY
BLAKE MCALLISTER*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy & Religion, Hillsdale College 33 East College Street, Hillsdale, MI 49242, USA
TRENT DOUGHERTY*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Baylor University 1301 South University Parks Drive, Waco, TX 76706, USA
*
e-mail: bmcallister@hillsdale.edu
e-mail: trent_dougherty@baylor.edu
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Abstract

Alvin Plantinga theorizes the existence of a sensus divinitatis – a special cognitive faulty or mechanism dedicated to the production and non-inferential justification of theistic belief. Following Chris Tucker, we offer an evidentialist-friendly model of the sensus divinitatis whereon it produces theistic seemings that non-inferentially justify theistic belief. We suggest that the sensus divinitatis produces these seemings by tacitly grasping support relations between the content of ordinary experiences (in conjunction with our background evidence) and propositions about God. Our model offers advantages such as eliminating the need for a sui generis religious faculty, harmonizing the sensus divinitatis with prominent theories in the cognitive science of religion, and providing a superior account of natural revelation.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 537 - 557
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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