The Realist Hope: A Critique of Anti-Realist Approaches in Contemporary Philosophical Theology (Heythrop Studies in Contemporary Philosophy, Religion and Theology)

by Dr. Christopher J. Insole

Revd Dr Laurence Paul Hemming

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Taking into consideration analytical, continental, historical, post-modern and contemporary thinkers, Insole provides a powerful defence of a realist construal of religious discourse. Insole argues that anti-realism tends towards absolutism and hubris. Where truth is exhausted by our beliefs about truth, there is no conceptual space for doubting those beliefs; only a conception of truth as absolute, given and accessible can guarantee the very humility, sense of fallibility and sensitivity to difference that the anti-realist rightly values.

Cutting through some of the tired and well-rehearsed debates in this area, Insole provides a fresh perspective on approaches influenced by Wittgenstein, Kant, and apophatic theology. The defence of realism offered is unusual in being both analytically precise, and theologically sensitive, with a view to some of the wider and less well-explored cultural, ethical and political implications of the debate.

  • ISBN13 9781409477716
  • Publish Date 28 May 2013 (first published 28 February 2006)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Out of Print 20 January 2022
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
  • Imprint Ashgate Publishing Limited
  • Edition New edition
  • Format eBook
  • Pages 220
  • Language English