Gudstro och förnuft i dagens pluralistiska samhälle

Abstract

In this essay I argue that the conditions for doing philosophy of religion have significantly changed over the last decades. I highlight and discuss three of these changes. We have moved from a society where belief in God is unchallenged and unproblematic to a society in which it is understood to be one option among others, and possibly even dangerous. We are not any longer certain (or as certain as we used to be) that God exists. But, moreover, we are neither as certain as we used to be when it comes to how to understand and describe God. Not just God’s existence but God’s nature has become a great problem of concern for people in general, as well as for theologians and philosophers. The last condition, highlighted in the essay, is that we are not as certain as we use to be when it comes to how to assess the rationality of belief in God. What model of rationality and knowledge is it appropriate to use? To what extent is reason bound to context, tradition and culture? I argue that these three changes should have an effect on the kinds of theories developed in contemporary philosophy of religion.