Faith, Reason, and Beyond Reason

""In this readable collection of essays, Mark Boone brings together a remarkably diverse cast of thinkers, including Alvin Plantinga, St. Augustine, William James, Søren Kierkegaard, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Luc Marion, and Allama Iqbal, to mention only some of the major players. One might think these thinkers have little in common, and they are certainly different, but Boone succeeds in his goal of creating a kind of dialogue between them. In the course of doing so, he provides important insights about the nature of Christian faith and its relation to reason."" --C. Stephen Evans, emeritus university professor of philosophy, Baylor University ""Rejecting the modernist war of faith versus reason, Mark Boone argues in this fine collection of essays that faith transcends reason by exploring the personal element of trust built on the empirical foundation on which reason rests. With Kant, Augustine, Kierkegaard, William James, Alvin Plantinga, and Islamic philosopher Allama Iqbal as his interlocutors, Boone helps rescue the traditional Christian worldview from the artificial facts/values split propagated by the Enlightenment."" --Louis Markos, professor of English, Houston Baptist University ""Drawing on an interesting variety of sources, Mark Boone develops a readable account of religious epistemology. He covers the usual suspects--Alvin Plantinga, Augustine, and William James--but also draws insights from Søren Kierkegaard, Jean-Luc Marion, and Islamic philosopher Allama Iqbal. The reader will benefit from the juxtaposition of these disparate voices. Also important is Boone's attention to questions beyond assessing knowledge claims: How do these claims apply to the reliability of Scripture and what does it look like to act on knowledge claims? The net result is a degree of cohesion and narrative unity that is rare among collections of essays. A valuable resource!"" --James K. Beilby, professor of biblical and theological studies, Bethel University ""Religious epistemology is a notoriously thorny topic. However, Mark Boone masterfully helps us navigate the topic, drawing in important voices such as James, Kierkegaard, Kant, Augustine, Plantinga, and others. Perhaps the most important feature of this book is that it shatters the myth that religious knowledge must either be grounded in faith or reason. Instead, Boone offers a lucid vision of how both play a vital role in a robust understanding of religious truth."" --Steven Wilkens, professor of philosophy and ethics, Azusa Pacific University