For some religious believers, faith is one of the most important things a person can have in their life. But what is faith? Common theistic definitions say that faith is belief or trust, while a number of atheists argue that faith is an irrational claim to knowledge. In this episode of the show, I talk with Professor John Bishop about some of these issues, as well as the different models of faith. Dr. Bishop is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He has a BA from the Australian National University and a PhD from Cambridge. His interests center around philosophy of religion and philosophy of action, he has written books on each of these subjects, published a number of scholarly articles in academic journals, and has authored the entry on “Faith” for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Links are available below.
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Dr. Bishop’s university webpage: http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/people/jbis016
Dr. Bishop’s entry on Faith at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Faith as doxastic venture – Dr. Bishop’s 2002 paper from the Religious Studies journal
Books:
Things discussed in (or related to) this episode:
The Will to Believe by William James
Pascal’s Wager at the SEP
Faith and Reason at the IEP