The Realist Hope: A Critique of Anti-Realist Approaches in Contemporary Philosophical Theology (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780754654872)

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.

Author: Christopher J. Insole
ISBN-10: 0754654877
ISBN-13: 9780754654872
Publisher: Routledge
Language: English
Published: 02/28/2006
Pages: 220
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.08lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.56d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2006 pg. 33