The aim of this project is to make a bold and lasting impact on religious epistemology.
In particular, we plan to revitalize religious epistemology by bringing to bear the rich range of fertile developments in recent mainstream epistemology that have thus far not been systematically integrated into religious epistemology, thereby opening up new channels of research for religious epistemology. Towards this end, the project is designed to attract the best minds of our day (especially those who have yet to make a contribution to religious epistemology), in producing a large body of work meeting the highest academic standards, to forge links between religious epistemology and other academic disciplines, including both analytic theology and relevant areas of empirical science, and to cement the credibility of religious epistemology as both a relevant and fertile locus for research within mainstream philosophy.
Oxford University 09/2012 - 08/2015
This project aims to bring recent developments in epistemology to bear on topics in the philosophy of religion in a way that will open up new channels of research in religious epistemology. The project is centered around, but not limited to, interesting and novel applications developing out of six main topics: (i) contextualism and pragmatic encroachment, (ii) safety and knowledge, (iii) epistemic defeat, (iv) testimony, (v) formal epistemology, and (vi) etiology of belief.
The project will be led by John Hawthorne and will involve 5 postdoctoral researchers, 1 PhD student, 22 visiting research fellowships, 9 public lectures, 4 roundtable discussions, 6 workshops, and 1 major international conference.
This project, valued at 1.3 million GBP, has been made possible by the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation.
Our project-culminating International Conference on New Insights and Directions for Religious Epistemology will be held on 23-25 June, 2015, at St Anne's College, Oxford. More information here.