Religious Knowledge versus Religious Understanding

Abstract

In religious epistemology there is a significant amount of focus on religious knowledge, but much less attention has been paid to religious understanding. This is unfortunate. It is unfortunate not just because religious understanding is an interesting topic but also because religious understanding is more epistemically valuable than religious knowledge. This chapter presents two reasons for thinking this is the case. The first is that the connection between understanding and action gives us reason to think this, and the second is that understanding plays a more important role in a religious context. Following this, the chapter argues that we ought to reconsider skeptical arguments against religious belief because although they may undermine knowledge, they may not undermine understanding—the chapter offers an example of a skeptical argument where focusing on understanding rather than knowledge provides us with a straightforward response.