What Is the Philosophy of Religion?: A Thomistic Account

Abstract

The article seeks to address and answer two questions: “What is Religion?” and “What is the Philosophy of Religion”? It gives a definition of the first and defends it. It places its arguments on the second in relation to a number of current textbooks on the subject, indicating that its views accord with commonly-recognized concerns, but that these deserve to be ordered a certain way. Specifically, it argues that the whole subject should rightly be divided into two parts (each with proper sub-sections): “Natural Theology” (or God as the Fullness and First Cause of Being) and the “Philosophy of Religion” (or God as Final End and Blessedness). This latter part deals with questions such as the relation of morality and religion, the definition of religion, and religious diversity, and ends with the study of the credibility of religion. For, it argues, the end of metaphysics as classically presented itself requires going beyond it to ask whether there is any credible Way to the natural human goal of being entirely happy or perfected. By rights, then, philosophy ends in seeking whether there is a credible true faith (or several), although committing to any one takes one beyond philosophy’s proper limits.