A Dubious Heritage

In this collection of essays, Professor Dupre reflects his singular concern with the impact of Kant's critique upon the study of religion. Dupre sees in Kant the first methodic effort to formulate and, at the same time, to overcome, the malaise from which the religious consciousness had suffered ever since art, science, philosophy, and morality had become independent of faith. Tha author sees in Kant's work the fundamental challenge which has affected all subsequent speculation about religion. He sees the challenge framed in three questions: How can we restore the theoretical support of religious faith after Kant's critique of the arguments for the existence of God? How can a method be conceived for the philosophical study of religion on the basis of experience alone? How can that experience itself be legitimated within the context of human autonomy? The works of Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, and Hegel are studied in terms of the legitimation of religious experience. Husserl, Blondel, and Dumery are looked at in reference to the search for method. Finally, the question of justification of faith is seen in the context of the existing cosmological, teleological, moral, and ontological arguments.