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Is Catholic faith worth having?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2020

GREGORY R. P. STACEY Open the ORCID record for GREGORY R. P. STACEY [Opens in a new window]
GREGORY R. P. STACEY*
Affiliation:
Institute of Childhood and Education, Leeds Trinity University, Horsforth, West Yorkshire, LS18 5HD, UK
*
e-mail: g.stacey@leedstrinity.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article defends the claim that firm belief in divine testimony (‘Catholic Faith’) is morally valuable, if the broad claims of Christian orthodoxy hold. I discuss Jonathan Kvanvig's recent argument that Christians should not hold that salvific faith necessarily involves belief in revelation or God's existence, because such faith is not much ‘worth having’, suggesting that this argument is dubious from Catholic and Protestant theological perspectives. I then examine some extant accounts of Catholic Faith's value, conceding that Kvanvig successfully highlights their flaws. I therefore offer a novel explanation of Catholic Faith's value, drawing on Miranda Fricker's account of testimonial justice.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 359 - 378
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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