- Feb 5, 2002
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When observers compare and contrast the Christian religious denominations of Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism, similarities and differences become apparent. This is especially so in terms of their religious epistemologies, which explain how and why believers can know which religious beliefs are appropriate.
Before pursuing matters a caveat is necessary. While there are certainly differences between religious denominations, there are also significant diversities within denominations, especially when it comes to the subtleties and nuances of religious epistemologies. What follows is therefore just a broad-brush overview of the trends of different models, rather than a specific historical analysis of denominational claims.
Epistemology is an aspect of philosophy. It studies questions relating to belief and knowledge. It asks what makes beliefs rationally (to use a neutral term) “appropriate.”
Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism have all, at times, distinguished between appropriate and inappropriate beliefs (e.g., heresy). It would be impossible for a denomination to clarify what counts as inappropriate belief, unless there was underlying thinking about what makes a belief appropriate.
This means that each denomination must have a religious epistemology embedded in its attitudes and thinking patterns, even if the existence of that epistemological model is not clearly or explicitly acknowledged in the denomination’s formal theologizing.
Continued below.
Before pursuing matters a caveat is necessary. While there are certainly differences between religious denominations, there are also significant diversities within denominations, especially when it comes to the subtleties and nuances of religious epistemologies. What follows is therefore just a broad-brush overview of the trends of different models, rather than a specific historical analysis of denominational claims.
1. Does Each Denomination Have a Religious Epistemology?
Epistemology is an aspect of philosophy. It studies questions relating to belief and knowledge. It asks what makes beliefs rationally (to use a neutral term) “appropriate.”
Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism have all, at times, distinguished between appropriate and inappropriate beliefs (e.g., heresy). It would be impossible for a denomination to clarify what counts as inappropriate belief, unless there was underlying thinking about what makes a belief appropriate.
This means that each denomination must have a religious epistemology embedded in its attitudes and thinking patterns, even if the existence of that epistemological model is not clearly or explicitly acknowledged in the denomination’s formal theologizing.
2. Protestant Epistemology
Continued below.
