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The Epistemology of Doubt The Epistemology of Doubt

The Epistemology of Doubt - PowerPoint Presentation

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The Epistemology of Doubt - PPT Presentation

Travis Dickinson Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary travdickinson wwwtravisdickinsoncom These slides can be found at wwwtravisdickinsoncom Do you fly Making your faith your own ID: 718133

mary doubt magdalene defeater doubt mary defeater magdalene plausible claim potential reasonable doubts mother faith scripture james believes steve

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Slide1

The Epistemology of Doubt

Travis

Dickinson

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

@

travdickinson

www.travisdickinson.comSlide2

These slides can be found at:

www.travisdickinson.comSlide3

Do you fly?Slide4
Slide5

Making your faith your own

60% of Christian youth walk away from the church in college.

Why?

Perhaps we haven’t allowed our kids to sufficiently doubt their faith.Slide6

Let’s talk about doubt

There are different kinds of doubt

I’m

not talking about:

Emotional, volitional, moral, r

elational, etc.

I am talking about:Intellectual doubtSlide7

Let’s talk about doubt

Thesis: Intellectual doubt has value.

Doubt has instrumental value since, when handled properly, it leads to

knowledge, truth

It can even lead to

a greater faith!

Some let doubts have their way.Some people do not

let doubt have any say at all. Slide8

What is doubt?

Doubt

involves

the

pull

of

what we take to be a defeater for one of our beliefs.What is a defeater?Something that, if successful, harms the rationality of a belief.

A defeater for p will involve a claim that is contrary to p.Slide9

What is doubt?

Evidence

matters for defeaters.

When one does not yet have good reason to believe the contrary claim, it is a

potential

defeater.

A potential defeater only becomes an actual defeater when there are sufficiently good reasons to believe the defeating claims.Slide10

The Nature of Doubt

A person, S,

doubts that p

iff

S

believes that p is true. S finds some q merely plausible to some degree.

Note: S doesn’t yet believe q.S believes that q is a potential defeater. Slide11

What is doubt?

Doubt is when we feel the force of a

potential defeater

.

W

hen we are finding a potential defeater plausible. Slide12

What is doubt?

Steve believes that Scripture is without error.

A coworker points out…

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave” (Matt.

28:1).

“Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome…came to the tomb when the sun had risen” (Mark 16:1–2).

“Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them” (Luke 24:10).“Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb” (John 20:1). Slide13

What is doubt?

p

= Scripture is without error

q = Scripture has contradictions

Steve

believes that Scripture is without error.

Steve is finding the idea that

Scripture has contradictions somewhat plausible. Steve believes that if these passages contradict, then his belief is defeated. Slide14

How to Doubt Well

Hang on!

Doubts and objections should not straightaway defeat our beliefs.

How many of you will get on the airplane?Slide15

How to Doubt Well

I

find a few objections to Christianity, to some degree, plausible.

What?!

A merely plausible claim is not necessarily a fully reasonable claim.

The only reason that this sounds strange is because we are not used to considering objections. Slide16

How to Doubt Well

It’s perfectly possible to doubt p and keep rationally believing p.

Remember it is just a potential defeater. Why concede until it is an actual defeater

?Slide17

How to Doubt Well

“Doubt your doubts”

Evaluate the epistemic status of the contrary claims you’re finding plausible.

Two ways to evaluate your doubts:

Ask:

S

o what?Ask: I

s the claim reasonable? Is it more reasonable than my current beliefs?Slide18

How to Doubt Well

So what?

Let’s say it is true. So what?

If it is true and reasonable,

is it a really a defeater? Is

it really contrary?

When S doubts, S believes that q is a potential defeater

(#3 from account). But is q really a potential defeater?If it is not, then it is not a problem. Slide19

Steve’s Doubt

Belief: Scripture is

without error.

But…

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave” (Matt.

28:1).

“Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome…came to the tomb when the sun had risen” (Mark 16:1–2).“Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them” (Luke 24:10).“Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb” (John 20:1). Slide20

Steve’s Doubt

So what?

These

are different…

Mary Magdalene and the other

Mary”

(Matthew).“Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome”

(

Mark).

“Mary

Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other

women”

(

Luke).

Mary

Magdalene”

(

John).

But are they contradictory?Slide21

How to Doubt Well

I

s

the claim reasonable

?

When S doubts, S

finds q plausible to some degree (#2 from account).

A crazy claim can strike us as plausible.But is it reasonable?If it is not reasonable, then the claim is not a problem. Slide22

Is this okay?

Isn’t it wrong to question God? Aren’t we told to have childlike faith

?Slide23

Is this okay?

Isn’t

it

risky to doubt your faith?

No more risky than ignoring doubt.

I believe more people walk away from ignoring their doubts, especially when crises hit.

If done properly, we will end up with a more rational view. Take this process slowly and do it in community. Slide24

Conclusion

Christians stand in a long and rich

tradition of

considering the

hardest objections

and

offering thoughtful responses.How are we doing today?Christianity has the resources to address our

deepest and most difficult questions. In order to get to these answers, we have to appreciate the hard questions. Slide25

Conclusion

If Christianity can address our hardest questions, we come out with a deeper more abiding faith. Slide26

Conclusion

In the words of Jesus…

Matt. 22:37-38:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind

.’

This

is the first and greatest commandment.Slide27

Conclusion

“The

Benefit of the

Doubt

blog”

www.travisdickinson.com

@travdickinson