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
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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?Slide4Slide5
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