ABSTRACT
A chapter with this title might have two purposes, and thus differing fundamental questions, depending upon how we imagine the direction of relationship between the two main areas of theism on the one hand, and theology and religious studies on the other. We could wonder what theologians and other scholars of religion have made of the concept of “theism,” and surrounding debates. In other words, we could look at theism carefully within the disciplines of theology and religious studies. This first way has, fortunately, already been covered for us in earlier chapters of this Companion, several of which, in discussing theism, already drew implicitly on the comparative theology of several religions and religious philosophies. This means they also drew upon the larger discipline of comparative religions. Because we can happily assume their work in this chapter, we do not have to follow the first way, the way which thinks about theism. Instead, we will follow the second way in this chapter. In other words, we will examine theology and religious studies from the point of view of theistic faith-and-reason. Thus our way in this chapter will be from theism to theology and religious studies. This journey necessarily raises some key questions, none of which have established answers among scholars, and all of which are vigorously debated by experts. What is religious studies? What is theology? Are they different branches of the same tree in the groves of Academe, or different species however related? Perhaps most controversially, what role does faith-based reasoning play in both-if any? To answer these questions, it will be necessary (however odd this might appear) to ponder what science is as an academic inquiry, and to consider briefly some broad themes in the methodology or rationality of the sciences. This is because to examine any academic discipline or science from the point of view of a robust religious faith is already to raise the issue of faith-and-reason, or if you like, a faith-based rationality within the sciences. After a very brief detour in this conflicted domain, we will then be able to examine more carefully theology and religious studies as academic disciplines in relation to theism, or perhaps better said, the role of theistic faith in both theology and religious studies.
