Analytic Theology and the Phenomenology of Faith

Abstract

This article argues that analytic philosophy has a “convincingness deficit”; that proponents of the analytic method’s application to questions of theology must consider whether it is the best tool for the purpose at hand; and that phenomenology – in particular, Sartrean phenomenology – provides a useful methodological complement to the scholarly analysis of faith. After defining the convincingness deficit and what I take analytic theology to be, I defend phenomenology against the charge of “subjectivity” (voiced by Dennett and others) in order to argue that the varied ends of theological discourse require varied means – means which include phenomenology