Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation was the critical elaboration of the notion "the logic of faith" utilized in the writings of Paul Leroy Holmer, recently Professor of Philosophical Theology of Yale Divinity School. Holmer seeks to clarify the purpose of theology by reconceptualizing philosophy, theology, logic, the role of scholarship, religious belief, and the peculiar language and logic of the life of faith. ;Chapter one presents Holmer's contrasting of, on the one hand, the pedagogy of philosophy and theology that involves a seemingly unending contrasting of various proposals, theories, paradigms, and models and, on the other hand, the first-order philosophy and theology that involves the pursuit of ethico-religious virtues like wisdom. ;Chapter two notes Holmer's utilization of Kierkegaard's illustrative literature and Wittgenstein's remarks about word-uses to distinguish between religious, scientific, ethical, and aesthetic concepts. Ethico-religious concepts involve one in learning to speak the language of the moral life and the language of the religious life rather than learning about morality and religion. ;Chapter four analyzes Holmer' s observation that "knowledge of God" is disanalogical to "knowledge" conceived as a subject matter or information objectively or disinterestedly assimilable in the way that scholars and scientists gain information or postulate theories. "Knowing God" entails emotional-behavioral components like fearing, loving, and obeying God. ;Theology, like rules of logic and grammar, is not a set of prescriptions to be explicitly learned--as a theory to be learned prior to an application--but is a set of descriptive remarks functioning as reminders and pointers. Religious belief-statements are neither simply more information nor mere assumptions. Creeds, confessions, the Scriptures, and hymns include remarks of the logic and grammar of faith. ;Holmer challenges philosophy and theology scholars to remember the proper limits and scope of their tasks. He reminds his reader that first-order theology is not the goal of Christian life but an instrument or a tool for the life and practice of faith. Scholars interested in theology have the task of elucidating and clarifying religious concepts and religious belief