Reviews for The Psychology of Belief : Why Religion Seems to Work

The average rating for The Psychology of Belief : Why Religion Seems to Work based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-04-26 00:00:00 Christian Fibich I am astounded that I had never heard of B.P. Bowne before this book. This book honestly blew me away with its clarity, intelligence, and even-handedness of the topic. From establishing first a clear method (often neglected on topics of the subject) Bowne demonstrates from metaphysics that Theism is a powerful (and true) way of explaining the way things are. Bowne helpfully shows that reason gives us three things: things we must accept as true, things we must reject as false, and things which could be either. Reason's appropriate place in the system of the mind is to prevent us accepting contradictions. I think part of the reason Bowne has been forgotten is that due to his Methodism he was not widely acknowledged by the group (evangelicals) who carried Protestantism into our day and age. He also defended the free speech of a colleague who came under a heresy trial, which although admirable is probably not good for the Christian groups anxious to avoid any chance of unsound doctrine. This book is free to read on Google books. Read it.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-11-22 00:00:00 Louis Davis Instead of pointing to the flaws in James’ arguments, we might sympathize with the suffering that fed his desperate need for optimism, purpose, God.