The Revival of Philosophy of Religion and the Contribution of John Hick to This

Abstract

Over the past 50 years there has been a profound shift towards recognition of the importance of the philosophy of religion within both theology and philosophy. At the beginning of the sixties philosophy of religion was very much a fringe subject at most British universities. Fortified by Karl Barth’s isolationist position, many theologians thought they could dispense with intellectual challenges to faith and focus on biblical and patristic studies. In Oxford, no philosophy of religion was included in the normal syllabus of the theology degree, which still described itself as ‘Dogmatic and Symbolic Theology’. There was the possibility of taking philosophy of religion as an additional optional paper, but few tutors thought this advisable. In philosophy, the positivistic school led by A.J. Ayer took the view that religious claims were not so much false as meaningless. Writing about this situation, Ninian Smart suggested that there was a kind of ‘holy conspiracy between theology and A.J. Ayer’ to avoid discussion of metaphysical questions. (Smart 1962: 106). When Ian Ramsey left the Nolloth Chair of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion in 1966 to become Bishop of Durham, there was a strong movement not to appoint a successor on the grounds that the subject was not really needed. Fortunately, a decision was made to appoint Basil Mitchell to the Nolloth Chair and under him and his successors, Richard Swinburne and Brian Leftow, the subject has blossomed as never before.