Author Description

A Phenomenology Of The Devout Life Is The First Part Of A Three-part Work, A Philosophy Of Christian Life. Rather Than Approaching Christianity Through Its Doctrinal Statements, As Philosophers Of Religion Have Often Done, The Book Starts By Offering A Phenomenological Description Of The Devout Life As That Is Set Out In The Teaching Of Francois De Sales And Related Authors. This Is Because For Most Christians Practice And Life-commitments Are More Fundamental Than Formal Doctrinal Beliefs. Although George Pattison Will Address The Metaphysical Truth-claims Of Christianity In Part Three, The Guiding Argument Is That It Is The Christian Way Of Life That Best Reveals What These Beliefs Really Are. As The Work Is A Philosophical Study, It Does Not Presuppose The Truth Of Christianity But Assumes Only That There Is A Humanly Accessible Meaning To The Intention To Live A Devout Life, Pleasing To God. This Can Be Said To Find Expression In A Certain View Of Selfhood That Emphasizes The Dimensions Of Feeling And Will Rather Than Intellect And That Culminates In The Experience Of The Annihilation Of Self. This Is A Model Of Selfhood Deeply Opposed To Contemporary Models That Privilege Autonomous Agency And The Devout Life Is Therefore Presented As Offering A Corrective To Extreme Versions Of The Contemporary View.