Overview

This book introduces the empirical tradition in American liberal religious thought, from 1860 to 1960, by exploring the thought of significant individual contributors. The first section focuses on four participants in the Free Religious Association of 1867, which supported free religion, the scientific method, and evolution: F. E. Abbot, W. J. Potter, D. A. Wasson, and M. J. Savage. The second section focuses on the empirical tradition as expressed by eight scholars from the eight scholars from the «Chicago School» in American liberal religious thought: S. Mathews, G. B. Foster, E. S. Ames, G. B. Smith, S. J. Case, A. E. Haydon, H. N. Wieman, and B. E. Meland.

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9781433108099

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W. Creighton Peden is the leading historical scholar of the empirical tradition in American liberal religious thought. His clear, vigorous writing allows the reader to understand the varieties of studying religion scientifically and of doing empirical theology. By offering a valuable historical perspective and twelve insightful 'case studies' of creative thinkers, this book provides a rich feast of food for thought for everyone today who attempts to relate religion to the modern sciences and the issues of contemporary life. (Karl E. Peters, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion, Rollins College; Author of 'Spiritual Transformations: Science, Religion and Human Becoming Empirical') Theology not only describes a history, it is itself an act of history. In 'Empirical Tradition in American Liberal Religious Thought, 1860-1960', the legacy of the 'Free Religious Association' and the 'Chicago School' has many branches, humanistic and religious, scientific and theological. W. Creighton Peden has spent a lifetime writing on these thinkers, and here his shrewd analysis has given them the serious attention they have always deserved. (William Dean, Professor Emeritus of Constructive Theology, The Iliff School of Theology)

W. Creighton Peden is the leading historical scholar of the empirical tradition in American liberal religious thought. His clear, vigorous writing allows the reader to understand the varieties of studying religion scientifically and of doing empirical theology. By offering a valuable historical perspective and twelve insightful `case studies' of creative thinkers, this book provides a rich feast of food for thought for everyone today who attempts to relate religion to the modern sciences and the issues of contemporary life. (Karl E. Peters, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion, Rollins College; Author of `Spiritual Transformations: Science, Religion and Human Becoming Empirical') Theology not only describes a history, it is itself an act of history. In `Empirical Tradition in American Liberal Religious Thought, 1860-1960', the legacy of the `Free Religious Association' and the `Chicago School' has many branches, humanistic and religious, scientific and theological. W. Creighton Peden has spent a lifetime writing on these thinkers, and here his shrewd analysis has given them the serious attention they have always deserved. (William Dean, Professor Emeritus of Constructive Theology, The Iliff School of Theology)

W. Creighton Peden is the leading historical scholar of the empirical tradition in American liberal religious thought. His clear, vigorous writing allows the reader to understand the varieties of studying religion scientifically and of doing empirical theology. By offering a valuable historical perspective and twelve insightful 'case studies' of creative thinkers, this book provides a rich feast of food for thought for everyone today who attempts to relate religion to the modern sciences and the issues of contemporary life. (Karl E. Peters, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion, Rollins College; Author of 'Spiritual Transformations: Science, Religion and Human Becoming Empirical') Theology not only describes a history, it is itself an act of history. In 'Empirical Tradition in American Liberal Religious Thought, 1860-1960', the legacy of the 'Free Religious Association' and the 'Chicago School' has many branches, humanistic and religious, scientific and theological. W. Creighton Peden has spent a lifetime writing on these thinkers, and here his shrewd analysis has given them the serious attention they have always deserved. (William Dean, Professor Emeritus of Constructive Theology, The Iliff School of Theology)

Author Information

The Author: W. Creighton Peden received a B.A. from Davidson College, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and Ph.D. from St. Andrews University, Scotland. He is the Fuller E. Callaway Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Augusta State University. Peden served as the founding president of the Highlands Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought, 1987-2008. He is the author of Wieman’s Empirical Process Philosophy (1977); co-editor of H. N. Wieman’s Creative Freedom: Vocation of Liberal Religion (1982); co-editor of H. N. Wieman’s Science Serving Faith (1987); co-author of Whitehead’s View of Reality (1981); author of The Chicago School: Voices of Liberal Religious Thought (1987); co-editor of The Chicago School of Theology: Pioneers in Religious Inquiry, Vol. I–II (1996); and author of The Philosopher of Free Religion: Francis Ellingwood Abbot, 1836-1903 (1992).

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