Ep. #103 – Catholic Reformed Epistemology? (part 2) w/ Dr. Stacey
Summary
What is Reformed epistemology? Is it compatible with Catholicism? Can specifically Catholic belief be rational apart from arguments? Dr. Gregory Stacey joins us to discuss his doctoral dissertation where he aims to situate a type of Reformed epistemology within Catholicism. He calls it “Counter-Reformed epistemology” (CRE). In this interview, he provides details behind his model and defends it against several objections.
Guest Bio
Gregory Stacey completed his DPhil (or PhD) in Theology at Trinity College, Oxford under the supervision of Brian Leftow and William Wood. He specializes in the study of Catholic religious epistemology and metaphysics. He lives in Leeds with his wife Alexandra where he teaches Theology at Leeds Trinity University alongside working as a Co-ordinator of Catechesis for the Diocese of Leeds.
Show Outline
In the first segment, Dr. Stacey explains how he got interested in religion and philosophy. Stacey also discusses various Christian thinkers who have influenced his thought. I invite him to provide an overview of his doctoral thesis which develops what he calls “Counter-reformed epistemology” (CRE).
In the next segment, Dr. Stacey discusses different models of Catholic faith. He argues that evidentialist accounts and pragmatic accounts do not succeed in accounting for all of the properties (or “desiderata”) of Catholic faith taught by the Church. On the other hand, he argues that his CRE model does account for all of those properties.
In the final segment, Dr. Stacey explains where he finds aspects of Reformed epistemology in the tradition. Also, he defends the view against a few objections.
Resources Mentioned
Towards a Catholic Epistemology by Dr. Gregory Stacey (his doctoral dissertation; available free for download). Also, in this work, Dr. Stacey quotes an important doctoral dissertation by Fr. James Brent O.P. from 2008 (St. Louis University) which covers some similar territory. I have not found a link to Fr. Brent’s dissertation online, but your local university may be able to access it for you.
Aquinas, Instinct, and the “Internalist” Justification of Faith by Dr. Gregory Stacey (journal article in New Blackfriars)
Reason and the Heart: A Prolegomenon to a Critique of Passional Reason (Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion) by William Wainwright
An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent by John Henry Newman
Pensees by Blaise Pascal
St. Thomas Aquinas on the Relation of Faith to the Church by Dr. Bryan Cross (blog article)
Related Episodes
Ep. #102 – Catholic Reformed Epistemology? (Part 1) w/ Dr. McNabb
Ep. #86 – Who has the burden of PROOF? w/ Dr. Bogardus
Ep. #34 – Evolutionary Debunking Arguments with Dr. Bogardus
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