CFP: Philosophia Reformata issue on the Epistemology of Reformed Thought

Reformed Christian theology is primarily known in contemporary philosophy through “Reformed epistemology”, the Calvin-inspired view of the rationality of religious belief according to which properly basic religious beliefs can be rational and warranted when produced by a sensus divinitatis, an innate sense of the divine. This view was developed in Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff’s 1984 Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God, and Plantinga’s 2000 Warranted Christian Belief. While Plantinga and Wolterstorff’s work was groundbreaking, more can be done at the intersection of Reformed Christianity and epistemology. The Reformed tradition has more to offer epistemology, and epistemology has greatly expanded both its concerns and methods in the years since Plantinga and Wolterstorff’s initial efforts. The aim of this issue is to bring together philosophers, theologians, and scholars of religion to showcase the breadth of potential Reformed contributions to contemporary epistemology, and the ways in which secular epistemological tools and concepts may be of use to Reformed theology.

The aim is to consider the myriad ways mainstream epistemology and Reformed theology can interact and learn from each other, so both “epistemology” and “Reformed theology” should be understood broadly. General areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

● Uniquely Reformed contributions to epistemology

● New philosophical interpretations of the epistemologies of Reformed theologians, especially

those theologians under-theorized in mainstream Analytic philosophy

● Using secular philosophical methods and approaches to resolve epistemic issues in Reformed

theology, or the use of Reformed theological concepts to resolve contemporary epistemological

problems

● Considerations of the fit between Reformed theology and mainstream epistemological schools

of thought (especially ones that diverge from Plantinga and Wolterstorff’s Reformed

epistemology, or are in some way under-theorized)

● Connections between the Analytic approach to Reformed epistemology and the more

continental Dooyeweerdian approach to Reformed philosophy

● The application of formal or experimental methods to Reformed epistemology

Papers are due by Dec. 1 2025, and should be between 5,000 and 9,500 words. Authors are requested to select "Special issue: Reformed epistemology" from the Article Type menu when they submit their paper in the editorial manager.

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