While the empirical study of religion isn’t particularly new—psychology, anthropology, and cognitive science are rich with resources on this front—applying the tools of such fields toward explicitly philosophical ends is. This page will list some of the important work in this emerging area of research, along with the publications (eventually) produced by this project. For more such resources, see the PhilPaper’s bibliography for experimental philosophy of religion.
“Experimental Philosophy of Religion.” In Compact Compendium of Experimental Philosophy, edited by A. M. Bauer and S. Kornmesser. Walter de Gruyter.
“Evil Intuitions? The Problem of Evil, Experimental Philosophy, and the Need for Psychological Research.”Journal of Psychology and Theology.
“The Context of Suffering: Empirical Insights into the Problem of Evil.”TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology.
“Cognitive Science of Religion and the Study of Theological Concepts.”Topoi 33 (2): 487–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-013-9168-9.
“Divine Hiddenness and the Cognitive Science of Religion.” In Hidden Divinity and Religious Belief: New Perspectives, edited by Adam Green and Eleonore Stump, 53–68. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
“Where Philosophical Intuitions Come From.”Australasian Journal of Philosophy 93 (2): 233–49.
“Religious Disagreement: An Empirical Study Among Academic Philosophers.”Episteme 14 (1).
“Religious Beliefs and Philosophical Views: A Qualitative Study.”Res Philosophica 95 (3): 477–504. https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.1644.
Religious Disagreement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
“Diagnosing Bias in Philosophy of Religion.”The Monist 96 (3): 420–46. https://doi.org/10.5840/monist201396319.
“Cognitive Science and the Natural Knowledge of God.”The Monist 96 (3): 399–419. https://doi.org/10.5840/monist201396318.
“Does ‘Think’ Mean the Same Thing as ‘Believe’? Linguistic Insights Into Religious Cognition.”Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 13 (3): 287–97.
“Religious Credence Is Not Factual Belief.”Cognition 133 (3): 698–715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2014.08.015.
“Experimental Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion.” European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 9 (3): 139–58. https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.v9i3.1985.
“Idolatry, Indifference, and the Scientific Study of Religion: Two New Humean Arguments.”Religious Studies, 1–21.
“If Analytic Philosophy of Religion Is Sick, Can It Be Cured?”Religious Studies 56 (4): 558–77.
The Believing Primate: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections on the Origin of Religion. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
“Christian Lay Theodicy and The Cancer Experience.”Journal of Analytic Theology 8 (1): 344–70. https://doi.org/10.12978/jat.2020-8.1808-65001913.
“Does Religious Belief Impact Philosophical Analysis?”Religion, Brain and Behavior 6 (1): 56–66.