Walter Scott Stepanenko

2 papers in the library · publishing 2023-2026

Papers

Embodiment, Divinity, and New Theological Directions in William James and Ralph Barton Perry

Religions January 10, 2026 Walter Scott Stepanenko

William James attempted to reconcile empiricism with religion by advocating finite theism and a pluralistic cosmos with overlapping minds of various scales, while warning against replacing functional psychology with entitative perspectives. Ralph Barton Perry criticized James for underestimating the body's role in cognition, arguing that embodied minds are cognitively superior to social or composite minds due to their integration. Perry saw embodied cognition's emergent character as grounds for a humanistic spirituality. This article compares James and Perry on theology, arguing that Perry's emphasis on embodiment in cognitive integration illuminates a tripartite distinction between impersonal, subpersonal, and personal theologies, which scholars seeking more embodied theological approaches should consider.

DOI: 10.3390/rel17010079 Embodied cognition Theism Character mathematics Empiricism +6

Religious Experience and Religious Lives

January 1, 2023 Walter Scott Stepanenko

This book argues that religious experiences can help justify belief in God, but not as proof or as worthless. The author contends that religious experiences contribute to justification in several distinct ways, and that multiple justificatory approaches are philosophically viable. This joint viability is explained by the diversity and development of religious lives: as believers grow in a faith tradition, their access to an evidential base develops, and the contributory work of religious experiences changes. The author proposes that a fully adequate epistemology of religious experience will be expansive, pluralistic, and responsive to the diversity of religious believers and their development.

DOI: 10.5771/9781666922028