The "soft rationalism" of William J. Abraham holds that religious beliefs are subject to some sort of rational assessment -- but not to strict proof or disproof. This view tries to steer between the extremes of hard rationalism and fideism:HARD RATIONALISM: Religious beliefs must be proved.
Abraham argues that rational and non-rational factors combine in subtle ways as we work out our religious beliefs.FIDEISM: Religion rests on a "leap of faith" with no intellectual justification.
This exercise deals with a reading from Abraham in our anthology (pages 98-108 of Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings (second edition), edited by Peterson, Hasker, Reichenbach, and Basinger). These computerized exercise materials are copyrighted (c) 2002 by Harry J. Gensler; but they may be distributed freely.