Common Faith

In "A Common Faith", eminent American philosopher John Dewey calls for the "emancipation of the true religious quality" from the heritage of dogmatism and supernaturalism that he believes characterizes historical religions. He describes how a depth of religious experience and the creative role of faith in generating experience can produce meaning and value, and can be cultivated without making cognitive claims that compete with scientific ones. What Dewey advocates is "faith in the common" as the ground of meaning. In a new introduction, Dewey scholar Thomas Alexander contextualizes the text for students and scholars by providing an overview of Dewey and his philosophy, key concepts in "A Common Faith", and reactions to the text.