Book contents
5 - Propositional
from Part III - The Hagiological Argument
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 February 2026
Summary
Chapter 5 considers the ‘propositional’ version defended by Sarah Coakley and Alexander Pruss. Here sainthood is understood in terms of radical altruism (or ‘cooperation’ in the context of evolutionary biology), and evidence is understood in propositional explanatory terms. More specifically, the concept of ‘inference to the best explanation’ is invoked to argue that the best explanation of some radically altruistic lives is that they both point to and participate in a self-giving transcendent divine reality, namely the Christian Trinity.
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- Saints as Divine EvidenceThe Hagiological Argument for the Existence of God, pp. 157 - 185Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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