A Consideration of the Approach of “Epistemology of Religious Disagreements” in Comparative Theology*

The encounter with religious plurality and diversity, which is a main characteristic of life in the contemporary world, has posed a number of epistemological and theological problems. Awareness of religious diversity and religious disagreements presents challenges to the discharge of epistemic duties by the religious person. In epistemology of disagreements, as a branch of epistemology, an individual’s epistemic duties in the face of disagreements are specified, and various approaches have been adopted from quite conciliatory views to steadfast views. Comparative theology takes up a religious approach to respond to the challenge of religious plurality and diverse theological approaches in the face of such plurality in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of religious faith. In this article, we deploy the descriptive-analytic method to find an epistemic solution based on the epistemology of religious disagreements with which this newly emerged theology can attain its goals. We conclude that by adopting an intermediary approach between steadfast and conciliatory views and drawing on the graded nature of religious beliefs and rejection of the idea of epistemic peers, we can propose a normative approach to comparative theology so that it does not fall into suspension of beliefs, relativism, skepticism, or religious conversion.