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The logic of mystery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2007

STEVEN D. BOYER
STEVEN D. BOYER
Affiliation:
Department of Christian Studies, Eastern University, 1300 Eagle Road, Saint Davids, PA 19087
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Abstract

This paper proposes an analytical taxonomy of ‘mystery’ based upon what makes a mystery mysterious. I begin by distinguishing mysteries that depend on what we do not know (e.g. detective fiction) from mysteries that depend on what we do know (e.g. religious mysteries). Then I distinguish three possible grounds for the latter type. The third and most provocative ground offers a mathematical analogy for how rational reflection can be appropriate to mystery without compromising its intrinsically mysterious character. I conclude with reflections on the metaphysical presuppositions that this understanding of mystery requires.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , March 2007 , pp. 89 - 102
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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