Habit, Practice, Grace

Traditional philosophy of religion is shaped by its focus on the cognitive aspects of religious life—beliefs and doctrines—which can easily be articulated in propositional form. But “lived religion” encompasses more than belief, and if philosophers of religion are to do justice to our subject-matter, we need to learn to think philosophically about practice in general, and about religious practices in particular. This chapter considers some of the methodological questions and challenges that come with this task, and looks at two recent attempts to develop a philosophy of religious practice. It then outlines a concept of practice which tries to take account of two features of religious practice: how practice uses repetition to generate change, or even transformation; and how practice gives form to desire.