Ideas of John Hick, by Theme

[British, b.1922, Professor at Birmingham University.]

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29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / c. Religious Verification

1470	Belief in an afterlife may be unverifiable in this life, but it will be verifiable after death
	Full Idea: Religion is capable of 'eschatological verification', by reaching evidence at the end of life, even though falsification of its claims is never found in this life; a prediction of coming to a Celestial City must await the end of the journey.
	From: report of John Hick (Theology and Verification [1960], III) by PG - Db (ideas)

1471	It may be hard to verify that we have become immortal, but we could still then verify religious claims
	Full Idea: Verification of religious claims after death is only possible if the concept of surviving death is intelligible, and we can understand the concept of immortality, despite difficulties in being certain that we had reached it.
	From: report of John Hick (Theology and Verification [1960], IV) by PG - Db (ideas)

29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / d. Religious Falsification

1469	Some things (e.g. a section of the expansion of PI) can be verified but not falsified
	Full Idea: Falsification and verification are not logically equivalent. For example, you might verify the claim that there will be three consecutive sevens in the infinite expansion of PI, but you could never falsify such a claim.
	From: report of John Hick (Theology and Verification [1960], §II) by PG - Db (ideas)