Naturalism, Theism, and the Question of Human Nature

Can a philosophical theory of human nature be integrated into a religious worldview ? I will answer it in the positive, taking seriously a conception of the religious which accommodates the theistic, and operating with the caveat that my theorizing in this context is to be interpreted in a suitably modest and open-ended way. I will deny that the integrative task at issue is best addressed by defending dualism and will argue instead that a more promising answer is to be found by moving in the direction of naturalism. The claim to be defended then is that we can best – or at least, better – integrate a philosophical theory of human nature into a religious worldview by defending a naturalistic conception of human nature.