This article examines the structural relationship between religion and philosophy through a focused comparative analysis of five influential thinkers: Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Maimonides, and Immanuel Kant. Rather than approaching the question in general or rhetorical terms, the study investigates how compatibility between reason and faith is constructed within distinct epistemological frameworks. The central research question guiding this inquiry is: How do different intellectual traditions conceptualize the relationship between rational inquiry and revealed truth, and under what conditions is compatibility affirmed, limited, or redefined? Employing a comparative intellectual-historical methodology, the article analyzes primary texts to identify the epistemic hierarchies, methodological distinctions, and theological commitments underlying each model. The study argues that compatibility between philosophy and religion is neither universal nor symmetrical; instead, it emerges as a structured construction shaped by assumptions about authority, interpretation, and the nature of truth. By clarifying these differences, the article contributes to contemporary debates in philosophy of religion and comparative intellectual history, offering analytical precision to discussions often framed in overly generalized or harmonizing terms.
Smida et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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