ABSTRACT
The charge of nonsense has been made against the possibility of religious knowledge, notably by philosophers of the 'logical positive' school of thought. Positivist criticism is sometimes characterized by the formula 'Every statement must belong some categories. P. H. Hirst's analysis of the forms of knowledge required in a liberal education may be used as a starting point. Hirst considers the grounds on which a 'liberal' education might be based, and construes such an education as one which has breadth and which, at the same time, limits that breadth to certain logically defined 'forms of knowledge'. Hirst distinguishes some seven 'forms of knowledge'. These are: mathematics, physical science, moral knowledge, literature and the fine arts, philosophy, interpersonal knowledge and religion. The categorial and substantive concepts of the religious form of knowledge constitute the concepts central to that form. Within Hirst's forms of knowledge theory, then, the concept 'God or 'transcendence' constitutes the categorial concept in the religious form of knowledge.
