Pragmatism, Critical Realism, and the Study of Religious Belief

Mackey (2022) argues for a theory of religion that incorporates a concept of belief as an “Intentional state,” and as a condition of possibility for religious emotion, practice, and collective action. I connect his thesis to insights from pragmatism and critical realism, traditions which have been gaining attention in social theory but are absent from Mackey’s discussion and could help advance religion scholarship that recognizes practice and belief go hand-in-hand. Specifically, I discuss what Mackey’s project might gain from engaging with Peircean theories that entail the reality of belief and of intersubjective knowledge, as well as critical realist metatheory, to which Mackey’s project already bears a resemblance.