C.S. Peirce and the Nested Continua Model of Religious Interpretation

Slater's nested continua model of religious interpretation is a hermeneutical model which he uses to demonstrate logical relations between more or less concrete and more or less vague interpretations of what there is. This model is intended to be ‘therapeutic’ (p. 5) in a metaphysical sense because it ‘offers its users...a means of integrating concrete, historically rooted problems with abstract, theologically informed resources for addressing those problems’ (p. 5). Whilst Slater focuses specifically on the theological aspects of the nested continua model, it can be applied to other areas such as ‘mathematics/logic, metaphysics, aesthetics, history’ (p. 202). The nested continua model is a visual methodological device, consisting in the graphic representation of a series of concentric circles representing successive contexts, within which a particular problem can be examined, ranging from the most specific to the least specific. It is ‘not fundamentally about Peirce’ (p. 3); however, Slater draws on Peirce's ability to accommodate ‘distinctions of enormous gravity’ (p. 4) required in theology and acknowledges that his own model is analogous to Peirce's Existential Graphs.

Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious Education and Schools · Study and Philosophy of Religion