Philosophy of Religion

Description

Is it possible to be both a philosopher and a religious believer? Is philosophy a friend or foe to religious belief? Does talk of God make sense? Does God exist? What is God?
Essential for anyone pondering these and similar questions, Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and Anthology provides a comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible overview of the subject. Carefully edited by Brian Davies, it contains a wide-ranging selection of 65 of the best classical and contemporary writings on the philosophy of religion, together with substantial commentary, introductory material, discussion questions, and detailed guides to further reading. The editorial material sets the selections in context and guides students through the readings.
Part I of the book examines the relation between philosophy and religion; Parts II-IV consider the existence and nature of God; Part V addresses the "problem of evil" that has puzzled thinkers for centuries; and Parts VI and VII are devoted to the relationship between morality and religion and to the question of life after death. An extensive treatment of the major issues that Western philosophers have faced in thinking about religion, Philosophy of Religion is an exceptional text. No other book on the market offers this combination of introductory guide along with such a substantial anthology of readings.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors
General Introduction
Advice on Further Reading
PART I. PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF
1. Faith and Reason in Harmony, Thomas Aquinas
2. The Ethics of Belief, W.K. Clifford
3. The Presumption of Atheism, Antony Flew
4. Religious Belief as 'Properly Basic', Alvin Plantinga
5. Evidence and Religious Belief, Norman Kretzmann
6. Grammar and Religious Belief, D.Z. Phillips
7. The Groundlessness of Religious Belief, Norman Malcolm
PART II. THE PROBLEM OF GOD-TALK
8. How Believers Find God-Talk Puzzling, Augustine of Hippo
9. God-Talk is Evidently Nonsense, A.J. Ayer
10. God-Talk is Not Evidently Nonsense, Richard Swinburne
11. 'Death by a Thousand Qualifications', Antony Flew
12. One Way of Understanding God-Talk, Thomas Aquinas
PART III. ARGUMENTS FOR GOD'S EXISTENCE
Cosmological Arguments
13. A Concise Cosmological Argument from the Eleventh Century, Anselm of Canterbury
14. A Thirteenth-Century Cosmological Argument, Thomas Aquinas
15. A Fourteenth-Century Cosmological Argument, John Duns Scotus
16. A Seventeenth-Century Cosmological Argument, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
17. A Modern Cosmological Argument, Herbert McCabe
18. Objections to Cosmological Arguments, Paul Edwards
19. More Objections to Cosmological Arguments, J.L. Mackie
20. Why is a Cause Always Necessary?, David Hume
21. 'Whatever Has a Beginning of Existence Must Have a Cause', G.E.M. Anscombe
22. Can There be an Endless Regress of Causes?, James A. Sadowsky
Design Arguments
23. Is the World Ruled by Providence?, Thomas Aquinas
24. An Especially Famous Design Argument, William Paley
25. We Cannot Know that the World is Designed by God A David Hume
26. The Limits of Design Arguments, Immanuel Kant
27. God, Regularity, and David Hume, R.G. Swinburne
28. Can Design Arguments be Defended Today?, Robert Hambourger
Ontological Arguments
29. Anselm Argues that God Cannot be Thought Not to Exist, Anselm of Canterbury
30. Gaunilo Argues that Anselm is Wrong, Gaunilo of Marmoutiers
31. Anselm Replies to Gaunilo, Anselm of Canterbury
32. Descartes Defends an Ontological Argument, René Descartes
33. Descartes Replies to Critics, Pierre Gassendi, Johannes Caterus, René Descartes
34. A Classic Repudiation of Ontological Arguments, Immanuel Kant
35. A Contemporary Defense of Ontological Arguments, Alvin Plantinga
God and Human Experience
36. Why 'Knowing God by Experience' is a Notion Open to Question, C.B. Martin
37. Can We Know God by Experience?, Peter Donovan
38. Why Should There Not Be Experience of God?, William P. Alston
PART IV. WHAT IS GOD?
Omnipotent
39. A Modern Discussion of Divine Omnipotence, Thomas V. Morris
40. Why Think of God as Omnipotent?, Thomas Aquinas
41. Miracles and Laws of Nature, Richard Swinburne
42. Why We Should Disbelieve in Miracles, David Hume
Knowing
43. Why Ascribe Knowledge to God?, Thomas Aquinas
44. Omniscience and Human Freedom: a Classic Discussion, Boethius
45. Problems for the Notion of Divine Omniscience, Nelson Pike
Eternal
46. Why Call God 'Eternal'?, Thomas Aquinas
47. God is 'Everlasting', not 'Eternal', Nicholas Wolterstorff
48. A Modern Defence of Divine Eternity, Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann
49. A Different Modern Defense of Divine Eternity, Paul Helm
Simple
50. A Classic Defense of Divine Simplicity, Thomas Aquinas
51. Problems with Divine Simplicity, Thomas V. Morris
52. A Modern Defense of Divine Simplicity, Brian Davies
Part V. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
53. Evil Shows that There is No God, J.L. Mackie
54. What is Evil?, Augustine of Hippo
55. Evil Does Not Show That There Is No God, Richard Swinburne
56. God, Evil, and Divine Responsibility, Herbert McCabe
57. God and Human Freedom, Thomas Aquinas
Part VI. MORALITY AND RELIGION
58. God as a 'Postulate' of Sound Moral Thinking, Immanuel Kant
59. Why Morality Implies the Existence of God, H.P. Owen
60. Moral Thinking as Awareness of God, Illtyd Trethowan
61. Morality Does Not Imply the Existence of God, Kai Nielsen
Part VII. PEOPLE AND LIFE AFTER DEATH
62. Philosophy and Life After Death: The Questions and the Options, Stephen T. Davis
63. Life After Death: An Ancient Greek View, Plato
64. Belief in Life After Death Comes from Emotion, not Reason, Bertrand Russell
65. What Must be True of Me if I Survive My Death?, Peter Geach
Index
Parts I-II and V-VII open with an Introduction and end with Questions for Discussion and Advice on Further Reading; Parts III and IV open with an Introduction and Advice on Further Reading; the sub-sections of Parts III and IV open with an Introduction and end with Questions for Discussion and Advice on Further Reading