Ten Essential Texts in the Philosophy of Religion

Description

Offering a new approach to teaching the philosophy of religion, this anthology is organized around ten of the most widely read texts in the field. Presented in their entirety, these classics serve as a framework for a variety of accessible contemporary essays that are also included. The book's unique structure gives students the opportunity to study in depth complete historical works while also conveying a sense of how today's philosophers have explored related issues. Editor Steven M. Cahn has annotated each text to clarify all unfamiliar references. He has also provided introductions that contain biographical profiles of the authors and philosophical commentaries on their writings.
Ten Essential Texts in the Philosophy of Religion: Classics and Contemporary Issues may be supplemented by Questions about God: Today's Philosophers Ponder the Divine, a provocative collection of recent articles on the nature of God, edited by Steven M. Cahn and David Shatz (OUP, 2002).

Ten Essential Texts in the Philosophy of Religion includes the following unabridged classic works:

Euthyphro, Plato
The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius
Proslogion, Anselm; On Behalf of the Fool, Gaunilo: and Reply to Gaunilo, Anselm
Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas
Of Miracles, David Hume
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume
Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Søren Kierkegaard
The Will to Believe, William James
The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James
Theology and Falsification, Antony Flew, R.M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Euthyphro, Plato
God and Moral Autonomy, James Rachels
2. The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius
Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action, Nelson Pike
God Everlasting, Nicholas Wolterstorff
3. Proslogion, Anselm; On Behalf of the Fool, Gaunilo; Reply to Gaunilo, Anselm
The Impossibility of an Ontological Proof of the Existence of God, Immanuel Kant
The Ontological Argument, William L. Rowe
Some Puzzles Concerning Omnipotence, George Mavrodes
The Logic of Omnipotence, Harry G. Frankfurt
God and Forgiveness, Anne C. Minas
4. Summa Theologiae (I, 1, 2), Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas' Five Proofs, F.C. Copleston
The Cosmological Argument: A Defense, Richard Taylor
The Cosmological Argument: A Critique, William L. Rowe
5. Of Miracles, David Hume
Miracles, Richard Swinburne
6. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume
The Teleological Argument, William Paley
Hume on Evil, Nelson Pike
The Problem of Evil, John H. Hick
The Problem of Goodness, Steven M. Cahn
The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism, William L. Rowe
7. Concluding Unscientific Postscript (Selection), Søren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard's Arguments Against Objective Reasoning in Religion, Robert Merrihew Adams
Faith, Richard Taylor
Faith and Reason, Michael Scriven
8. The Will to Believe, William James
The Wager, Blaise Pascal
Pascal's Wager: A Critique, Simon Blackburn
The Ethics of Belief, W.K. Clifford
William James and the Will to Believe, Michael Martin
The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology, Alvin Plantinga
Religious Beliefs and Basic Beliefs, Michael Martin
9. The Varieties of Religious Experience (XVI, XVII), William James
A Religious Way of Knowing, C.B. Martin
Religious Experience as Perception of God, William Alston
Religious Pluralism and Salvation, John H. Hick
10. Theology and Falsification, Antony Flew, R.M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell
The Problem of Verification, John H. Hick
Life After Death, Terence Penelhum
The Hiddenness of God, Robert McKim
Religion Versus the Religious, John Dewey