Philosophy and Religion

by O'Hear, Anthony

• ISBN13: 9781107615984
• ISBN10: 1107615984
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-08-15
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Surprising as it might have seemed not so long ago, in recent times religion has once again become a focus of lively debate. The exchanges between those for and against religion have, however, often thrown up heat, rather than light. As an attempted corrective, The Royal Institute of Philosophy asked a number of distinguished philosophers who are interested in religion to contribute to its annual lecture series for 2008-2009. This volume contains essays based on the lectures. The topics covered include natural theology, for and against, miracles, the debates about Darwinism, spirituality, sacrifice and the sacred, the Incarnation and religion and pluralism. Vigorously argued as they are, these essays will undoubtedly take the debates forward in a constructive way.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	p. v
Introduction	p. 1
God as the Simplest Explanation of the Universe	p. 3
Explaining the Fine Tuning of the Universe to Us and the Fine Tuning of Us to the Universe	p. 25
What can God Explain?	p. 51
One Step Toward God	p. 67
What do Religious Believers Believe?	p. 105
With and Without Absurdity: Moore, Magic and McTaggart's Cat	p. 125
Twenty Questions about Hume's 'Of Miracles'	p. 151
Darwinism, Purpose and Meaning	p. 193
Christianity and the Errors of Our Time: Simone Weil on Atheism and Idolatry	p. 203
Spirituality for the Godless	p. 227
Living in the Light of Religious Ideals	p. 245
Sacrifice, Transcendence and 'Making Sacred'	p. 257
The Incarnation: divine embodiment and the divided mind	p. 269
Religious Tolerance, Diversity, and Pluralism	p. 287
Index of Names	p. 311
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