Philosophy of Religion Selected Readings

by Peterson, Michael; Hasker, William; Reichenbach, Bruce; Basinger, David

• ISBN13: 9780195135466
• ISBN10: 0195135466
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The second edition of this excellent anthology in the philosophy of religion examines both the basic classical and a host of contemporary issues. Assuming little or no familiarity with the religious concepts it addresses, it provides a well-balanced and accessible approach to the field. The seventy-one articles cover standard subjects--including religious experience, theistic arguments, the problem of evil, and miracles--as well as topics that have recently gained the attention of philosophers of religion, such as reformed epistemology, the philosophical analysis of theological doctrine, and the kalam theological argument. The collection also discusses topics often requested by instructors but seldom covered in competing texts, including religion and science, religious pluralism, process theism, and religious ethics. An ideal teaching text, Philosophy of Religion, 2/e , is organized into thirteen thematic sections. Each section begins with a revised introduction and ends with updated suggestions for further reading. While it deals primarily with the Western tradition in the philosophy of religion, this second edition also adds readings representing continental, feminist, and Asian contributions to the field. New selections include essays by Sarah Coakley, the Dalai Lama, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Lao Tsu, Moses Maimonides, and the Upanishads. Philosophy of Religion, 2/e , functions well as a stand-alone textbook for courses in the philosophy of religion and is readily compatible for use as a primary source reader in conjunction with a secondary text. It is an ideal companion to the editors' textbook, Reason and Religious Belief, 2/e (OUP, 1997), as the two books share the same topical organization.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(4)
PART ONE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE	5	(60)
Religious Experiences	7	(3)
Saint Teresa of Jesus
Religious Experience as the Root of Religion	10	(10)
William James
Religious Experience as Perception of God	20	(10)
William P. Alston
Religious Experiences as Interpretative Accounts	30	(11)
Wayne Proudfoot
Critique of Religious Experience	41	(15)
Michael Martin
A Phenomenological Account of Religious Experience	56	(8)
Merold Westphal
Suggested Reading	64	(1)
PART TWO FAITH AND REASON	65	(46)
The Harmony of Reason and Revelation	67	(4)
Thomas Aquinas
The Harmony of Philosophy and the Qur'an	71	(6)
Ibn Rushd
The Wager	77	(3)
Blaise Pascal
The Ethics of Belief	80	(6)
William Clifford
The Will to Believe	86	(8)
William James
Truth is Subjectivity	94	(4)
Søren Kierkegaard
Soft Rationalism	98	(10)
William J. Abraham
Suggested Reading	108	(3)
PART THREE THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES	111	(52)
God's Necessary Existence	113	(5)
John Hick
Negative Theology	118	(6)
Moses Maimonides
God is Omnipotent	124	(3)
Thomas Aquinas
Some Puzzles Concerning Omnipotence	127	(3)
George I. Mavrodes
Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action	130	(6)
Nelson Pike
God is Timeless	136	(3)
Boethius
God is Everlasting	139	(9)
Nicholas Wolterstorff
God is Creative-Responsive Love	148	(8)
John B. Cobb
David Ray Griffin
Atman is Brahman	156	(3)
The Upanishads
The Concept of God and Feminist Critique	159	(2)
Sarah Coakley
Suggested Reading	161	(2)
PART FOUR ARGUMENTS ABOUT GOD'S EXISTENCE	163	(86)
The Classical Ontological Argument	165	(2)
Saint Anselm
Critique of Anselm's Argument	167	(3)
Gaunilo
A Contemporary Modal Version of the Ontological Argument	170	(14)
Alvin Plantinga
The Classical Cosmological Argument	184	(3)
Thomas Aquinas
A Contemporary Version of the Cosmological Argument	187	(9)
Richard Taylor
The Kalam Cosmological Argument	196	(13)
J. P. Moreland
Critique of the Cosmological Argument	209	(9)
J. L. Mackie
The Anthropic Teleological Argument	218	(13)
L. Stafford Betty
Bruce Cordell
A Naturalistic Account of the Universe	231	(10)
Paul Davies
The Moral Argument	241	(5)
C. S. Lewis
Suggested Reading	246	(3)
PART FIVE THE PROBLEM OF EVIL	249	(78)
Evil is Privation of Good	251	(4)
Saint Augustine
Evil Makes a Strong Case Against God's Existence	255	(8)
David Hume
Evil and Omnipotence	263	(11)
J. L. Mackie
The Free Will Defense	274	(27)
Alvin Plantinga
Soul-Making Theodicy	301	(14)
John Hick
The Evidential Argument From Evil	315	(11)
William Rowe
Suggested Reading	326	(1)
PART SIX KNOWING GOD WITHOUT ARGUMENTS	327	(42)
The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology	329	(13)
Alvin Plantinga
Experience, Proper Basicality, and Belief in God	342	(7)
Robert Pargetter
The Case of the Intellectually Sophisticated Theist	349	(6)
William Hasker
Reformed Epistemology and Hick's Religious Pluralism	355	(11)
David Basinger
Feminism and Religious Epistemology	366	(1)
Sarah Coakley
Suggested Reading	367	(2)
PART SEVEN RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE	369	(46)
The Doctrine of Analogy	371	(3)
Thomas Aquinas
The Falsification Debate	374	(5)
Antony Flew
Basil Mitchell
Religious Language as Symbolic	379	(6)
Paul Tillich
Sexism and God-Talk	385	(5)
Rosemary Radford Ruether
Speaking Literally of God	390	(22)
William P. Alston
The True Tao is Unspeakable	412	(1)
Lao Tsu
Suggested Reading	413	(2)
PART EIGHT MIRACLES	415	(30)
The Evidence for Miracles is Weak	417	(9)
David Hume
Miracles and Historical Evidence	426	(9)
Richard Swinburne
Miracles and Testimony	435	(9)
J. L. Mackie
Suggested Reading	444	(1)
PART NINE LIFE AFTER DEATH	445	(52)
The Soul Survives and Functions After Death	447	(10)
H. H. Price
The Soul Needs a Brain to Continue to Function	457	(12)
Richard Swinburne
Problems with Accounts of Life After Death	469	(9)
Linda Badham
Resurrection of the Person	478	(11)
John Hick
Rebirth	489	(6)
Sri Aurobindo
Suggested Reading	495	(2)
PART TEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE	497	(36)
Two Separate Domains	499	(10)
Stephen Jay Gould
Science Discredits Religion	509	(4)
Richard Dawkins
Theology and Scientific Methodology	513	(18)
Nancey Murphy
Suggested Reading	531	(2)
PART ELEVEN RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY	533	(40)
Buddhism and Other Religions	535	(4)
Dalai Lama
The Uniqueness of Religious Doctrines	539	(10)
Paul Griffiths
Religious Inclusivism	549	(11)
Karl Rahner
Religious Pluralism	560	(10)
John Hick
Suggested Reading	570	(3)
PART TWELVE RELIGIOUS ETHICS	573	(24)
Which God Ought We to Obey?	575	(9)
Alasdair Maclntyre
Ethics Without Religion	584	(9)
Kai Nielson
Ethics and Natural Law	593	(3)
Thomas Aquinas
Suggested Reading	596	(1)
PART THIRTEEN PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGICAL DOCTRINES	597
Jesus Christ Was Fully God and Fully Human	599
Thomas Morris
The Concept of Revelation	608
George Mavrodes
Why Petition God?	620
Eleonore Stump
Suggested Reading	629