Ten Essential Texts in the Philosophy of Religion Classics and Contemporary Issues

by Cahn, Steven M.

• ISBN13: 9780195171006
• ISBN10: 0195171004
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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'sunique 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 introductionsthat 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, Soren 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	xi
Introduction	xiii
1. EUTHYPHRO
Plato	1	(31)
God and Moral Autonomy	19	(13)
James Rachels
2. THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY (V)
Boethius	32	(35)
Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action	43	(14)
Nelson Pike
God Everlasting	57	(32)
Nicholas Wolterstorff
3. PROSLOGION
Anselm	67	(17)
ON BEHALF OF THE FOOL
Gaunilo	84	(5)
REPLY TO GAUNILO
Anselm	89	(45)
The Impossibility of an Ontological Proof of the Existence of God	98	(4)
Immanuel Kant
The Ontological Argument	102	(15)
William L. Rowe
Some Puzzles Concerning Omnipotence	117	(2)
George Mavrodes
The Logic of Omnipotence	119	(2)
Harry G. Frankfurt
God and Forgiveness	121	(13)
Anne C. Minas
4. SUMMA THEOLOGIAE (I, 1, 2)
Thomas Aquinas	134	(36)
Aquinas's Five Proofs	140	(7)
F.C. Copleston
The Cosmological Argument: A Defense	147	(9)
Richard Taylor
The Cosmological Argument: A Critique	156	(14)
William L. Rowe
5. OF MIRACLES
David Hume	170	(25)
Miracles	186	(9)
Richard Swinburne
6. DIALOGUES CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGION
David Hume	195	(117)
The Teleological Argument	265	(11)
William Paley
Hume on Evil	276	(13)
Nelson Pike
The Problem of Evil	289	(7)
John H. Hick
The Problem of Goodness	296	(5)
Steven M. Cahn
The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism	301	(11)
William L. Rowe
7. CONCLUDING UNSCIENTIFIC POSTSCRIPT (SELECTION)
Søren Kierkegaard	312	(31)
Kierkegaard's Arguments Against Objective Reasoning in Religion	321	(14)
Robert Merrihew Adams
Faith	335	(3)
Richard Taylor
Faith and Reason	338	(5)
Michael Scriven
8. THE WILL TO BELIEVE
William James	343	(51)
The Wager	361	(4)
Blaise Pascal
Pascal's Wager: A Critique	365	(2)
Simon Blackburn
The Ethics of Belief	367	(6)
W.K. Clifford
William James and the Will to Believe	373	(5)
Michael Martin
The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology	378	(13)
Alvin Plantinga
Religious Beliefs and Basic Beliefs	391	(3)
Michael Martin
9. THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE (XVI, XVII)
William James	394	(68)
A Religious Way of Knowing	426	(14)
C.B. Martin
Religious Experience as Perception of God	440	(10)
William Alston
Religious Pluralism and Salvation	450	(12)
John H. Hick
10. THEOLOGY AND FALSIFICATION
Antony Flew, R.M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell	462
The Problem of Verification	472	(7)
John H. Hick
Life After Death	479	(15)
Terence Penelhum
The Hiddenness of God	494	(5)
Robert McKim
Religion Versus the Religious	499
John Dewey