Reason & Religious Belief An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion

Reason and Religious Belief, now in its fifth edition, explores perennial questions in the philosophy of religion. Drawing from the best in both classical and contemporary discussions, the authors examine religious experience, faith and reason, the divine attributes, arguments for and against the existence of God, divine action (in various forms of theism), Reformed epistemology, religious language, religious diversity, and religion and science. Revised and updated to reflect current philosophical discourse, the fifth edition offers new material on neuro-theology, the "new Atheism," the intelligent design movement, theistic evolution, and skeptical theism. It also provides more coverage of non-Western religions—particularly Buddhism—and updated discussions of evidentialism, free will, life after death, apophatic theology, and more. A sophisticated yet accessible introduction, Reason and Religious Belief, Fifth Edition, is ideally suited for use with the authors' companion anthology, Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings, Fourth Edition (OUP, 2009).

Preface to the Fifth Edition; Introduction; 1. Thinking about God: The Search for the Divine; Defining Religion; What Is Philosophy of Religion?; The God of Theism; The Religious Ambiguity of Life; Our Task; 2. The Nature of Religion: What Are Religious Beliefs About?; Religious Non-realism; Buddhist Non-realism; Religious Realism; Wittgenstein on Religion; Why Is This Issue Important?; 3. Religious Experience: What Does It Mean to Encounter the Divine?; Types of Religious Experience; Religious Experience as Feeling; Some Religious Experience as Perceptual Experience; Religious Experience as Interpretation Based on Religious Beliefs; Can Religious Experience Justify Religious Belief?; The Principle of Credulity; Diversity of Religious Experiences; Is There a Common Core to Religious Experience?; 4. Faith and Reason: How Are They Related?; Can Reason Be Trusted?; Strong Rationalism; Fideism; Critical Rationalism; 5. Theistic Arguments: What Is the Evidence for God's Existence?; Theistic Arguments as Proofs; The Ontological Argument; Contemporary Versions of the Ontological Argument; The Cosmological Argument; The Kalam Cosmological Argument; The Atemporal Cosmological Argument; The Analogical Teleological Argument; The Anthropic Teleological Argument; The Intelligent Design Teleological Argument; The Moral Argument; Cumulative Case Arguments and God; The God of Religion and of Philosophy; 6. Knowing God without Arguments: Does Theism Need a Basis?; Evidentialism; Critique of Evidentialism; Plantinga on Properly Basic Beliefs; Alston on Perceiving God; Plantinga on Warrant and Knowledge; 7. The Divine Attributes: What is God Like?; Perfect and Worthy of Worship; Necessary and Self-Existent; Personal and Free Creator; All-Powerful, All-Knowing, and Perfectly Good; God Eternal--Timeless or Everlasting; 8. Divine Action: How Does God Relate to the World?; What Kind of Power Does God Exercise?; What Kind of Freedom Has God Given?; Does God Know What Would Have Happened?; Does God Know the Actual Future?; What If the Future Is Truly Open?; 9. The Problem of Evil: What Is the Evidence against God's Existence?; The Logical Problem of Evil; The Evidential Problem of Evil; Skeptical Theism and Other Approaches; Can Theists Accept the Factual Premise?; Defense and Theodicy; Themes in Theodicy; Some Important Global Theodicies; Horrendous Evils and the Assessment of Theism; 10. Miracles: Does God Intervene in Earthly Affairs?; Miracles Defined; Miracles as Historical Events; Miracles as Unexplainable Events; Miracles as Acts of God; Practical Considerations; 11. Life after Death: Are There Reasons for Hope?; Terminology; Concepts of Life after Death; Personal Identity and the Soul; Immortality of the Soul; Criticism of the Soul-Concept; The Self as a Psychophysical Unity; Re-creation and Spatio-temporal Continuity; There is No Persisting Self; A Posteriori Arguments for Life after Death; A Priori Arguments for Life after Death; Prospects; 12. Religious Language: How Can We Speak Meaningfully of God?; Human Language and the Infinite; The Classical Theory of Analogy; Verification and Falsification Issues; The Functions of Religious Discourse; Religious Language as Symbolic; Feminism and Masculine God-Talk; Can Talk of God Be Literal?; 13. Religion and Science: Are They Compatible or Incompatible?; Do Religion and Science Conflict?; Are Religion and Science Independent?; Is Dialogue Possible?; Attempts at Integration; Theistic Evolution and the Science-Religion Debate; Insights; 14. Religious Diversity: How Can We Understand Differences among Religions?; Religious Diversity; Exclusivism; Critique of Exclusivism; Exclusivism and Justified Belief; Pluralism; Critique of Pluralism; Pluralism as Plurality of Salvations; Inclusivism; Critique of Inclusivism; Criteria for Assessing Religions; 15. Religious Ethics: How Is God Related to Morality?; The Source of Religious Ethical Truth; The Authoritative Basis of Religious Ethical Truth; The Acquisition of Religiously Based Ethical Truth; The Significance of Religiously Based Ethical Truth; Current Issues; 16. The Continuing Quest: God and the Human Venture; The Intellectual Process; Philosophical Activity and Religious Faith; Where Do We Go from Here?; Glossary: ; Name Index: ; General Index: