Readings in Philosophy of Religion: Ancient to Contemporary

ISBN-13: 9781405180917 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 672 str.

Linda Zagzebski; Timothy D. Miller

Opis

Comprised of readings from ancient to modern times, this volume offers a comprehensive introduction to the central questions of the philosophy of religion.

• Provides a history of the philosophy of religion, from antiquity up to the twentieth century
• Each section is preceded by extensive commentary written by the editors, followed by readings that are arranged chronologically
• Designed to be accessible to both undergraduate and graduate students

Spis treści

Acknowledgments.

General Introduction.

I The Philosophical Treatment of Religion.

Introduction.

1 The Nature of the Gods, Book 1 (Cicero).

II Classical Arguments for Theism.

Introduction.

A Teleological Arguments .

1 The Design Argument (Cicero).

2 The Fifth Way (Thomas Aquinas).

3 The Watch and the Watchmaker (William Paley).

4 Critique of the Design Argument (David Hume).

5 The Teleological Argument (Robin Collins).

6 The Argument from the Appearance of Design (J. J. C. Smart).

B Cosmological Arguments.

1 Plato s Cosmological Argument (Plato).

2 The Eternality of Motion and the Unmoved Mover (Aristotle).

3 The Kal m Cosmological Argument (Al–Ghazali).

4 The Existence and Oneness of God (Moses Maimonides).

5 The First Three Ways (Thomas Aquinas).

6 The Argument from Dependent Beings (Samuel Clarke).

7 Critique of the Cosmological Argument (David Hume).

C Ontological Arguments.

1 Anselm s Ontological Argument (Anselm).

2 Descartes s Ontological Argument (René Descartes).

3 Kant s Critique of the Three Traditional Proofs (Immanuel Kant).

4 The Ontological Argument (Alvin Plantinga).

III: Other Approaches to Religious Belief.

Introduction.

A Experience and Revelation as Grounds for Religious Belief.

1 The Numinous (Rudolf Otto).

2 Mysticism and Religious Experience (William J Wainwright).

3 The Existence of God and the Existence of Homer: Rethinking Theism and Revelatory Claims (Sandra Menssen and Thomas D. Sullivan).

B Fideism.

1 Truth is Subjectivity (Søren Kierkegaard).

2 Kierkegaard s Arguments against Objective Reasoning in Religion (Robert M Adams).

3 Lectures on Religious Belief (Ludwig Wittgenstein).

C Naturalistic Re–interpretations of Religious Belief.

1 Origin of Religion (David Hume).

2 The Essence of Religion in General (Ludwig Feuerbach).

3 The Future of an Illusion (Sigmund Freud).

IV: Who or What is God?.

Introduction.

1 On Being (Melissus of Samos).

2 The Final Cause (Aristotle).

3 The Divine Darkness (Pseudo–Dionysius the Areopagite).

4 Perfect Being (Anselm).

5 On the Trinity (Richard of St Victor).

6 Omnipotence (Peter Geach).

7 Omniscience and Immutability (Norman Kretzmann).

8 Atemporal Personhood (William L Craig).

V: Fate, Freedom, and Foreknowledge.

Introduction.

1 The Sea Battle Argument (Aristotle).

2 On Fate and On Divination (Cicero).

3 God s Timeless Knowing (Boethius).

4 Ockham on God s Foreknowledge, and Future Contingents (Marilyn Adams).

5 Middle Knowledge (William Hasker).

VI: Religion and Morality.

Introduction.

A Is Religion Needed for Morality?

1 God is the Measure of All Things (Plato).

2 The Moral Argument for the Existence of God (Immanuel Kant).

B Devine Command Theory and Devine Motivation Theory.

1 The Euthyphro Dilemma (Plato).

2 Questions on the Books of the Sentences (Pierre d Ailly).

3 Lectures on Romans (Martin Luther).

4 Divine Commands (Robert M Adams).

5 The Virtues of God and the Foundations of Ethics (Linda Zagzebski).

C Natural Law.

1 Selections from Treatise on Law (Thomas Aquinas).

VII: The Problem of Evil.

Introduction.

1 God is Not the Author of Evil (Plato).

2 On the Anger of God (Lactantius).

3 That Which Is, Is Good (Augustine).

4 On the Free Choice of the Will (Augustine).

5 Formal Summary of the Theodicy (Gottfried Leibniz).

6 Myth of the Goddess Pallas (Gottfried Leibniz).

7 Evil and Omnipotence (J L Mackie).

8 The Free Will Defense (Alvin Plantinga).

9 Soul–making Theodicy (John Hick).

10 Friendly Atheism, Skeptical Theism, and the Problem of Evil (William L Rowe).

11 Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (Marilyn Adams).

VIII: Death and Immortality.

Introduction.

1 Death is Nothing to Us (Epicurus).

2 Death (Thomas Nagel).

B Life after Death.

1 The Separation of the Soul from the Body (Plato).

2 The Future Life (Averroes (Ibn Rushd)).

3 The Possibility of Immortality (René Descartes).

4 Personal Identity and Consciousness (John Locke).

5 Do We Survive Death (Bertrand Russell)?

6 Religious and Near–death Experiences in Relation to Belief in a Future Life (Paul Badham).

IX: The Diversity of Religions.

Introduction.

1 Religious Pluralism and Salvation (John Hick).

2 The Bodhgaya Interview (1981) (The Dalai Lama).

3 Christianity and the Non–Christian Religions (Karl Rahner).

4 Self–trust and the Diversity of Religions (Linda Zagzebski).

X: Faith, Reason, and the Ethics of Belief.

Introduction.

A Faith and Reason.

1 How Justin Found Philosophy (Justin Martyr).

2 Prescriptions against the Heretics (Tertullian).

3 In What Respect Philosophy Contributes to the Comprehension of Divine Truth (Clement of Alexandria).

4 The Decisive Treatise, Determining the Nature of the Connection between Religion and Philosophy (Averroes (Ibn Rushd)).

5 Faith and Reason (Thomas Aquinas).

6 Belief in God is Natural (John Calvin).

7 Faith, Reason, and Enthusiasm (John Locke).

8 Return to Reason: The Irrationality of Evidentialism (Kelly James Clark).

B Pragmatism and the Ethics of Belief.

1 The Wager (Blaise Pascal).

2 Pascalian Wagering (Thomas V Morris).

3 The Ethics of Belief (W K Clifford).

4 The Will to Believe (William James).

XI: Science, Religion, and Naturalism.

Introduction.

A Miracles.

1 Miracles (Thomas Aquinas).

2 A Discourse of Miracles (John Locke).

3 Of Miracles (David Hume).

4 David Hume and the Probability of Miracles (George I Mavrodes).

B Science, Religion, and Naturalism.

1 Letter to Castelli (Galileo Galilei).

2 Signs of Intelligence (William A Dembski).

3 Atheism and Evolution (Daniel C Dennett).

4 Darwin, Design, and Divine Providence (John F Haught).

5 How Naturalism Implies Skepticism (Alvin Plantinga).

6 A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand: Plantinga on the Self–defeat of Evolutionary Naturalism (Timothy O Connor).

O autorze

Linda Zagzebski is the George Lynn Cross Research Professor of Philosophy and Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at the University of Oklahoma. She is the author of Divine Motivation Theory (2004), The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge (1991), Virtues of the Mind (1996), Philosophy of Religion: An Historical Introduction (Wiley–Blackwell, 2007), and On Epistemology (2008).

Timothy D. Miller is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Blurb

This anthology offers a comprehensive historical introduction to the central questions of philosophy of religion. Approximately two–thirds of the selections are from ancient, medieval, and modern sources, helping students to understand and engage the rich traditions of reflection on these timeless questions. The remaining contemporary readings introduce students to the more recent developments in the field. Each of the thematically arranged sections begins with an editor s introduction to clarify the central issues and positions presented in the readings that follow.

Topics include:

• traditional theistic arguments
• religious experience and revelation 
• fideism 
• naturalistic approaches to religious belief
• the divine attributes 
• fate, freedom, and foreknowledge
• the connection between religion and morality
• the problem of evil
• death and immortality
• religious diversity
• faith, reason, and the ethics of belief
• science and religion.

The text can be used alone or in conjunction with a secondary text in philosophy of religion such as Zagzebski′s Philosophy of Religion: An Historical Introduction (Wiley–Blackwell, 2007).