Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology / Edition 1

by R. Douglas Geivett, Brendan Sweetman

Overview

This unique textbook—the first to offer balanced, comprehensive coverage of all major perspectives on the rational justification of religious belief—includes twenty-four key papers by some of the world's leading philosophers of religion. Arranged in six sections, each representing a major approach to religious epistemology, the book begins with papers by noted atheists, setting the stage for the main theistic responses—Wittgensteinian Fideism, Reformed epistemology, natural theology, prudential accounts of religious beliefs, and rational belief based in religious experience—in each case offering a representative sample of papers by leading exponents, a critical paper, and a substantial bibliography. A comprehensive introductory essay and ample cross-references help students to contrast and evaluate the different approaches, while the overall arrangement encourages them to assess the full range of philosophical positions on the issue.
Carefully selected to provide both a comprehensive overview of current work and a series of modern perspectives on many classic sources—Swinburne's detailed discussion of Hume's critique of the design argument, for example, as well as an entire section evaluating and extending Pascal's famous Wager—the essays also provide a uniquely readable survey that will be useful in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses in philosophy of religion and epistemology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195073249
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	02/04/1993
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	9.19(w) x 6.06(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Biola University

University of Southern California

Table of Contents

Introduction
I. ATHEISM
Expositional
1. The Presumption of Atheism, Anthony Flew
2. The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism, William L. Rowe
3. Atheistic Teleological Arguments, Michael Martin
Critical
4. Atheological Apologetics, Scott A. Shalkowski
II. WITTGENSTEINIAN FIDEISM
Expositional
5. Faith, Skepticism, and Religious Understanding, D.Z. Phillips
6. The Groundlessness of Belief, Norman Malcolm
7. Theology, Atheism, and Theism, Paul L. Holmer
Critical
8. Does Religious Skepticism Rest on a Mistake?, Kai Nielson
III. REFORMED EPISTEMOLOGY
Expositional
9. Is Belief in God Properly Basic?, Alvin Plantinga
10. Is Reason Enough?, Nicholas Wolterstorff
11. Experience, Proper Basicality, and Belief in God, Robert Pargetter
Critical
12. Belief in God Is Not Properly Basic, Stewart C. Goetz
IV. NATURAL THEOLOGY
Expositional
13. Philosophical and Scientific Pointers to Creatio ex Nihilo, William Lane Craig
14. The Argument from Design, Richard Swinburne
15. The Three-Stage Argument for the Existence of God, Dallas Willard
16. Flavors, Colors, and God, Robert M. Adams
Critical
17. The Irrelevance to Religion of Philosophic Proofs for the Existence of God, Steven M. Cahn
V. PRUDENTIAL ACCOUNTS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF
Expositional
18. Pascalian Wagering, Thomas V. Morris
19. You Bet Your Life: Pascal's Wager Defended, William G. Lycan and George N. Schlesinger
Critical
20. Pascal's Wager, James Cargile
VI. RATIONAL BELIEF AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Expositional
21. Religious Experience and Religious Belief, William P. Alston
22. The Rationality of Religious Belief, John Hick
23. Three Models of Faith, James Kellenberger
Critical
24. Explaining Religious Experience, Wayne Proudfoot