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More About This Title Philosophy of Religion: The Basics
English
- A truly accessible introduction to philosophy of religion for beginners
- Takes a topical approach, starting with the nature of religion and moving the reader through the major concepts, explaining how topics connect and point to one another
- Offers a thorough and full treatment of diverse conceptions of God, the ontological argument, and divine attributes and dilemmas
- A genuinely concise introduction, this text can be used alongside other resources without overtaxing students
- Represents 30 years of experience teaching to undergraduates
- Includes a free downloadable file with key excerpts and additions to help students study
English
Richard E. Creel taught Philosophy and Religion at Ithaca College, New York, for 30 years, during which time he served as Chair of his Department and President of the New York State Philosophical Association. Creel published numerous articles in philosophy journals and three books: Thinking Philosophically: An Introduction to Critical Reflection and Rational Dialogue (Blackwell, 2001), Divine Impassibility: An Essay in Philosophical Theology (1986), and Religion & Doubt: Toward a Faith of Your Own (1991, 1st edition 1977). After retirement, Creel was designated an Emeritus Professor for outstanding contributions.
English
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
1 What Is Religion? 6
1.1 Creed 6
1.2 Code 7
1.3 Cult 8
1.4 Community 9
1.5 Toward a Definition of Religion 11
1.6 Ze, Zer, Mer 13
2 Six Conceptions of God 17
2.1 Experiential Sources of Concepts of God 17
2.2 Six Conceptions of God 21
2.3 Religious Naturalism 21
2.4 Pantheism 23
2.5 Panentheism (Process Theism) 25
2.6 Deism 28
2.7 Classical Biblical Theism is based on divine revelation 29
2.8 Classical Philosophical Theism 31
3 Divine Attributes and Dilemmas 34
3.1 What Is a Dilemma? 39
3.2 Ways to Respond to a Dilemma 40
3.3 Divine Attribute Dilemmas 41
3.4 Proposed Solutions to the Preceding Dilemmas 45
3.4.1 Unsurpassability 45
3.4.2 Omnipotence 46
3.4.3 Are Omnipotence and Omnibenevolence Incompatible? 47
3.4.4 Immutability and Personhood 48
3.4.5 Divine Omniscience and Human Freedom 49
3.5 Open Theism 53
4 Human Language and Talk about God 57
5 Arguments about the Existence of God 72
6 The Ontological Argument 77
6.1 Is Anselm’s Argument Decisive? 82
6.2 A Version of Duns Scotus’ Ontological Argument 83
7 The Cosmological Arguments 88
7.1 The First Three of “The Five Ways” of Thomas Aquinas 89
7.2 Paul Edwards’ Infinite Regress Argument against the Cosmological Argument 92
7.2.1 Two Criticisms of Edwards 93
7.3 The Oscillatory Theory 93
7.3.1 Criticism of the Oscillatory Theory 94
7.4 The Kalam Cosmological Argument 95
8 The Teleological or Design Arguments 101
8.1 The Anthropic Principle 108
8.2 The Multiverse 109
9 God and Morality 118
9.1 Two Arguments from Morality for Belief in the Existence of God 118
9.2 The Relation of Morality to God 119
9.2.1 The Divine Command Theory 119
9.2.2 Theocentric Ethics 120
9.2.3 Natural Law Ethics 121
10 Religious Experience and Belief in God 128
10.1 The Principle of Credulity and the Rationality of Belief in God 128
10.2 Religious Experience as Evidence for the Existence of God 132
10.3 Toward a Cumulative Argument for God 134
11 Arguments against Belief in the Existence of God 137
11.1 Evidentialism and the Burden of Proof 137
11.2 Conceptual Arguments: Analysis of the Concept of God 138
11.2.1 The Argument from Meaninglessness 138
11.2.2 The Arguments from Incoherence and Self-Contradiction 138
11.3 Arguments from Science 139
11.3.1 The Natural Sciences: The Adequacy of Science 139
11.3.2 Criticisms of Naturalism 141
11.3.3 The Social Sciences: Religion and Emotion 142
11.4 The Problem of Divine Hiddenness 145
11.5 The Problem of Many Religions 147
12 The Problem of Evil 152
12.1 G.W. Leibniz (1646–1716) 153
12.2 The Logical Argument from Evil: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) 153
12.3 The Evidential Argument from Evil: Edward Madden, Peter Hare, William Rowe 153
12.3.1 Criticisms of Arguments from Evil against the Existence of God 154
12.4 Charles Hartshorne’s Panentheist or Process Theodicy 156
13 God and Life after Death 164
13.1 Cessationism 165
13.2 Immortalism 167
13.3 Resurrectionism 170
13.4 Personal Identity and Continuity 173
14 Miracles, Revelation, and Prayer 179
14.1 Miracles 179
14.2 Revelation 182
14.3 Prayer 183
15 Rationality without Evidence 185
15.1 Pascal’s Wager 185
15.2 Evidentialism vs. the Right to Believe 187
15.3 Fideism 188
15.3.1 Faith as Action or Leap 188
15.3.2 Faith as Passion or Gift 189
15.4 Agathism, Agatheism, and Religious Hope 190
Glossary 194
Biographical Notes 203
Index 209
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“This text covers all the major topics in the philosophy of religion. It is clearly written in a style that is attractive and easy to understand and it is constructed with maximum critical candor. A rare find.”
—William L. Power, The University of Georgia
“Richard Creel provides an informative guide to standard topics in philosophy of religion that draws on his years of experience in teaching the subject. He writes in a conversational style that should appeal to beginning students and stimulate them to develop their own thinking on these issues.”
—David M. Holley, University of Southern Mississippi
