Philosophy of Religion Selected Readings

This third edition of Philosophy of Religion offers a wide variety of readings designed to introduce students to important issues in the philosophy of religion. The authors have coupled new readings--including essays by Robert M. Adams, Peter Van Inwagen, and William P. Alston--with readings from classical philosophers, offering students an even more comprehensive and well-focused text. Many of the essays are particularly accessible to beginning philosophy students. New essays cover religious pluralism, teleological and moral arguments for God's existence, and the problem of evil. Philosophy of Religion, 3/e is an excellent choice for use as a main text or as a supplement for introductory courses in philosophy and religion.

I. The Nature and Attributes of GodIntroductionNecessary Being: St. Anselm: The Divine Nature Exists through Itself, from MonologiumSt. Thomas Aquinas: God''s Nature Cannot Be Separated from His Existence, from Summa TheologicaRobert M. Adams: Divine NecessityJ. N. Findlay: Can God''s Existence Be Disproved?Knowledge: Boethius: Divine Foreknowledge and Freedom of the Will, from The Consolation of PhilosophySt. Thomas Aquinas: The Knowledge of God, from Summa TheologicaNelson Pike: Divine Omniscience and Voluntary ActionPower: St. Thomas Aquinas: The Omnipotence of God, from Summa TheologicaSamuel Clarke: Can God Do Evil?, from A Discourse Concerning the Being and Attributes of GodP. T. Geach: OmnipotenceThe Metaphysical Attributes: St. Anselm: God Is Timeless, Immutable, and Impassible, from Proslogium and MonologiumSt. Thomas Aquinas: The Simplicity and Immutability of God, from Summa TheologicaCharles Hartshorne: The Divine Relativity, from The Divine RelativityII. Arguments for the Existence of GodIntroductionThe Ontological Argument: St. Anselm: The Ontological Argument, from ProslogiumGaunilo: The Perfect Island ObjectionAt. Anselm: Reply to GauniloRene Descartes: The Supremely Perfect Being Must Exist, from Meditations on First PhilosophyImmanuel Kant: Of the Impollibility of an Ontological Proof, from The Critique of Pure ReasonAlvin Plantinga: A Modal Version of the Ontological Argument, from God, Freedom and EvilThe Cosmological Argument: St. Thomas Aquinas: The Existence of God and the Beginning of the World, from Summa TheologicaPatterson Brown: Infinite Causal RegressionSamuel Clarke: The Cosmological Argument, from Discourse Concerning the Being and Attributes of GodDavid Hume: Some Objections to the Cosmological Argument, from Dialogues Concerning Natural ReligionWilliam L. Rowe: Two Criticisms of the Cosmological ArgumentThe Teleological Argument: William Paley: The Evidence of Design, from Natural TheologyDavid Hume: Design and the Teleological Argument, from Dialogues Concerning Natural ReligionPeter Van Inwagen: The Wider Teleological Argument, from MetaphysicsThe Moral Argument: Immanuel Kant: The Moral Argument, from Kant''s Critique of Practical Reason and Other WorksJ. L. Mackie: Kant on the Moral Argument, from The Miracle of TheismGeorge I. Mavrodes: Religion and the Queerness of MortalityIII. The Problem of EvilIntroductionGottfried Leibniz: The Argument Reduced to Syllogistic Form, from TheodicyDavid Hume: God and the Problem of Evil, from Dialogs Concerning Natural ReligionFyodor Dostoevsky: Rebellion, from The Brothers KaramazovWilliam L. Rowe: The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of AtheismJohn Hick: The "Soul-Making" Theodicy, from Evil and the God of LoveAlvin Plantinga: The Free Will Defense, from God, Freedom, and EvilIV. Objections to Traditional TheismIntroductionWittgenstein and Fideism: Ludwig Wittgenstein: Religious Belief, from Lectures and ConversationsD. Z. Phillips: Philosophy, Theology and the Reality of GodKai Nielsen: A Critique of Wittgensteinian Fideism, from The Autonomy of Religious BeliefReligious Pluralism: John Hick: The Pluralistic Hypotheses, from An Interpretation of ReligionPeter Byrne: A Religious Theory of ReligionWilliam J. Wainwright: Worldviews, Criteria and Epistemic CircularityV. Mysticism and Religious ExperienceIntroductionThe Nature and Types of Religious and Mystical Experience: Walter Stace: The Nature of Mysticism, from The Teachings of the MysticsR. C. Zaehner: Nature Mysticism, Soul Mysticism and Theistic Mysticism, from Mysticism: Sacred and ProfaneNinian Smart: Numinous Experience and Mystical Experience, from A Dialog of ReligionThe Cognitive Status of Religious and Mystical Experience: C. D. Broad: The Appeal to Religious Experience, from Religion, Philosophy and Psychical ResearchWilliam J. Wainwright: The Cognitive Status of Mystical Experience, from Mysticism: A Study of its Nature, Cognitive Value, and Moral ImplicationsWilliam P. Alston: Is Religiou