Philosophers and God: At the Frontiers of Faith and Reason

275 Pages·2009·5.49 MB·English

by  John Cornwell

Philosophers
and God
At the frontiers of
faith and reason
Edited by
John Cornwell and
Michael McGhee
continuum
Continuum
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80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com
Editorial and this collection copyright © John Cornwell and Michael McGhee, 2009.
Individual essays copyright © the authors, 2009.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
J First published 2009.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-8470-6548-3
Designed and typeset by Kenneth Burnley, Wirral, Cheshire
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
Contents
Notes on Contributors
Preface (John Cornwell)
Introduction (Michael McGhee)
1 Science and Religion: The Immersion Solution
Peter Lipton
2 What has Plotinus' One to do with God?
Stephen R. L. Clark
3 Thinking, Attending, Praying
Nicholas Lash
4 Mystery, World and Religion
David E. Cooper
5 Searching for God?
Daphne Hampson
6 Love and Reason
Janet Martin Soskice
7 Beyond My God, with God's Massing
Francis X. Clooney, SJ
8 In Search of Wisdom
Morny Joy
vi Contents
9 Agnosticism and Atheism
Anthony Kenny
10 Ideals without Idealism
Clare Carlisle
11 The God of the Prophet Jesus of Nazareth
James P. Mackey
12 Humanism and Spirituality: or How to be a Good Atheist
Michael McGhee
13 A Turn to Spiritual Virtues in Philosophy of Religion:
'The Thoughtful Love of Life'
Pamela Sue Anderson
14 Secularism and Shared Values
Richard Norman
15 Religion in Public Life
Anthony O'Hear
16 Religion and Theology
Gordon Graham
17 Wisdom and Belief in Theology and philosophy
Simon Oliver
18 Provocation
Harriet A. Harris
Index
This book is dedicated to the memory of
the late Peter Lipton
1954-2007
Notes on Contributors
John Cornwell is Director of the Science and Human Dimension Project at
Jesus College, Cambridge. He is the author of The Power to Harm (Penguin,
1998), The Pope in Winter (Penguin, 2005) and Hitler's Scientists (Viking
Adult, 2003). He has edited a number of collections of essays in philosophy
of science, including Nature's Imagination (Oxford University Press, 1995),
Consciousness and Human Identity (Oxford University Press, 1998) and
Explanations (Oxford University Press, 2004).
Michael McGhee is Senior Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the
University of Liverpool. He is the author of Transformations of Mind:
Philosophy as Spiritual Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2000) and co-
editor of Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal. He edited
Philosophy, Religion and the Spiritual Life (Cambridge University Press,
2002).
Peter Lipton
The late Peter Lipton (9 October 1954-25 November 2007) was the first
Hans Rausing Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science in the
University of Cambridge from 1997 to 2007, and head of his department
from 1996 until his death. He was author of Inference to the Best Explana
tion (1991, second edition 2004).
Stephen R. L. Clark is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Liver
pool. His most recent publications are Biology and Christian Ethics
(Cambridge University Press, 2000), G. K. Chesterton: Thinking Backwards,
Looking Forwards (Templeton Foundation Press, 2006) and Understanding
Faith (Imprint Academic, 2009).
ix
x Notes on Contributors
Nicholas Lash is Emeritus Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity in the Uni
versity of Cambridge. His many books include Theology on Dover Beach
(Wipf and Stock, 2005), Theology on the Way to Emmaus (Wipf and Stock,
2005), Easter in Ordinary (University of Notre Dame Press, 1990), and most
recently Theology for Pilgrims (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2008). He is a
Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge.
David E. Cooper is Professor of Philosophy (Emeritus) at Durham Univer
sity. He has been a Visiting Professor at universities in the USA, Canada,
Germany, Malta and Sri Lanka. His most recent books are The Measure of
Things: Humanism, Humility and Mystery (Oxford University Press, 2002),
Meaning (Acumen Publishing, 2003), Buddhism, Virtue and Environment
(with Simon P. James, Ashgate, 2005), and A Philosophy of Gardens (Oxford
University Press, 2006).
Daphne Hampson is Professor Emerita of Divinity in the University of
St Andrews and an affiliate of the Department of Theology at Oxford Uni
versity. She is the author of Theology and Feminism (Blackwell, 1990), After
Christianity (SCM Press, 1996/2002), editor of Swallowing a Fishbone?:
Feminist Theologians Debate Christianity (SPCK Publishing, 1996) and,
reflecting a further field of interest, of Christian Contradictions: The Struc
tures of Lutheran and Catholic Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Janet Martin Soskice is University Reader in Philosophical Theology at the
University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College. She is a past-
President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain and is
currently President of the Society for the Study of Theology. Dr Soskice is
the author of Metaphor and Religious Language (Oxford University Press,
]984) and The Kindness of God (Oxford University Press, 2008), and Sisters
of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Found the Hidden Gospels (Chatto and
Knopf, 2009).
Francis X. Clooney, SJ, is a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the
Society of Jesus. He has taught at Harvard Divinity School since 2005. Fr
Clooney is the author of numerous articles and books, including Hindu
God, Christian God (Oxford University Press, 2001), and Divine Mother,
Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary (Oxford University
Press, 2005). He has just published two books: Beyond Compare: St Francis
and Sri Vedanta Desika on Loving Surrender to God (Georgetown University
Press, 2008), and The Truth, the Way, the Life: Christian Commentary on the
Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnava Hindus (Peeters Publishing [Leuven],
2008).
Notes on Contributors xi
Morny Joy is a University Professor in the Department of Religious Studies
at the University of Calgary. She has an MA from the University of Ottawa
(1973) and a PhD from McGill (1981). Morny's principal areas of research
are philosophy and religion, especially Continental philosophy. Morny has
written and co-edited a number of books and has written many articles in
the area of women, philosophy and religion. Her most recent publication is
Divine Love: Luce Irigaray, Women, Gender and Religion (University of Man
chester Press, 2007).
Anthony Kenny was ordained a Roman Catholic priest after studying at the
English College in Rome and was for four years a curate in Liverpool. In
1963 he was laicized at his own request and from that time pursued an
academic career as a philosopher. He became Master of Balliol College,
Oxford, and later Warden of Rhodes House. He has been President of the
British Academy and Chairman of the British Library, and is now retired.
He is married, with two sons and three granddaughters.
Clare Carlisle is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool. She
is the author of three books on Kierkegaard, and the translator of Felix
Ravaisson's Of Habit.
James P. Mackey is currently Visiting Professor at the School of Religions
and Theology, Trinity College, the University of Dublin; Thomas Chalmers
Professor of Theology (Emeritus), the University of Edinburgh; and Found
ing Editor of Studies in World Christianity. Recent publications: Christianity
and Creation (Continuum, 2006); The Scientist and the Theologian: On the
Origin and End of Creation (Columba Press, 2001); Jesus of Nazareth: The
Life, the Faith, and the Future of the Prophet (Columba Press, 2008).
Pamela Sue Anderson is Reader in Philosophy of Religion, University of
Oxford, and Fellow in Philosophy, Regent's Park College, Oxford. She is
author of Ricoeur and Kant (Scholars Press, 1993); A Feminist Philosophy of
Religion (Blackwell, 1998); co-edited with Beverley Clack, Feminist Philoso
phy of Religion: Critical Readings (Routledge, 2004); has an edited volume,
New Topics in Feminist Philosophy of Religion: Contestation and Transcen
dence Incarnate (Springer, 2009); and has published numerous articles
informed by a range of Continental philosophers, especially Kant, Paul
Ricoeur, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva and Michele Le Doeuff. Her current
project is a monograph, Goodness, God and Gender: A Thoughtful Love of
Life. «
xii Notes on Contributors
Richard Norman is Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy at the Univer
sity of Kent. His published books include The Moral Philosophers (Oxford
University Press, 1988) and On Humanism (Routledge, 2004). He is a Vice-
President of the British Humanist Association.
Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bucking
ham, Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, and Editor of Philoso
phy. His books include Beyond Evolution (Oxford University Press, 1997),
Philosophy in the New Century (Continuum, 2001), The Great Books (Icon
Books, 2007) and The Landscape of Humanity (Imprint Academic, 2008).
Gordon Graham is Henry Luce III Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at
Princeton Theological Seminary. He was formerly Regius Professor of
Moral Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. His most recent book is
The Re-enchantment of the World: Art versus Religion (Oxford University
Press, 2007).
Simon Oliver is Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology and Director of the
Centre for Faith, Reason and Ethics at the University of Wales, Lampeter.
Recent publications include Philosophy, God and Motion (Routledge, 2005)
and Creations Ends: Teleology, Ethics and the Natural (forthcoming).
Harriet A. Harris is a member of the Faculty of Theology at the University
of Oxford, and Chaplain of Wadham College Oxford. Her publications
include Fundamentalism and Evangelicals (Oxford University Press, 1998,
2008), Faith and Philosophical Analysis which she co-edited with Chris
Insole (Ashgate, 2005), and the Lent book, Faith Without Hostages (SPCK,
2004).