Philosophy of Religion: The Key Thinkers

200 Pages·2011·3.997 MB·English

by  Jeffrey J. Jordan

Philosophy of Religion:
The Key Thinkers
Continuum Key Thinkers
The Key Thinkers series is aimed at undergraduate students and offers
clear, concise and accessible edited guides to the key thinkers in each
of the central topics in philosophy. Each book offers a comprehensive
overview of the major thinkers who have contributed to the historical
development of a key area of philosophy, providing a survey of their
major works and the evolution of the central ideas in that area.
Key Thinkers in Philosophy forthcoming from Continuum:
Aesthetics, Edited by Alessandro Giovannelli
Epistemology, Edited by Stephen Hetherington
Ethics, Edited by Tom Angier
Philosophy of Language, Edited by Barry Lee
Philosophy of Science, Edited by James Robert Brown
Philosophy of Religion:
The Key Thinkers
Edited by
Jeffrey J. Jordan
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane
11 York Road Suite 704
London SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com
© Jeffrey J. Jordan and Contributors 2011
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.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4411-0994-1
PB: 978-1-4411-9215-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Philosophy of religion : the key thinkers / edited by Jeffrey J. Jordan.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4411-0994-1 – ISBN 978-1-4411-9215-8
1. Religion--Philosophy. 2. Christianity–Philosophy. I. Jordan, Jeff, 1959- II. Title.
BL51.P54535 2010
210–dc22
2010021126
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd
Contents
Contributors vii
1. Key Thinkers in the Philosophy of Religion:
An Introduction 1
Jeff Jordan
2. Anselm and the Classical Idea of God: A Debate 7
Katherin Rogers & William Hasker
3. Anselm and the Ontological Argument 22
Graham Oppy
4. Aquinas and the Cosmological Argument 44
William L. Rowe
5. William Paley and the Argument from Design 54
Mark Wynn
6. Kant and the Moral Argument 76
Peter Byrne
7. William James and Religious Experience 100
Richard M. Gale
8. Pascal and the Wager 118
Jeff Jordan
vi Contents
9. Hume and Reports of Miracles 137
David Johnson
10. Hume and the Problem of Evil 159
Michael Tooley
Suggestions for Further Reading 187
Index 189
Contributors
Peter Byrne is Emeritus Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion,
King’s College London. He is the author of Kant on God (Ashgate, 2007)
and seven other books in ethics and the philosophy of religion. He is
editor of Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy
of Religion.
Richard M. Gale is Professor Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh
and is the author of: The Language of Time (Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1968); On the Nature and Existence of God (Cambridge University Press,
1991); The Divided Self of William James (Cambridge University Press,
1999); and John Dewey’s Quest for Unity (Prometheus Press, 2010)
William Hasker is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Huntington
University. His books include God, Time, and Knowledge (Cornell
1989), The Emergent Self (Cornell 1999), and The Triumph of God Over
Evil (InterVarsity 2008. He is a past editor of the journal Faith and
Philosophy.
David Johnson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Yeshiva
University, and the author of two books: Hume, Holism, and Miracles
(Cornell University Press, 1999) and Truth without Paradox (Rowman &
Littlefield, 2004).
Jeff Jordan is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delaware,
and the author of Pascal’s Wager: Pragmatic arguments and belief in
God (Oxford University Press, 2006).
Graham Oppy is Professor of Philosophy at Monash University. His
books include: Ontological Arguments and Belief in God (Cambridge
University Press, 1996), Philosophical Perspective on Infinity (Cambridge
viii Contributors
University Press, 2006), and Arguing about Gods (Cambridge University
Press, 2006). He is Chairman of Council of the Australasian Association
of Philosophy, and Head of the School of Philosophical, Historical and
International Studies at Monash.
Katherin Rogers is a Professor in the Philosophy Department at the
University of Delaware. She is the author of four books including,
Perfect Being Theology (Edinburgh University Press, 2000) and Anselm
on Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2008).
William L. Rowe is Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, and the
author of five books, including The Cosmological Argument (Princeton
University Press, 1975), Thomas Reid on Freedom and Morality (Cornell
University Press, 1991), and Is God Free? (Oxford University Press,
2004). He is a past president, 1986–87, of the American Philosophical
Association, Central Division.
Michael Tooley is a Distinguished College Professor in the Philosophy
Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the author or
co-author of five books, including Causation: A Realist Approach (Oxford
University Press, 1987), Time, Tense, and Causation (Oxford University
Press, 1997) and, with Alvin Plantinga, Knowledge of God (Blackwell
Publishing, 2008). He is a past president of the Australasian Association
of Philosophy, 1983–1984, and president, 2010–2011, of the American
Philosophical Association, Pacific Division.
Mark R. Wynn is Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Religion at
the University of Exeter. He is the author of God and Goodness
(Routledge, 1999), Emotional Experience and Religious Understanding
(Cambridge University Press, 2005), and Faith and Place (Oxford
University Press, 2009).
CHAPTER 1
KEY THINKERS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF
RELIGION: AN INTRODUCTION
Jeff Jordan
Inquiries into the existence and nature of God have been frequent in the
history of Western philosophy, with nearly every famous philosopher
having his say. Often these discussions are difficult today to understand,
whether due to style and vocabulary differences from hundreds of years
of change, or due to issues that do to lend themselves to a quick and
easy read. The chapters which follow explore many of the important
arguments for or against the existence of God produced by some of the
most influential philosophers in western thought. And they do so with
the aim of accurately capturing the reasoning of the philosophers in a
way that makes that reasoning accessible today.
The first chapter features a debate between two theists over the
nature of God. A fundamental question in the philosophy of religion
concerns the meaning of the term ‘God’. Professor Katherin Rogers
arguments that the classical model of God found in thinkers such as
Augustine and Thomas, and most pre-eminently in Anselm, is still today
the model most appropriate for theistic belief and practice. Professor
William Hasker argues that the classical model of God as an atemporal
being who is omniscient and omnipotent does not adequately reflect
the picture of God found in the Bible, and, moreover, the classical model
is incompatible with significant human freedom. Rather than the
classical or Anselmian view of God, Hasker suggests theists should
accept what’s known as the Open view of God.
The ontological argument developed by Anselm in the eleventh
century is the topic of the Chapter 2. Anselm’s ontological argument
attempts to show that one cannot consistently hold both that God is