The Abraham dilemma : a divine delusion

193 Pages·2015·3.869 MB·English

by  Graham, George

The Abraham Dilemma: A Divine
Delusion
International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry
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The Abraham
Dilemma
A Divine Delusion
George Graham
1
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For Patricia,
Always

Acknowledgements
I am grateful to The Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) in Princeton, New
Jersey, for a residential fellowship for the Fall Term of 2013, which enabled me
to begin to work on the book. I am also grateful to The Templeton Foundation
and to Georgia State University, each of which provided financial support
while I was at CTI.
I wish to thank Owen Flanagan, K.W.M. “Bill” Fulford, Richard Garrett,
Robert McCauley, Jeffrey Poland, and G. Lynn Stephens for help in numerous
forms. I am grateful to Martin Baum and Charlotte Green of Oxford University
Press-UK and the IPPP Series for their support. I wish to thank four reviewers
for the Press for helpful comments. I am grateful to my residential colleagues
at CTI for their intellectual sociability and support.
My deepest gratitude is reserved for Patricia, my wife. Without her unfail-
ing love and support, this book would never have been completed. Indeed, it
would not have been worth beginning. It is dedicated to her.

Contents
Prologue xi
1 No One Left But God  1
1.1. Three Story Lines  1
1.2. A Look Ahead  16
2 Religious Belief and Belief in Delusion  25
2.1. For Christ’s Sake, So to Speak  25
2.2. The Truth about the False  30
2.3. What to Believe about Belief  37
3 Modes of Morals Made  45
3.1. Clinical Concerns about Commands  45
3.2. The Abraham Dilemma  55
4 Spiritual Sense and Sensibility  59
4.1. Spirituality without Precise Definition  59
4.2. When God Comes to Mind  68
4.3. Words about Warrant  84
5 Theistic Pragmatics and Personal Well-Being  93
5.1. One Pilgrim’s Progress  93
5.2. Theistic Pragmatics in Practice  98
5.3. Summary and Substance  106
6 The Elements of Religious Delusion  109
6.1. Malaise, Despair and Delusion  109
6.2. Perception, Conception and Belief  115
6.3. The Five Factor Conception  118
7 Straight from Crooked Wood  135
7.1. Soul Therapy  135
7.2. Samples and Similitudes  142
Bibliography  159
Index  169