Characters in Search of Their Author: The Gifford Lectures, 1999-2000 (The Gifford Lecture Series)

In Characters In Search of Their Author , the Gifford Lectures delivered at the University of Glasgow in 1999-2000, Ralph McInerny discusses natural theology as it can be discussed in the present philosophical climate. The first five lectures ask "Whatever Happened to Natural Theology?", and trace the fate of philosophical efforts to establish the existence and nature of God in modern times. In the second set of lectures, dealing with "The Recovery of Natural Theology," McInerny defends the viability of the philosophical effort against certain dominant trends in contemporary philosophy. It has been the practise of Gifford Lecturers to write a book based on the lectures, often years after the event. This book contains the text of the lectures McInerny actually delivered. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Preface PART ONE: Whatever Happened to Natural Theology? LECTURE ONE: Personal Prejudice and Natural Theology LECTURE TWO: Friends and Foes of Natural Theology LECTURE THREE: Atheism Is Not the Default Position LECTURE FOUR: Radical Chic LECTURE FIVE: Natural and Supernatural Theology PART TWO: The Recovery of Natural Theology LECTURE SIX: Aspects of Argument LECTURE SEVEN: Intemperate Reasoning LECTURE EIGHT: Truth and Subjectivity LECTURE NINE: That God Exists LECTURE TEN: Faith and Reason Index

Is the conviction that there is a God the default position of the human mind? This is the suggestion of Vatican II's Gaudium et spes, as well as Cardinal Newman and even St. Thomas Aquinas. But however natural it is for human beings to acknowledge their maker, it seems almost as natural to throw up obstacles between man and God. Characters in Search of Their Author, the Gifford Lectures delivered by Ralph McInerny in Glasgow in 1999-2000, is devoted to clearing away some of these impediments, mainly those fashioned by philosophers.--BOOK JACKET.

In these essays, first delivered as lectures at the University of Glasgow in 1999-2000, Ralph McInerny discusses natural theology. The first five lectures ask ""Whatever Happened to Natural Theology?"" and the other five lectures explore ""The Recovery of Natural Theology"".