Introduction to philosophy of religion

Using various and competing religious sensibilities, Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion helps students work through the traditional material and their own religious questions. Cover 1 Title 2 Dedication 3 Copyright 4 Contents 6 Preface 11 About the Author 13 Introduction: Philosophy and Religion 14 Chapter 1 Religions of the World 20 Hinduism 20 Buddhism 24 Judaism 28 Christianity 34 Islam 39 Other Religious Forms 44 Chapter 2 Proving God's Existence 48 The Main Argument for God's Existence 48 The Ontological Argument 50 Criticisms of the Ontological Argument 53 The Cosmological Argument 57 Criticisms of the Cosmological Argument 59 The Teleological Argument 63 Criticisms of the Teleological Argument 65 Summing Up and Going Further 67 Questions for Chapter 2 71 Chapter 3 Religious Faith and Proving God's Existence 75 Two Questions about Proving God's Existence 75 The Relevance for Faith of the Arguments for God's Existence 75 Summing Up and Going Further 87 Questions for Chapter 3 90 Chapter 4 Is Religious Belief Reasonable? 93 Faith and Reason 93 Blaise Pascal and the Reasonableness of Faith 94 Criticisms of Pascal's Account 95 William James and the Right to Believe 96 Criticisms of James's Account 100 Contemporary Concerns about "Evidentialism" 102 Alvin Plantinga and the Rationality of Religious Belief 103 Criticisms of Plantinga's Account 105 William Alston and the Reliability of Religious Belief Formation 107 Criticisms of Alston's Account 112 Summing Up and Going Further 113 Questions for Chapter 4 115 Chapter 5 Religious Discovery: Is the Discovery of God Possible? 120 Religious Experience and Discovery 120 Kinds of Discoveries 122 The Religious Sensibility of the Psalms 125 Why Doesn't Everyone Realize God's Presence? 129 Is a Realization-Discovery of God's Presence Possible? 130 Criticisms of This Account 134 Summing Up and Going Further 136 Questions for Chapter 5 139 Chapter 6 The Religious Problem of Evil 142 Problems of Evil 142 The Personal Nature of the Religious Problem of Evil 142 The Religious Problem of Evil and Faith in God 143 Evil and God's Goodness and Power 144 Moral Evil and Natural Evil 146 Some Religious Answers 146 The Free Will Theodicy 147 Criticisms of The Free Will Theodicy 147 The Best of All Possible Worlds Theodicy 147 Criticisms of the Best of All Possible Worlds Theodicy 148 The Irenaean Theodicy 148 Criticisms of The Irenaean Theodicy 149 When the Religious Problem of Evil Is Not a Problem 149 Back to the Practical Problem of Evil 152 Summing Up and Going Further 154 Questions for Chapter 6 156 Chapter 7 Miracles 158 Miracles in Religious Traditions 158 Intervention Miracles 158 Contingency Miracles 163 Natural Miracles 164 Summing Up and Going Further 167 Questions for Chapter 7 169 Chapter 8 Religion and Morality 171 Two Preliminary Questions 172 How Close Is Religious Morality to Secular or Nonreligious Morality? 172 Is Religious Morality the Same from Religion to Religion? 173 The Question of the Relationship between Religion and Morality: Three Views 175 Morality Independent of Religion 176 Critical Examination of the First View 176 Divine Command Morality 177 Critical Examination of Divine Command Morality 180 Divine Action as the Foundation of Morality 181 The Natural Law Form of the Third View 181 Critical Examination of the Third View in its Natural Law Form 183 The Relationships Form of the Third View 183 Critical Examination of the Third View in its Relationships Form 184 Summing Up and Going Further 184 Questions for Chapter 8 186 Chapter 9 Religious Language, Metaphor, and Gender 189 Issues of Religious Language 189 Does Religious Language Have Factual Meaning? 189 Metaphor 193 The Gender Issue 198 How Should God Be Conceived? 198 How Should God Be Imaged? 198 Summing Up and Going Further 203 Questions for Chapter 9 204 Chapter 10 Religious Realism and the Meaning of God 207 The Issue of Religious Realism and Questions about the Meaning of God 207 The Perspective of Non-realism 208 The Perspective of Realism 213 Critical Examination of Realism and Non-realism 215 Summing Up and Going Further 220 Questions for Chapter 10 221 Chapter 11 Religious Plurality: The Mutual-Opposition View, Exclusivism, Inclusivism, and Pluralism 225 The Undeniable Phenomenon of Religious Plurality 225 The Mutual-Opposition View 226 Exclusivism 227 Critical Examination of Exclusivism 232 Inclusivism 233 Critical Examination of Inclusivism 236 Pluralism 236 Critical Examination of Pluralism 242 Summing Up and Going Further 243 Questions for Chapter 11 246 Chapter 12 Other Ways of Understanding Religious Plurality 250 The Different Aspects Approach 250 Critical Examination of the Different Aspects Approach 252 The Common Core Approach 253 Critical Examination of the Common Core Approach 257 The Indeterminacy Approach 258 Critical Examination of the Indeterminacy Approach 263 The Relationships Approach 264 Critical Examination of the Relationships Approach 272 Summing Up and Going Further 273 Questions for Chapter 12 274 Glossary 277 Index 286