Contemporary perspectives on religious epistemology / [print]
edited by R. Douglas Geivett.
- New York, New York : Oxford University Press, (c)1992.
- ix, 358 pages ; 24 cm
I. ATHEISM -- The presumption of atheism/ The problem of evil and some varieties of atheism/ Atheistic teleological arguments/ Atheological apologetics/ Antony Flew -- William L. Rowe -- Michael Martin -- Scott A. Shalkowski II. WITTGENSTEINIAN FIDEISM -- Faith, skepticism, and religious understanding/ The groundlessness of belief/ Theology, atheism, and theism/ Does religious skepticism rest on a mistake? / Kai Nielsen D. Z. Phillips -- Norman Malcolm -- Paul L. Holmer -- III. REFORMED EPISTEMOLOGY -- Is belief in God properly basic? / Alvin Plantinga -- Is reason enough? / Nicholas Wolterstorff -- Experience, proper basicality, and belief in God/ Belief in God is not properly basic/ Robert Pargetter -- Stewart C. Goetz IV. NATURAL THEOLOGY -- Philosophical and scientific pointers to Creatio ex Nihilo/ The argument from design/ The three-stage argument for the existence of God/ Flavors, colors, and God/ The irrelevance to religion of philosophic proofs for the existence of God/ William Lane Craig -- Richard Swinburne -- Dallas Willard -- Robert M. Adams -- Steven M. Cahn V. PRUDENTIAL ACCOUNTS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF -- Pascalian wagering/ You bet your life: Pascal's wager defended/ Pascal's wager/ Thomas V. Morris -- William G. Lycan and George N. Schlesinger -- James Cargile VI. RATIONAL BELIEF AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE -- Religious experience and religious belief/ The rationality of religious belief/ Three models of faith/ Explaining religious experience/ William P. Alston -- John Hick -- James Kellenberger -- Wayne Proudfoot.
This unique textbook--the first to offer balanced, comprehensive coverage of all major perspectives on the rational justification of religious belief--includes twenty-four key papers by some of the world's leading philosophers of religion. Arranged in six sections, each representing a major approach to religious epistemology, the book begins with papers by noted atheists, setting the stage for the main theistic responses--Wittgensteinian fideism, Reformed epistemology, natural theology, prudential accounts of religious belief, and rational belief based on religious experience--in each case offering a representative sample of papers by leading exponents, a critical paper, and a substantial bibliography. A comprehensive introductory essay and ample cross-references help students to contrast and evaluate the different approaches, while the overall arrangement encourages them to assess the full range of philosophical positions on the issue. Carefully selected to provide both a comprehensive overview of current work and a series of modern perspectives on many classic sources--Sinburne's detailed discussion of Hume's critique of the design argument, for example, as well as an entire section evaluating and extending Pascal's famous Wager--the essays also provide a uniquely readable survey that will be useful in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses in philosophy of religion and epistemology.