Philosophy of Religion: Thinking About Faith

by C. Stephen Evans, R. Zachary Manis

Overview

Add this ebook to your cart, purchase it and download it immediately in any or all of these formats: PDF. With over 40,000 copies in print since its original publication in 1982, Steve Evans's Philosophy of Religion has served many generations of students as a classic introduction to the philosophy of religion from a Christian perspective. Over the years the philosophical landscape has changed, and in this new edition Zach Manis joins Evans in a thorough revamping of arguments and information, while maintaining the qualities of clarity and brevity that made the first edition so appreciated. New material on divine foreknowledge and human freedom has been added as well as on Reformed epistemology. The discussions on science now cover new developments from cognitive psychology and naturalism as well as on the fine-tuning of the cosmos. The chapter on faith and reason has been expanded to include consideration of evidentialism. The problem of evil now forms its own new chapter and adds a discussion of the problem of hell. The standard features remain: a survey of the field, an examination of classical arguments for God's existence, and an exploration of contemporary challenges to theism from the social sciences and philosophy as well as the natural sciences. The meaning and significance of personal religious experience, revelation and miracles--all within the realm of contemporary religious pluralism--are likewise investigated. A classic introduction thoroughly updated and refreshed for today's student.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830879335
Publisher:	IVP Academic
Publication date:	02/23/2010
Series:	Contours of Christian Philosophy
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	244
File size:	595 KB

About the Author

R. Zachary Manis (Ph.D., Baylor University) is assistant professor of philosophy at Southwest Baptist University.

C. Stephen Evans (Ph.D., Yale) is Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and the Humanities at Baylor University. He previously taught in the philosophy departments at Calvin College, St. Olaf College and Wheaton College. His publications include Why Believe?, The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith: The Incarnational Narrative as History, Kierkegaard's Ethic of Love and Keirkegaard on Faith and the Self: Collected Essays.

C. Stephen Evans (PhD, Yale) is University Professor of Philosophy and the Humanities at Baylor University. He previously taught in the philosophy departments at Calvin College, St. Olaf College, and Wheaton College. He has published several books, including Kierkegaard: An Introduction, Natural Signs and Knowledge of God: A New Look at Theistic Arguments, God and Moral Obligation, Why Christian Faith Still Makes Sense, and Philosophy of Religion.

R. Zachary Manis (Ph.D., Baylor University) is assistant professor of philosophy at Southwest Baptist University.

Table of Contents

General Preface
Preface to the Second Edition
1. What Is Philosophy of Religion?
Philosophy of Religion and Other Disciplines
Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy
Can Thinking About Religion Be Neutral?
Fideism
Neutralism
Critical Dialogue
2. The Theistic God: The Project of Natural Theology
Concepts of God
The Theistic Concept of God
A Case Study: Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom
The Problem of Religious Language
Natural Theology
Proofs of God's Existence
3. Classical Arguments for God's Existence
Ontological Arguments
Cosmological Arguments
Teleological Arguments
Moral Arguments
Conclusions: The Value of Theistic Argument
4. Religious Experience
Types of Religious Experience
Two Models for Understanding Experience
Experience of God as Direct and Mediated
Are Religious Experiences Veridical?
Checking Experiential Claims
5. Special Acts of God: Revelation and Miracles
Special Acts
Theories of Revelation
Is the Traditional View Defensible?
What Is a Miracle?
Is It Reasonable to Believe in Miracles?
Can a Revelation Have Special Authority?
6. Religion, Modernity and Science
Modernity and Religious Belief
Naturalism
Do the Natural Sciences Undermine Religious Belief?
Objections from the Social Sciences
Religious Uses of Modern Atheism?
7. The Problem of Evil
Types of Evil, Versions of the Problem, and Types of Response
The Logical Form of the Problem
The Evidential Form of the Problem
Horrendous Evils and the Problem of Hell
Divine Hiddenness
8. Faith(s) and Reason
Faith: Subjectivity in Religious Arguments
The Evidentialist Challenge to Religious Belief
Reformed Epistemology
The Place of Subjectivity in Forming Beliefs
Interpretive Judgments and the Nature of a Cumulative Case
Can Faith Be Certain?
Faith and Doubt: Can Religious Faith Be Tested?
What Is Faith?
Could One Religion Be True?
Notes
Further Reading