Philosophy of Religion, Third Edition brings a well-established set of readings completely up-to-date in terms of the issues now at the forefront of contemporary religious philosophy. The new edition continues to present selections from major authors in the history of philosophical reflection about religion, as well as new essays covering religious pluralism, teleological and moral arguments for God's existence, and the problem of evil. Appropriate for introductory philosophy of religion course.

New to this Edition:

• The text includes new essays on the topic of religious pluralism.
  
  
• New important essays on the topics of the teleological argument for God's existence, the moral argument for God's existence, and the problem of evil.
  
  
• New introductions have been written for each major topic with updated suggestions for further reading presented at the end of each chapter.

I.The Nature and Attributes of God

Introduction

1. Necessary Being

St. Anselm, "The Divine Nature Exists through Itself," from Monologium
St. Thomas Aquinas, " God's Nature Cannot Be Separated from His Existence," from Summa Theologica
Robert Adams, "Divine Necessity"
J. N. Findlay, "Can God's Existence be Disproved?"

2. Knowledge

Boethius, "Divine Foreknowledge and Freedom of the Will," from The Consolation of Philosophy
St. Thomas Aquinas, "The Knowledge of God," from Summa Theologica
Nelson Pike, "Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action"

3. Power

St. Thomas Aquinas, "The Omnipotence of God from Summa Theologica"
Samuel Clarke, "Can God do Evil?" from Discourse Concerning the Being and Attributes of God
Peter Geach, "Omnipotence"

4. The Metaphysical Attributes

St. Anselm, "God is Timeless, Immutable, and Impassable," from Proslogium and Monologium
St. Thomas Aquinas, "The Simplicity and Immutability of God," from Summa Theologica
Charles Hartshorne, "The Divine Relativity," from The Divine Relativity
Suggestions for Further Reading

II. Arguments for the Existence of God

Introduction

5. The Ontological Argument

St. Anselm, "The Ontological Argument," from Proslogium
Gaunilo, "The Perfect Island Objection"
St. Anselm, "Reply to Gaunilo"
Rene Descartes, "The Supremely Perfect Being Must Exist," from Meditations on First Philosophy
Alvin Plantinga, "A Modal Version of the Ontological Argument, from Gods, Freedom and Evil"

6. The Cosmological Argument

St. Thomas Aquinas, "The Existence of God and the Beginning of the World," from Summa
Theologica
Patterson Brown, "Infinite Causal Regression"
Samuel Clarke, "The Cosmological Argument," from Discourse Concerning the Being and Attributes of God
David Hume, "Some Objections to the Cosmological Argument," from Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
William L. Rowe, "Two Criticisms of the Cosmological Argument"

7. The Teleological Argument

William Paley, "The Evidence of Design," from
Natural Theology
David Hume, "Design and the Teleological Argument," from Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Peter Van Inwagen, "The Wider Teleological Argument," from Metaphysics

8. The Moral Argument

Immanuel Kant, "The Moral Argument," from Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and Other Works
J. L. Mackie, "Kant on the Moral Argument," from The Miracle of Theism
George Mavrodes, "Religion and the Queerness of Morality"
Suggestions for Further Reading

III. The Problem of Evil

Introduction
Gottfried Leibniz, "The Argument Reduced to Syllogistic Form," from Theodicy
David Hume,"God and the Problem of Evil," from Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Rebellion," from The Brothers Karamazov
William L. Rowe, "The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism"
John Hick, "The 'Soul Making' Theodicy," from Evil and the God of Love
Alvin Plantinga, "The Free Will Defense," from God, Freedom and Evil
Suggestions for Further Reading

IV. Objections to Traditional Theism

Introduction

9. Wittgenstein and Fideism

Ludwig Wittgenstein, "Religious Belief," from Lectures and Conversations
D. Z. Phillips, "Philosophy, Theology and the
Reality of God"
Kai Nielsen, "A Critique of Wittgensteinian Fideism," from The Autonomy of Religious Belief

10. Religious Pluralism

John Hick, "Religious Pluralism," from An
Interpretation of Religion
Peter Byrne, "A Religious Theory of Religion"
William Wainwright, "Worldviews, Criteria and Epistemic Circularity"
Suggestions for Further Reading

V. Mysticism and Religious Experience

Introduction

11. The Nature and Types of Religious and Mystical Experience

Walter Stace,"The Nature of Mysticism," from The Teachings of the Mystics
R. C. Zachner,"Nature Mysticism, Soul Mysticism and Theistic Mysticism," from Mysticism: Sacred and Profane
Ninian Smart, "Numinous Experience and Mystical Experience," from A Dialogue of Religions

12. The Cognitive Status of Religious and Mystical Experience

C. D. Broad, "The Appeal to Religious Experience, from Religion, Philosophy and Psychical Research"
William Wainwright, "The Cognitive Status of Mystical Experience, from Mysticism: A Study of its Nature"
William P. Alston, "Is Religious Belief Rational?"
Suggestions for Further Reading

VI. Faith and Miracles

Introduction

13. Faith and the Need for Evidence

St. Thomas Aquinas, "Reason and Revelation," from On the Truth of the Catholic Faith
Blaise Pascal, "The Wager," from Pensies
Ian Hacking, "The Logic of Pascal's Wager"
W. K. Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief," from Lectures and Essays
William James, "The Will to Believe, from The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy"
Alvin Plantinga, "Is Belief in God Properly Basic?"
Stephen J. Wykstra, "Toward a Sensible Evidentialism: On the Notion of 'Needing
Evidence'"

14. Miracles

David Hume "Of Miracles," from An Enquiry
Concerning Human Understanding
R. G. Swinburne, "Miracles"
Paul Tillich, "Revelation and Miracle," from
Systematic Theology
Suggestions for Further Reading

VII. Death and Immortality

Introduction
Anthony Quinton, "The Soul"
H. H. Price, "The Problem of Life After Death
A Future State," from A Discourse
Concerning the Unalterable Obligations of the Truth and Certainity of the Christian Revelation
David Hume, "Doubts about Immortality," from Two Essays on Suicide and Immortality
J. M. E. McTaggart, "The Dependency Argument," from Some Dogmas of Religion
Suggestions for Further Reading