Experience of God and the Rationality of Theistic Belief

Experience of God and the Rationality of Theistic Belief
Author: Jerome I. Gellman
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 1997
Genre: Experience (Religion)
ISBN: 9780801433207

Jerome I. Gellman observes that the mystic experience of God's presence, a sense of having direct contact with the divine, often compels belief in God's existence. On the basis of widely accepted principles connecting appearance with reality, Gellman contends, the claims people make of having experienced God show that belief in God is strongly rational, meaning that such claims are sufficient in number and variety to support a line of reasoning making it rational to believe that God exists and irrational to deny God's existence. Gellman considers challenges to his thinking based on epistemological grounds and challenges growing out of the diversity of religious experiences across the range of world religions. He thoroughly evaluates reductionist explanations of apparent experiences of God and finds them incapable of invalidating his view. Finally, he directs his attention to the two most compelling arguments against the existence of God: the charge that the idea of a perfect being is logically incoherent, and the threat to theism based on the existence of evil, in both its logical and probabilistic forms. Until and unless stronger objections come along, he concludes, personal experiences of God constitute sufficient evidence of God's existence.

Rationality and Religious Theism

Rationality and Religious Theism
Author: Joshua L. Golding
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2017-11-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1351773283

Throughout the ages one of the central topics in philosophy of religion has been the rationality of theistic belief. This book proposes that parties on both sides of this debate might shift their attention in a different direction, by focusing on the question of whether it is rational to be a religious theist. Explaining that having theistic beliefs is primarily a cognitive affair but being a religious theist involves a whole way of life that includes one's beliefs, Golding argues that it can be pragmatically rational to be a religious theist even if the evidence for God’s existence is minimal. The argument is applied to the case of Judaism, articulating what is involved in religious Judaism and arguing that it is rationally defensible to be a religious Jew. The book concludes with a discussion of whether a similar argument might be constructed for other versions of religious theism such as Christianity or Islam, and for non-theistic religions such as Taoism or Buddhism. Joshua Golding offers a carefully wrought explanation of how it can be rational for someone to live a religious life, in particular (but not necessarily only), a traditional Jewish life.

Rationality and Theistic Belief

Rationality and Theistic Belief
Author: Mark S. McLeod
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 1993
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780801428630

Rationality and Theistic Belief offers a strong dissenting voice on the work of both Plantinga and Alston. Certain to provoke vigorous discussion, it makes a significant contribution to the contemporary discussion of the epistemology of religious belief.

Rationality and Religious Theism

Rationality and Religious Theism
Author: Joshua L. Golding
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2017-11-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1351773291

Throughout the ages one of the central topics in philosophy of religion has been the rationality of theistic belief. This book proposes that parties on both sides of this debate might shift their attention in a different direction, by focusing on the question of whether it is rational to be a religious theist. Explaining that having theistic beliefs is primarily a cognitive affair but being a religious theist involves a whole way of life that includes one's beliefs, Golding argues that it can be pragmatically rational to be a religious theist even if the evidence for God’s existence is minimal. The argument is applied to the case of Judaism, articulating what is involved in religious Judaism and arguing that it is rationally defensible to be a religious Jew. The book concludes with a discussion of whether a similar argument might be constructed for other versions of religious theism such as Christianity or Islam, and for non-theistic religions such as Taoism or Buddhism. Joshua Golding offers a carefully wrought explanation of how it can be rational for someone to live a religious life, in particular (but not necessarily only), a traditional Jewish life.

Rationality and Religious Belief

Rationality and Religious Belief
Author: Cornelius F. Delaney
Publisher:
Total Pages: 184
Release: 1979
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

The original essays in this volume call into question the simplistic strategy of characterizing religion by some abstract set of propositions and then judging it by means of an independently determined standard of rationality.

The Epistemology of Religious Experience

The Epistemology of Religious Experience
Author: Keith E. Yandell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 1994-11-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521477413

Arguing against the notion that religious experience is ineffable, while advocating the view that it can provide evidence of God's existence, this text contends that social science and nonreligious explanations of religious belief and experience do not cancel out the force of the experience.

Reason & Religious Belief

Reason & Religious Belief
Author: Michael L. Peterson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2009
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

The most comprehensive work of its kind, Reason and Religious Belief, now in its fourth edition, explores perennial questions in the philosophy of religion. Drawing from the best in both classical and contemporary discussions, the authors examine religious experience, faith and reason, the divine attributes, arguments for and against the existence of God, divine action, Reformed epistemology, religious language, religious diversity, religion and science, and much more. The fourth edition adds a critical new chapter on the ontological status of religion and the nature of religious claims. It also features revised treatments of omnipotence, miracles, and providence and updated suggestions for further reading

Rationality, Religious Belief, and Moral Commitment

Rationality, Religious Belief, and Moral Commitment
Author: Robert Audi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1986
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

This book is unified by three broad concerns: the rationality of belief in God, the relation between religion and morality, and the explication of the concept of God. The essays are, however, marked by diversity. Some focus on historical figures, such as Aquinas and Locke; others bring recent epistemological and metaphysical developments to bear on problems of religious belief. Some of the papers explore neglected issues central to religious practice, such as the question of how total devotion to God can permit other deep commitments; others apply philosophical distinctions from within a religious tradition, for example, in setting out a Christian approach to the problem of evil.