Rethinking the Ontological Argument

Rethinking the Ontological Argument
Author: Daniel A. Dombrowski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 12
Release: 2006-05-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139457144

In recent years, the ontological argument and theistic metaphysics have been criticised by philosophers working in both the analytic and continental traditions. Responses to these criticisms have primarily come from philosophers who make use of the traditional, and problematic, concept of God. In this volume, Daniel A. Dombrowski defends the ontological argument against its contemporary critics, but he does so by using a neoclassical or process concept of God, thereby strengthening the case for a contemporary theistic metaphysics. Relying on the thought of Charles Hartshorne, he builds on Hartshorne's crucial distinction between divine existence and divine actuality, which enables neoclassical defenders of the ontological argument to avoid the familiar criticism that the argument moves illegitimately from an abstract concept to concrete reality. His argument, thus, avoids the problems inherent in the traditional concept of God as static.

Descartes’ Meditative Turn

Descartes’ Meditative Turn
Author: Christopher J. Wild
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2024-03-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 150363860X

Why would René Descartes, the father of modern rationalist philosophy, choose "meditations"—a term and genre associated with religious discourse and practice—for the title of his magnum opus that lays the metaphysical foundations for his reform of all knowledge, including mathematics and sciences? Why did he believe that the immortality of the soul and the existence of God, which the Meditations on First Philosophy set out to demonstrate, can only be made self-evident through meditating? These are the question that Christopher Wild's book answers. Descartes discovered the "foundations of a marvelous science" through a dramatic conversion in southern Germany in the winter of 1619. The spiritual and cognitive exercises, derived from ancient philosophy and the Christian meditative tradition, which Descartes deployed in the Meditations, enable readers to discover metaphysical truths with the same degree of self-evidence with which Descartes did during his own conversion. Descartes' meditative turn, Wild argues, brings to a culmination a lifelong preoccupation with the practice or craft of thinking, known as Cartesian method. By joining meditation to method the Meditations becomes the founding document for a Cartesian "art of turning," a new practice of both thought and life.

The Rationality of Theism

The Rationality of Theism
Author: Paul Copan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2004-07-31
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1134574886

The Rationality of Theism is a controversial collection of brand new papers by thirteen outstanding philosophers and scholars. Its aim is to offer comprehensive theistic replies to the traditional arguments against the existence of God, offering a positive case for theism as well as rebuttals of recent influential criticisms of theism.

Reason & the Contours of Faith

Reason & the Contours of Faith
Author: Richard Rice
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2013-05-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725233150

Can reason and religion get together? Should believers think? Can thinking people believe? Does religion have to make sense? Does careful thinking help or hinder religious experience? People have wrestled with such questions for hundreds of years, and they are just as perplexing today as ever. Reason & the Contours of Faith explores the wide-ranging issues these questions raise, from biblical interpretation and proofs for God's existence to the nature of religious conversion. Its central purpose is to find an alternative to both fideism, the idea that reason has nothing to do with faith, and rationalism, the conviction that reason has everything to do with it. Part One, "Reason and the Contents of Faith," argues that reason contributes in important but limited ways to our understanding of religion. Part Two, "Reason and the Experience of Faith," shows that reason can support religious commitment, but never produces it.

The Sense of Creation

The Sense of Creation
Author: Patrick Masterson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2016-03-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317016394

What kind of experience might help to confirm and make sense of the puzzling belief in divine creation, so central to the main monotheistic religions? Anselm and Aquinas developed a philosophical understanding of 'Creation' as an asymmetrical relationship between the world and God, that is, that the world is really related to God in a relationship of total dependence but God is in no way really related to or modified by this created world. This idea of an asymmetrical relationship is the key concept unifying all aspects of this book which discusses the three main inter-related questions in a philosophical discussion about God -- the question of meaning, the question of existence, and the question of co-existence. The book explores various 'ciphers' of this asymmetrical relationship in our pre-philosophical lived experience. These are experiences such as that of the relationship between our knowledge and what we know, or our sense of obligation to our vulnerable neighbour. It argues that deciphering such experiences helps to make sense of the 'asymmetrical' relation of creation and that it in turn makes sense of them. Masterson argues further that this idea of asymmetrical relationship provides insight into the main questions of philosophy of religion and is an illuminating source of critical dialogue with contemporary Anglo/American and Phenomenological approaches in philosophy of religion.

Karl Barth, Catholic Renewal and Vatican II

Karl Barth, Catholic Renewal and Vatican II
Author: Benjamin Dahlke
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2012-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567125505

From the 1920s on, Karl Barth's thought was received with great interest not only by Protestants but also by Catholic theologians, who analyzed it in detail. This study outlines how and why this happened, especially in the period leading up to Vatican II. Dahlke shows how preoccupation with Barth's Epistle to the Romans and Church Dogmatics triggered a theological renewal among Catholic theologians. In addition to Hans Urs von Balthasar's critical appropriation of Barth's thought, the controversy surrounding the issue of analogia entis with Erich Przywara is also dealt with.

Understanding Anselm's Ontological Argument

Understanding Anselm's Ontological Argument
Author: Guy Jackson
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 82
Release: 2023-09-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3031415353

Anselm's ontological argument is one of the most fascinating, most controversial, and most misunderstood arguments in the entire history of Western thought. By centring the argument firmly in the Neoplatonic tradition within which Anselm was writing, Understanding Anselm's Ontological Argument sheds fresh light and clarity on this enigmatic piece of philosophy. It argues that, far from resting upon a fallacy or illegitimately attempting to define God into existence, Anselm's argument is a powerful and plausible philosophical proof, and deserves to be taken seriously as such. Written to be understandable for specialists and non-specialists alike, Understanding Anselm's Ontological Argument is ideal for scholars and researchers in philosophy of religion and philosophy in the Middle Ages (especially Neoplatonism) as well as for medievalists in general.

The Blackwell Companion to the Theologians, 2 Volume Set

The Blackwell Companion to the Theologians, 2 Volume Set
Author: Ian S. Markham
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1009
Release: 2009-04-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1405135077

This two-volume companion brings together a team of contemporary theologians and writers to provide substantial introductions to the key people who shaped the Christian story and tradition. A substantial two-volume reference work, bringing together over 75 entries on the most important and influential theologians in the history of Christianity Structured accessibly around five periods: early centuries, middle ages, reformation period, the Enlightenment, and the twentieth-century to the present A to Z entries range from substantial essays to shorter overviews, each of which locates the theologian in their immediate context, summarizes the themes of their work, and explains their significance Covers a broad span of theologians, from Augustine to Thomas Aquinas, through to C. S. Lewis, James Cone, and Rosemary Radford Reuther Provides profiles of key Catholic, protestant, evangelical, and progressive theologians Includes a useful timeline to orientate the reader, reading lists, and a glossary of key terms

Christian Philosophy A-Z

Christian Philosophy A-Z
Author: Daniel Hill
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2006-07-21
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 0748627022

A handy guide to the major figures and issues in Christian philosophy from Augustine to the present.This volume covers a broad historical sweep and takes into account those non-Christian philosophers that have had a great impact on the Christian tradition. However, it concentrates on the issues that perplex Christian philosophers as they seek to think through their faith in a philosophical way and their philosophical beliefs in the light of their faith. Examples of the topics discussed are the question of whether and how God knows the future, whether we actually know that God exists, and what Athens has to do with Jerusalem. The leaders of the recent revival of Christian analytic philosophy, especially Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, William Alston, and Robert Adams are also included.