Nick Trakakis (Springer: Nov 29, 2006), 276 pages.
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Why would a loving God who is all-powerful and all-knowing create a world like ours which is marred by all manner of evil, suffering and injustice? This question has come to be known as ‘the problem of evil’ and has troubled both ordinary folk and specialist philosophers and theologians for centuries, with no answer seemingly in sight. However, in a series of publications from the late 1970s onwards, Professor William Rowe – one of the leading philosophers of religion today – has put forward a powerful case in support of the view that the horrors littering our planet constitute strong evidence against the existence of God. In this book, the first extended study of Rowe’s defense of atheism on the basis of evil, Nick Trakakis comprehensively assesses the large body of literature that has developed in response to Rowe’s work, paying particular attention to two strategies employed by critics: firstly, the appeal to mystery – the idea that God may well have reasons for permitting evil that lie beyond our comprehension; and secondly, the appeal to theodicies, where this involves offering explanations as to why God allows evil to abound in his creation (free will theodicies, for example, argue that God could not prevent us from acting wrongly without at the same time curtailing or removing our free will). Trakakis unearths significant difficulties in both strategies, and concludes that – absent any evidence in support of theism – the God of theism must be judged to be "beyond belief". ~ Product Description
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"This is the official website of Professor Keith Ward. Read an introduction to his academic career together with recommended books to help understand his thinking.
Read about recent lectures, books and posts from the last two years. Read a fuller CV to find out more about his career.
Browse a full book list including articles in books on the subjects of Faith and Reason, the Diversity of Religions, the Idea of God, Liberal Theology, Religion and Science, and Ethical Issues."
Trenton Merricks (Oxford University Press: Jun 1, 2009), 214 pages.
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That there are no white ravens is true because there are no white ravens. And so there is a sense in which that truth "depends on the world." But this sort of dependence is trivial. After all, it does not imply that there is anything that is that truth's "truthmaker." Nor does it imply that something exists to which that truth corresponds. Nor does it imply that there are properties whose exemplification grounds that truth. Trenton Merricks explores whether and how truth depends substantively on the world or on things or on being. And he takes a careful look at philosophical debates concerning, among other things, modality, time, and dispositions. He looks at these debates because any account of truth's substantive dependence on being has implications for them. And these debates likewise have implications for how and whether truth depends on being. Along the way, Merricks makes a number of new points about each of these debates that are of independent interest, of interest apart from the question of truth's dependence on being. Truth and Ontology concludes that some truths do not depend on being in any substantive way at all. One result of this conclusion is that it is a mistake to oppose a philosophical theory merely because it violates truth's alleged substantive dependence on being. Another result is that the correspondence theory of truth is false and, more generally, that truth itself is not a relation of any sort between truth-bearers and that which "makes them true." ~ Book Description
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In its own words: "The Scriptorium is the new media daily of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University. Established by John Mark Reynolds, Paul Spears, and Fred Sanders in 2005, the Scriptorium seeks to combat what we perceive to be the decline of a reasonable pursuit of the Christian faith and the transition away from the use of the mind in the Christian journey. This decline is causing Christians to lose their confidence in the truth claims of Christianity. As a result, Christians are also losing their ability to appreciate the depth, richness, and beauty of the works of God in the world. By actively engaging in the conversations of today's culture and challenging the predominant, non-Christian worldviews therein, the Scriptorium is a winsome, thoughtful, active Christian voice in the marketplace of ideas."
Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson (Canon Press: Sep 2, 2008), 72 pages.
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This book reproduces an insightful and spirited recent debate between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson over what Dostoevsky called the Eternal Questions: What is the real nature of the universe in which we find ourselves? What are the ultimate bases of reason and ethics? Are
there any ultimate sanctions governing human behavior? Though Hitchens is always worth reading for his quick wit and frequently surprising arguments, unfortunately in this debate he does not come off at his best. While graciously conceding that Hitchens has clean hands, Wilson
wielding a very fine knife shows that Hitchens, sad to say, doesn't
have any hands to begin with. Hitchens is of the view that the universe is the accidental consequence of swirling particles, claiming that his reason has led him to this
conclusion. Wilson, in the style of C.S.Lewis, points out that if the
world outside Hitchen's head is given over wholly to such irrational
chemical processes, the world inside Hitchens' head can be no
differently composed, and that what Hitchens refers to as "rational
argument" has been "arbitrarily dubbed" so. ~ Stanley H. Nemeth
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Although the progress of scholarship has raised new questions and provided additional lines of evidence, many older works on apologetics are of more than merely historical interest. Most of the objections raised against Christianity today are variations on objections that go back hundreds of years. These objections were thoroughly discussed by some of the finest minds of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and their responses are as cogent now as when they were first printed. Unfortunately, there has been little guidance to this literature for interested Christian readers, and as a result some masterpieces are almost unknown even among seminary graduates and students of apologetics. The Library of Historical Apologetics is dedicated to making accessible these historical resources and to advancing the ongoing dialog about Christianity’s historical claims.
Robert Audi (Princeton University Press: Jul 25, 2005), 256 pages.
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This book represents the most comprehensive account to date of an important but widely contested approach to ethics - intuitionism, the view that there is a plurality of moral principles, each of which we can know directly. Robert Audi casts intuitionism in a form that provides a major alternative to the more familiar ethical perspectives (utilitarian, Kantian, and Aristotelian). He introduces intuitionism in its historical context and clarifies — and improves and defends — W. D. Ross's influential formulation. Bringing Ross out from under the shadow of G. E. Moore, he puts a reconstructed version of Rossian intuitionism on the map as a full-scale, plausible contemporary theory. The Good in the Right is a self-contained original contribution, but readers interested in ethics or its history will find numerous connections with classical and contemporary literature. Written with clarity and concreteness, and with examples for every major point, it provides an ethical theory that is both intellectually cogent and plausible in application to moral problems.
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Stott's Basic Christianity is a very practical, easy-to-read introduction to the Christian life. Who is God? Who is Christ? What is sin? What does being a Christian mean? These are all very basic, fundamental questions that are answered in a no-nonsense, straightforward way. For those who have been Christians for some time, it is always good to review the basic fundamentals. Sometimes you see things possibly in a way that you never did before. Stott's explanation of the Ten Commandments and their application is by itself worth the price of the book. Basic Christianity is a small book, but loaded with helpful information. ~ A. Wolverton @ Amazon.com
James Hannam (Icon Books Ltd: May 2010), 448 pages.
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The adjective 'medieval' is now a synonym for superstition and ignorance. Yet without the work of medieval scholars there could have been no Galileo, no Newton and no Scientific Revolution. In "God's Philosophers", James Hannam traces the neglected roots of modern science in the medieval world. He debunks many of the myths about the Middle Ages, showing that medieval people did not think the earth was flat, nor did Columbus 'prove' that it is a sphere. Contrary to common belief, the Inquisition burnt nobody for their science, nor was Copernicus afraid of persecution. No Pope tried to ban human dissection or the number zero. On the contrary, as Hannam reveals, the Middle Ages gave rise to staggering achievements in both science and technology: for instance, spectacles and the mechanical clock were both invented in thirteenth-century Europe. Ideas from the Far East, like printing, gunpowder and the compass, were taken further by Europeans than the Chinese had imagined possible. The compass helped Columbus to discover the New World in 1492 while printing allowed an incredible 20 million books to be produced in the first 50 years after Gutenberg published his Bible in 1455. And Hannam argues that scientific progress was often made thanks to, rather than in spite of, the influence of Christianity. Charting an epic journey through six centuries of history, God's Philosophers brings back to light the discoveries of neglected geniuses like John Buridan, Nicole Oresme and Thomas Bradwardine, as well as putting into context the contributions of more familiar figures like Roger Bacon, William of Ockham and St Thomas Aquinas. Besides being a thrilling history of a period of surprising invention and innovation, God's Philosophers reveals the debt modern science and technology owe to the supposedly 'dark' ages of medieval Europe. ~ Product Description