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"In this book, Roberto Di Ceglie offers an historical, theological, and epistemological investigation exploring how commitments to God and/or the good generate the optimum condition to achieve knowledge. Di Ceglie criticizes the common belief that to attain knowledge, one must always be ready to replace one's convictions with beliefs that appear to be proven. He defends a more comprehensive view, historically exemplified by outstanding Christian thinkers, whereby believers are expected to commit themselves to God and to related beliefs no matter how convincing the evidence contradicting such beliefs appear to be. He also argues that both believers and unbelievers can commit themselves to God and the good, respectively, thereby creating a spiritual turn in epistemology that enables them to generate the best possible condition for conducting rational enquiries and discussion"--
This book offers a new reading of Aquinas’s views on faith. The author argues that the theological nature of faith is crucial to Aquinas’s thought, and that it gives rise to a particular and otherwise incomprehensible relationship with reason. The first part of the book examines various modern and contemporary accounts of the relationship between faith and reason in Aquinas’s thought. The author shows that these accounts are unconvincing because they exhibit what he calls a Lockean view of faith and reason, which maintains that the relationship between faith and reason should be treated only by way of evidence. In other words, the Lockean view ignores the specific nature of the Christi...
An investigation showing that commitments to God and/or the good generate the best possible condition to achieve knowledge.
This Element examines the science-theology dialogue from the perspective of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and provides a critique of this dialogue based on six fundamental aspects of that theology: (i) Its understanding of how philosophy may authentically be used in the theological task; (ii) Its understanding of the use and limitations of scientific and theological languages; (iii) Its understanding of the role of humanity in bringing God's purposes to fulfilment; (iv) its sense that material entities should be understood less in materialist terms than in relation to the mind of God; (v) Its Christological focus in understanding the concept of creation; (vi) Its sense that the empirical world can be understood theologically only when the 'world to come' is taken fully into account. It is argued that Orthodoxy either provides an alternative pan-Christian vision to the currently predominant one or, at the very least, provides important new conceptual insights.
This book offers an original contribution to debates about the problem of evil and the existence of God. It develops a Thomistic, Christian theodicy, the aim of which is to help us better understand not only why God allows evil, but also how God works to redeem it. In the author’s view, the existence of evil does not generate any intellectual problem that theists must address or solve to vindicate God or the rationality of theism. This is because acknowledging the existence of evil rationally leads us to acknowledge the existence of God. However, understanding how these two facts are compatible still requires addressing weighty, wide-ranging questions concerning God and evil. The author dr...
This book assesses whether belief in spirits is epistemically justified. It presents two arguments in support of the existence of spirits and arguments that experiences of various sorts (perceptions, mediumship, possession and animistic experiences) can lend justification to spirit-beliefs. Most work in philosophy of religion exclusively deals with the existence of God or the epistemic status of belief in God. Spirit beliefs are often regarded as aberrations, and the falsity of such beliefs is often assumed. This book argues that various beliefs concerning spirits can be regarded as justified when they are rooted in experiences that are not defeated. It argues that spirit-beliefs are not def...
Faith occupies an important place in human lives. It can be directed towards God, friends, political systems and sports teams, and is said to help people through crises and to motivate people to achieve life goals. But what is faith? Philosophers and theologians have, for centuries, been concerned with questions about the rationality of faith, but more recently, have focussed on what kind of psychological attitude faith is. The authors of this book bring together, for the first time, the different elements of this recent debate, staking out the different positions and arguments, and defending a novel ‘true grit’ theory of faith, from which the rationality and language of faith are addres...
The Christian tradition provides a wealth of insight into perennial human questions about the shape of the good life, human happiness, virtue, justice, wealth and poverty, spiritual growth, and much else besides -- and Christian scholars can do great good by bringing that rich tradition into conversation with the broader culture. But what is the nature and purpose of distinctively Christian scholarship, and what does that imply for the life and calling of the Christian scholar? What is it about Christian scholarship that makes it Christian? Ten eminent scholars grapple with such questions in this volume. They offer deep and thought-provoking discussions of the habits and commitments of the Christian scholar, the methodology and pedagogy of Christian scholarship, the role of the Holy Spirit in education, Christian approaches to art and literature, and more. CONTRIBUTORS Jonathan A. Anderson Dariusz M. Brycko Natasha Duquette M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall George Hunsinger Paul K. Moser Alvin Plantinga Craig J. Slane Nicholas Wolterstorff Amos Yong
This volume provides a contemporary account of classical theism. It features 17 original essays from leading scholars that advance the discussion of classical theism in new and interesting directions. It’s safe to say that classical theism—the view that God is simple, omniscient, and the greatest possible being—is no longer the assumed view in analytic philosophy of religion. It is often dismissed as being rooted in outdated metaphysical systems of the sort advanced by ancient and medieval philosophers. The main purpose of this volume is twofold: to provide a contemporary account of what classical theism is and to advance the scholarly discussion about classical theism. In Section I, t...
This book expands the current axiology of theism literature by assessing the axiological status of alternative conceptions of God and the divine. To date, most of the literature on the axiology of theism focuses almost exclusively on the axiological status of theism and atheism. Specifically, it focuses almost entirely on monotheism, typically Judeo-Christian conceptions of God, and atheism, usually construed as ontological naturalism. This volume features essays from prominent philosophers of religion, ethicists, and metaphysicians addressing the value impact of alternative views such as ultimism, polytheism, pantheism, panentheism, and idealism. Additionally, it reflects a wider trend in analytic philosophy of religion to broaden its scope beyond the Judeo-Christian tradition. Value Beyond Monotheism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in the philosophy of religion, ethics, and metaphysics.