Maybe everybody already knew about this, but I just found out about this book from Blackwell:
The Philosophy of Religion
An Historical Introduction
By: Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski
- Written with verve and clarity by a leading philosopher and contributor to the field
- Places key issues and debates in the philosophy of religion in their historical contexts, highlighting the conditions that led to the development of the field
- Addresses the core topics, among them the the existence of God, the problem of evil, death and the afterlife, and the problem of religious diversity
- Rich with argument, yet never obtrusive
- Forms part of the Fundamentals of Philosophy series, in which renowned scholars explore the fundamental issues and core problems in the major sub-disciplines of philosophy
Preface
1.The Philosophical Approach to Religion
2.The Classical Arguments for the Existence of God
3.Pragmatic and Fideist Approaches to Religious Beliefs
4.Who or What Is God?
5.Fate, Freedom, and Foreknowledge
6.Religion and Morality
7.The Problem of Evil
8.Death and the Afterlife
9.The Problem of Religious Diversity
10.Faith, Reason, and the Ethics of Belief
Bibliography
Index
What do you suppose it means to be "Rich with argument, yet never obtrusive"?
I'm tempted to think it means that all of the arguments are sneakily concealed, so that those who are afraid of them won't be scared away easily.
More seriously, however, it probably just means that the text doesn't read like some high-level journal article. One would think that would be par for the course for intro texts, but I've seen some intro texts that aren't really all that introductory.
Since we are on the subject, in your opinion, who has put together the best intro to the philosophy of religion?
Is the 'your' meant to be singular or plural? When I was talking about intro texts, I actually had in mind some I've come across for doing intro to philosophy or critical thinking courses. To my shame (or merit), I don't think I've ever cracked open an intro to the philosophy of religion text outside of Brian Davies's anthology.
Thank you, David. I was addressing anyone and everyone.
I'm curious to read James F Harris' "Analytic Philosophy of Religion". Unfortunately my library doesn't have it yet and the price on Amazon is 143.00, which too rich for most philosophers I know. However, John Hick's "Philosophy of Religion" is good, and for those of you who are more interested in continental philosophy Richard Kearney's "The God Who May Be" is a must read.
Is that Harris book introductory? It looks more like an in-depth, comprehensive treatment of the field as a whole.
Greg Ganssle's Thinking About God is very introductory and very good. I used it last semester alongside other materials in an introductory class that includes philosophy of religion alongside three or four other subjects. I doubt it would be sufficient for an introductory philosophy of religion by itself, but it might be nice alongside an anthology of readings.
There are several anthologies that might count as good introductory textbooks, although invariably they include readings that are way too difficult for introductory courses and would need to be supplemented on certain topics. One volume by Peterson, Hasker, Reichenbach, and Basinger is fairly popular. Kelly James Clark and Lou Pojman also have good ones. Stump and Murray's Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions has an unusual selection, but I can see it working well in an introductory course. Brian Davies has one that looks good, but I haven't seen it. William Lane Craig's anthology is much too advanced for an introductory course. Paul Griffiths and Charles Taliaferro have an anthology that looks refreshingly unusual in its choice of readings, but I don't know enough about most of them to know if it would be suitable for introductory study.
Taliferro has authored an introduction to the philosophy of religion. Has anyone had a look at that?
I use Taliaferro and Quinn's Blackwell Companion to Philosophy of Religion, supplemented with a hearty dose of hand-chosen articles and chapters from other books, for my course. I haven't found an anthology or an intro book that I'm completely thrilled with, though I have used the recent Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion from Blackwell. I think that the Blackwell Companion is a great resource for them and is quite inexpensive. So then I needn't feel bad about the printed that I expect them to do for the other readings.
Andrew Eshleman has an edited volume forthcoming with Blackwell titled _Readings in Philosophy of Religion: East Meets West_. I've seen drafts of the early chapters that looked to be quite good. Many intro philosophy of religion courses tend to focus mostly on western theism. So, one of the things I like about Eshleman's book is that it takes a broader approach than many of its competitors. That said, I think the Pojman is a very serviceable anthology.
Charles Taliaferro's _Evidence and Faith_ is a wonderful introductory text. He begins in the modern era, though strangely enough with Thomas More.
The best introduction to the philosophy of religion is a new book: A Thinker's Guide to the Philosophy of Religion by Allen Stairs and Christopher Bernard. Of course, I am biased since I am a co-author. Most of the anonymous reviewers commented on the quality and clarity of the writing. Check it out.
Hey Chris, maybe you can post the book's table of contents?--since it was not available on Amazon.
Sorry, I didn't see this post requesting the table of contents. Also, we tried to distinguish our text from others by targeting college sophomores. So we worked really hard on using contemporary language, we have technical terms in bold with a glossary entry at the back of the book, and we have a detailed out line of the chapter at the end so students can see the "forest from the trees" and see how a particular tree fits in the overall forest. It went through two stages of anonymous reviews and the consistent positive comment was about the clarity of writing. Here is the TOC:
Introduction
A Note to Instructors
1 CONCEPTS OF GOD
2 THE DESIGN ARGUMENT
3 THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
4 THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
5 MIRACLES
6 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
7 REFORMED EPISTEMOLOGY
8 FAITH AND PRAGMATIC REASONS FOR BELIEF
9 THE ARGUMENT FROM EVIL
10 GOD AND MORALITY
11 RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
12 GOD AND LANGUAGE
13 LIFE AFTER DEATH
Glossary
Bibliography
Index