God and the Ethics of Belief

New Essays in the Philosophy of Religion

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Edited by Andrew Dole and Andrew Chignell

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published June 2005, 304 pages, cloth

ISBN 0521850932

Philosophy of religion in the Anglo-American tradition experienced a 'rebirth' following the 1955 publication of New Essays in Philosophical Theology (eds. Antony Flew and Alisdair MacIntyre). Fifty years later, this volume of New Essays offers a sampling of the best work in what is now a very active field, written by some of its most prominent members. A substantial introduction sketches the developments of the last half-century, while also describing the 'ethics of belief' debate in epistemology and showing how it connects to explicitly religious concerns and to the topics of the individual contributions. These topics include: the relationship between God and the natural laws; the metaphysics of bodily resurrection; the role of appeal to 'mystery' in the religious life; the justification of both theistic belief generally and more specific doctrinal beliefs; and the social-political aspects of religious faith and practice.

Contributors: Andrew Chignell, Andrew Dole. Alvin Plantinga, Linda Zagzebski, Derk Pereboom, William Alston, Richard Swinburne, Peter Van Inwagen, Keith DeRose, Robert Audi, John Hare, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Philip QuinnContents

Introduction Andrew Chignell and Andrew Dole; 1. Can God break the laws? Alvin Plantinga; 2. Sleeping Beauty and the afterlife Linda Zagzebski; 3. Free will, evil and divine providence Derk Pereboom; 4. Two cheers for mystery! William Alston; 5. The probability of the resurrection Richard Swinburne; 6. Is God an unnecessary hypothesis? Peter van Inwagen; 7. Direct warrant realism Keith DeRose; 8. The epistemic authority of testimony and the ethics of belief Robert Audi; 9. Kant on the rational instability of atheism John Hare; 10. Does forgiveness undermine justice? Nicholas Wolterstorff; 11. Can good Christians be good liberals? Philip Quinn.