Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings

By William J. Wainwright and William L. Rowe

Book Overview

PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, Third Edition brings a well-established set of readings completely up-to-date in terms of the issues now at the forefront of contemporary religious philosophy. The new edition continues to present selections from major authors in the history of philosophical reflection about religion, as well as new essays covering religious pluralism, teleological and moral arguments for God's existence, and the problem of evil.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0155036874
• ISBN13: 9780155036871
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent for students of religious philosophy

This book was a required read in my undergraduate course in the philosophy of religion, and I must say that I'm very pleased that it was. The selected readings are fair and balanced, and do well to portray the argument from religious big leaguers like St. Aquinas, St. Anselm, and Plantinga, and members of the skeptic A-team like Hume and Clifford. Many of the popular arguments concerning God's nature, and His relationship with mankind, are examined in this book. Overall, I think the book is excellent, and serves a very interesting plunge in to the world of religious philosophy, most especially for Catholics like myself who feel the call to examine anything and everything they can get their hands on, haha.

Nice text

Nice collection of theologic philosphy and argumentative response to the question of God's existence and the problem of evil.

an advanced introduction to Philosophy of Religion

This is a good text although I suspect that any students lower than higher-intermediate or advanced undergraduate levels would find it very difficult. I found it to often presuppose that the reader was already fairly philosophically sophisticated, so I suspect the introductory student would get quite lost (and bored), unless the class were going at a quite slow speed (which is often the speed that good philosophy is done). So, I don't think I'd recommend this book to students without much philosophy background. It'd be good for more advanced students though. The 'Notes' and 'For Further Reading' sections were full of good sources for scholars and students to track down.

Lucid and Concise

Many philosophers are struck with the unbearable "long-windedness", which is in fact surprising when you consider their aim of rationality. Wainwright's Philosophy of Religion deals beautifully with the dreaded long-windedness through concise exegeses and a thoughtful introduction to many of the pressing topics in this field. This is definitely the book to get for beginners.