Paul Draper - Current Controversies in Philosophy of Religion

While orthodox religion by its very nature is conservative, philosophy at its best is inherently radical. It challenges authority, tradition, and the whole idea of dogma. For this reason, philosophy of religion can be explosively controversial. It is bound to disturb those who peddle incontrovertible truth and fascinate those who seek spiritual truth and are willing to follow the argument wherever it leads. This volume is designed for such seekers. It brings together an international team of leading philosophers of religion to explore and debate radical new ideas about religion, God, and ultimate reality. Four related questions are addressed:

• How might religion make progress?
• Is life after death a real possibility?
• Must a perfect God be motivated by our well-being?
• What alternatives are there to traditional theism and materialist atheism?

The book begins with a vision for the field of philosophy of religion and ends with a capstone chapter that touches on all of the topics debated in the other chapters. The addition of chapter overviews, annotated suggestions for further reading, and annotated guides to three additional controversies make it an ideal textbook in addition to being an important source for scholars and seekers of all kinds.

Paul Draper is Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University, USA. He is the co-editor of Renewing Philosophy of Religion: Exploratory Essays (2017, with J. L. Schellenberg) and the editor of God or Blind Nature? Philosophers Debate the Evidence (2008). His articles on the problem of evil, fine-tuning, atheism and agnosticism, and confirmation theory have appeared in such journals as American Philosophical Quarterly, Faith and Philosophy, Nos, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Religious Studies, and The Monist.

Current Controversies in Philosophy

Series Editor: John Turri, University of Waterloo

In venerable Socratic fashion, philosophy proceeds best through reasoned conversation. Current Controversies in Philosophy provides short, accessible volumes that cast a spotlight on ongoing central philosophical conversations. In each book, pairs of experts debate four or five key issues of contemporary concern, setting the stage for students, teachers, and researchers to join the discussion. Short chapter descriptions precede each chapter, and an annotated bibliography and suggestions for further reading conclude each controversy. In addition, each volume includes both a general introduction and a supplemental guide to further controversies. Combining timely debates with useful pedagogical aids allows the volumes to serve as clear and detailed snapshots, for all levels of readers, of some of the most exciting work happening in philosophy today.

Published Volumes in the Series:

Current Controversies in Political Philosophy

Edited by Thom Brooks

Current Controversies in Virtue Theory

Edited by Mark Alfano

Current Controversies in Bioethics

Edited by S. Matthew Liao and Collin ONeil

Current Controversies in Philosophy of Film

Edited by Katherine Thomson-Jones

Current Controversies in Metaphysics

Edited by Elizabeth Barnes

Current Controversies in Values and Science

Edited by Kevin C. Elliott and Daniel Steel

Current Controversies in Philosophy of Religion

Edited by Paul Draper

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Current-Controversies-in-Philosophy/book-series/CCIP

Edited by

Paul Draper

First published 2019

by Routledge

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ISBN: 978-1-138-18346-9 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-64568-1(ebk)

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For my students

Paul Draper

J. L. Schellenberg

Robert McKim

Robert Mckim and J. L. Schellenberg

Mark Johnston

Dean Zimmerman

Mark Johnston and Paul Draper

Mark C. Murphy

Laura W. Ekstrom

Laura W. Ekstrom and Mark Murphy

Tim Mulgan

Fiona Ellis

Paul Draper

Fiona Ellis, Tim Mulgan, and Paul Draper

Paul Draper is Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University. He is the co-editor of Renewing Philosophy of Religion: Exploratory Essays (2017, with J. L. Schellenberg) and the editor of God or Blind Nature? Philosophers Debate the Evidence (2008). His articles on the problem of evil, fine-tuning, atheism and agnosticism, confirmation theory, and the relationship of science to religion have appeared in such journals as American Philosophical Quarterly, Faith and Philosophy, Nos, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Religious Studies, and The Monist, as well as in edited collections published by such presses as Blackwell, Cambridge University Press, and Oxford University Press.

Laura W. Ekstrom is Francis S. Haserot Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at William & Mary. She is the author of Free Will: A Philosophical Study (1999) and the editor of Agency and Responsibility: Essays on the Metaphysics of Freedom (2000). Her articles on autonomy, moral responsibility, causation, chance, free will, and the self have appeared in such journals as American Philosophical Quarterly, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and Synthese, as well as in edited collections published by such presses as Blackwell, Cambridge University Press, and Oxford University Press.

Fiona Ellis is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Roehampton. She is the author of God, Value, and Nature (2014) and the editor of New Models of Religious Understanding (2017). Her articles on God, love, value, desire, naturalism, and musical meaning have appeared in such journals as