Philosophy of Religion

Richard E. Creel taught Philosophy and Religion at Ithaca College, New York, for 30 years, during which time he served as Chair of his Department and President of the New York State Philosophical Association. Creel published numerous articles in philosophy journals and three books: Thinking Philosophically: An Introduction to Critical Reflection and Rational Dialogue (Blackwell, 2001), Divine Impassibility: An Essay in Philosophical Theology (1986), and Religion & Doubt: Toward a Faith of Your Own (1991, 1st edition 1977). After retirement, Creel was designated an Emeritus Professor for outstanding contributions.

• Preface for Teachers xi Acknowledgements xiiIntroduction 11 What Is Religion? 61.1 Creed 61.2 Code 71.3 Cult 81.4 Community 91.5 Toward a Definition of Religion 111.6 Ze, Zer, Mer 132 Six Conceptions of God 172.1 Experiential Sources of Concepts of God 172.2 Six Conceptions of God 212.3 Religious Naturalism 212.4 Pantheism 232.5 Panentheism (Process Theism) 252.6 Deism 282.7 Classical Biblical Theism is based on divine revelation 292.8 Classical Philosophical Theism 313 Divine Attributes and Dilemmas 343.1 What Is a Dilemma? 393.2 Ways to Respond to a Dilemma 403.3 Divine Attribute Dilemmas 413.4 Proposed Solutions to the Preceding Dilemmas 453.4.1 Unsurpassability 453.4.2 Omnipotence 463.4.3 Are Omnipotence and Omnibenevolence Incompatible? 473.4.4 Immutability and Personhood 483.4.5 Divine Omniscience and Human Freedom 493.5 Open Theism 534 Human Language and Talk about God 575 Arguments about the Existence of God 726 The Ontological Argument 776.1 Is Anselm’s Argument Decisive? 826.2 A Version of Duns Scotus’ Ontological Argument 837 The Cosmological Arguments 887.1 The First Three of “The Five Ways” of Thomas Aquinas 897.2 Paul Edwards’ Infinite Regress Argument against the Cosmological Argument 927.2.1 Two Criticisms of Edwards 937.3 The Oscillatory Theory 937.3.1 Criticism of the Oscillatory Theory 947.4 The Kalam Cosmological Argument 958 The Teleological or Design Arguments 1018.1 The Anthropic Principle 1088.2 The Multiverse 1099 God and Morality 1189.1 Two Arguments from Morality for Belief in the Existence of God 1189.2 The Relation of Morality to God 1199.2.1 The Divine Command Theory 1199.2.2 Theocentric Ethics 1209.2.3 Natural Law Ethics 12110 Religious Experience and Belief in God 12810.1 The Principle of Credulity and the Rationality of Belief in God 12810.2 Religious Experience as Evidence for the Existence of God 13210.3 Toward a Cumulative Argument for God 13411 Arguments against Belief in the Existence of God 13711.1 Evidentialism and the Burden of Proof 13711.2 Conceptual Arguments: Analysis of the Concept of God 13811.2.1 The Argument from Meaninglessness 13811.2.2 The Arguments from Incoherence and Self-Contradiction 13811.3 Arguments from Science 13911.3.1 The Natural Sciences: The Adequacy of Science 13911.3.2 Criticisms of Naturalism 14111.3.3 The Social Sciences: Religion and Emotion 14211.4 The Problem of Divine Hiddenness 14511.5 The Problem of Many Religions 14712 The Problem of Evil 15212.1 G.W. Leibniz (1646–1716) 15312.2 The Logical Argument from Evil: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) 15312.3 The Evidential Argument from Evil: Edward Madden, Peter Hare, William Rowe 15312.3.1 Criticisms of Arguments from Evil against the Existence of God 15412.4 Charles Hartshorne’s Panentheist or Process Theodicy 15613 God and Life after Death 16413.1 Cessationism 16513.2 Immortalism 16713.3 Resurrectionism 17013.4 Personal Identity and Continuity 17314 Miracles, Revelation, and Prayer 17914.1 Miracles 17914.2 Revelation 18214.3 Prayer 18315 Rationality without Evidence 18515.1 Pascal’s Wager 18515.2 Evidentialism vs. the Right to Believe 18715.3 Fideism 18815.3.1 Faith as Action or Leap 18815.3.2 Faith as Passion or Gift 18915.4 Agathism, Agatheism, and Religious Hope 190Glossary 194Biographical Notes 203Index 209