God and the Ethics of Belief: New Essays in Philosophy of Religion

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.

• Contains entirely new essays by leading figures in Anglo-American philosophy of religion • Features a substantial introduction characterizing the ‘ethics of belief’ debate in epistemology and showing how it connects to religion generally and to the issues dealt with in these essays in particular • Modeled on the seminal volume, New Essays in Philosophical Theology (eds., Flew and MacIntytre, 1955), this collection provides a snapshot of English-speaking philosophy of religion fifty years later, together with an introduction that highlights the intervening developments in the field

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.