Religions, Reasons and Gods: Essays in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Religion

Traditional theistic proofs are often understood as evidence intended to compel belief in a divinity. John Clayton explores the surprisingly varied applications of such proofs in the work of philosophers and theologians from several periods and traditions, thinkers as varied as Ramanuja, al-Ghazali, Anselm, and Jefferson. He shows how the gradual disembedding of theistic proofs from their diverse and local religious contexts is concurrent with the development of natural theologies and atheism as social and intellectual options in early modern Europe and America. Clayton offers a new reading of the early modern history of philosophy and theology, arguing that awareness of such history, and the local uses of theistic argument, offer new ways of managing religious and cultural difference in the public sphere today. He argues for the importance of historically grounded philosophy of religion to the field of religious studies and public debate on religious pluralism and cultural diversity.

• Offers a new reading of the early modern history of philosophy and theology • Draws on the work of philosophers and theologians from a wide range of historical religious and philosophical traditions • Based on the author\'s prestigious Stanton lectures

1. Claims, contexts and contestability; Introduction to Part I; 2. Thomas Jefferson and the study of religion; 3. Common ground and defensible difference; 4. Religions, reasons and gods; Introduction to Part II; 5. Ramanuja, Hume and ‘comparative philosophy’; 6. Piety and the proofs; 7. The otherness of Anselm; Introduction to Part III; 8. The debate about God in early-modern French philosophy; 9. The debate about God in early-modern German philosophy; 10. The debate about God in early-modern British philosophy; 11. Beyond the ‘enlightenment project’?; Appendix: Hulsean sermon.