MA - Philosophy of Religion
2010/11 Course Description
Convenor: Elizabeth Burns (Heyth)
Lecturer: Elizabeth Burns
Time: Wednesday, 6.30 - 8.30
Location: College Room, Heythrop
Outline of Classes and Preliminary Reading List
These readings are suggested as preparation for the classes, and may be particularly important
if you are new to the Philosophy of Religion. All readings are taken from the following two
books, unless otherwise specified:
• Davies, Brian (ed.) Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and Anthology. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2000)
• Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2007)
1. a. Introduction: The Nature of Religion/Philosophy of Religion; b. The Cosmological
Argument
One of the following:
• McCabe, Herbert 'A modern cosmological argument' in Davies, Brian (ed.) 196-201.
• Reichenbach, Bruce ‘The Cosmological Argument’ in Peterson, Michael et al (eds.) 197209.
And one of the following:
• Mackie, J L ‘Critique of the cosmological argument’ in Peterson, Michael et al (eds.) 223231.
• Mackie, J L ‘More objections to cosmological arguments’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 213-229.
2. The Design Argument
• Betty, L Stafford and Cordell, Bruce ‘The Anthropic teleological argument’ in Peterson,
Michael et al (eds.) 235-245.
• Hambourger, Robert ‘Can design arguments be defended today?’ in Davies, Brian (ed.)
286-300.
3. Religious Experience
One of the following:
• Alston, William ‘Religious Experience as Perception of God’ in Peterson, Michael et al.
(eds.) 45-53.
• Alston, William ‘Why should there not be experience of God?’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 382386.
4. The Ontological Argument
One of the following:
• Anselm ‘Anselm argues that God cannot be thought not to exist’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 31112.
• Anselm ‘The Classical Ontological Argument’ in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) 176-178.
And one of the following:
• Plantinga, Alvin 'A Contemporary Modal Version of the Ontological Argument' in Peterson,
Michael et al.(eds.) 181-193.
• Plantinga, Alvin 'A contemporary defence of ontological arguments' in Davies, Brian (ed.)
342-352.
5. Voluntarist Theories of Faith
• Pascal, Blaise ‘The Wager’ in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) 101-103.
• James, William ‘The Will to Believe’ in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) 110-118.
6. Divine Omniscience
• Aquinas, Thomas ‘Why ascribe knowledge to God?’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 446-55.
And one of the following:
• Boethius ‘God is Timeless’ in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) 155-158.
• Boethius ‘Omniscience and human freedom: a classical discussion’ in Davies, Brian (ed.)
456-64.
7. a. Divine Omnipotence
One of the following:
• Aquinas, Thomas ‘God is Omnipotent’ in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) 143-149.
• Aquinas, Thomas ‘Why think of God as omnipotent?’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 415-21.
And:
Morris, Thomas V. ‘A modern discussion of divine omnipotence’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 40214.
b. Miracles
One of the following:
• Hume, David ‘The Evidence for Miracles is Weak’ in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) 473481.
• Hume, David ‘Why we should disbelieve in miracles’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 430-35.
And one of the following:
• Swinburne, Richard 'Miracles and Historical Evidence' in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.)
481-487.
• Swinburne, Richard 'Miracles and laws of nature' in Davies, Brian (ed.) 422-29.
8. a. The Logical Problem of Evil
One of the following:
• Mackie, J.L. ‘Evil and Omnipotence’ in Peterson et al (eds.), 304-14.
• Mackie, J.L. ‘Evil Shows that there is no God’ in Davies, B. (ed.) 581–91.
And:
• Plantinga, Alvin ‘The Free Will Defense’ in Peterson, Michael et al (eds.) 315-340.
b. The Evidential Argument from Evil
• Rowe, William ‘The Evidential Argument from Evil’ in Peterson et al. (eds) Philosophy of
Religion 354–64.
• Hick, John H. ‘Soul-Making Theodicy’ in Peterson, Michael et al (eds.) 341-354.
9. Eternal Life
• Plato, ‘Life after death: an ancient Greek view’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 708-715.
• Hick, John H. ‘Resurrection of the Person’ in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) 529-539.
• Sri Aurobindo, ‘Rebirth’ in Peterson, Michael et al (eds.) 539-545.
10. Religious Diversity
• Griffiths, Paul 'The Uniqueness of Religious Doctrines' in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.)
588-597.
• Hick, John 'Religious Pluralism' in Peterson, Michael et al. (eds.) 607-617.
11. Religious Belief and Language-games
• Moore, G. and Davies, B. ‘Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Religion’ in Davies, B. (ed.)
Philosophy of Religion: A Guide to the Subject. (London: Cassell, 1998) 27-34.
• Phillips, D. Z. ‘Grammar and religious belief’ in Davies, Brian (ed.) 108-114.
Reading List
BOOKS COVERING MORE THAN ONE TOPIC
• Adams, M M and Adams, R M The Problem of Evil, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1990.
• Davies, B (ed) Philosophy of Religion: A Guide to the Subject, Cassell, London, 1998.
• Davies, B (ed) Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and Anthology, OUP, Oxford, 2000.
• Eshleman, Andrew (ed) Readings in Philosophy of Religion: East Meets West, Blackwell,
Malden and Oxford, 2008.
• Hick, J (ed) Classical and Contemporary Readings in the Philosophy of Religion, Prentice
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1990.
• Meister, Chad (ed) The Philosophy of Religion Reader, Routledge, New York and
Abingdon, 2008.
• Morris, T V (ed) The Concept of God, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987.
• Peterson, M et al (eds) Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings, Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 2007.
• Quinn, P and Taliaferro C (eds), A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, Blackwell,
Oxford, 1999.
• Stump, E and Murray, M (eds) Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions, Blackwell,
Oxford, 1999.
• Taliaferro, C and Griffiths, P (eds) Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, Blackwell,
Oxford, 2003.
• Wainwright, William J (ed) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, Oxford
University Press, Oxford, 2005.
JOURNALS
Articles on the Philosophy of Religion are published in many journals, but perhaps the four
most significant are: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Faith and Philosophy,
Sophia, and Religious Studies. Ars Disputandi is an online journal, available at
www.arsdisputandi.org. Journal articles may also be found through the website of the
University of London library (www.ull.ac.uk); JSTOR is particularly useful.
INTRODUCTORY TEXTS
If you are new to the Philosophy of Religion, you may find one or more of the following
useful:
• Clack, Beverley and Clack, Brian R. The Philosophy of Religion: a Critical Introduction.
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008) [ISBN 978-0-7456-3868-3]. A good recent introduction,
with some emphasis on non-realist accounts of belief.
• Davies, Brian An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2004) [ISBN 0-19-926347-7]. A thorough treatment of a range of topics at an
introductory level. Limited consideration of non-Christian contributions to the debates.
• Evans, C. Stephen Philosophy of Religion: Thinking About Faith. (Illinois: InterVarsity
Press, 1982) [ISBN 0-851-10742-7]. Covers some areas (e.g. faith and reason) not included
in other introductions.
• Mawson, T. J. Belief in God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2005) [ISBN 0-19-927631-5]. A lively, although not easy,
introduction to a range of topics.
• Meister, Chad Introducing Philosophy of Religion. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009) [ISBN 0415-40327-8]. Particularly useful for the philosophy of religion timeline on pages 10-14.
• Palmer, Michael. The Question of God: an Introduction and Sourcebook. (London:
Routledge, 2001) [ISBN 0-415-22387-3]. Covers a limited range (cosmological, design and
ontological arguments, miracles), but does so in detail and includes extracts from the relevant
sources.
• Peterson, Michael L. God and Evil: an Introduction to the Issues. (Boulder, Colorado;
Oxford: Westview Press, 1998) [ISBN 0-813-32849-7]. A good, concise guide to the debate.
• Peterson, Michael; Hasker, William; Reichenbach, Bruce and Basinger, David. Reason and
Religious Belief: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2003) [ISBN 0-19-515695-1]. A good, contemporary introduction to the subject.
• Zagzebski, Linda Trinkaus Philosophy of Religion: An Historical Introduction. (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2007) [ISBN 978-1-4051-1872-9]. Treats each topic in chronological order. Very
brief on most topics, but useful as an introduction to or summary of the field.