What, if anything, is it that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are agreeing about when they join in claiming that there is a God? A highly accessible and engaging introduction to the philosophy of religion, this book offers full coverage of the key issues, from ideas about God's nature and character to arguments for and against his existence. Mawson makes striking new claims and defends or attacks established positions in original ways. His conversational style, lively wit, and enlightening examples make Belief in God simultaneously instructive, thought-provoking, and enjoyable to read.
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. US Higher Education Not for profit.
Related Titles
Skip to main content. Go directly to our online catalogue. Purchase Send feedback Also available as: Ebook This title is available as an ebook from RedShelf. Features Reviews Features Brilliantly clear and comprehensive coverage Tackles the very concept of God as well as arguments for and against Him Mawson writes in an accessible, friendly style, and with generous use of examples Ideal for undergraduate courses. Reviews "Anyone working in the analytical tradition of philosophy of religion, at any level, would find something of interest in the book: Personhood, Transcendence, Immmanence 2.
Omnipotence, Omniscience, Eternality 3. Perfect Freedom, Perfect Goodness, Necessity 4. Creator of the World, Creator of Value 5. Arguing For and Against the Existence of God 7. The Ontological Argument 8. The Argument to Design 9. The religions, however, differ in the details: Christians, for example, would further affirm that there are three aspects to God the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit. The belief that there is only one deity , and that all other claimed deities are distinct from it and false. The Abrahamic religions , and the Hindu denomination of Vaishnavism which regards the worship of anyone other than Vishnu as incorrect are examples of Exclusive Monotheism.
The belief that there is only one deity , and that all other claimed deities are just different names for it.
Philosophy of Religion
The Hindu denomination of Smartism is an example of Inclusive Monotheism. The belief found in some indigenous African religions that the many gods are just different forms of a single underlying substance. The belief that God is equivalent to Nature or the physical universe , or that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God. The concept has been discussed as far back as the time of the philosophers of Ancient Greece , including Thales , Parmenides and Heraclitus. Baruch Spinoza also believed in a kind of naturalistic pantheism in which the universe, although unconscious and non-sentient as a whole, is a meaningful focus for mystical fulfillment.
The belief also known as Monistic Monotheism , similar to Pantheism , that the physical universe is joined to God, but stressing that God is greater than rather than equivalent to the universe. Thus, the one God interpenetrates every part of nature, and timelessly extends beyond as well. The universe is part of God, but not all of God. A form of monotheism in which it is believed that one God exists, but that this God does not intervene in the world, or interfere with human life and the laws of the universe.
It posits a non-interventionist creator who permits the universe to run itself according to natural laws. Deism derives the existence and nature of God from reason and personal experience , rather than relying on revelation in sacred scriptures or the testimony of others, and can maybe best be described as a basic belief rather than as a religion in itself. The roots of Deism lie with Heraclitus and Plato , but it was also popular with the natural theologists of 17th Century France and, particularly, Britain, who rejected any special or supposedly supernatural revelation of God.
The belief that God preceded the universe and created it, but is now equivalent to it - a composite of Deism and Pantheism. Panendeism is a composite of Deism and Panentheism. It holds that, while the universe is part of God, it operates according to natural mechanisms without the need for the intervention of a traditional God, somewhat similar to the Native American concept of the all- pervading Great Spirit.
The belief that multiple gods exist, but do not intervene with the universe - a composite of Deism and Polytheism. The belief that a God or gods exist, but that they are actually evil. The English word was coined by Thomas de Quincey in Strictly speaking, the term connotes an attitude of hatred towards the god or gods, rather than making a statement about their nature. The belief that a God or gods exist, but that they are not wholly good , or possibly even evil as opposed to eutheism , the belief that God exists and is wholly good.
Trickster gods found in polytheistic belief systems often have a dystheistic nature, and there are various examples of arguable dystheism in the Bible. The belief in two equally powerful gods , often, but not always, with complementary properties and in constant opposition , such as God and Goddess in Wicca , or Good and Evil in Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. The early mystical religion Gnosticism is another example of a ditheistic belief of sorts, due to their claim that the thing worshipped as God in this world is actually an evil impostor , but that a true benevolent deity worthy of being called "God" exists beyond this world.
The belief in, or worship of, multiple gods usually assembled in a pantheon. These gods are often seen as similar to humans anthropomorphic in their personality traits, but with additional individual powers , abilities, knowledge or perceptions. Hard Polytheism views the gods as being distinct and separate beings, such as in Ancient Greek Mythology. Soft Polytheism views the gods as being subsumed into a greater whole, as in most forms of Hinduism.
The devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods, and without denying that others can with equal truth worship different gods. It has been called "monotheism in principle and polytheism in fact". The belief in the existence of many gods , but with the consistent worship of only one deity.
Unlike Henotheism, Monolatrism asserts that there is only one god who is worthy of worship , though other gods are known to exist. The belief that there is more than one deity, but only one deity at a time should be worshipped, each being supreme in turn. The belief that souls inhabit all or most objects whether they be animals, vegetables or minerals.
Animistic religions generally do not accept a sharp distinction between spirit and matter , and assume that this unification of matter and spirit plays a role in daily life. Early Shintoism was animistic in nature, as are many indigenous African religions. Shamanism communication with the spirit world and Ancestor Worship worship of deceased family members, who are believed to have a continued existence and influence are similar categories.
The belief that gods do not exist , or a complete rejection of Theism in any form. Some atheists argue a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities, while others argue for Atheism on philosophical, social or historical grounds. Many atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as Humanism and Naturalism. Atheism may be implicit someone who has never thought about belief in gods or explicit someone who has made an assertion, either weak or strong, regarding their lack of belief in gods.
Confucianism , Taoism , Jainism and some varieties of Buddhism , either do not include belief in a personal god as a tenet of the religion, or actively teach nontheism. The belief that the nature and existence of gods is unknown and cannot ever be known or proven. Technically, this position is strong agnosticism: The earliest professed agnostic was Protagoras , although the term itself, which literally means "without knowledge", was not coined until the s by T.
Huxley - Humanism is more an ethical process , not a dogma about the existence or otherwise of gods. But in general terms, it rejects the validity of transcendental justifications , such as a dependence on belief without reason , the supernatural , or texts of allegedly divine origin.
It is therefore generally compatible with Atheism and Agnosticism , but does not require these, and can be compatible with some religions. To some extent, it supplements or supplants the role of religions, and can be considered in some ways as "equivalent" to a religion.
- Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion.
- C. S. Lewis in Context.
- Arcana Coelestia, Volume 3.
- Related Titles.
- The Golden Bird (with panel zoom)/n/t/t/t - Classics Illustrated Junior.
- Storytelling - Oxford Basics;
- An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion - Paperback - Brian Davies - Oxford University Press;
The Ontological Argument, initially proposed by St. Anselm and Avicenna in the 11th Century, attempts to prove the existence of God through a priori abstract reasoning alone.
Philosophy of Religion - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy
By this argument, to say that God does not exist is a contradiction in terms. The argument is certainly ingenious , but has the appearance of a linguistic trick. The same ontological argument could be used to prove the existence of any perfect thing at all for example, Anselm 's contemporary, the monk Gaunilo , used it to show that a perfect island must exist. Immanuel Kant argued against the ontological argument on the grounds that existence is not a property of objects but a property of concepts , and that, whatever ideas may participate in a given concept, it is a further question whether that concept is instantiated.
The Cosmological Argument is the argument that the existence of the world or universe implies the existence of a being that brought it into existence and keeps it in existence. In essence, the argument is that everything that moves is moved by something else; an infinite regress that is, going back through a chain of movers forever is impossible; and therefore there must exist a first mover i.
It comes in two forms, modal having to do with possibility , and temporal having to do with time: The Modal Cosmological Argument: This argument, also known as the Argument from Contingency , suggests that because the universe might not have existed i. Wherever there are two possibilities, something must determine which of those possibilities is realized. Therefore, as the universe is contingent, there must be some reason for its existence, i.
In fact, the only kind of being whose existence requires no explanation is a necessary being, a being that could not have failed to exist.
The ultimate cause of everything must therefore be a necessary being , such as God. Critics of the argument from contingency have sometimes questioned whether the universe is in fact contingent , and why God should be considered a necessary being simply asking "Does God have a cause of his existence?