In Defense of Kant's Religion [Paperback]

Chris L. Firestone and Nathan Jacobs integrate and interpret the work of leading Kant scholars to come to a new and deeper understanding of Kant's difficult book, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. In this text, Kant's vocabulary and language are especially tortured and convoluted. Readers have often lost sight of the thinker's deep ties to Christianity and questioned the viability of the work as serious philosophy of religion. Firestone and Jacobs provide strong and cogent grounds for taking Kant's religion seriously and defend him against the charges of incoherence. In their reading, Christian essentials are incorporated into the confines of reason, and they argue that Kant establishes a rational religious faith in accord with religious conviction as it is elaborated in his mature philosophy. For readers at all levels, this book articulates a way to ground religion and theology in a fully fledged defense of Religion which is linked to the larger corpus of Kant's philosophical enterprise.

Chris L. Firestone is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College in Deerfield, Ill. He is editor (with Stephen R. Palmquist) of Kant and the New Philosophy of Religion (IUP, 2006).

Nathan Jacobs is Assistant Professor of Theology in the School of Biblical and Religious Studies at Trinity College in Deerfield, Ill. He has authored many articles on Kant and other topics, and is a contributor to Kant and the New Philosophy of Religion.

Contents
Foreword by Nicholas Wolterstorff
Acknowledgments
Note on Text Quotations

People vs. Religion

Part 1. Perspectives on Kant's Religion
1. The Metaphysical Motives behind Religion
Witness for the Prosecution: Vincent McCarthy
Witness for the Defense: Stephen R. Palmquist
Witness for the Prosecution: Keith Ward
Witness for the Defense: Allen W. Wood
2. The Philosophical Character of Religion
Witnesses for the Prosecution: Philip Quinn and Nicholas Wolterstorff