Philosophy and Religion [Paperback]

This volume contains vigorously argued essays on religion based on The Royal Institute of Philosophy's 20089 lecture series.This volume contains essays based on The Royal Institute of Philosophy's 20089 lecture series covering topics including natural theology, miracles, Darwinism, spirituality, sacrifice and the sacred, the Incarnation and religion and pluralism. Vigorously argued, the essays will undoubtedly take debates in these areas forward in a constructive way.This volume contains essays based on The Royal Institute of Philosophy's 20089 lecture series covering topics including natural theology, miracles, Darwinism, spirituality, sacrifice and the sacred, the Incarnation and religion and pluralism. Vigorously argued, the essays will undoubtedly take debates in these areas forward in a constructive way.Surprising as it might have seemed not so long ago, in recent times religion has once again become a focus of lively debate. The exchanges between those for and against religion have, however, often thrown up heat, rather than light. As an attempted corrective, The Royal Institute of Philosophy asked a number of distinguished philosophers who are interested in religion to contribute to its annual lecture series for 20082009. This volume contains essays based on the lectures. The topics covered include natural theology, for and against, miracles, the debates about Darwinism, spirituality, sacrifice and the sacred, the Incarnation and religion and pluralism. Vigorously argued as they are, these essays will undoubtedly take the debates forward in a constructive way.Introduction Anthony O'Hear; 1. God as the simplest explanation of the Universe Richard Swinburne; 2. Explaining the fine tuning of the Universe to us and the fine tuning of us to the Universe T. J. Mawson; 3. What can God explain? Gerard J. Hughes; 4. One step toward God Brian Leftow; 5. What do religious believers believe? Richard Norman; 6. With and without absurdity: Moore, magic and McTaggart's l¢