The Greatest Possible Being
Title | The Greatest Possible Being PDF eBook |
Author | Jeff Speaks |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 184 |
Release | 2018-09-26 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0192561499 |
What can we know about God by reason alone? Philosophical theology is the attempt to obtain such knowledge. An ancient tradition, which is perhaps more influential now than ever, tries to derive the attributes of God from the principle that God is the greatest possible being. Jeff Speaks argues that that constructive project is a failure. He also argues that the related view that the concept of God is the concept of a greatest possible being is a mistake. In the last chapter, he sketches an alternative path forward.
Maximal God
Title | Maximal God PDF eBook |
Author | Yujin Nagasawa |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 242 |
Release | 2017 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0198758685 |
Yujin Nagasawa presents a new, stronger version of perfect being theism, the conception of God as the greatest possible being. Although perfect being theism is the most common form of monotheism in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition its truth has been disputed by philosophers and theologians for centuries. Nagasawa proposes a new, game-changing defence of perfect being theism by developing what he calls the 'maximal concept of God'. Perfect being theists typically maintain that God is an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent being; according to Nagasawa, God should be understood rather as a being that has the maximal consistent set of knowledge, power, and benevolence. Nagasawa argues that once we accept the maximal concept we can establish perfect being theism on two grounds. First, we can refute nearly all existing arguments against perfect being theism simultaneously. Second, we can construct a novel, strengthened version of the modal ontological argument for perfect being theism. Nagasawa concludes that the maximal concept grants us a unified defence of perfect being theism that is highly effective and economical.
Perfect Being Theology
Title | Perfect Being Theology PDF eBook |
Author | Katherin A Rogers |
Publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
Pages | 175 |
Release | 2019-08-07 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 147447215X |
That being than which a greater cannot be conceived.' This was the way in which the living God of biblical tradition was described by the great Medieval philosophers such as Augustine, Anselm and Aquinas.Contemporary philosophers find much to question, criticise and reject in the traditional analysis of that description. Some hold that the attributes traditionally ascribed to God - simplicity, necessity, immutability, eternity, omniscience, omnipotence, creativity and goodness - are inherently incoherent individually, or mutually inconsistent. Others argue that the divinity described by philosophers cannot be the same as the providential God of revelation.In Perfect Being Theology Katherin A. Rogers defends the traditional approach, considering contemporary criticisms but concluding that the most adequate account of the nature of God should build upon the foundation laid by the Medieval philosophers.Written in a lively and accessible style and offering an important historical perspective, this book covers key areas of contention and many of the major ideas and thinkers from all sides of the debate are included.
Our Idea of God
Title | Our Idea of God PDF eBook |
Author | Thomas V. Morris |
Publisher | Regent College Publishing |
Pages | 200 |
Release | 2002 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9781573831017 |
On the Nature and Existence of God
Title | On the Nature and Existence of God PDF eBook |
Author | Richard M. Gale |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 351 |
Release | 2016-08-26 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 1107142350 |
This influential book evaluates the arguments for the existence and nature of God that emerged in the late twentieth century.
The Hiddenness Argument
Title | The Hiddenness Argument PDF eBook |
Author | J. L. Schellenberg |
Publisher | OUP Oxford |
Pages | 157 |
Release | 2015-07-02 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0191047376 |
In many places and times, and for many people, God's existence has been rather less than a clear fact. According to the hiddenness argument, this is actually a reason to suppose that it is not a fact at all. The hiddenness argument is a new argument for atheism that has come to prominence in philosophy over the past two decades. J. L. Schellenberg first developed the argument in 1993, and this book offers a short and vigorous statement of its central claims and ideas. Logically sharp but so clear that anyone can understand, the book addresses little-discussed issues such as why it took so long for hiddenness reasoning to emerge in philosophy, and how the hiddenness problem is distinct from the problem of evil. It concludes with the fascinating thought that retiring the last of the personal gods might leave us nearer the beginning of religion than the end. Though an atheist, Schellenberg writes sensitively and with a nuanced insider's grasp of the religious life. Pertinent aspects of his experience as a believer and as a nonbeliever, and of his own engagement with hiddenness issues, are included. Set in this personal context, and against an authoritative background on relevant logical, conceptual, and historical matters, The Hiddenness Argument's careful but provocative reasoning makes crystal clear just what this new argument is and why it matters.
Psychedelic Christianity
Title | Psychedelic Christianity PDF eBook |
Author | Jack Call |
Publisher | John Hunt Publishing |
Pages | 88 |
Release | 2018-07-27 |
Genre | Body, Mind & Spirit |
ISBN | 1785357484 |
Psychedelic Christianity discusses what we should hope and believe about the ultimate goal of living and uses psychedelic experience and Christianity as its guiding stars. The book reconciles three seemingly inconsistent claims: that we have already attained the ultimate goal; that there is more than one ultimate goal; that there is and always will be another ultimate goal coming. Psychedelic Christianity also argues that Jesus taught that worldly politics will never lead to the kingdom of heaven.