Morality and Divine Authority, Mark C. The Problem of Evil, Paul Draper Topics in Christian Philosophical Theology The Trinity, Michael Rea Original Sin and Atonement, Oliver D. The Incarnation, Richard Cross The Resurrection of the Body, Trenton Merricks Heaven and Hell, Jerry Walls Non-Christian Philosophical Theology Jewish Philosophical Theology, Daniel Frank Islamic Philosophical Theology, Oliver Leamann Richard Cross, Reverend John A.
2009.09.20
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. Academic Skip to main content.
- Main page content;
- Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology - Oxford Handbooks.
- The Magical Tale of Eliza Felding (The Eliza Felding Trilogy Book 1).
Choose your country or region Close. Ebook This title is available as an ebook. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology attempts both to familiarize readers with the directions in which the scholarship of this discipline has gone and to pursue the discussion into hitherto under-examined areas. Philosophical theology is aimed primarily at theoretical understanding of the nature and attributes of God and of God's relationship to the world and its inhabitants. During the twentieth century, much of the philosophical community both in the Anglo-American analytic tradition and in Continental circles had grave doubts about our ability to attain any such understanding.
In recent years the analytic tradition in particular has moved beyond the biases that placed obstacles in the way of the pursuing questions located at the interface of philosophy and religion. Written by some of the leading scholars in the field, the articles in the book are grouped into five sections.
Tools list begins here
In the first section, articles focus on the authority of scripture and tradition, on the nature and mechanisms of divine revelation, on the relation between religion and science, and on theology and mystery. The next section focuses on philosophical problems connected with the central divine attributes: In the third section, articles explore theories of divine action and divine providence, questions about petitionary prayer, problems about divine authority and God's relationship to morality and moral standards, and various formulations of and responses to the problem of evil.
The fourth section examines philosophical problems that arise in connection with such central Christian doctrines as the trinity, the incarnation, the atonement, original sin, resurrection, and the Eucharist. The key here is that God has, besides knowledge of ordinary necessary and contingent truths, a "middle knowledge" of counterfactuals like "If Sarah is in circumstances C and freely chooses what to do, then she will do A" -- and that this middle knowledge enables God to arrange things so that his plans will succeed.
Also Available In:
Scott Davidson discusses petitionary prayer. He suggests that God has "answered" a particular prayer provided that the prayer is for something good and that God brings the thing about at least in part because of the prayer. He gives reasons for being skeptical that prayers are answered. For example, would not God do the good thing even if we did not pray for it? And how can we know that our prayer made a difference to what God did?
Philosophical Theology and Christian Doctrines - Research Portal, King's College, London
He suggests that the point of petitionary prayer may be more to change us than to change God. Mark Murphy, in a complex but clear essay, argues against the views of Phillip Quinn, Robert Adams, Linda Zagzebski, and some natural law theorists, who contend that God somehow explains morality. Paul Draper discusses and criticizes deductive and Bayesian-probabilistic arguments against the existence of God based on the existence of evil. Unlike most of the authors, Draper is an agnostic and does not argue from a theistic perspective.
Michael Murray's discussion of theodicy about why a perfect God would permit evil fits fairly well the "handbook" model where you can look up specific subtopics. Murray explains, fairly simply, what a theodicy is and why many recent thinkers are hesitant to engage in it; they think that we need only a "free-will defense" to rebut the non-believer's arguments against belief in God and that we do not know enough to construct a theodicy.
Murray then discusses critically the explanations of evil as punishment for sin, as the natural consequence of sin, as the misuse of free will, and as needed for "soul-making". He finally discusses various reasons that have been given for why a perfect God would permit animal suffering. Michael Bergmann defends a view curiously called "skeptical theism".
Some attack belief in God by first pointing out some horrific evil perhaps about the suffering of an innocent child or animal and then pointing out that no one has found a good reason for a perfect God to permit such an evil. They then conclude that a perfect God would have no good reason to permit such an evil. While they believe in God, they are skeptical about our human ability to know why a perfect God permits particular evils.
The six essays in Part 4 are about distinctive Christian beliefs. I was disappointed that the idea of mystery occurred so seldom in this part; after all, God seemingly does not limit his revelation to what fits easily into our little heads. First, Michael Rea discusses the trinity. The logical problem here is that if the Father, Son, and Spirit are God -- and distinct from each other -- then it seems that there must be three Gods.
- Edited by Thomas P. Flint and Michael C. Rea.
- Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew.
- Observing Society: Meaning, Communication, and Social Systems?
If Fido, Spot, and Fufu are dogs -- and distinct from each other -- then there must be at least three dogs. Rea's solution involves the notion of "relative identity". If you use a statue for a pillar: Similarly the Father, Son, and Spirit could be the same God without being identical in every respect.
Oliver Crisp discusses how Christ's life and death can atone for sins. He argues for a penal-substitution model over views based on ransom, satisfaction, or moral example. Richard Cross discusses the incarnation: The logical problem here is that Christ would seem to have incompatible properties, e. Cross mentions various solutions, including somehow qualifying Christ's properties -- so that he is eternal-as-divine but born-on-a-specific-date-as-human -- and seeing Christ as having two intellects, but he admits that philosophical reflection on the incarnation is a work in progress.
Trenton Merrick considers the resurrection of the body at the end of the world. He asks how this will work and why we would want to spend eternity in a body. On the second question, he argues that resurrection of the body is our only shot at immortality, since we are our bodies. Merrick thinks that we do not exist between death and our bodily resurrection. Jerry Walls discusses heaven and hell, focusing especially on whether eternal torment is compatible with God's goodness. He suggests that it may be continually possible to turn to God after death, that any who are lost forever would be so because they continually choose after death to reject God.
He also considers the idea that eventually all may be saved.