Bücher der Reihe Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion

While the atonement is a central component of Christianity, there is little agreement in the tradition about how it should be understood. This book develops and defends a novel relational theory of atonement inspired by African relational ethics.This book brings important themes from African ethics into conversation with the contemporary philosophical literature on the atonement. The author employs an African relational ethic that says an act is right inasmuch as it is friendly where friendliness is understood as identifying with others and expressing solidarity with them. This relational ethic sheds new light on the problem of sin, by emphasising the relational disharmony it produces between God and humans. When applied to the Atonement, the passion and death of Christ can be understood as an ultimate act of friendliness in reconciling humanity to God. The author also explores questions about the nature of justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation. He shows how constructive punishment ought to be included in genuine forms of reconciliation and as such how punishment can be part of his Relational Theory of the Atonement. The last part of the book develops alternative theories of the atonement based on two important African normative theories located in personhood and in life force. Overall, the book makes the case that the Relational Theory of the Atonement should be considered as a serious competitor to longer-established Western theories.A Relational Theory of the Atonement will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, African philosophy, and comparative philosophy.

In the last half century, the field of religious ethics has been inundated with various antirealist schools of moral thought. This book brings together a diverse group of scholars who represent different philosophical and theological outlooks to discuss the merits of constructivism vis-a-vis religious ethics.

The question of whether faith in God is reasonable is of renewed interest in today's academy. In light of this interest, as well as the rise of militant religion and terrorism and the emergent reaction by neo-atheism, this volume considers this important question from the views of contemporary scientists, philosophers, and in a more novel fashion, of rhetoricians.

This new collection of philosophically rigorous essays critiques the interpretation of divine omniscience known as open theism, focusing primarily on philosophically motivated open theism and positing arguments that reject divine knowledge of future contingents in the face of the dilemma of freedom and foreknowledge.

This book is the first systematic treatment of the strengths and limitations of personal and a-personal conceptions of the divine. It features contributions from Jewish, Islamic, Chinese, Indian and naturalistic backgrounds in addition to those working within a decidedly Christian framework.

This book discusses aspects of God's causal activity. It explores historical views of divine causal activity from the Pre-Socratics to Hume. It also addresses contemporary issues related to God's causal activity, including the possibility of special acts of God, proposals of models of divine causation, and analyses of divine conservation.

This collection brings together new papers addressing the philosophical challenges that the concept of a Devil presents. Contributors approach the idea of the Devil from a variety of philosophical traditions, methodologies, and styles, providing a comprehensive philosophical overview that contemplates the existence, nature, and purpose of the Devil.

This collection brings together broad perspectives exploring the relationship between theism and the idea that multiple universes exist beyond our own, thoroughly assessing the idea that a multiverse is to be expected if theism is true. This book provides a definitive contemporary treatment of the claim that if God exists, there are many universes.

This volume focuses on contemporary issues in the philosophy of religion through an engagement with Eleonore Stump¿s seminal work in the field. Topics covered include: the metaphysics of the divine nature; the nature of love and God¿s relation to human happiness; and the issue human agency.

This collection brings together new papers addressing the philosophical challenges that the concept of a Devil presents. Contributors approach the idea of the Devil from a variety of philosophical traditions, methodologies, and styles, providing a comprehensive philosophical overview that contemplates the existence, nature, and purpose of the Devil.

This collection brings together broad perspectives exploring the relationship between theism and the idea that multiple universes exist beyond our own, aiming to thoroughly assess the idea that a multiverse is to be expected if theism is true. Contributors including ten philosophers, two physicists, and one philosopher-astrophysicist discuss various theistic multiverse models, and their scientific, philosophical, and theological ramifications. God and the Multiverse provides a definitive contemporary treatment of the provocative claim that if God exists, there are many universes.

This book examines divine nature in terms of maximal greatness. It investigates each attribute associated with maximal greatness - omnipotence, omniscience, perfect goodness and beauty, arguing that maximal greatness is necessary for divinity.

A study that looks at the question of how God can act upon the world, and whether the world can affect God, examining contemporary work on the metaphysics of causation and laws of nature, and the work in the theory of knowledge and mysticism.

Concedes the bare possibility that talk of divine action could constitute an explanation of some state of affairs, while noting that the conditions under which this would be true are unlikely to be fulfilled. This book also argues that a proposed explanation of this kind would rate poorly, when measured against our standards of explanatory virtue.

Focuses on contemporary issues in the philosophy of religion through an engagement with Eleonore Stump's seminal work in the field. This book covers topics such as the metaphysics of the divine nature; the nature of love and God's relation to human happiness; and the issue human agency.

Argues that the existence of finite, irreducible consciousness (or its regular, law-like correlation with physical states) provides evidence for the existence of God. The author analyzes and criticizes the top representative of rival approaches to explaining the origin of consciousness, including John Searle's contingent correlation.

God and Goodness presents a fresh approach, arguing that the goodness of the world echoes the goodness of its source. It makes a case for supposing that the world exists because it is good that it should exist.