Philosophy of Religion

(third edition, 1983)

John H. Hick

Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION
What is the Philosophy of Religion?
1

ONE
The Judaic-Christian Concept of God

  • Monotheism 5
  • Infinite, Self existent 7
  • Creator 9
  • Personal 10
  • Loving, Good 11
  • Holy 13

    TWO
    Grounds for Belief in God
    15

  • The Ontological Argument 15
  • The First Cause and Cosmological Arguments 20
  • The Design (or Teleological) Argument 23
  • Theism and Probability 26
  • The Moral Argument 28
  • The Argument from Special Events and Experiences 29

    THREE
    Grounds for Disbelief in God
    31

  • The Sociological Theory of Religion 31
  • The Freudian Theory of Religion 34
  • The Challenge of Modern Science 36

    FOUR
    The Problem of Evil
    40

  • The Problem 40
  • The Augustinian Theodicy 42
  • The Irenaean Theodicy 45
  • Process Theodicy 49

    FIVE
    Revelation and Faith
    57

  • The Limits of Proof 57
  • The Propositional View of Revelation and Faith 60
  • Voluntarist Theories of Faith 63
  • Tillich's Conception of Faith as Ultimate Concern 66
  • A Nonpropositional View of Revelation and Faith 68
  • A Corresponding View of the Bible and Theological Thinking 72

    SIX
    Problems of Religious Language
    76

  • The Peculiarity of Religious Language 76
  • The Doctrine of Analogy (Aquinas) 77
  • Religious Statements as Symbolic (Tillich) 79
  • Incarnation and the Problem of Meaning 82
  • Religious Language as Non-Cognitive 83
  • Braithwaite's Non-Cognitive Theory 87
  • The Language-Game Theory 90

    SEVEN
    The Problem of Verification
    94

  • The Question of Verifiability 94
  • Two Suggested Solutions 97
  • The Idea of Eschatological Verification 100
  • Some Difficulties and Complications 102
  • "Exists," "Fact," and "Real" 105

    EIGHT
    The Conflicting Truth Claims of DifferentReligions
    107

  • Many Faiths, All Claiming to be True 107
  • W. A. Christian's Analysis 108
  • Critique of the Concept of "A Religion" 112
  • Toward a Possible Solution 113
  • A Philosophical Framework for Religious Pluralism 118

    NINE
    Human Destiny: Immortality andResurrection
    122

  • The Immortality of the Soul 122
  • The Re-creation of the Psychophysical Person 124
  • Does Parapsychology help? 127
  • Resuscitation Cases 131

    TEN
    Human Destiny: Karma and Reincarnation
    133

  • The Popular Concept 133
  • The Vedantic Conception 137
  • A Demythologized Interpretation 142

    FOR FURTHER READING 144

    INDEX 146