PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

“As a contemporary introduction to philosophy of religion, it is a God-send

or, if you prefer, a dharma-gift. Keith Yandell succeeds admirably in

producing a textbook which has clarity, wit and rigour and that engages

religion in its historical and cultural diversity . . . He grasps that religious

traditions are irreducibly different: they make different types of claims,

argue from different sorts of grounds, cultivate diverse values and aim at

divergent goals.”

John Clayton, Boston University

“The central strength of the book is its willingness to argue points out in

detail rather than just reporting on arguments. It is a model of rigorous

argument applied to questions of religion.”

Mark Wynn, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane

Philosophy of Religion is one of the first comprehensive textbooks to

consider the subject with reference to religions other than Christianity. As

an experienced textbook author and an established generalist in philosophy

of religion, Keith Yandell deals lucidly and constructively with

representative views and competing issues from Judaism, Christianity,

Islam, Buddhism and Jainism. He also shows how such issues and

competing views can be rationally assessed. He includes discussion of major

philosophical figures in religious traditions as well as important

contemporary philosophers. This engaging text will appeal to students of

both philosophy and religion as well as to the general reader interested in

the subject.

Keith E. Yandell is Professor of Philosophy at the University of

Wisconsin at Madison. He has written widely on philosophy and

philosophy of religion and among his most recent books are Hume’s

“Inexplicable Mystery” (1990) and The Epistemology of Religious

Experience (1995).

Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy

Series Editor:

Paul K. Moser

Loyola University of Chicago

This innovative, well-structured series is for students who have already done

an introductory course in philosophy. Each book introduces a core general

subject in contemporary philosophy and offers students an accessible but

substantial transition from introductory to higher-level college work in that

subject. The series is accessible to nonspecialists and each book clearly

motivates and expounds the problems and positions introduced. An orientating

chapter briefly introduces its topic and reminds readers of any crucial material

they need to have retained from a typical introductory course. Considerable

attention is given to explaining the central philosophical problems of a subject

and the main competing solutions and arguments for those solutions. The

primary aim is to educate students in the main problems, positions and

arguments of contemporary philosophy rather than to convince students of a

single position. The initial eight central books in the series are written by

experienced authors and teachers, and treat topics essential to a well-rounded

philosophy curriculum.

Preface

Contemporary academia is secular. The idea that religious views of

any traditional sort should guide the research or inform the

worldview of any discipline is rejected out of court. Things were not

always so. Professor John Bascom, former President of my own

university, used to give a capstone undergraduate course in how to

prove the existence and nature of God; his practice was more typical

than surprising. Times have changed.

A student of mine once published a paper he wrote for a seminar he

took with me. It argued that there is reason to reject a particular set

of religious beliefs. In effect, the responses of his former professors

ranged from we all know that stuff is false through considering

whether religious claims are true or false isn’t part of the academic

game to saying someone’s religious beliefs are false is impolite and

politically unwise. None of these responses is atypical.

Nonetheless, both traditionally and currently, the philosophy of

religion has made rational assessment of religious claims central to its

purposes. Endeavoring to determine the meaning, and the truth value

– the sense and the truth-or-falsity – of religious claims is part and

parcel of this discipline.