A philosopher of religion examines contemporary conceptions of God through close readings of three modern Jewish thinkers. For centuries, the traditional God of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has been under pressure to conform to the scientific worldview, giving rise to a “liberal” conception of God compatible with a naturalism. For many, this liberal “new” God is the only credible God. But is it a useful God? Does belief in so malleable a deity come from, or lead to, different political, moral, psychological, or aesthetic phenomena from atheism? A Plausible God evaluates the new God by analyzing the theology of three recent Jewish thinkers —Mordechai Kaplan, Michael Lerner, and Arthur Green—and compares faith in the new God to disbelief in any gods. Mitchell Silver reveals what is at stake in the choice between naturalistic liberal theology and a nontheistic naturalism without gods. Silver poses the question: “If it is to be either the new God or no God, what does—what should—determine the choice?” Although Jewish thinkers are used as the primary exemplars of new God theology, Silver explores developments in contemporary Christian thought, Eastern religious traditions, and “New Age” religion. A Plausible God constitutes a significant contribution to current discussions of the relationship between science and religion, as well as to discussions regarding the idea of God itself in modern life.

Should the dissimilarity between Jesus and early Christianity or between Jesus and Judaism be the central criteria for the historical Jesus? Gerd Theissen and Dagmar Winter argue that the criterion of dissimilarity does not do justice to the single most important result of more than two-hundred years of Jesus research: that the historical Jesus belongs to both Judaism and Christianity. The two authors propose a criterion of historical plausibility so that historical phenomenon under question can be considered authentic so long as it can be plausibly understood in its Jewish context and also facilitates a plausible explanation for its later effects in Christian history. This book is a cooperative project between Dagmar Winter and Gerd Theissen and represents the fruit of many years of their research on the historical Jesus.

This book critically examines David Tracy's well-known methodology of fundamental theology, namely his revisionist model as developed in his Blessed Rage for Order (1975), together with his methodological shifts through the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. It explores how successful he has been in constructing a methodology for the public theological discourse that he deems so necessary. More particularly, this book asks how serviceable this methodology is for articulating Christian discourse in an intelligible and public way in the contemporary context of religious plurality.

So simple and imperfect as it may appear this book has made use of knowledge on invention and discovery accumu lated during a lifetime. Those persons who would be tempted to emphasize only its imperfections should read the correspondence exchanged between Cantor and Dedekind at the end of the nineteenth century; they would then realize how difficult it was, even for an outstanding man, the creator of the set theory, to propose impeccable results in a completely new field. The field I have chosen here is plausibility. I have proposed an intuitive, some would say a naive, presentation as I want to reach as large an audience as possible and because I personally believe that it is easier to axiomatize a mathematical theory precisely than to dis cover it and enunciate its key theorems. Professor Polya said: "The truly creative mathematician is a good guesser first and a good prover afterward. " For centuries a formalized generalized logic was found necessary and many attempts have been made to build it. vi Preface Mine is based on plausibility which covers with precision a wider field than probability and makes the formalization of analogy and generalization possible. As Laplace said: "Even in the mathematical sciences, our principal instru ments to discover the truth are induction and analogy. "* The examples of application I have chosen are not des cribed in detail.

William Rowe is one of the leading thinkers in contemporary philosophy of religion. Although he is best known for his contributions to the problem of evil, he has produced innovative and influential work across a wide array of subjects at the interface between philosophy and religion. He has, for example, written extensively on the existentialist theologian, Paul Tillich, on the challenging problem of divine freedom, and on the traditional arguments in support of the existence of God. His work in these areas is distinguished by its clarity, rigour, originality, and sensitivity towards the claims of his theistic opponents. Indeed, Rowe's work has played a pivotal role in the remarkable revival of analytic philosophy of religion since the 1970s. The present collection brings together for the first time Rowe's most significant contributions to the philosophy of religion. This diverse but representative selection of Rowe's writings will provide students, professional scholars as well as general readers with stimulating and accessible discussions on such topics as the philosophical theology of Paul Tillich, the problem of evil, divine freedom, arguments for the existence of God, religious experience, life after death, and religious pluralism.

Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to fathom, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material. Immanuel Kant's influence and importance are difficult to exaggerate, his Three Critiques - of Pure Reason, of Practical Reason and of Judgment - standing as landmark works in the Western philosophical canon. Anyone interested in or studying philosophy will encounter Kant and hope to reach a detailed understanding of his work. Nevertheless, Kant is far from being an easy or straightforward subject for study. The ideas entailed in his work - and the connections between them - are complex, and the language in which they are expressed is frequently opaque. Kant: A Guide for the Perplexed is the ideal text for anyone finding it difficult to make headway with this key philosopher. It offers a detailed account of each of the three Critiques and the relationship between them. In so doing, it ranges over Kant's epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics and philosophy of religion, and explores his legacy for German Idealism. Valuably, the book provides a way through Kant's often impenetrable prose. Written with students in mind, and tailored to meet their specific needs, this is a reliable, authoritative and illuminating guide to one of the central pillars of modern philosophy.

OThe Bible Delusion: 101 OHang on a MinuteO Moments; and GodOs Mysterious WaysO comprises an easy to read summary of 101 examples of absurdity in the King James Version of the Bible, dismantling everything from the Genesis creation myth to the coherency of The Gospels. More aspects are categorised into groups that are anything but OgodlikeO in their nature. The Bible is full of bizarre rules, regulations and instructions D on animal sacrifice, war, including genocide and ethnic cleansing, misogyny, slavery, and much more D straight from God. There are numerous contradictions, anomalies, anachronisms and oddities, many of which are explored and explained in this comprehensive work."

The philosophy and theology of David Novak, one of the most prominent and creative contemporary Jewish thinkers, grapples with Judaism, Christian theology, the tradition of natural law, and the Western philosophical canon. Never shying away from contested ethical and religious themes, Novak’s original insights and intellectual spirit have spanned voluminous publications and inspired Jewish, Christian, and Muslim thinkers to engage concepts such as religious liberty, covenantal morality, and the importance of theological reasoning. Written primarily by scholars in the field of Jewish thought, Covenantal Thinking is a collection of essays dedicated to Novak’s work. The book examines topics such as election, natural law, Jewish political thought, Zionism, and the relation between reason and revelation. This collection is unique because it includes Novak’s replies to his critics, including his clarifications of his philosophical and theological positions. Offering a vital contribution to contemporary Jewish thought, Covenantal Thinking illuminates Novak’s contributions as a scholar who trained, conversed with, and inspired the next generation of philosophical theologians.

A biography of a premier French scientist of the Enlightenment and the director of France's Royal Botanical Garden, using Buffon's enormous literary production as the major source of insight into his and his age's beliefs about the natural world. Includes bandw illustrations from his Natural History. First published in 1989 as Buffon, un philosophe au Jardin du Roi, by Librarie Artheme Fayard. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR