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Reddit mentions of The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology
Sentiment score: 12
Reddit mentions: 19
We found 19 Reddit mentions of The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Here are the top ones.
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| Height | 9.598406 inches |
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| Number of items | 1 |
| Release date | February 2012 |
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Yeah, he made reference to well-known arguments for the existence of God that are easily found in such books as An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion and The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology and Proofs of God: Classical Arguments from Tertullian to Barth and New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy.
> if anyone has any experience with college kids and what they like to ask.
First off, your typical college kid has not read anything on religion as sophisticated C.S. Lewis et al. I think it will be less the kids and more the professors that might ask tough questions. I think /r/atheism is about as sophisticated as college kids will be. So, not that I would encourage you to check out that sub, but those are mainly college kids posting overly simplistic things like "religion starts wars" or "faith is inconsistent with science", "The religious are bigots" etc...
Some professors may have read significantly more sophisticated things then typically show up on the sophomoric memes of /r/atheism. But for every one of them, there is someone like those I list below that have just as sophisticated counterpoint.
With that said here is my advice:
And some of them like William Lane Craig have sections of their website devoted to answering questions so if you have any tough questions do be afraid to ask these people. Just please, no matter what confusing question you run into, know that there are incredibly smart and respected intellectuals who have already addressed that confusing issue.
Also, follow their blogs, newsletters, youtube debates and websites (as well as check out their books) so you always stay on top of the latest Christian arguments.
where did i suggest other religions didnt have dedicated scholars.
>rational contemplations
oh rly. did you read Thomas Aquinas? ghazali? Maimonides? Descarte perhaps? Immanuel Kant? maybe william lane craig?
perhaps read something like this
From a post I made awhile back:
If you want to go for a scholastic/western positive apologetics approach check out: The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology.
If you want to go for a scholastic/western negative apologetics approach check out Alvin Plantinga's God and Other Minds. This is the work that actually re-kindled serious philosophical debate on the existence of God in Anglophone philosophical circles according to Quinten Smith (a notable atheist philosopher btw). From there you could also check out Alvin Plantinga's warrant trilogy in order: Warrant: The Current Debate, Warrant and Proper Function, and Warranted Christian Belief.
Personally I'm skeptical of the scholastic/western approach in general and I favor the Eastern/Mystical approach. I think the scholastic/western approach cannot escape radical skepticism, and I mean this in terms of secular and religious. If one takes seriously the scholastic/western approach in general, whether one is atheist or theist, radical skepticism follows. This video from a radical skeptic that goes by the user name Carneades.org does a good job of demonstrating this: Arguments of the Indirect Skeptic
The Orthodox approach has always been mystical rather than scholastic all the way from the beginnings of Christianity. From Jesus, to the apostles, to the church fathers, to right now we still have the original apostolic faith in the Orthodox Church. Check out this short documentary to learn more: Holy Orthodoxy: The Ancient Church of Acts in the 21st Century.
Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky explains the Eastern/Mystical approach: "To properly understand the Orthodox approach to the Fathers, one must first of all understand the mystical characteristic of Orthodox theology and the tradition of the apophatic approach to an understanding-if "understanding" is indeed the proper word-of what the hidden God in Trinity reveals to us. This needs to be combined with the insight that what is incomprehensible to our reason inspires us to rise above every attempt at philosophical limitation and to reach for an experience beyond the limits of the intellect. The experience of God is a transcendence born from union with the divine-henosis (oneness with God) being the ultimate goal of existence. This makes the requirement of true knowledge (gnosis) the abandoning of all hope of the conventional subject-object approach to discovery. It requires setting aside the dead ends of Scholasticism, nominalism, and the limits set by such Kantian paradigms as noumena/phenomena. One must return to, or better yet, find in one's heart (or nous, the soul's eye) union with the Holy Trinity, which has never been lost in the Orthodox Church."
Source: Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky, (2004). Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. p. 178. Zondervan, Grand Rapids
You should try the Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. It's a dense philosophical treatise on the best arguments for the existence of God (Fine-Tuning, Kalam Cosmological Argument, Moral Argument, etc.). Probably the most relevant and important work that apologetics has to offer today.
Be warned though, it's not a light read and it will be difficult to understand if you don't already have some working background in philosophy and science.
I'll throw out The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. A collection of essays that aim to get one to at least deism or classical theism without the use of special revelation (like the Bible).
why not? because he discusses miracles?
makie's the miracle of theism is a response to that book.
blackwell's companion to natural theology might be something.
Apparently, a paperback edition for ~1/3 of that price is due for a British release in October. :D
My university's library and my city's library don't have it, so that might be a good option. Thanks for the recommendation.
Have you read and refuted all the arguments in, say, [The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology] (https://www.amazon.com/Blackwell-Companion-Natural-Theology/dp/1444350854)?
And are you really saying that if something cannot be seen then it does not exist?
Try the First Way. Or if you prefer, user hammiesink wrote a good explication. He also wrote a series of posts on the subject in this community. Here is the denouement, with links to the prior posts.
If you're really interested in this subject, the Blackwell Companion is an indispensable resource.
I imagine that when you were a kid you were able to base your beliefs on the authority of your parents or minister. Now that you are older and able to think critically, you see that they aren't actually in a position to speak authoritatively on that issue.
If you want to believe in God now, it will have to be on different grounds. You will have to find a rationale that you can intellectually accept. There are logical arguments for the existence of God. If this is the sort of thing that you are interested in you might look into getting The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. It provides in-depth treatments by well-know philosophers of the arguments for the existence of God based on nature and reason.
Well this is a bit exhaustive, I would suggest reaching out to more than one person, perhaps making a thread in this sub or really many other subs as the abrahamic framework and the monotheistic framework is a point of belief in many mediums.
>Why does being a creator mean that?
well first we would have to define what the creator even means, how familiar are you with Kalam and Plato's ideas of God and greek logic overall?
>morality is about improving the lives and existences of humans
well we would all hope that as well, but one should be wary of utilitarianism and its shortcomings.
You should really seek out questions like the origin of reason, and philosophical commentary on the matter.
If you want to go deeper here are some books that may be worthwhile to read/ take a look at. like this one or this one
You mentioned in this thread that you were interested in WLC. There are several works that might be helpful to you:
Reasonable Faith
and if you have a lot of time
Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology (Craig and Moreland, but includes a large collection of topics from many modern philosophers)
Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (Craig and Moreland)
Again, these last two are rather extensive, but you may find them to be useful if you're interested in the philosophical/scientific aspects of Christianity. Hope this helps!
One last comment but I want to share this with you. You already have a lot to read so definitely don't start out with this. This book, assembled by the heavyweights in the philosophy of religion, is basically the gold standard for apologetics.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Blackwell-Companion-Natural-Theology/dp/1444350854
Just want to show you how the professionals think and write. After you've read through the other suggestions, maybe you can get your hands on it through interlibrary loan or on Kindle.
Lastly, the first commentator on Amazon had some great things to say that are also relevant:
>This is a fantastic book. But is it the "greatest defense of theism" ever assembled? No. Why? Because it is (in general) not defensive; rather, this would fall under the category of "offensive" apologetics. In general, this book attempts to prove God through Kalam, ontological, etc. But to say that this is a defense of theism simply shows the other reviewer's misunderstanding of philosophy. A defense of theism is when atheists attempt, through logic, to disprove God, and the theist "defends" theism by showing that the atheist's proofs are false (this is where theism is at its strongest). Disproving an argument FOR God does not disprove God. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
>And when a reviewer writes that they will be "dismantling" the arguments shown here, simply disregard this. The philosophers and theologians who write essays in this book are top notch; atheist philosophers have a hard enough time trying to rebut them, and a 3rd year civil engineer student is attempting to? He is simply preaching to the choir (ironically, an atheist choir). I have witnessed quite a few layman try to disprove the Kalam, or the Modal, etc., only to use faulty logic or completely misunderstand the arguments. Christopher Hitchens admitted to being beat by William Lane Craig in a debate, and renowned atheist philosopher Walter Sinnot-Armstrong admitted to the coherency of theism during another Craig debate, and yet the average layman believes he has a chance??? Go look on Reasonablefaith.org to read all the poor attempts at outsmarting Craig.
>My main point is this: Do not obsess. I went through a time when I was rampantly reading apologetics, and then I would turn around to read atheistic literature. I did this because I was constantly in a state of, "But what if Craig/Plantinga/Moreland/etc. is wrong?? Look at all the atheists today! Surely they can't ALL be wrong!" This line of thinking is natural, though can be very detrimental. Even the great Socrates recognizes the problem here: "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing. And that is that I know nothing." We cannot know the answer to every question or every objection. Do not constantly worry about atheists attempting to disprove God, for this leads no where. Eventually you will have to make a choice, and stick with it without having to worry about possible objections.
The last sentence sounds like intellectual dishonesty (at least to me it did, at first.). But I have found that it is true that at some point, you have to make a commitment to yourself to assume X position is true, at least until some stronger argument against it can be found. That sounds like common sense but the above mindset is something that one can get wrapped up in (as I did), so I feel that that piece of advice is worth remembering at times.
This is the current premier book on arguments for the existence of God: "The Natural Companion to Natural Theology" by William Lane Craig & J. P. Moreland.
Richard Swinburne's "The Existence of God" is also pretty standard.
Animated Video Playlists: WLC & InspiringPhilosophy.
There are various kinds of cosmological, teleological, ontological, axiological (moral & aesthetic), experiential, and existential arguments, and still more. The resources above will give you waters in which to swim.
I actually deconverted from Catholicism in college. I'm a revert.
I never got into into the party culture. I'm really against drinking and doing drugs, and I've always been skeptical of sex outside of a committed relationship and those morals stuck with me even after I deconverted from Christianity. What I did encounter was a lot of intellectual arguments against religion that I couldn't answer. However, what I also eventually discovered was that most of those objections had been heard before and responded to, at least in some manner.
So, here's my semi-comprehensive list of apologetics apologetics resources that I've accumulated over the years.
IMHO, the following books cover all the essentials very well and are probably must reads. You can buy used or online copies of them relatively cheaply, under 20 dollars if you're in the US. Check out Trent Horn's Answering Atheism, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civ, Mere Christianity by CS Lewis (you can probably get Mere Christianity at your at public library), and What is Marriage? Man and Woman a Defense for defending the concept of natural marriage. You should also read How to Argue which is a free pdf. I haven't researched abortion apologetics as extensively as other areas but I know Trent Horn has some books on those.
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I'm not going to say you should read all of my remaining recommendations but I'm putting the rest out there for you so you know they exist.
Now, no list of apologtics is going to cover every argument about Christianity so I would also recommend some online resources. www.reddit.com/r/Catholicism is an amazing forum. It has tons of Catholics who are way more knowledgable and experienced that me who can answer questions and stuff. You may or may not have heard of it ;). I also recommend William Lane Craig's site: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/question-answer. Again, Craig is a protestant so don't look to him for a defense of Catholicism. However, he's good when it comes to defending the basics of Christianity from atheism. Catholic Answers is good. Fr Barron is good. Strange Notions can be good, I link to it in my last paragraph.
The exact relationship between faith and reason was my biggest stumbling block on the road back to Catholicism, so I have some good recommendations on that topic. I recommend the papal encycle Fides et Ratio and How the Catholic Church Built Western Civ. Plantinga's book Where the Conflict Really Lies is also popular and uses evolution to make an interesting argument against materialism. Plantinga's not a Catholic so I don't know how well they would square with Catholic philosophies like Thomism, but, yeah, he exists. He also wrote this giant essay on faith and science, which was helpful. The book God and the Philosophers is pretty good too, it's an anthology of different Christian philosophers and talks about how they converted to Christianity.
Some comprehensive (but expensive) books by non-Catholics include The Blackwell Companion to natural theology by William Lane Craig (not a Catholic). I've heard good things about Richard Swinburne's apologetics trilogy The Coherence of Theism, The Existence of God, and Faith and Reason. Swinburne is Eastern Orthodox, just for the record.
I want to give a special shoutout to Edward Fesser. He's a secular atheist philosopher who converted to Catholicism. You can read his conversion story here. He also has a blog that you can google. Fesser also wrote a bunch of books that are highly recommended by people on this sub, although I haven't read them.
I don't know what you are asking. It sounds like you want A Compendium of Complete World Knowledge Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order. http://www.amazon.com/Hodgman-Boxed-Set-John/dp/1594631352
More seriously, are you wanting an example of this in a particular topic? For example, you can read William Lane Craig's heady works on time, or the Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. http://www.amazon.com/The-Blackwell-Companion-Natural-Theology/dp/1444350854
There isn't one book that does everything, obviously. There couldn't even be such a thing. And even if it could be done, by the time it was done, it'd be badly out of date.
Mostly the Kalam Cosmological Argument and the historical argument for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but I find most of the arguments of Natural Theology to be compelling.
Many good resources can be found on reasonablefaith.org
If you want to dig deeper you should check out The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology and N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3)
Btw I'm not looking for a debate because I find all Reddit debates to be futile so check out the resources I provided.
These are four books and a lecture series that would certainly be good at getting you started, all of them are academic rigor level, so not something that you'll be able to flip through at the bus stop. They take a bit of time to digest.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Evidence-That-Demands-Verdict/dp/0785242198
https://www.amazon.com/Blackwell-Companion-Natural-Theology/dp/1444350854
https://www.amazon.com/Philosophical-Foundations-Christian-Worldview-Moreland/dp/0830851879/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6HXK5P412QMRNR2XB37B
https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Hiddenness-Essays-Daniel-Howard-Snyder/dp/0521006104
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Scholar-Reason-Philosophy-Religion/dp/B001JHT8DI