Return to Reason: A Critique of Enlightenment Evidentialism and a Defense of Reason and Belief in God

by Kelly James Clark

Overview

A penetrating critique of the Enlightenment assumption of evidentialism — that belief in God requires the support of evidence or arguments to be rational. Garnering arguments from C. S. Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Thomas Reid, William James, and John Calvin, Clark asserts that this Enlightenment demand for evidence is itself both irrelevant and irrational

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802804563
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	09/10/2008
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Senior Research Fellow at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute atGrand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Aformer professor of philosophy at Calvin College, he works inphilosophy of religion, ethics, and Chinese thought andculture. His other books include Philosophers WhoBelieve (one of Christianity Today's 1995 Booksof the Year) and Abraham's Children: Liberty andTolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict.

Table of Contents

I. THE WAY OF ARGUMENT

ONE: PROVING GOD'S EXISTENCE: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

1. Introduction
2. The Cosmological Argument
3. The Argument from Design
4. God and Probability
5. The Nature of Proof
6. Evangelical Apologetics
7. Conclusion

TWO: GOD AND EVIL

1. Evil and Design
2. The Problem Stated
3. Theodicy or Defense?
4. Plantinga's Free Will Defense
5. Too Much Evil?
6. Job's Warning
7. The Existential Problem of Evil
8. Conclusion

II. THE WAY OF REASON

THREE: THE IRRELEVANCE OF EVIDENTIALISM: GOD—HYPOTHESIS OR PERSON?

1. Introduction
2. W. K. Clifford: The Ethics of Belief
3. William James: The Will to Believe
4. C. S. Lewis: On Obstinacy in Belief
5. Alvin Plantinga: God and Other Minds
6. Conclusion

FOUR: RETURN TO REASON: THE IRRATIONALITY OF EVIDENTIALISM

1. Introduction
2. The Structure of Believings
3. Faith and Foundationalism
4. Foundationalism Founders
5. Belief in God as Properly Basic
6. Reid and Rationality
7. A Defense of Belief in God as Properly Basic
8. Fideism?
9. Conclusion: The Rationality of My Grandmother