Realism and Religion: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives

This book draws together a distinguished group of philosophers and theologians to present new thinking on realism and religion. The religious realism/antirealism debate concerns the questions of God's independence from human beings, the nature of religious truth and our access to religious truths. Although both philosophers and theologians have written on the topic, there has been little sustained investigation into these issues akin to that found in comparable areas of research such as ethics or the philosophy of science. The editors' introduction sets the context of the realism debate, traces connections and ideas linking the various chapters which follow, and proposes lines for future development and enquiry. Gordon Kaufman, Peter Lipton and Simon Blackburn provide the opening chapters and the context for the book. There follow contributions from a range of distinguished philosophers and theologians: Alexander Bird, John Hare, Graham Oppy and Nick Trakakis, Merold Westphal and John Webster. The authors present a variety of contrasting positions on key issues in the religious realism debate. This collection of original essays will appeal to newcomers to the field and suggest new lines of research for those already familiar with it.