The Clarity of God's Existence

The Clarity of God's Existence

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  • Author: Owen Anderson
  • Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
  • ISBN: 1556356951
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 224

The Clarity of God's Existence examines the need for theistic proofs within historic Christicanity, and the challenges to these since the Enlightenment. Historically (and scripturally), Christianity has maintained that unbelief is inexcusable. If failing to know God is a sin, the immplication is that humans can and should know God. Humans should know God because his eternal power and divine nature are clearly revealed in the things that are made. And yet, Anderson argues, more time is spent on avoiding the need for clarity to establish inexcusability than on actually providing an argument or proof. Proofs that rely on Aristotle or Plato and that establish a Prime Mover or designer are thought to be sufficient. But the adequacy of these, not only to prove the God of theism, but also to prove anything at all, has been called into question by Enlightenment thinkers like David Hume. After considering the traditional proofs, and tracing the history of challenges to theistic proofs (from Hume to Kant and down to the twentieth century) Anderson argues that the standard methods of apologetics have failed to sufficiently respojnd. Classical Apologetics, Evidentialism, Presuppositionalism, Reformed Epistemology, and others fail to adequately answer the challenges of the Enlighenment. If this is the case, what is the outcome for Christianity? Anderson offers an explanation as to why traditional proofs have failed, and for what is necessary to offer a proof that not only responds to Hume and Kant but also establishes the clarity of God's existence. The traditional proofs failed precisely in not aiming at the clarity of God's existence, and They failed in this because of a faulty view of the goal of Christian life. If the blessed life is to be attained in a direct vision of God in heaven, then there is little to no reason to ask for more than the bare minimum required to get into heaven (justification). Furthermore, if the highest blessing is this direct vision, then the glory of God revealed in his work is considered as less important and even set aside. By way of contrast, if God's eternal power and divine nature are clearly revealed in his works, and the blessing comes in knowing God, then it is of the almost importance for Christianity to demonstrate the clarity of God's existence. "This is an exciting book that advances the status of philosophy of religion by analyzing and probing some fundamental issues in contemmporary philosophy and theology. The emphasis on clarity is, to me, new and fresh and provocative. I'm really surprised that the constellation of clarity, responsiblity, and inexcusability has not been examined in detail before."---Stephen Webb Wabash College


The Clarity of God's Existence

The Clarity of God's Existence

PDF The Clarity of God's Existence Download

  • Author: Owen Anderson
  • Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
  • ISBN: 1621892158
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 224

The Clarity of God's Existence examines the need for theistic proofs within historic Christianity, and the challenges to these since the Enlightenment. Historically (and scripturally), Christianity has maintained that unbelief is inexcusable. If failing to know God is a sin, the implication is that humans can and should know God. Humans should know God because his eternal power and divine nature are clearly revealed in the things that are made. And yet, Anderson argues, more time is spent on avoiding the need for clarity to establish inexcusability than on actually providing an argument or proof. Proofs that rely on Aristotle or Plato and that establish a Prime Mover or designer are thought to be sufficient. But the adequacy of these, not only to prove the God of theism, but also to prove anything at all, has been called into question by Enlightenment thinkers like David Hume. After considering the traditional proofs, and tracing the history of challenges to theistic proofs (from Hume to Kant and down to the twentieth century), Anderson argues that the standard methods of apologetics have failed to sufficiently respond. Classical Apologetics, Evidentialism, Presuppositionalism, Reformed Epistemology, and others fail to adequately answer the challenges of the Enlightenment. If this is the case, what is the outcome for Christianity? Anderson offers an explanation as to why traditional proofs have failed, and for what is necessary to offer a proof that not only responds to Hume and Kant but also establishes the clarity of God's existence. The traditional proofs failed precisely in not aiming at the clarity of God's existence, and they failed in this because of a faulty view of the goal of Christian life. If the blessed life is to be attained in a direct vision of God in heaven, then there is little to no reason to ask for more than the bare minimum required to get into heaven (justification). Furthermore, if the highest blessing is this direct vision, then the glory of God revealed in his work is considered as less important and even set aside. By way of contrast, if God's eternal power and divine nature are clearly revealed in his works, and the blessing comes in knowing God, then it is of the utmost importance for Christianity to demonstrate the clarity of God's existence.


Philosophy as a Way of Life

Philosophy as a Way of Life

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  • Author: Michael Chase
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 1118609220
  • Category : Philosophy
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 344

This unique collection of essays on the late Pierre Hadot’s revolutionary approach to studying and practising philosophy traces the links between his work and that of thinkers from Wittgenstein to the French postmodernists. It shows how his secular spiritual exercises expand our horizons, enabling us to be in a fuller, more authentic way. Comprehensive treatment of a neglected theme: philosophy’s practical relevance in our lives Interdisciplinary analysis reflects the wide influence of Hadot’s thought Explores the links between Hadot’s ideas and those of a wealth of ancient and modern thinkers, including the French postmodernists Offers a practical ‘third way’ in philosophy beyond the dichotomy of Continental and analytical traditions


Central Works of Philosophy v2

Central Works of Philosophy v2

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  • Author: John Shand
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN: 1317494393
  • Category : Philosophy
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 241

Central Works of Philosophy is a major multi-volume collection of essays on the core texts of the Western philosophical tradition. From Plato's Republic to Quine's Word and Object, the five volumes range over 2,500 years of philosophical writing covering the best, most representative, and most influential work of some of our greatest philosophers, each of them primary texts studied at undergraduate level. Each essay has been specially commissioned and provides an overview of the work, clear and authoritative exposition of its central ideas, and an assessment of the work's importance then and now. Each essay equips the reader with the resources and confidence to go on to read the works themselves. Together these books provide an unrivaled companion for studying and reading philosophy, one that introduces the reader to the masterpleces of the western philosophical canon and some of the greatest minds that have ever lived talking about the profoundest most exciting problems there are. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw a brilliant outpouring of philosophical thought unprecedented in human history. Together philosophy and science pushed medieval and Renaissance scholasticism aside to lay the foundations of the modern world. Beginning with Descartes' Meditations, the contributors examine some of the period's most seminal philosophical texts: Spinoza's Ethics, which presents a complete picture of reality that has at its heart how we can be good, the Monadology, in which Leibniz describes what must underpin reality if it is to be fully explained, Hobbes' Leviathan, which reminds us of the dangers of the unchecked brutality of humanity; Rousseau's Social Contract, a vision of how human nature can be changed for the better in a new society, Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding which wishes us to grasp that we must make knowledge our own through experience not authority, Berkeley's attack on materialism in his Treatise and Hume's search for rational justification for our most basic beliefs about the world in his Treatise of Human Nature. Together these essays offer students a remarkable survey of the key texts and core ideas that make up the age of rationalism and empiricism.


The Message is Clear: God Loves You

The Message is Clear: God Loves You

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  • Author: Dr. Gertrude Rolland Cuthbert
  • Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
  • ISBN: 1685709354
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 219

This book is a reminder to all that life is a journey of unpredictable experiences, a journey with winding roads covered with disappointments, joys, sadness, and disbeliefs. We find ourselves having to make a variety of choices as we travel throughout our entire life. Sometimes the choices we make do not work out to be the best alternative or the right option for our good. The choices we make may lead us down the wrong path, causing hurts and regrets for us as well as others. We must learn to maneuver each experience with care, caution, and prayer because how we play these experiences in our daily life decides our soul salvation. Each experience has a lesson inscribed for growing and coming closer to our Savior. All experiences give us an opportunity to become a better person, to develop a loving relationship with our heavenly Father. Sometimes it takes a little longer to see the benefits from life's experiences, but in the end, the goodness inside of us blossoms, and we realize that God's guidance, grace, and mercy helped bring us through our difficulties. Every human being made by God has a good heart. God did not make a human being with an evil heart. Everything and everyone He made is good. Our heavenly Father loves his children now, and He will always love His children. His love is never ending.


A History of Philosophy: History of modern philosophy

A History of Philosophy: History of modern philosophy

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  • Author: Friedrich Ueberweg
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN:
  • Category : Philosophy
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 580


The Doctrine of God's Eternal Decrees Stated and His Righteousness Therein Clear'd and Vindicated

The Doctrine of God's Eternal Decrees Stated and His Righteousness Therein Clear'd and Vindicated

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  • Author: John Hunt (minister of the gospel.)
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN:
  • Category :
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 222


The God of Philosophy

The God of Philosophy

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  • Author: Roy Jackson
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN: 9780953761111
  • Category : God
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 160


The Fatherhood of God. Being the first course of the Cunningham Lectures delivered before the New College, Edinburgh, in March 1864

The Fatherhood of God. Being the first course of the Cunningham Lectures delivered before the New College, Edinburgh, in March 1864

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  • Author: Robert Smith CANDLISH
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN:
  • Category :
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 344


The Modern Schoolman

The Modern Schoolman

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  • Author:
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN:
  • Category : Neo-Scholasticism
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 474