God, Religion and Reality

Description

In this engaging study Professor Clark sets out to show that there are good philosophical reasons for theism, and Christian theism in particular. He travels the breadth of our intellectual engagement with the world, from ethics to scientific knowledge, and his journey is vigorously argued, fresh, lively and readable. He explores the assumptions which underpin our philosophical and everyday thinking alike, examines the construction of the arguments used to support them, and tests the sturdiness and the makeup of their props and foundations. Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Preface 1. Religious Observances and Theories Our World and the Real World and Religion Seeing Through Religion The Ethical Interpretation Identifying This and That The Noble Truths of Theism 2. Philosophy and the Betrayal of Thought Misunderstanding the Enlightenment Return to Rational Realism The Metaphysics of Morals The Reach of Reason 3. Truth Transcending Thought Theology and Mental Microbes The Perils of Philosophy The Significance of Truth The Meaning of Truth The Duty to Discover Truth Objectivism and the Love of Truth 4. Necessity and Unity Necessity and Explanation The Unity of Being Matter and the Immaterial The Omnipresence of the Necessary Being 5. Having the Mind of God Intellect and Being The Plotinian Argument The Emergence of Conscious Being The Context of Being 6. The Beautiful and True The Road to Beauty Moral Beauty Naturalistic Explanation Haldane, Lewis and Anscombe 7. Decency and Moral Truth The Way of Knowledge Objective Values, Final Causes A Personal God Reason and Revelations 8. Communities of Faith The Importance of Tradition Testimony and the Inner Light The Limits of Understanding 9. The Last Things Inexpugnable Realism Ethics and Immortality Looking beyond the World Works Cited Notes Index