Each field of study comes with its own set of questions; each period of time refines and redirects those questions. The Christian religion as we find it in the twenty-first century presents a unique set of problems to be solved and questions to be answered. In this introduction to the philosophy of the Christian religion, eminent philosopher and theologian Nancey Murphy applies the tools of philosophical analysis to a set of core yet contemporary religious questions: what does our historic...

The term 'postmodern' is generally used to refer to current work in philosophy, literary criticism, and feminist thought inspired by Continental thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Jacques Derrida. In this book, Nancey Murphy appropriates the term to describe emerging patterns in Anglo-American thought and to indicate their radical break from the thought patterns of Enlightened modernity. The book examines the shift from modern to postmodern in three areas: epistemology, philosophy of...

Rewired begins with the claim that contemporary views of Christian spirituality, particularly in the American evangelical tradition, concentrate too exclusively on the interior and individual nature of spiritual experience. Paul Markham argues that a reexamination of the doctrine of religious conversion is needed within American evangelicalism and finds resources for such a model in the Wesleyan theological tradition and from philosophical and scientific insights into a "nonreductive physi...

Philosophy is shaped by life and life is shaped by philosophy. This is reflected in The Philosophical I, a collection of 16 autobiographical essays by prominent philosophers. Candid and philosophically insightful, these personal narratives critically call into question the belief that philosophy should be kept separate from the personal experience of philosophers. Each contributor traces the fundamental influences-both philosophical and otherwise-that have shaped his or her identity. In th...

Technologies are deeply embedded in the modern West. What would our lives be like without asphalt, glass, gasoline, electricity, window screens, or indoor plumbing? We naturally praise technology when it is useful and bemoan it when it is not. But there is much more to technology than the usefulness of this or that artifact. Unfortunately, we tend not to consider the inherently social and moral character of technology. As a result, we are prone to overlook the effects of technology on our ...

"The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground . . ." (Gen 2:7). Made of dust, we humans are thoroughly physical beings. We are dusty earthlings. As such, we are also ecological beings, or rather eco-physical beings, firmly embedded in and dependent upon God's earthly ecosystems that support and provide for us and constitute our earthly home. Today we are living in ways that are damaging our home. As Christian dusty earthlings, we are called to oversee God's earthly creation and to...

James Wm. McClendon, Jr. was the most important "baptist" theologian of the twentieth century. McClendon crafted a systematic theology that refused to succumb to the pressures of individualism, grew out of the immediacy of preaching the text, and lamented the stunted public witness of a fractured Protestant ecclesiology.This two-volume set mixes previously unpublished and published lectures and essays with rare and little known works to form a representative collection of the essen...

James Wm. McClendon, Jr. was the most important "baptist" theologian of the twentieth century. McClendon crafted a systematic theology that refused to succumb to the pressures of individualism, grew out of the immediacy of preaching the text, and lamented the stunted public witness of a fractured Protestant ecclesiology.This two-volume set mixes previously unpublished and published lectures and essays with rare and little known works to form a representative collection of the essen...

Humans are unique in their ability to reflect on themselves. Recently a number of scholars have pointed out that human self-conceptions have a history. Ideas of human nature in the West have always been shaped by the interplay of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. The fast pace of developments in the latter two spheres (neuroscience, genetics, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering) call for fresh reflections on what it means, now, to be human, and for theological and ...

"A remarkable contribution to one of the most vexing problems in science: the 'demarcation' problem, or how to distinguish science from nonscience." —Francisco J. Ayala, author of Darwin's Gift to Science and ReligionWhat sets the practice of rigorously tested, sound science apart from pseudoscience? In this volume, the contributors seek to answer this question, known to philosophers of science as "the demarcation problem." This issue has a long history in ...

Some scientific studies suggest that human beings are innately selfish and that Christian virtues like self-sacrifice are a delusion. In this intriguing volume, esteemed theologian Thomas Jay Oord interprets the scientific research and responds from a theological and philosophical standpoint, providing a state-of-the-art overview of love and altruism studies. He offers a definition of love that is scientifically, theologically, and philosophically adequate. As Oord helps readers arrive at ...

Over the last two decades, scientific accounts of religion have received a great deal of scholarly and popular attention both because of their intrinsic interest and because they are widely seen as potentially constituting a threat to the religion they analyse. The Believing Primate aims to describe and discuss these scientific accounts as well as to assess their implications. The volume begins with essays by leading scientists in the field, describing these accounts and discussin...