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...

A Philosophy of the Christian Religion offers a new kind of introduction to the subject. Whereas most introductions in the past have attempted to deal with religion in general, this book focuses on philosophical issues of special importance to Christianity. In doing this, Nancey Murphy also takes full account of how conceptual revolutions in philosophy now mean that what older introductions termed 'standard problems' have changed from the way they were dealt with in earlier eras.

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 ...

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and lamented the stunted public witness of a fractured Protestant ecclesiology.This two-volume set mixes previously unpublished and published lectures and essays with rare and little known works to form a representative collection of the essen...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and lamented the stunted public witness of a fractured Protestant ecclesiology.This two-volume set mixes previously unpublished and published lectures and essays with rare and little known works to form a representative collection of the essen...

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...

"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 ...

A Science and Religion Primer is a unique resource: an encyclopedia, an annotated bibliography, and a survey of the relationship between two equally complex fields. Editors Heidi Campbell and Heather Looy begin their work with four chapters from expert contributors: history of the science and religion dialogue, the role of philosophy in the science and religion dialogue, theology's intersection with the science and religion dialogue, and science and technology in light of religion...

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...

ECPA Gold Medallion AwardChicago Book Clinic Award of ExcellenceWhat is real? What is truth? What can we know? What should we believe? What should we do and why? Is there a God? Can we know him? Do Christian doctrines make sense? Can we believe in God in the face of evil?These are fundamental questions that philosophy answers. And the answers we give to these kinds of questions serve as the foundation for constructing our w...

We can have a sense that when we try to do right by one another, we aren't merely striving against ourselves. The feeling is that we are struggling against something--someone-else. As if there's a force-a person- that wishes us ill. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul describes just such a person: Sin, a cosmic tyrant who constrains our moral freedom, confuses our moral judgment, and condemns us to slavery and to death. Commentators have long argued about whether Paul literally m...