Philosophy of Religion: Towards a More Humane Approach

Religious belief is not just about abstract intellectual argument; it also impinges on all aspects of human life. John Cottingham's Philosophy of Religion opens up fresh perspectives on the philosophy of religion, arguing that the detached neutrality of much of contemporary philosophizing may be counterproductive - hardening us against the receptivity required for certain kinds of important evidence to become salient. This book covers all the traditional areas of the subject, including the meaning of religious claims, the existence of God and the relation between religion and morality, as well as the role of spiritual praxis and how religious belief affects questions about the meaning of life, human suffering and mortality. While preserving the clarity and rigor that are rightly prized in the analytic tradition, the book also draws on insights from literary and other sources, and aims to engage a wide readership.

Author: John Cottingham
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 09/15/2014
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.80w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781107695184

Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2015 pg. 1162

About the Author
Cottingham, John: - John Cottingham is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Reading; Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London; and an honorary fellow of St John's College, Oxford. He has served as chairman of the British Society for the History of Philosophy, president of the Mind Association, president of the Aristotelian Society and president of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion. He was also editor of Ratio, the international journal of analytic philosophy, from 1993 to 2012. Professor Cottingham's books include Descartes (1986), The Rationalists (1988), Reason, Will and Sensation (1994), Western Philosophy: An Anthology, 2nd edition (2007), Philosophy and the Good Life: Reason and the Passions in Greek, Cartesian and Psychoanalytic Ethics (Cambridge, 1998), On the Meaning of Life (2003), The Spiritual Dimension (Cambridge, 2005), Cartesian Reflections (2008) and Why Believe? (2009). He is co-translator of the standard three-volume Cambridge edition of The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (1985-91). The Moral Life, a collection of essays honoring his work on moral philosophy and philosophy of religion, was published in 2008.