God Owes Us Nothing reflects on the centuries-long debate in Christianity: how do we reconcile the existence of evil in the world with the goodness of an omnipotent God, and how does God's omnipotence relate to people's responsibility for their own salvation or damnation. Leszek Kolakowski approaches this paradox as both an exercise in theology and in revisionist Christian history based on philosophical analysis. Kolakowski's unorthodox interpretation of the history of modern Christianity provokes renewed discussion about the historical, intellectual, and cultural omnipotence of neo-Augustinianism. "Several books a year wrestle with that hoary conundrum, but few so dazzlingly as the Polish philosopher's latest."--Carlin Romano, Washington Post Book World "Kolakowski's fascinating book and its debatable thesis raise intriguing historical and theological questions well worth pursuing."--Stephen J. Duffy, Theological Studies "Kolakowski's elegant meditation is a masterpiece of cultural and religious criticism."--Henry Carrigan, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Contemporary debates on God's emotionality are divided between two extremes. Impassibilists deny God's emotionality on the basis of God's omniscience, omnipotence and incorporeality. Passibilists seem to break with tradition by affirming divine emotionality, often focusing on the idea that God suffers with us.Contemporary philosophy of emotion reflects this divide. Some philosophers argue that emotions are voluntary and intelligent mental events, making them potentially compatible with omniscience and omnipotence. Others claim that emotions are involuntary and basically physiological, rendering them inconsistent with traditional divine attributes. Thinking Through Feeling: God, Emotion and Passibility creates a three-way conversation between the debate in theology, contemporary philosophy of emotion, and pre-modern (particularly Augustinian and Thomist) conceptions of human affective experience. It also provides an exploration of the intelligence and value of the emotions of compassion, anger and jealousy.

This groundbreaking book is distinctive for the explicit attention it gives to the communal, intersubjective, cultural, and linguistic embodiment of the workings of God in the world. It emphasizes not simply acting justly but living with, in, and from the justice of the triune God by which we are justified. Finally, it offers an important sacramental and liturgical grounding to the Christian understanding of both justice and the triune God. David N. Power and Michael Downey make clear to contemporary believers why a spiritual and sacramental life that is ordered by its trinitarian orientation must include the desire for justice. In short, it is an ethic of social justice that springs from contemplation of the Divine Trinity in the world.

New scientific discoveries unveiled by comparing scientific principles with spiritual principles of the Bible. This book unveils many interesting parallels between biblical and scientific descriptions of light with new scientific discoveries. BIC subject: HRAM3 - Religion & science BIC subject 2: HRAB1 - Nature & existence of God

Does God act in the world? Does he affect what happens to us in the varied experiences of our daily life? If so, in what ways and by what means? In an age when so many of the particular cases in which communities or individuals find themselves led to speak of God's acting prove to be cases which appear to others both morally and spiritually unacceptable, we need to give thought to the deeper underlying issue. Can God be said to act in the world at all? Does God even exist? The nature of God's action is clearly of the utmost importance for Christians, because they claim that God does act in the world and has acted specifically in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But how does his action here relate to his action elsewhere? How do we discern it? These questions lead Professor Wiles to discuss the nature of creation, the origin of evil, providence in public and private history and finally God's action in Christ and in us. Concerned to give a consistent overall interpretation, he provides answers which at the same time question much current Christian thinking.

The growth of science and a correspondingly scientific way of looking at evidence have for the last three centuries slowly been gaining ground over religious explanations of the cosmos and mankind's place in it. However, not only is secularism now under renewed attack from religious fundamentalism, but it has also been widely claimed that the scientific evidence itself points strongly to a universe deliberately fine-tuned for life to evolve in it. In addition, certain aspects of human life, like consciousness and the ability to recognise the existence of universal moral standards, seem completely resistant to evolutionary explanation. In this book Colin Howson analyses in detail the evidence which is claimed to support belief in God's existence and argues that the claim is not well-founded. Moreover, there is very compelling evidence that an all-powerful, all-knowing God not only does not exist but cannot exist, a conclusion both surprising and provocative.

This book offers a welcome solution to the growing need for a common language in interfaith dialogue; particularly between the three Abrahamic faiths in our modern pluralistic society. The book suggests that the names given to God in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran, could be the very foundations and building blocks for a common language between the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. On both a formal interfaith level, as well as between everyday followers of each doctrine, this book facilitates a more fruitful and universal understanding and respect of each sacred text; exploring both the commonalities and differences between the each theology and their individual receptions. In a practical application of the methodologies of comparative theology, Maire Byrne shows that the titles, names and epithets given to God in the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam contribute towards similar images of God in each case, and elucidates the importance of this for providing a viable starting point for interfaith dialogue.

666 and his Project 666" (Book I of 3 -"666 has come ) is one of those few books who really make history and deserve to be read, buy and posses by you, men, women and readers from all peoples and nations existing now in the world because it have been written by 666 and reveal his true story. The holy true about 666 is not when 666 is coming, neither whom is 666 which true identity is now revelead in this book to the whole world; 666 is the Swedish citizen, Miguel Angel Sosa Vasquez which also used the writer and literary pseudonym "Michel Smiely 666." The holy true about 666 is that 666 has come, that 666 is not that "Antichrist," "Satan" and "Devil reincarnated" that the Holy Bible predicts will destroy the mankind in Armageddon and that 666 existence now in the world is a product of the will and decision of the really true God that exist in the Universe which also is the great spiritual father of 666, the God that have created the men not to persecute, punishing or destroy men but to love, protect and guarantee the existence and happiness of the mankind in the Universe. This true God have command now his beloved son 666 to fullfil the holy mission to save the mankind from his own destruction by constructing a Paradise on earth with his marvelous Project 666 which is the creation of a new economic, social, political and religious system with 666 that will guarantee freedom, equality, justice, peace, love and happiness to the mankind with a global economy, constitution, government, army and religion. All this and much more implies the historic 666 existence now in the world. Are you ready to know, meet, support and follow 666?.

This book explores the truth behind our beliefs in God and the propensity of human beings to be religious. In an honest attempt to seek the answers to life's deepest questions, the author probes into how life began. It then progresses to investigate the nature of religions and writes that, because we refuse to accept our mortality, we delude ourselves and we coerce others, with the tyranny of our own beliefs.

Although the idea that all human beings are descended from Adam is a long-standing conviction in the West, another version of this narrative exists: human beings inhabited the Earth before, or alongside, Adam, and their descendants still occupy the planet.

In this engaging and provocative work, David N. Livingstone traces the history of the idea of non-adamic humanity, and the debates surrounding it, from the Middle Ages to the present day. From a multidisciplinary perspective, Livingstone examines how this alternative idea has been used for cultural, religious, and political purposes. He reveals how what began as biblical criticism became a theological apologetic to reconcile religion with science--evolution in particular--and was later used to support arguments for white supremacy and segregation.

From heresy to orthodoxy, from radicalism to conservatism, from humanitarianism to racism, "Adam's Ancestors" tells an intriguing tale of twists and turns in the cultural politics surrounding the age-old question, "Where did we come from?"

Comparative Secularisms in a Global Age explores the history and politics of secularism and the public role of religion in France, India, Turkey, and the United States. It interprets the varieties of secularism as a series of evolving and contested processes of defining and remaking religion, rather than a static solution to the challenges posed by religious and political difference. It features essays from leading scholars from across disciplines, secular and religious traditions, and regional expertise. The volume illustrates a new approach to the hotly contested relation between political authority and religious tradition.

This book explores two questions that are integral to the question of the existence of God. The first question concerns the meaning of "existence" and the second concerns the meaning of "God". Regarding the first question, this book motivates, presents and defends the meta-ontology found in Gottlob Frege's writings and defended by Michael Dummett, Crispin Wright and Bob Hale. Frege's approach to questions of existence has mainly found use in connection with abstract objects such as numbers. This is one of the first studies to systematically present Fregean meta-ontology and apply it to theology. Frege's meta-ontology is informed by his context principle. According to this, logico-syntactic notions such as "singular term" and "predicate" are pivotal to questions of what exists. These notions serve to throw light on the second question. Through thorough engagement with Old as well and New Testament texts, the book shows how Frege's logico-syntactic notions are of crucial importance when seeking to understand the meaning and use of "God". To complete the defence of Fregean meta-ontology, the book concludes by pointing to important differences between the otherwise closely associated concepts of an object found in Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Frege's writings.

Drawing upon his experience as a barrister, Nicky Gumbel addresses the biggest issue of our age: does God exist? He sifts through the arguments adopted by some prominent atheists and assesses the evidence.

This title views the approach of the Semitic religions that make absolute difference between God and Man. It discusses the glory associated with God, the nature of the Supreme God and His lesser denominations as well as the modern notion of God as a human creation and residing in the mind of Man. It delves into the core of the Upanishadic thought, God in Tibetan thought, signs of Allah and his attributes in Islam, God in the Zoroastrian faith, Buddhism and Jainism vis-a-vis the notion of divinity and the Christian conception of the divine. It deals with God in the Shamanic cosmogonies of some Adivasi groups of eastern India and the syncretic folk deities of Sundarbans in West Bengal. The scholars interpret the cosmological, teleological and ontological proofs, in various forms, to understand the reality of God. The volume, with its painstaking studies, will prove invaluable to scholars and readers, mainly those associated with religious studies.

In this volume, Peter Furlong delves into the question of divine determinism - the view that God has determined everything that has ever happened or will ever happen. This view, which has a long history among multiple religious and philosophical traditions, faces a host of counterarguments. It seems to rob humans of their free will, absolving them of all the wrongs they commit. It seems to make God the author of sin and thus blameworthy for all human wrongdoing. Additionally, it seems to undermine the popular 'Free Will Defense' of the problem of evil, to make a mockery of the claim that God loves us, and to make it inappropriate for God to blame and punish us. This work carefully formulates these and other objections to divine determinism and investigates possible responses to each of them, providing systematic and balanced discussion of this major philosophical and theological debate.

How did the universe begin? Can God's existence be proven? Do humans matter more than animals? For many years people have sent the scientist-turned-priest John Polkinghorne these and other questions about science and belief. In question-and-answer format, Polkinghorne and his collaborator Nicholas Beale offer their highly informed opinions about some of the most frequently asked of these questions. Readers can follow their own paths through the book, selecting questions that interest them and looking at the additional material if they choose. This unique book will help Christians clarify their beliefs regarding difficult issues and better face challenges--from within and from others--to their faith.

It proposes a new hypothesis that borders science and imagination. This work is a serious confluence of physics, philosophy, metaphysics, theosophy and theology written with a pen, which is youthful and bubbly. Jampak Zu, the virtual cartoon character who has co-authored this book with Kartikey is an innovation in itself. The work brings out seven levels of reality that constitute the cosmic existence. Human existence participates in all of them. It lists the seven important parameters of reality and establishes a canonical inter-relationship between them all. Laws of physics are then extrapolated into the realm of non-physical worlds using these inter-parametric relations. The seven parameters work like seven interconnected knobs. By turning their values, the reader is made to undergo a journey from one world to another. At the climax of analysis, the reader finds himself in the world of God. The ultimate reality reveals itself automatically and spontaneously with a pleasant surprise that even God does not violate the laws of physics. We see Him through the lens of physics.

In 1558 John Calvin held a prominent position of leadership in the Reform movement. He had written prolifically and his works had been widely circulated-and critiqued. It was at this time that he penned an answer to a critique of his position on divine providence, as articulated in the 1546 edition of the Institutes. His polemical defense of his beliefs, The Secret Providence of God, reflects the boisterous, argumentative tone of the Reformation era and is Calvin's fullest treatment on this most important doctrine. Unfortunately, in recent decades this work has been largely forgotten.

With this new English translation of Calvin's work, editor Paul Helm reintroduces The Secret Providence of God to students, pastors, and lay readers of Reformed theology. Translator Keith Goad has modernized the English while preserving a Latinized translation style as far as possible. Helm has provided a full introduction, discussing the work's background, content, style, and relation to Calvin's other writings on providence.

The concept of transcendence is emerging as a central category of critical thought, both within and outside the field of religious studies. This collection brings together prominent scholars to ask whether we can re-conceive the category of transcendence from a feminist perspective, taking into account ethics, women's subjectivity, (sexed) embodiment, and differing models for spirituality. The collection begins with a thought-provoking essay by Luce Irigaray, with whose work the majority of contributions engage. In a lucid and intuitive enquiry, contributors develop these themes both philosophically and within the contexts of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Contributors come together in groundbreaking ways to illuminate the intersections between women and the divine.

A fascinating exploration of the many faces of God and what they reveal about our own humanity He was a whole pantheon in Himself . He constantly appeared in many and ever-changing roles lest He be frozen and converted into the dumb idols He Himself despised. God was a polyvalent personality who, by mirroring to man His many faces, provided the models that man so needed to survive and flourish. This is the true humanity of God. from the Introduction In scholarly but accessible terms, with many startling and controversial insights, renowned Bible scholar Dr. Yochanan Muffs examines the anthropomorphic evolution of the Divine Image from creator of the cosmos to God the father, God the husband, God the king, God the "chess-player," God the ultimate master and how these different images of God have shaped our faith and world view. Muffs also examines how expressions of divine power, divine will and divine love throughout the Bible have helped develop the contemporary human condition and our enriching dialectic between faith and doubt."

The way Christ is understood is at the heart of Christian faith and self-understanding. It forms the basis of Christologies that can range from the most traditional, expressing the understanding Christ as both human and divine person, to the most liberal, where Christ is understood as divine inasmuch as he is a man who is perfectly obedient to the will of God. Our images of Christ inevitably bear on the particular culture in which we are situated. So, it is somewhat surprising that the science and religion dialogue has focused most on a doctrine of God, while rarely addressing the figure of Christ.This book sets out to develop a Christology that is far more conscious of the evolutionary history of humanity and current evolutionary theories about the natural world in general. It argues that one means of developing a Christology that can be informed by such theories is through the concepts of wisdom and wonder. Both have a defined theological role but also act as mediating concepts with science and point to a spirituality that incorporates both science and theology.

This book is a consideration of major contemporary African American and Jewish theological understandings of God, human nature, moral evil, suffering, and ethics, utilizing the work of James Cone and Emil Fackenheim. Specifically, it examines how profound faith in a just God is sustained, and even strengthened, in the face of particularly horrific and long-standing evil and suffering in a community. The constructive portion of the book explores theological possibilities by focusing on the concepts of human freedom, resistance, and responsibility--all grounded in divine gift--as an effective and meaningful response to oppression and despair.

In recent philosophical discourse, there has been a proliferation of work in the field of philosophy of religion, and in particular at the intersection between epistemology and philosophy of religion. Much of that interest has centred on the emergence of what has come to be known as 'Reformed Epistemology'. The central claim of Reformed epistemologists is that belief in God is properly basic. The purpose of the arguments offered by Reformed epistemologists is to oppose what Plantinga calls the 'de jure' objection to theistic belief - the idea that it is somehow irrational, a dereliction of epistemic duty, or in some other sense epistemically unacceptable, to believe in God. This objection is distinct from what Plantinga labels the 'de facto' objection - the objection that, whatever the rational status of belief in God, it is, in fact, a false belief. The primary goal of Reformed epistemology, then, is to defend Christian belief against the de jure objection, thereby showing that everything really depends on the truth of Christian belief. This book demonstrates the feasibility of combining the Reformed epistemologist's position with an argument for theism that the author draws from Charles Taylor's work. In it, he shows the value that would be added to the Reformed epistemologist's position by such a combination.

This is not just another 'God' book. This is the definitive slap-down, slam-dunk, no-holds-barred prize title fight between the Divine and Richard Dawkins. Take a ringside seat as investigative journalist Ian Wishart presents the explosive scientific and historical evidence of a divinity code - an "inconvenient truth" that Dawkins and others have no credible explanation for, evidence that is turning both science and religion on their heads. Is there a rational explanation for the existence of the Universe, given the latest data? How did life arise? What about the evolution/intelligent design controversy? Aren't all religions equal? Did Jesus Christ even exist? Written in Wishart's acclaimed page-turner style, The Divinity Code is punchy, informative and easy to read... Watch as one of the country's hardest-hitting journalists turns his guns on a Zoologist (Dawkins), a Bishop (John Spong), a fellow journalist (Christopher Hitchens) and a former nun (Karen Armstrong), this is the ultimate shoot-out of the 'God' books...