Philosophy of religion

Abstract

Philosophy of religion explores philosophical issues that arise from reflection on the nature and truth of religious belief and the meaning of religious practices. If the field is defined broadly enough, then the historical record of the beginning of philosophy marks the beginning of philosophy of religion. The field includes philosophical arguments for and against belief in a Creator of the cosmos, comparative treatments of the Divine, accounts of the meaning of religious language and faith, the ethical implications of religious commitments, the relation between faith, reason, experience and tradition, concepts of the miraculous, the afterlife, the sacred revelation, mysticism, prayer, salvation and other religious concerns. This chapter reviews the current practice of the philosophy of religion, highlighting arguments on the nature of religious belief, the intelligibility of competing conceptions of God and the debate over the role of evidence in shaping religious convictions, and it examines some recent work on arguments for and against belief that there is a God. Philosophy of religion is integrally related to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, the philosophy of mind and to other areas, not the least of which is the history of philosophy itself, as virtually all the seminal historical figures of philosophy held views that bear on religious matters.