8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent resource for undergrad/seminary course in PoR, January 3, 2012
[For the sake of full disclosure, this reviewer is a former student and colleague of the author, who read and commented on earlier drafts of various chapters of this book. This review is written in part to clarify some issues raised by the review of Hande Z.]
Chad Meister is indeed a Christian, but this fact in no way disqualifies him from writing a fine introduction to the philosophy of religion textbook. Indeed, in a recent review, atheist philosopher Graham Oppy not only has described Meister's text as "a good introductory textbook for philosophy of religion" that "covers a decent range of topics" but also states that the book "manifests a self-conscious striving to give a non-partisan introduction to contemporary debates in the field."* Moreover, for better or worse, the majority of introduction to philosophy of religion texts have been written by Christians of various stripes: Yandell, Hick, Davis, Pojman, Peterson/Hasker/Reichenbach/Basinger; the notable exception being atheist William Rowe's excellent text.
Meister's text follows the general format and outline of these other introductory texts, with the bulk of the chapters on the traditional arguments for and against God's existence. For every argument for or against God's existence, Meister offers a number of counter-arguments from the literature. This can give the impression that Meister views there to be relative parity between the arguments, but in fact he is mostly reporting on the state of the field (and in this regard, this book is perhaps the most up-to-date of all introduction to philosophy of religion texts currently on offer). As one not fully convinced of the usefulness or success of theistic (or atheistic) arguments, this reviewer nonetheless finds Meister's discussion to be accessible, fair, evenhanded, and interesting. Meister's approach allows for students to evaluate the arguments on their own merits or for professors using this text to discuss the relative strengths of the arguments with their students. Some of the arguments in the book--pro or con--may be a bit simplified relative to those offered in scholarly journals or monographs, but this is to be expected in a text of this kind. However, to make up for this unavoidable deficiency, Meister includes a very helpful annotated bibliography at the end of each chapter, including a number of scholarly internet sources.
Perhaps what sets this text apart from others is its chapters on religious diversity and pluralism (chapter 2), conceptions of ultimate reality (chapter 3), and science, faith, and reason (chapter 8). While philosophy of religion traditionally has focused on arguments for and against God's existence, religious experience and religious epistemology, and metaphysical issues (divine foreknowledge and freedom, the afterlife, etc.), chapters 2, 3, and 8 especially evidence Meister's pulse on hot topics and emerging issues in the field as well as his desire to incorporate global perspectives as much as possible. Hopefully, as the field continues to incorporate minority and global perspectives, more and more space will be devoted in future editions to these perspectives and the issues they raise. In the meantime, Meister does a nice job of including these perspectives where appropriate without giving a false impression about the current, still largely western and a/theistic slant of the field of the philosophy of religion.
One might also have liked to see more on the emergence of analytic philosophical theology, with its analysis of traditional religious doctrines such as the trinity, incarnation, atonement, etc., but treating these issues adequately would have significantly added to the bulk (and thus price) of the text, not to mention further favoring western theistic discussions. (For those interested in these topics, see Meister and Taliaferro's co-edited Cambridge Companion to Christian Philosophical Theology [2009]).
Other helpful features of this book include a philosophy of religion timeline, discussion questions for each chapter, highlighted boxes that feature various major figures and movements, a glossary of terms, and various diagrams, not to mention its overall readable prose. Meister has also edited a 736 page Philosophy of Religion Reader (Routledge 2008), which serves as an excellent companion to this textbook for those who want to go deeper with primary sources.
An an introduction to the field, this book is highly recommended for upper level undergrad or introductory seminary courses in the philosophy of religion.
*Graham Oppy, `Review of Introducing Philosophy of Religion,' Ars Disputandi [...] 10 (2010), 178-183; full text available at [...]
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2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Introducing religion, October 30, 2011
This book hopes to seduce thinkers into reading it by calling itself a book about "Philosophy of Religion". It is a Trojan horse. It sets out genereal atheistic positions and then responds with theistic arguments. It makes superficial references to Hinduism and Buddhism, and that is what makes this book deceptive. It is in the main, a Christian apologist's book. The author and the three names that appear on the first page in praise of the book (Charles Taliaferro, Gregory Ganssle, and Nathan Loewen) as well as the author, appear to be Christians. This book is not what it appears to portray - a neutral examination of religion from the perspective of philosophy. It is the other way round. It is an examination of philosophy from the perspective of religion. Even in those areas where the atheistic arguments are strongest, the author in his chapter summaries declares the debate a draw. This is insidious because the implication is that no argument has successfully destroyed the notion of God. It even holds out Intelligent Design as still a viable theory.
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