Does God Exist?: The Debate Between Theists & Atheists (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author) "The idea of God is either a fact, like sand, or a fantasy, like Santa..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Kai Nielsen, Big Bang (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In a lively debate, which includes questions from the audience, Christian philosopher and ethicist J.P. Moreland and Kai Neilsen, one of today's best-known atheist philosophers, go head to head on the fundamental issues and questions that have shaped individual lives, races, and nations throughout history.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (April 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879758236
• ISBN-13: 978-0879758233
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #505,736 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Debate, though very one-sided, August 2, 2000

By	T. B. Vick "Learn 2 Discern" (The Lone Star State) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a good debate between a well known atheist and a well known Christian theist. However, it is quite obvious who won the debate (J.P. Moreland). The book is laid out just like the debate occurred (I actually saw the only video available for this debate - owned by my Philosophy professor who helped put the debate together), in the first section. The second part consists of the papers that were presented in the classrooms of the University of Mississippi (following the debate) and further Q & A. But, the last three parts of the book consist of articles written by well known scholars responding to the actual debate. These scholars include William Lane Craig, Dallas Willard, Antony Flew, and Keith Parsons. The last part of the book consists of two articles written by Peter Kreeft (Boston College). The book is a great copy of a classic formal debate issue, and the responses by the scholars at the end of the work make this book an excellent piece to read and digest. I highly recommend this book.

41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Atheism was poorly represented, March 20, 1998

By	[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This book is divided into three sections: (i) the transcriptof the oral debate on the existence of God between Christianphilosopher J.P. Moreland and atheist philosopher Kai Nielsen; (ii) commentaries on the debate by two Christian philosophers (William Lane Craig and Dallas Willard) and two atheist philosophers (Antony Flew and Keith Parsons); and (iii) concluding thoughts by Moreland and Nielsen. I agree completely with the conclusion of Craig's flow of the debate, that Moreland won the debate. In fact, Moreland's victory in the debate was so decisive I am left wishing that Keith Parsons had been Moreland's opponent; I wonder if Nielsen even took the debate seriously. In light of this, I am baffled why a secular humanist publisher like Prometheus Books would choose to pubish this particular debate, given that the atheist side was so poorly represented. For that matter, I am surprised that even Thomas Nelson originally published the book, for even theists should want the atheist position to be given its best representation. However, Nielsen's critique of theism is not representative of most atheist philosophers. Nielsen relies upon a critique of religious language in which he argues that "God" is literally meaningless. Not only do most atheist philosophers not use such an argument, they disagree with it! Unfortunately, as a result of Nielsen's "strategy" of putting all his eggs in an ineffective basket, readers are deprived of the opportunity to see an exchange between Moreland and atheist philosophers who make substantive objections to Moreland's arguments. To be sure, Antony Flew and Keith Parsons both make excellent, *representative* objections to Moreland's case, and Moreland responds to those objections in his final remarks, but we are reprived the opportunity to see how Parsons and Flew would respond to that, and so on. I therefore discourage *buying* the book.

However, I encourage interested parties from both sides to borrow the book from someone who already owns it (e.g., a professor or a local library). I just wouldn't recommend spending money on the book when the atheist debater did such a poor job representing atheism. Even theistic philosophers would agree that Nielsen could have defended atheism in the debate better than he did -- much better in fact -- and that's why I discourage buying the book. And because theistic philosophers care about the truth, even they would admit that atheism wasn't represented as well as it could have been. (For example, most theistic philosophers I have read endorse J.L. Mackie's _Miracle of Theism_ as one of the best philosophical cases for atheism. They don't agree with the book, but they agree that Mackie's book is one of the best cases for atheism in the philosophical literature. And if you asked any of those theistic philosophers, they would tell you that Nielsen did not use any of Mackie's arguments. Therefore, Nielsen's arguments are not representative of the best arguments for atheism.)

Moreland gave two arguments for theism: the comsological argument and the argument that God resurrected Jesus from the dead. We have responded to both of these arguments (thought not necessarily to Moreland specifically) on the Secular Web, and would welcome an exchange with Moreland should he want to answer our rebuttals.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TheContributors Win, July 28, 2000

By A Customer

This book is a written version of the debate between J.P. Moreland and Kia Nielsen. Both men are well known in their respective fields. Moreland a Christian theist and Nielsen an Atheist, "duke it out" and try to convince us if there is or is not a God. Even though I like J.P. Moreland, and he clearly wins the debate, he isn't at his top form. Further, Nielsen is sloppy and presents an old and already disgarded argument.

The strength of this book are the contributors: Lane Craig and Willard (Christians) and Flew and Parsons (Atheists) right good strong rebuttals. They all write their position with dynamic passion. I'm partial to William Lane Craig in this book, but must admit that all the contributers did a fine job and therefore, make this book a must read.