Top products from r/PhilosophyofReligion

We found 22 product mentions on r/PhilosophyofReligion. We ranked the 36 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

Next page

Top comments that mention products on r/PhilosophyofReligion:

u/TheBaconMenace · 2 pointsr/PhilosophyofReligion

>There is/was a sect of Christianity which focused on cultivating wisdom -- the Gnostics. There is also a sect of Islam called Sufis which do the same. Mainstream Christianity/Islam does not encourage contemplation and analysis.

I want to push back on this a little bit, if you don't mind. The Gnostics, as I understand them, are actually quite guilty of institutionalizing their faith (considering their secret rituals and what have you), despite their pursuit of wisdom, so surely you can't be against institutions or rituals in and of themselves. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "mainstream" Christianity or Islam, but it seems to me that those traditions are actually rich in contemplative resources. I can't speak too much of the Islamic community, as I am more interested in the Christian one, but this is especially true of the "high church" traditions in Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican). Furthermore, I think there are ways to be orthodox (little "o") in Christian theology while remaining and promoting contemplation. Augustine's Confessions is among the most contemplative works in ancient theology, and surely the rich tradition of Christian mysticism can't be ignored here (John of the Cross, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, etc.--indeed, there are far too many to list). There is also a huge return to contemplative prayer in Protestant circles as of late (see especially the New Monastic movement).

Perhaps I've misunderstood your terms, and if so please feel free to clarify.

>Buddhism of all the religions I know is the least tainted and actively promotes analysis and seeking wisdom within. The Buddha himself said not to believe anything he said out of blind faith, and the goal of Buddhism is to achieve enlightenment through direct experience. It is do it yourself and wholly unlike the major Western religions which rely on faith and salvation.

I would push back here, too, particularly considering Karl Jaspers' book Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus. He actually wants to recover the contemplative Buddha which has been covered over by popular Asian practices which institutionalize his thought. Also, I wonder if perhaps you've misread the major Western religions--only hardline evangelicals would hold to your understanding of faith and salvation. Those in high church communions actually stress quite a lot on works, both internal and external.

u/Zachz106 · 2 pointsr/PhilosophyofReligion

Hey, for sure! "Without God: Science, Belief, Morality, and The Meaning of Life."

https://www.amazon.com/Without-God-Science-Morality-Meaning-ebook/dp/B07WK8CQX5/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=


I do have some audibook promo codes I can give out for free. Anyone interested can pm me and let me know if they are US or UK.

Thank you! I'd love to hear your feedback on it!

u/Bilbo_Fraggins · 1 pointr/PhilosophyofReligion

Holy thread necromancy Batman. ;-)

I did not say that all Christians were wrong, but I wrote specifically that fundamentalist Christian doctrine is untenable, and linked to the 5 fundamentals:


  • The inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and the inerrancy of Scripture as a result of this.
  • The virgin birth of Christ.
  • The belief that Christ's death was an atonement for sin.
  • The bodily resurrection of Christ.
  • The historical reality of Christ's miracles.

    The most clearly problematic ones are these:

  • The inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and the inerrancy of Scripture as a result of this.

    The Bible is not anything like this. For why, I highly recommend The Human Faces of God by Thom Stark. This critique also speaks strongly against those who see the bible as "infallible" instead of strongly "inerrant".

    This problem is highly related to the problem of inconsistent revelations. It seems that if there is a God, it is quite clear that whatever his goal is, it is not for us to have certainty.

  • The belief that Christ's death was an atonement for sin.

    This in Paul's writings is linked to the Fall of Adam, especially in Romans 5 and First Corinthians 15.

    The problem is we're now quite sure there was no Adam and Eve and no Fall from sinless, deathless perfection, (see some of the science here) and that creates very real problems for Fundamentalist Christianity. Enns also has this excellent talk where he goes over the shape and the historical context of the problem.

    I was raised fundamentalist and spent over 25 years as one. I tried to maintain that worldview as strongly as I could, but it just doesn't work.

    I see the world quite differently now, in a way that could be called "Christian atheism" or more precisely "Christian ignosticism", highly influenced by the findings of psychology and cognitive neuroscience and the teachings of Eastern Christianity which fit together surprisingly well. (warning: 30 part series, but might just change your life. ;-) I came to this general understanding from an overlap of Terror Management theory and the writings of Paul Tillich.

    I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or point you towards any resources if you're interested. My understanding is shaped by many more things than I can put in one post, no matter how many references I put in. ;-)
u/Neil_le_Brave · 0 pointsr/PhilosophyofReligion

Obligatory wikipedia link to Process and Reality

This book should be read before digging into P&R

Here's the mammoth tome in its entirety on amazon

PDF of the final section of P&R. All the quotes I used come from the section God and the World that starts on page 5 of this document.

Be forewarned, this is really heavy stuff. I've been grappling with it for over 6 years and it's slowly becoming understandable to me even though I have a scholastic background in metaphysics and philosophy.
That said, I encourage you and anyone interested in both science and philosophy of religion to jump right in; it's the most complete metaphysical system I have ever encountered and I consider it to be the pinnacle of speculative philosophy.

u/cbenjamin85 · 2 pointsr/PhilosophyofReligion

You're certainly not alone in this.


My teacher wrote his dissertation on William Desmond, which became a book shortly after. A year later he published a book on Kierkegaard. In the latter he explicitly makes connections between the two.


Here they are:


http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Metaphysics-Postmodern-William-Philosophy/dp/0253221242/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314763269&sr=8-2


http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Way-Kierkegaards-Theologia-Viatorum/dp/1610971493/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314763269&sr=8-1


If I may ask, who was it that recommended reading them together?

u/metaphysintellect · 3 pointsr/PhilosophyofReligion

I recommend a good phil religion introduction (like this one here).


My suggestion is to to look at the classical arguments for and against the existence of God, and the current debate had about those arguments, and just assess the evidence yourself.


For example, you will need to consider the problem of evil, which is the most serious objection to God's existence (at least the God of classical theism) and look at the current responses (like skeptical theism) to see what you think.


Some names of people worth reading are William Rowe, Alvin Platinga, Richard Swinburne, Brian Leftowe, Peter van Inwagen, Robert Adams, Marilyn McCord Adams, and Eleonore Stump. I would use Phil Papers to find some of the titles and potentially get a free download.


Also there is a great series called Closer to Truth that interviews some of the biggest names in the Philosophy of Religion right now. (here's a link).

u/TheTripleDeke · 1 pointr/PhilosophyofReligion

If you check out Brian Leftow’s new book (God and Necessity https://www.amazon.com/dp/019873896X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GMYcBbT168K5T) you might find some things of deep interest.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/PhilosophyofReligion

My class used this one by Pojman: http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Religion-Anthology-Louis-Pojman/dp/0495095044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331514060&sr=1-1

There is a more recent addition with an additional author. I liked it because, while it was pro-heavy it had anti-religion arguments as well and included a few Eastern perspectives.

u/meaculpa91 · 2 pointsr/PhilosophyofReligion

Thought this place wouldn't be complete without Cavanaugh's famous position, which he's expressed through lecture, as above linked (skip to about 2:15 to get to the lecture), as well as essay and book.

Cavanaugh's almost fanatically empirical in his approach, especially in his book, which I'm reading now; example after example after example.

u/Ibrey · 2 pointsr/PhilosophyofReligion

One place to start would be Alvin Plantinga's unpublished, but widely read lecture notes on arguments current in academia, "Two Dozen (Or So) Theistic Arguments". For more fleshed out arguments, I would suggest that you consult The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Or, for a more even-handed overview at an introductory level, read Davies' An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion.

u/TheShadowKick · 1 pointr/PhilosophyofReligion

Oh look, you may be right about Wikipedia being inaccurate. Both Jonathan Femby's Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present and Rummel's China's Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 say the 40 million deaths due to Mao, which I quoted earlier, is the low estimate and it's likely closer to 70 million.

Dmitri Volkogonov, in his Autopsy For An Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime, states "Between 1929 and 1953 the state created by Lenin and set in motion by Stalin deprived 21.5 million Soviet citizens of their lives."