In his book An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, Brian Davies offers an introductory glance into the philosophy of religion with the purpose of defending the main foundations of the Christian faith. Majorly, he gives a consideration to such an important question as to whether God really exists because according to his own confessions in the introduction of this book, people forgot about God, and even worse than this, they are confident in his being a vapor. Besides, Davies provides a substantial argument regarding the other basics of the Christian faith such as Good and Evil, miracles, morality and religion, and life after death.[1]In the following paper, Davies’ book will be addressed in terms of the contribution it makes into defending the Christian faith.
Davies’ book offers the audience an opportunity to evaluate a number of proves of the fact that God, the Creator, really exists and moreover, he cares about his creation. To support his argument regarding this matter, the author does not fail to provide a number of effective scientific and philosophic evidence. Besides, he addresses opinions by numerous outstanding thinkers of all times. As a result, the book effectively achieves its most important goal of presenting a strong ground to believe in God’s existence. Thus, the author justifies the discussion and defense of the other important points of the Christian faith. The main conclusions made by the author in the book appear to be well-grounded and weighted out. Some of the most remarkable conclusions are the conclusion that the world is created by the One who possesses Eternal wisdom and is worthy of human worship for this reason; the conclusion that wisdom from people is a trap leading to all the miseries humanity is faced with nowadays; and that the only sure way to happiness and success is in adhering to God’s standards shown in the Holy Scriptures.
Speaking about the strong features of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, its format and style peculiarities should be addressed. In particular, the sections in each chapter are rather short, there are numerous informative notes, and discussion questions are found at the end of each chapter, which adds to the coherence and readability of the book. The writing style is user friendly, and the introductory chapter on concepts of God is a marvelous welcome before handling the weighty issues of religious language. Davies discusses standard problems related to the concept of classical God: immutability, timeless nature of God, among others right at the beginning. This is of significance as the issues are right at the core of the philosophy of religion without which it would be less challenging. The book discusses the issues with reference to recent schools of thought without limiting them to ‘classical scholars’[2]. The two chapters on ‘Divine Simplicity’ and ‘Omnipotence and Omniscience’, are not only quite comprehensive but also show a contemporary debate that is helpful to the readers. The further allocated individual chapters for miracles, evil, life after death and morality also demonstrate a good example of readability and the user friendly style.
Speaking about the weak points of the book under consideration, it should be stated that Davies’ book is not a favorite one for many students and teachers because of the unbalanced nature in which the topics are handled, especially science. The seeming lack of confidence puts off young A-level students right from chapter 1 with verification and falsification. Although Davies vastly discusses religious language with a wide range of references to scholarly works from Wittgenstein, Flew and Ayer, to Plantinga among other writers, the subject comes across as rather too much for the young uninitiated minds[3]. The book is an introductory text and therefore, is meant for this particular group of readers. In connection to this fact, a little bit more illustrations in the book would be helpful to the readers. Another issue of concern is in the fact that the difference between a priori and a posteriori argument in the ontological argument is not addressed by the writer.
As a final point, the book An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion by Brian Davies is a high-quality work helping students, who begin their religious studies, acquire or strengthen their faith in God and his inspired Word. The book helps in forming a new way of thinking that is less influenced by the doubtful teachings of transient worldly philosophy such as atheism and religious ignorance. It defends such important foundations of the Christian faith as the truth about God and Evil, miracles, morality and religion, and life after death. Special credit is to be given to this influential work due to the strength of the weighty argument regarding God’s existence. Besides, the other strong feature of this publication is in presenting the facts and evidence in a user-friendly format and writing style, which makes it’s reading a pleasant experience for students beginning their religious studies.
References
Davies, Brian. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.