Chapter 2 - Aristotle and Philosophy of Religion

Dialogue (2001) Issue 17

Contains a useful article introducing Aristotle’s thinking.

Raeper, William and Smith, Linda. A Beginner’s Guide to Ideas. Oxford, Lion Publishing, 1991.

This contains some good and very readable sections on Aristotle.

Magee, Bryan. The Story of Philosophy. London, Dorling Kindersley, 1998.

A good general reference book that is an excellent introduction to philosophical ideas and contains a very helpful section about Aristotle. It is also a beautifully illustrated book.

Chapter 3 - God the Creator

As in many areas of Religious Studies, there is a huge number of books available that deal with these topics. The most important distinction is between books that are Bible commentaries – these examine how to interpret the text, usually line by line – and books which explain people’s ideas about the meaning and significance of ‘God being Creator’. The books suggested below cover both of these areas:

Bible commentaries

Brown, Raymond E., Fitzmyer, Joseph A. and Murphy, Roland E. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. London, Geoffrey Chapman, 1989.

This is one the easiest ones to access. Public libraries usually have copies of these commentaries in their reference sections.

If you would like to read a book about biblical theology, you could have a look at:

Drane, John. Introducing the Old Testament. Lion Hudson Plc, 2003.

Graffy, Adrian. Alive and Active. Dublin, Columba Press, 1998.

— Trustworthy and True: The Gospel Beyond 2000. Dublin, Columba Press, 2001.

God and science

Polkinghorne, John. Belief in God in an Age of Science. Yale, Yale University Press, New ed., 2003.

This is a challenging and interesting read with a good introduction to the wider issues about God and science which relate to this topic.

Philosophy and the omni titles

If you would like to investigate issues raised by omnipotence and omniscience, a good starting point is to look at the relevant chapters in:

Clark, Michael. Paradoxes from A to Z. London, Routledge, 2003 [2002].

Davies, Brian. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003 [1993].

Vardy, Peter. The Puzzle of God. London, Fount Paperbacks, 1995 [1990].

Chapter 4 - The Goodness of God

Davies, Brian. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003 [1993].

This is very readable and widely available.

Chapter 5 - The Ontological Argument

Dialogue (2003) Issue 20, Frye, J. ‘The Ontological Argument’ provides an excellent overview of the mistakes students often make when answering questions about the ontological argument. It is written for A-level students and is well worth reading.

Vardy, Peter. The Puzzle of God. London, Fount Paperbacks, 1995 [1990] provides a very readable account of the ontological argument, particularly Anselm’s argument and Gaunilo’s response. It also provides an easy-to-read explanation of analytic and synthetic statements.

Swinburne, Richard.The Existence of God. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004 [1991, 1979] provides a detailed and well-articulated examination of arguments in favour of God’s existence. Richard Swinburne examines both arguments for God’s existence and some of the responses these arguments have drawn.

Mackie, J.L. The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1982 presents a stimulating account of the ontological argument and the main philosophical debates about its validity. Mackie attempts to answer the arguments for God’s existence put forward by Richard Swinburne.

On Behalf of the Fool provides a clear analysis of Anselm’s argument and includes some other analogies apart from those mentioned in this chapter.

Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions, ed. Stump, E. and Murray, Michael J. Oxford, Blackwell, 1999 contains a readily accessible extract from Gaunilo’s writings.

Chapter 6 - The Cosmological Argument

The cosmological argument remains really popular as a topic in modern philosophy. If you would like to extend your reading beyond what the OCR specification requires, you could look at some of the following books:

Swinburne, Richard. Is There a God? Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996.

— The Existence of God. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004 [1991, 1979].

The philosopher Richard Swinburne has put forward what has become a well-known defence of cosmological arguments that avoids some of the weaknesses of Aquinas’ arguments.

Davies, Paul. The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World. London, Simon & Schuster UK, 1993 covers the Big Bang and cosmology from a scientific perspective.

Mackie, J.L. The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the Existence of God. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1982 presents a modern philosopher’s rejection of the cosmological argument in all its forms. Mackie examines the different forms of cosmological argument and explains some of the weaknesses found in them.

Chapter 7 - The Teleological Argument

This chapter explored what you need to know for the OCR AS Religious Studies examination. However, there are many other important developments and ideas in modern writings about the teleological argument. Some areas for investigation are suggested below:

Palmer, Michael. The Question of God. London, Routledge, 2002 [2001] is an excellent source of information if you would like to examine the debate concerning Darwin, Hume and Paley in greater depth. Have a look at the chapter on the design argument (pp. 92–179). The book is a great introduction to detailed study of arguments for God’s existence and it also contains extended extracts from the original authors’ writings.

Think (2003) Issue 5 & (2004) Issue 6 (London: Royal Institute of Philosophy) contain some short, well-written philosophical articles from today debating the teleological argument

Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. London, Penguin, 1991 [1986, 1988] gives a modern biologist’s view of natural selection and evolution. This book is eloquently written and sets out in clear terms the theory of evolution as well as Dawkins’ own reasons for rejecting teleological arguments and Paley in particular.

Dawkins, Richard. River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life. London, Phoenix, 1996 [1995] is a general introduction to Richard Dawkins’ thinking.

Chapter 8 - The Moral Argument

There is a wide range of reading available about the moral argument. A few books to investigate are suggested below.

Davies, Brian. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003 [1993] provides a readily available detailed examination of many of the topics found on the OCR examination paper, including the moral argument.

Swinburne, Richard. The Existence of God. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004 [1991, 1979] provides a detailed and excellent analysis of the moral argument’s strengths and weaknesses.

Dialogue (1997) Issue 9 & Issue 18 contain a number of articles relating to Kant and the relationship of morality with religion.

William Damon’s ‘The Moral Development of Children’ in Scientific American (August 1999), 281(2) explores some ideas from psychology about moral development and covers the work of people such as Spitzer and Kohlberg.

Chapter 9 - The Problem of Evil

There is a wide range of books available on the problem of evil. A few areas you might follow up are suggested below:

When thinking about the problem of evil in an academic way it is always important to consider the reality of being the victim of great evil and how this relates to any theodicy. You can watch any number of news articles reporting atrocities committed in our world. If you wish to read some books that raise profound questions about humanity’s capacity for evil:

Wiesel, Elie. Night. London, Penguin, 1981 is the story of Elie Wiesel in the concentration camps of the Second World War.

Hukanovic, Rezak. The Tenth Circle of Hell. Foreword: Wiesel, E. New York, Little Brown, 1997 is the story of her imprisonment during the Bosnian–Serbian conflict of the 1990s.

Swinburne, Richard. Providence and the Problem of Evil. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998 is a detailed and thoughtful examination of the problem of evil. It also sets out his own approach to the problem of evil, which provides a good example of the way one modern Christian philosopher has tackled this problem.

Phillips, D.Z. The Problem of Evil and the Problem of God. London, SCM Press, 2012 is an excellent attempt to discuss the problem of evil, showing how it is linked to our idea of God.

Stump, E. and Murray, Michael J. (eds). Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions. Oxford, Blackwell, 1999 contains an extract from the great Islamic philosopher Al-Ghazali on the problem of evil.

Dialogue (1998) Issue 11 has a very interesting short article by S. Brichto about Jewish responses to the problem of evil.

Vardy, Peter and Arliss, Julie. The Thinker’s Guide to Evil. Alresford, John Hunt Publishing, 2003 is an eloquently written examination of the problem of evil and various ways in which people have responded to it. It is a good book to develop your knowledge of this topic for advanced level studies, as it covers many different approaches to the problem of evil.

Chapter 10 - Science and Religion

There is a huge amount of material available concerning both cosmology and evolution. The titles below have been selected to provide a few suggestions of ways to follow up the content of this chapter.

Issues concerning cosmology

There are many books that explore the relationship between science and religion.

Collins, Francis. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. London, Pocket Books, New ed., 2007 provides a modern exploration of the relationship between science and religion, including evolution, cosmology and intelligent design.

Ward, Keith. God, Change and Necessity. Oxford, Oneworld Publications, 1996 is a detailed account of one way in which a religious believer approaches questions concerning cosmology and evolution.

Issues concerning evolution

Dawkins, Richard. River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life. London, Phoenix, 1996 [1995]. Richard Dawkins’ interpretation of evolution.

Gould, Stephen Jay, Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life. London, Jonathan Cape, 2001. This contains an interesting overview of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory and Darwin’s approach to religious belief.

Christian fundamentalism

Coggins, R.J. and Houlden, J.L. (eds). A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation. London, SCM Press and Trinity International Press, 1990. This is an excellent resource for exploring fundamentalism and contains a number of helpful articles on fundamentalism, Creationism and tolerance.

Armstrong, Karen. The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. London, Harper Collins, New ed., 2001. This is a most interesting account of the origins of fundamentalist views in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Journals and the internet

A valuable source of information for this topic is the internet. However, when using the internet be very cautious of biased accounts on many web pages. A large number of web pages are funded by special interest groups that use the internet to suggest a one-sided account of the science and religion debate. It is important that a balanced range of views is considered. Some helpful websites include the following:

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution (An account of the theory of evolution) http://evolution.berkeley.edu/ (Berkeley University website giving a scientific account of the theory of evolution)
• http://www.creationism.org/articles/index.htm (A Creationist website containing a range of articles expressing Creationist views).
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_bang (An article about the Big Bang theory).

Many journals regularly carry articles concerning science, evolution and religion. A good starting point for scientific articles written in an accessible manner is New Scientist. The Royal Institute of Philosophy’s journal Think has carried a number of articles discussing issues related to design, science and religion.

Chapter 11 - Life after Death

There are many books concerning religious beliefs about the resurrection, such as Bible commentaries.

Craig, W.L. The Son Rises: The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus. USA, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2000 is a very interesting examination of questions concerning the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus.

Davies, Brian. The Thought of Thomas Aquinas. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993. Brian Davies has published a useful and clear overview of Aquinas’ ideas.

Davies, Paul. The Mind of God. London, Penguin, 1993 [1992] contains Thomas Aquinas’ views on life after death from his ‘Summa Contra Gentiles’.

Russell, Bertrand. ‘Belief in Life after Death Comes from Emotion Not Reason’ (1957), in Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and Anthology, ed. Davies, Brian. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000 contains ‘Do We Survive Death?’, a challenge to belief in life after death.

Swinburne, Richard. Evolution of a Soul. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1997. This contains a collection of essays concerning life after death entitled Immortality (ed. P. Edwards).

Chapter 12 - Revelation and Holy Scripture

There is a huge range of books available about revelation and biblical interpretation. A few suggestions are given below.

Revelation

Schneider, Sandra M. The Revelatory Text. London, HarperCollins, 1991. This book contains a wide range of articles. Chapter 4 presents a very interesting case study about a feminist interpretation of John 4.

The authority of scripture

Brown, Raymond E., Fitzmyer, Joseph A. and Murphy, Roland E. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. London, Geoffrey Chapman, 1989. Contains a large number of articles examining the authority of scripture.

Linzey, A. and Wexler, P. eds. Fundamentalism and Tolerance (Canterbury Papers). London, Bellew Publishing Co. Ltd., 1991 comprises a range of interesting and engaging articles on this topic and related issues.

Chapter 13 - Religious Experience

There is a wealth of information about religious experiences available on the Alister Hardy Trust website http://studyspiritualexperiences.weebly.com/

James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. London, Collins, Fontana, 1960 [1902].

— The Varieties of Religious Experience. London, Penguin Classics, 1983. Jerusalem Bible Popular Edition. London, Darton, Longman & Todd, 1974.

Palmer, Michael. The Question of God. London, Routledge, 2002 [2001] has a very useful overview of James’ essay ‘The Will to Believe’.

Raeper, William and Smith, Linda. A Beginner’s Guide to Ideas. Oxford, Lion Publishing, 1991 covers religious experience in general.

Vardy, Peter. The Puzzle of God. London, Fount Paperbacks, 1995 [1990] clearly presents and explores the argument from religious experience.

Chapter 14 - Miracles

Miracles

Vardy, Peter. The Puzzle of God. London, Fount Paperbacks, 1995 [1990] contains an excellent introduction to the problems raised by God’s activity in the world and miracles. This book is a good starting point for further reading.

Swinburne, Richard. Is There a God? Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996. This contains a thought-provoking defence of belief in miracles in the modern world.

Palmer, Michael. The Question of God. London, Routledge, 2002 [2001] examines whether miracles are a proof of the existence of God. It provides excellent further reading for this topic and contains a detailed examination of Hume’s arguments.

David Hume

Stump, E. and Murray, Michael J. (eds). Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions. Oxford, Blackwell, 1999 contains an extract from David Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.

Petitionary prayer

Vardy, Peter. The Puzzle of God. London, Fount Paperbacks, 1995 [1990] investigates the relationship between miracles and petitionary prayer.

Stump, E. and Murray, Michael J. (eds). Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions. Oxford, Blackwell, 1999. The philosopher Eleanor Stump has written widely on this and other topics. Some of her articles may be found in this collection.

Science and God’s action in the world

Polkinghorne, John. Belief in God in an Age of Science. Yale, Yale University Press, New ed., 2003 examines the relationship between the two and defends belief in God as well as modern scientific understanding of the origins and development of the universe.

— Science and Providence. London, SPCK, 1989 examines what God’s providence means. Both books are challenging and stimulating reads that will give you a good insight into the way an eminent physicist who became an Anglican priest approaches religious questions.

Chapter 15 - Religious Language

Davies, Brian. Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and Anthology. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000 contains an extract from Antony Flew’s essay ‘Theology and Falsification’.

Ayer, A.J. Language, Truth and Logic, Dover Publications, 2001 [1936, 1946, 1952] is one of the most famous English philosophy books from the twentieth century. If you want to read an extract, have a look at the Introduction (sometimes printed as the Appendix) and Chapter 1. It is important that you read a copy of the second or later edition, as Ayer modified his ideas in a few significant ways between the first and second editions of the book. As previously mentioned, Ayer added an Introduction/Appendix which highlighted many of the criticisms that had been made of his book as well as responding to them.

Flew, Antony and MacIntyre, Alasdair (eds). New Essays in Philosophical Theology. London, SCM Press; London and New York, Simon & Schuster, 1972 [1955]. This contains important articles on religious language by Basil Mitchell and R.M. Hare. It is worth reading articles by writers such as Hare, Flew and Mitchell, particularly if you find stories like Flew’s jungle helpful ways to think about religious language.

Chapter 16 - Nature of God

There is a wealth of material on omnipotence, omniscience and God’s eternity available. The titles below have been selected to provide a few suggestions of ways to follow up the content of this chapter.

The attributes of God

Clack, Beverley and Clack, Brian R. The Philosophy of Religion: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge, Polity Press, 2005. This book gives a helpful overview of the key terminology. If you would like to examine some more modern questions concerning God’s nature and the problem of evil you could consider: Sobrino, J. Where Is God? Earthquake, Terrorism, Barbarity, and Hope. London, Orbis Books, 2004.

Omniscience, free will and belief in God

Smith, Quentin and Oaklander, L. Nathan. Time, Change and Freedom: Introduction to Metaphysics. London, Routledge, 1999 [1995] is a detailed examination of philosophical problems concerning belief in God and questions about free will and determinism. It is written as a series of dialogues between four people. Alice and Phil are philosophy degree students, while Sophia and Ivan are philosophy professors. Each of the characters defends a particular philosophical view.

Dialogue (1998) Issue 10. On pages 130–40 the topic is whether free will is possible if God exists. As it is written as a dialogue, it is a good idea to read the text in a group. In addition, if any of the terminology in the chapter is unclear, have a look at the glossary at the end of the chapter. If you read this book, bear in mind that many of the other topics in it are related to, but not directly relevant to the Advanced Level Religious Studies course as the dialogues in the book go well beyond the scope of A-level.

The omni qualities

If you would like to read some original philosophical articles and texts concerning the ‘omni’ qualities of God, many are easily available in this anthology of philosophy of religion articles: Stump, E. and Murray, Michael J. (eds). Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions. Oxford, Blackwell, 1999.

Chapter 17 - Psychology and Sociology of Religion

There is a lot of information about Freud, Jung, Weber and Durkheim available on the internet and in encyclopaedias. If you want to research any of these great thinkers, it is worth looking in libraries or on the internet.

Kenny, Anthony. A Brief History of Western Philosophy. Oxford, Blackwell, 1998 contains sections on many of the philosophers you study on the OCR course, including an interesting section about Freud.

If you would like to investigate whether religion benefits people, you will find a range of useful articles written by scientists about religion and prayer on the British Medical Journal website (www.bmj.org.uk).