Is There a God? - Softcover

Swinburne, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198235453 ISBN 13: 9780198235453

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Is There a God? offers a powerful response to modern doubts about the existence of God. It may seem today that the answers to all fundamental questions lie in the province of science, and that the scientific advances of the twentieth century leave little room for God. Cosmologists have rolled back their theories to the moment of the Big Bang; the discovery of DNA reveals the key to life; the theory of evolution explains the development of life--and with each new discovery or development, it seems that we are closer to a complete understanding of how things are. For many people, this gives strength to the belief that God is not needed to explain the universe; that religious belief is not based on reason; and that the existence of God is, intellectually, a lost cause.
Richard Swinburne, one of the most distinguished philosophers of religion today, argues that on the contrary, science provides good grounds for belief in God. Why is there a universe at all? Why is there any life on Earth? How is it that discoverable scientific laws operate in the universe? Swinburne uses these methods of scientific reasoning to argue that the best answers to these questions are given by the existence of God. The picture of the universe that science gives us is completed by God. Powerful, modern, and accessible, Is There a God? is must reading for anyone interested in an intelligent and approachable defence of the existence of God.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Swinburne is Nolloth Professor of Christian Religion at the Oxford University and the author of many books on the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of Christianity.

Review:

`Is There a God? is an honest, decently unspectacular presentation of one version of the case - Swinburne calls it theism - for the existence of God.'
Scotland on Sunday

`If you are looking for a book which will help you to see that there is more than what you daily observe with your senses, this is a good book to read.'
The Tablet

`Many lay people may be gratified to discover that the kind of intellectual reasoning which they are accustomed in their working life is here applied to the question of belief in God.'
The Expository Times

`Readable and logical ... It is up to date ... It is not dogmatic.'
Methodist Recorder

`The book is ... an immensely rewarding one for those who are prepared to give it the close attention which it both requires and deserves ... Swinburne is accepting the challenge to make his case on the more difficult side. He suceeds brilliantly, and we can indeed be grateful to him for that
... a worthy counterbalance to the views of such as Dawkins and Hawking. It is much to be hoped that it receives as much attention.'
The Door

`He argues his case very well both in this book and in others ... if you are looking for a book which will help you to see that there is more than what you daily observe with your senses, this is a good book to read.'
The Tablet

`The answer to the question ... is, of course, an emphatic 'yes'. We could expect no less from the Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion in Oxford. But it is the route he follows in order to arrive at that answer which gives this important book its interest for the
thoughtful reader ... immensely rewarding ... for those who are prepared to give it the close attention which it both requires and deserves ... This book, in fact, is a worthy counterbalance to the views of such as Dawkins and Hawking. It is much to be hoped that it receives as much attention.'
The Door

`To date ... few philosophers, still less philosophers of religion, have pursued this path. Richard Swinburne ... is therefore to be applauded for attempting to make good this deficit.'
Church Times

`For those unfamiliar with the kinds of issues examined by philosophers of religion, and the methods that they employ, Is There a God? may ... serve as a useful introduction to this area.'
Church Times

`Richard Swinburne ... has produced this impressive shortened version of his magisterial study The existence of God ... Swinburne shows us what the logic of probability can achieve, as he pursues his argument with relentless clarity.'
The Reader

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0198235453
• ISBN 13: 9780198235453
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160