God: Eight Enduring Questions

This book explores a wide range of philosophical issues in their connection with theism, including views of free will, ethical theories, theories of mind, naturalism, and karma-plus-reincarnation.

In this clear and logical guide, C. Stephen Layman takes up eight important philosophical questions about God: Does God exist? Why does God permit evil? Why think God is good? Why is God hidden? What is God’s relationship to ethics? Is divine foreknowledge compatible with human free will? Do humans have souls? Does reincarnation provide the best explanation of suffering? Based on more than thirty years of experience in teaching undergraduates and in leading philosophical discussions related to God, Layman has arranged the text to deal with each of these eight questions in one or two chapters apiece.

Many philosophical works take up questions about God, but the chapters of this book plunge the reader very quickly into the arguments relevant to each question. Layman presents the arguments cogently and simply, yet without oversimplifying the issues. The book emphasizes strengths and weaknesses of both theism and its metaphysical rivals. Readers will gain a clearer understanding of theism and naturalism, and of their sometimes surprising implications. The book can be used as a text in philosophy of religion and introductory philosophy courses. Professional philosophers will find significant, novel arguments in many of the chapters.

C. Stephen Layman is professor emeritus of philosophy at Seattle Pacific University. He is the author of five books, including The Shape of the Good (University of Notre Dame Press, 1994) and, most recently, Philosophical Approaches to Atonement, Incarnation, and the Trinity.