Defensible Faith

A persistent dumbing down of religious faith and the perception that science is the only path to truth are key reasons the Nones, those with no religious affiliation, represent nearly fifty percent of all young adults in America today. God and science are falsely portrayed as conflicted and innately incompatible. Afraid to offend this new status quo, and unable to defend religious beliefs against increasingly aggressive intellectual bullying, the young have flocked to the safety of no belief. In Defensible Faith, author Robert Ryan demonstrates that God and science are both true and are both necessary in understanding ourselves and the world around us. He looks at how science provides many compelling arguments for belief in God as well as the more philosophical justifications for faith and the evidential basis supporting Christianity. If you have ever struggled to defend your faith in an intellectually well-reasoned manner, then let this book be your guide.

With a focus on Asian traditions, this book examines varieties of thought and self-transformative practice that do not fit neatly on one side or another of the standard Western division between philosophy and religion. It contains chapters by experts on Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Hindu and Jain philosophies, as well as ancient Greek philosophy and recent contemplative and spiritual movements. The volume also problematizes the notion of a Western philosophical canon distinguished by rationality in contrast to a religious Eastern "other". These original essays creatively lay the groundwork needed to rethink dominant historical and conceptual categories from a wider perspective to arrive at a deeper, more plural and global understanding of the diverse nature of both philosophy and religion. The volume will be of keen interest to scholars and students in the Philosophy of Religion, Asian and Comparative Philosophy and Religious Studies.

Continuing where Did Adam Have a Bellybutton?, Did Eve Have an Extra Rib? is filled with questions taken directly from Ham's nationwide radio program. He answers each with rapid-fire delivery and accuracy.

The concept of toleration plays a central role in pluralistic societies. It designates a stance which permits conflicts over beliefs and practices to persist while at the same time defusing them, because it is based on reasons for coexistence in conflict - that is, in continuing dissension. A critical examination of the concept makes clear, however, that its content and evaluation are profoundly contested matters and thus that the concept itself stands in conflict. For some, toleration was and is an expression of mutual respect in spite of far-reaching differences, for others, a condescending, potentially repressive attitude and practice. Rainer Forst analyses these conflicts by reconstructing the philosophical and political discourse of toleration since antiquity. He demonstrates the diversity of the justifications and practices of toleration from the Stoics and early Christians to the present day and develops a systematic theory which he tests in discussions of contemporary conflicts over toleration.

He argues that the reasonableness of faith depends not only on beliefs about the world but also on beliefs about oneself (for instance about what one wants, about one's hopes and fears) and on what one is willing to trust. Helm goes on to look at the relations between belief and trust, and between faith and virtue, and concludes with an exploration of one particular type of belief about oneself, the belief that one is oneself a believer. This is a book for anyone interested in the basis of religious faith."--BOOK JACKET.