Knowledge and Christian Belief

by Alvin Plantinga

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2015

Overview

In his widely-praised Warranted Christian Belief, Alvin Plantinga discussed in great depth the question of the rationality, or sensibility, of Christian belief. In this book, Plantinga presents the same ideas in a briefer, more accessible fashion.

Recognized worldwide as a leading Christian philosopher, Plantinga explores the meaning behind the claim that Christian belief is irrational and cannot sensibly be held. He argues that the criticisms of such well-known atheists as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens are completely wrong. Finally, Plantinga addresses several potential challenges to Christian belief—pluralism, science, evil, and suffering—and shows how they fail to successfully defeat rational Christian belief.

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Key Features

• Presents a condensed version of Alvin Plantinga’s Warranted Christian Belief
• Argues for the rationality of Christian belief
• Addresses three main challenges to faith and how they fail to defeat rational Christian belief

Contents

• Preface
• Can We Speak and Think about God?
• What Is the Question?
• Warranted Belief in God
• The Extended A/C Model
• Faith
• Sealed upon Our Hearts
• Objections
• Defeaters? Historical Biblical Criticism
• Defeaters? Pluralism
• Defeaters? Evil
• Index

Top Highlights

“What you properly take to be rational or warranted depends upon what sort of metaphysical and religious stance you adopt.” (Page 40)

“The de jure objection, therefore, is the claim that Christian belief is irrational or unjustified or perhaps immoral; more exactly, it is the person who embraces Christian belief who is alleged to be irrational or unjustified or in some other way deserving of disapprobation. This de jure claim is the chief focus of this book. It is also, I believe, far the more common of the two kinds of objections.” (Page 8)

“Faith is not to be contrasted with knowledge: faith (at least in paradigmatic instances) is knowledge, knowledge of a certain special kind.” (Page 63)

“In this regard the sensus divinitatis resembles the faculties of perception, memory, and a priori knowledge” (Page 35)

“First, there are some propositions we know without the benefit of sense experience; we can call this ‘a priori knowledge’” (Page 5)

Praise for the Print Edition

Alvin Plantinga’s Warranted Christian Belief is a landmark book on the rationality of Christian belief. . . . This splendid shorter rendering of that book’s proposals makes them accessible to general readers and to students outside the field of philosophy. It is a total pleasure to welcome this version of his seminal work. All the hallmarks of Plantinga’s humility and brilliance are on display here; no one can read this book without being spiritually refreshed and intellectually challenged.

—William J. Abraham, Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies and University Distinguished Teaching Professor, Perkins School of Theology

A remarkable book. Over the years Alvin Plantinga has undercut conventional prejudices and defended theistic beliefs. This book contains the major ideas of his philosophy of religion on God, faith, historical criticism, pluralism, and many other key topics. What distinguishes this book is the clarity with which Plantinga presents and develops his arguments. . . . An excellent compendium of his thought.

—Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Charles Chauncey Stillman Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies, Harvard Divinity School

This welcome simplification of Warranted Christian Belief, Plantinga’s magnum opus of Christian religious epistemology, is highly readable but just as erudite and philosophically engaging — worth reading and rereading for both its intellectual and its spiritual depth.

—Thomas M. Crisp, associate professor of philosophy, Biola University

Alvin Plantinga’s magisterial Warranted Christian Belief is one of the most important works on the epistemology of religious belief within the last century. It is exciting to see the core ideas of that great work presented here in a more succinct and accessible format. Knowledge and Christian Belief is a pleasure to read and will serve as an excellent and engaging introduction to Plantinga’s most influential ideas about the rationality of religious belief.

—Michael Rea, professor of philosophy, University of Notre Dame

A very clear, easy-to-understand, and challenging presentation of the main steps of Plantinga’s argument in his magnum opus Warranted Christian Belief. Using the tools of modern epistemology, Plantinga defends a classical position—that Christian belief does not need to be supported by any arguments from generally agreed premises in order to be fully rational, and that that belief cannot be shown to be false by any such arguments.

—Richard Swinburne, emeritus professor of philosophy, University of Oxford

Product Details

• Title: Knowledge and Christian Belief
• Author: Alvin Plantinga
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2015
• Pages: 141
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Faith and reason › Christianity; Apologetics; Christianity › Philosophy
• ISBNs: 9780802872043, 0802872042
• Resource ID: LLS:KNWLDGCHRSTNBLF
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:02:50Z

About Alvin Plantinga

Alvin Carl Plantinga (born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosopher and the emeritus John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics, and Christian apologetics. Plantinga is a Christian and known for applying the methods of analytic philosophy to defend orthodox Christian beliefs.