Books by "William A Dembski"
5 books found
Noted philosopher William Hasker explores a full range of questions concerning the problem of evil. Hasker forges constructive answers in some depth showing why the evil in the world does not provide evidence of a moral fault in God, the world's creator and governor.
Where should God be in thinking about society, or society in thinking about God? This book shows how philosophy can help non-philosophers with these questions. It shows that intelligence is the product, not the source, of society and language, and the rationality of individuals is inevitably conditioned by the distinctive customs and beliefs of their societies. Addressing the idea that religion can impede the smooth running of society, it argues that the Western concept of religion is taken from Christianity and cannot usefully be extended to non-European cultures. But any society will be threatened by a sub-society with customs conflicting with those of the whole in which it exists, and Jews, Christians and Muslims have sometimes formed such sub-societies. Charlton proceeds to consider how our dependence upon society fits with traditional beliefs about creation, salvation and life after death, and offers a synthesis that is new without being unorthodox. He indicates where Christian customs concerning birth, death, sex and education conflict with those of secular liberalism and considers which culture, Christian or secular liberal, has the better chance of prevailing in a globalised world.
William Paley's classic brings depth to the history of intelligent design arguments. The contrivance of the eye, the ear, and numerous other anatomical features throughout the natural world are presented as arguments for God's presence and concern. While there are distinctive differences between Paley's argument and those used today by intelligent design theorists and creationists, it remains a fascinating glimpse of the nineteenth-century's debate over the roles of religion and science.
This is a collection of articles written by the author, which range through the Christian doctrines of creation, the human soul, the Eucharist, and life after death, which have always been centres of discussion by philosophers and theologians. They discuss the right way to approach theological issues. They offer a distinctive approach to ethical questions that arise in controversy between different religious traditions, and between religious and secular thinkers generally. And they consider the place of faith in religious thinking and the weight that should be given to authority and tradition. The volume carries a new general introduction to the collection.
Whether we realize it or not, Catholics have been deeply influenced by modernity's failed worldview. While we want to live and share our faith with joy, we struggle to do so because we unwittingly see the cosmos, the human person, and society as machines functioning independently of their Creator and of one another. If we want to bring the life-transforming effects of our faith into the world, we must first find and live real Catholicism, breaking free of the gravitational pull of modernity's worldview. A worldview is the stable, all-encompassing way in which each of us looks at reality — the pair of glasses through which we see the world around us. It makes up the grid of givens, assumptions, and presuppositions through which we view the world. It colors what we mean by God, universe, and human. Everyone has a worldview, and recognizing our worldview and the worldviews of others is crucial in our search for truth, goodness, and beauty. In Enchanted by Eternity, Fr. William Slattery shows how Catholicism proposes an enchanted and enchanting view of self, nature, society, and the future of each human person, created to live in a resurrected body in "the new heavens and the new earth." As this book reveals, rediscovering a truly Catholic worldview will change the way we live — and it might even change the world.