Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion

This volume presents paired essays by leading philosophers addressing central questions in contemporary philosophy of religion, structuring each topic as a debate between opposing viewpoints. Peterson assembles contributions that exemplify the current state of analytic philosophy of religion, with particular attention to arguments that have shaped the field since the late twentieth century.

The collection engages four major argument families that dominate contemporary philosophical discourse about God. In the cosmological argument debates, contributors examine whether the universe requires a necessary being as its ultimate explanation, with defenders employing modal logic and principle of sufficient reason while critics challenge the coherence of necessary existence and the legitimacy of demanding explanations for the totality of contingent beings. The design argument discussions focus on fine-tuning arguments and their relationship to multiverse hypotheses, probability theory, and anthropic reasoning, moving beyond classical biological design arguments to cosmological constants and initial conditions.

The problem of evil receives extensive treatment through debates about logical versus evidential formulations, with particular attention to skeptical theism, the role of free will defenses, and whether gratuitous suffering can coexist with classical theism. Contributors examine both deductive arguments claiming logical incompatibility between God and evil and probabilistic arguments suggesting evil renders theism improbable. The reformed epistemology debates center on whether belief in God can be properly basic, examining Plantinga's religious epistemology against various internalist and externalist challenges, including discussions of defeaters, religious diversity, and the relationship between faith and evidence.

Peterson's editorial framework emphasizes methodological rigor characteristic of contemporary analytic philosophy, with contributors employing formal logic, probability theory, and careful conceptual analysis. The volume situates these debates within the broader resurgence of philosophy of religion in analytic philosophy since the 1960s, demonstrating how technical philosophical tools apply to classical theological questions. By presenting opposing positions on each topic, the collection reveals both the sophistication of contemporary arguments and the persistent disagreements among philosophers.

The work's significance lies in its comprehensive representation of how analytic philosophers currently approach theistic belief, moving beyond simple proofs or refutations to engage subtle questions about epistemic justification, modal metaphysics, and explanatory adequacy. This dialogical structure illuminates why rational disagreement persists among philosophically sophisticated thinkers addressing fundamental questions about God's existence and nature.