Wrestling with God: The Reasons of Faith

This posthumously published monograph represents Marilyn McCord Adams's final systematic engagement with fundamental questions about God's existence, nature, and relationship to human reason. Adams, known for her influential work on the problem of evil and medieval philosophy, here presents a nuanced examination of how rational inquiry intersects with religious faith. The work synthesizes decades of her philosophical and theological reflection, offering a distinctive approach that challenges both secular skepticism and fideistic retreat from reason.

Adams structures her analysis around the concept of "wrestling" as both metaphor and method, drawing on the biblical Jacob's nocturnal struggle to illuminate the dynamic tension between human reasoning and divine mystery. She argues that authentic faith neither abandons rational scrutiny nor reduces God to an object of detached philosophical proof. Instead, she develops what she terms "participatory reason," wherein the inquirer's existential engagement shapes and is shaped by the process of theological understanding.

The monograph critically engages contemporary analytic philosophy of religion, particularly evidentialist approaches that treat God's existence as a hypothesis to be confirmed or disconfirmed through neutral assessment of evidence. Adams contends that such frameworks misconceive both the nature of God and the character of human reasoning about ultimate reality. She draws extensively on medieval sources, especially Anselm and Aquinas, while also incorporating insights from phenomenology and post-Kantian thought to articulate an alternative epistemology of faith.

Significantly, Adams addresses the challenge of religious diversity and pluralism, arguing that wrestling with God need not entail exclusivism or relativism. She proposes a model of "hospitable reasoning" that acknowledges the particularity of religious traditions while remaining open to truth claims across boundaries. This approach reflects her broader commitment to philosophy as a spiritual practice rather than merely an intellectual exercise.

The work's importance lies in its sophisticated integration of analytic rigor with existential depth, offering resources for those dissatisfied with both dogmatic certainty and skeptical dismissal. Adams demonstrates how philosophical theology can maintain intellectual integrity while honoring the transformative dimensions of religious engagement. Her final monograph thus serves as both culmination of her own scholarly journey and invitation for others to undertake their own wrestling with ultimate questions.