The Coherence of Theism by Richard Swinburne

But I can't pretend that sort of thing is more a sedative than anything else.Įven in my most doubtful days, I've always thought the idea of theism is, bare minimum, coherent, and I think Swinburne did a good job showing why here. And I definitely think there's a place for this kind of philosophical, Aquinas-approved, unconcerned-with-pragmatism speculation. But his initial points about logical positivism and naturalism's self-defeating logic were prescient and warranted this kind of theological thinking later on. I liked his introductory work about why such a project is viable more so than the defense of theism itself it started to feel pretty 'how many angels can dance on the head of a pin' after he started dealing with more blatantly theological matters. Proving theism is a coherent system is way less of a tall order than mounting a defense of any given religion's specific claims itself. There are a lot of valid points here and I appreciate him taking a more modest goal for his project.

After all, this is not written as a popular, layperson's text so much as a contribution to the body of philosophical work read primarily by other people who've devoted their lives to this field of study. As a result, I guess I should've had more realistic expectations when approaching this book: namely, that it would be more dry and difficult (but not dull) to get through than I first anticipated. I've heard about Swinburne for years as one of the premier philosophers of religion.

The Coherence of Theism by Richard Swinburne