ABSTRACT

Excellently organised and written, this is a thorough examination of how philosophy interacts with religion. The chapters were originally presented as the Hibbert Lectures in 1931 at University College London and the University of Manchester. The texts are expanded and elaborated to present a cohesive text, first published in 1937. Exploring free rational thinking, the book encourages reflection on the principals on which religion rests and addresses themes such as knowledge and experience, evolution, positivism, mystical experience, divine immanence, beauty and morality.

chapter 6|7 pages

Need for a Philosophy of Religion

chapter 1|5 pages

True and false Anthropomorphism

chapter 4|16 pages

Positivism, a false Anthropomorphism

chapter 1|8 pages

The Duality in Unity of Experience

chapter 5|11 pages

Mystical Experience

chapter 3|5 pages

The Conception of the 'Numinous'

chapter 4|5 pages

The Notion of Divine Immanence

chapter 5|9 pages

The True Nature of Religious Experience

chapter 6|5 pages

Faith and Knowledge

part |4 pages

LECTURE V. THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

chapter 1|2 pages

Nature of the Cosmological Argument

chapter 2|4 pages

The Conception of a 'First Cause'

chapter 3|7 pages

Martineau's View of Creative Activity

chapter 7|2 pages

Summary of Results

chapter 6|2 pages

'Emergent Evolution'

chapter 8|2 pages

Summary of Results

part |5 pages

LECTURE VII. VALUES AND THE MORAL ARGUMENT

chapter 3|5 pages

Appreciation of Beauty and Theism

chapter 4|3 pages

The Nature of Moral Obligation

chapter 5|9 pages

The Moral Argument

chapter 2|1 pages

The Pantheism of Spinoza

chapter 3|1 pages

Absolute Idealism

chapter 4|4 pages

Criticism of that position

chapter 5|4 pages

Conception of God as the 'Supreme Value'

chapter 7|1 pages

The Infinity of God

chapter 8|3 pages

Conclusion