Why Some Eminent Philosophers
Believe in God [1]
One of the common assumptions in theism-vs-atheism debates is that
one probably passes from non-belief to belief (or vice versa)
*rationally*.
A cursory reading of the biographies of eleven leading
contemporary philosophers in Kelly James Clark (ed.) *Philosophers
Who Believe* (IVP, Illinois, 1993), tells a different story.
I’m posting this in three stages, to make it easier for us to
read/digest/respond.
‘The sense of a divine presence was something I had never been
entirely without, and my Sufi upbringing had helped to nurture it.
What made me a Christian, or brought me back to Christianity, was
above all the crisis of the war… [This] experience… taught
me… that love was the one thing necessary… Men and women are
to be loved as those whom God has loved – created, redeemed and
destined to eternal life.’ (pp. 43-44)
– Basil Mitchell, Nolloth Professor of the Christian Religion at
Oxford University, previously for twenty years tutor in philosophy
at Keble College, Oxford.
‘Belief in God can be perfectly rational even if none of the
theistic arguments works and even if there is no noncircular
evidence for it… It is perfectly rational to take belief in God
as *basic* – to accept it, that is, without accepting it on the
basis of argument or evidence from other propositions one
believes…
‘The popular contemporary myth of science as a cool, reasoned,
wholly dispassionate attempt to figure out the truth about
ourselves and our world entirely independent of religion, or
ideology, or moral convictions, or theological commitments is just
that: a myth.’ (pp. 74,77).
– Alvin Platinga holds the John A. O’Brien Chair of Philosophy,
University of Notre Dame.
‘The more I thought… the more obviously grotesque it became to
suppose that Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Idi Amin, not to speak of
countless smaller-scale murderers and torturers, would all have
been like Socrates or St. Francis if they had had a better
education or if their parents had not divorced, as the current
orthodoxy seemed to hold. I became convinced that God’s grace – I
would not have so referred to it at the time – is needed for right
action…’ (p.101).
– John Rist, professor of classics and philosophy at the
University of Toronto.
‘The figure of Jesus intrigued, fascinated and overwhelmed me. I
formed the impression that Jesus must have been an extraordinary
person…
‘The set of people who have been changed by Jesus is a set that
includes me. I was once on a wrong path that was leading nowhere
but to sloth, inertia, self-pity, self-centredness,
self-indulgence and destruction. In Christ, I found the right
path. I have a strong sense of having been created, guided,
forgiven and redeemed by God in Christ. This conviction, as I
suppose, is much of what makes me a Christian.’ (pp. 107,108).
– Stephen T. Davis, professor of philosophy and religion,
Claremont McKenna College, California.
More soon…
Rowland Croucher