This volume collects some of the best recent work on the philosophical challenge of religious diversity to religion
and religious belief. The contributors represent the disciplines of philosophy, religious studies, and theology.
The collection is unified by the way in which many of the authors engage in sustained critical examination of one
another's positions. One focal point of the discussion is John Hick's pluralism according to which all the major
religious traditions make contact with the same Ultimate Reality, encountering it through a variety of culturally
shaped forms of thought and experience, and all of them offer apparently equally effective paths to salvation or
liberation. Another focal point is William P. Alston's defense of the rationality of engaging in the Christian
practice of forming beliefs about manifestations of God in response to experiences the subjects take to be perceptions
of divine presence or activity. Articles by Hick and Alston develop their views, and other articles respond to
them. The responses include both criticism and defense of various aspects of Hick's and Alston's positions. Positions
such as religious skepticism, religious exclusivism, and religious inclusivism are also represented in the collection.
In the introduction, the editors suggest connections among the articles and report on further back and forth exchanges
amongst the authors of the articles.
Is the only collection that provides comprehensive coverage of the current philosophical debate about religious
diversity
With the exception of Hume, all selections are by contemporary academics
Table of Contents
Introduction. The Philosophical Challenge of Religious Diversity, Kevin Meeker and Philip L. Quinn
1. Of Miracles, David Hume
2. No Other Way: A Middle Knowledge Perspective on the Exclusivity of Salvation through Christ, William Lane Craig
3. Religious Pluralism and Salvation, John Hick
4. The Philosophy of Religious Pluralism: A Critical Appraisal of Hick and His Critics
5. A Contemplation of Absolutes, Ninian Smart
6. Truth and the Diversity of Religion, Keith Ward
7. Religious Pluralism and the Divine: Another Look at John Hick's Neo-Kantian Proposal
8. Polytheism, George I. Mavrodes
9. Hick's Pluralism and "Reformed Epistemology": A Middle Ground
10. Pluralism: A Defense of Religious Exclusivism, Alvin Plantinga
11. Religious Diversity and Perceptual Knowledge of God, William P. Alston
12. Religious Experience and Religious Diversity: A Reply to Alston, J.L. Schellenberg
13. Religious Experience and Religious Pluralism, William J. Wainwright
14. Towards Thinner Theologies: Hick and Alston on Religious Diversity
