Religion, revelation & reason

the long version

This book begins with a general consideration of religious experience and moves to a defense of the Christian revelation as the normative one for all other divine disclosures. This means that increasingly the book moves towards a defense of theistic thought as contrasted with other religious systems. This emphasis on the approach to the understanding of God typical of the Judaeo-Christian and Islamic traditions has meant a preoccupation with issues particularly significant for this way of thinking- the nature of man, the understanding of the creative process, the problem of human survival beyond death, and the mystery of evil. I have, however, brought in the views of other religious systems and offered a critique of their relationship to the theistic position. Wherever thought has moved to the specific content of the Christian disclosure in Jesus Christ, I have stopped short. Philosophy of religion, and theistic philosophy in particular, are only prolegomena to the task of the Christian theologian.