Question

Religious perspective has an explanation for the existence of everything except for __________.

This is the major shortcoming in religious perspectives.

Answer 1

Explanation:

Philosophy of Religion

First published Mon Mar 12, 2007; substantive revision Tue Jan 8, 2019

Philosophy of religion is the philosophical examination of the themes and concepts involved in religious traditions as well as the broader philosophical task of reflecting on matters of religious significance including the nature of religion itself, alternative concepts of God or ultimate reality, and the religious significance of general features of the cosmos (e.g., the laws of nature, the emergence of consciousness) and of historical events (e.g., the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, the Holocaust). Philosophy of religion also includes the investigation and assessment of worldviews (such as secular naturalism) that are alternatives to religious worldviews. Philosophy of religion involves all the main areas of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, value theory (including moral theory and applied ethics), philosophy of language, science, history, politics, art, and so on. Section 1 offers an overview of the field and its significance, with subsequent sections covering developments in the field since the mid-twentieth century. These sections address philosophy of religion as practiced primarily (but not exclusively) in departments of philosophy and religious studies that are in the broadly analytic tradition. The entry concludes with highlighting the increasing breadth of the field, as more traditions outside the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) have become the focus of important philosophical work.

1. The Field and its Significance

2. The Meaning of Religious Beliefs

2.1 Positivism

2.2 Wittgensteinian Philosophy of Religion

3. Religious Epistemology

3.1 Evidentialism, Reformed Epistemology, and Volitional Epistemology

3.2 The Epistemology of Disagreement

4. Religion and Science

5. Philosophical Reflection on Theism and Its Alternatives

5.1 Philosophical Reflection on Divine Attributes

5.1.1 Omniscience

5.1.2 Eternity

5.1.3 The goodness of God

5.2 God’s Existence

5.2.1 Ontological arguments

5.2.2 Cosmological arguments

5.2.3 Teleological arguments

5.2.4 Problems of evil

5.2.5 Evil and the greater good

5.2.6 Religious experience

6. Religious Pluralism

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