T J Mawson: List of publications

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Classical Theism has No Implications for the Debate Between Libertarianism and Compatibilism

Chapter

Free Will and Theism

Does Anything We Do Matter Forever?

Journal article

Religious Studies

Does God Matter?

Chapter

God and Phenomenal Consciousness

Journal article

Faith and Philosophy

On Determining How Important It Is Whether or Not There Is a God

Journal article

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Can the issue of how important it is whether or not there is a God be decided prior to deciding whether or not there is a God? In this paper, I explore some difficulties that stand in the way of answering this question in the affirmative and some of the implications of these difficulties for that part of the Philosophy of Religion which concerns itself with assessing arguments for and against the existence of God, the implications for how its importance may best be defended within secular academe.

Safety and Knowledge in God

Journal article

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion

In recent ‘secular’ Epistemology, much attention has been paid to formulating an ‘anti-luck’ or ‘safety’ condition; it is now widely held that such a condition is an essential part of any satisfactory post-Gettier reflection on the nature of knowledge. In this paper, I explain the safety condition as it has emerged and then explore some implications of and for it arising from considering the God issue. It looks at the outset as if safety might be ‘good news’ for a view characteristic of Reformed Epistemology, viz. the view that if Theism is true, many philosophically unsophisticated believers probably know that it’s true. A (tentatively-drawn) sub-conclusion of my paper though suggests that as safety does not by itself turn true belief into knowledge, the recent focus on it is not quite such good news for Reformed Epistemologists as they may have hoped: it’s not that safety provides a new route by which they can reach this sort of conclusion. But safety is still good news for their view at least in the sense that there is no reason arising from considering it to count these philosophically unsophisticated believers as not knowing that there’s a God. I conclude by reflecting that good news for Reformed Epistemology is perhaps bad news for the discipline of Philosophy of Religion more generally, as there’s a possible ‘reflection destroys knowledge’-implication to be drawn. Those who have been led to their religious beliefs in at least some philosophically unsophisticated ways seem to enjoy much safer religious beliefs than those who have been led to their religious beliefs by philosophical reflection, so the discipline as a whole will be adversely affected if safety is eventually accorded the role of a necessary condition for knowledge.

The Case Against Atheism

Chapter

The Oxford Handbook of Atheism

The Cognitive Science of Religion and the Rationality of Classical Theism

Chapter

Science and Religion (TBC)

The Meaning of Life

Chapter

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion

The Meaning of Theism

Journal article

Faith and Philosophy

The Rationality of Classical Theism and Its Demographics

Chapter

Scientific Approaches to the Philosophy of Religion

The Divine Attributes

2018

Book

God'S possible roles in the meanings of life. Reply to metz

2018

Journal article

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Doing natural theology consistently with theism and why one might stop trying

2017

Journal article

Religious Studies

Divine Free Will

2016

Chapter

The Routledge Companion to Free Will

God and the Meanings of Life

2016

Book

What God Could (and Couldn't) do to make life meaningful

2016

Chapter

God and Meaning: New Essays

Freedom and the Causal Order

2016

Chapter

Re-thinking Order After the Laws of Nature

Classical Theism has no implicatoins for the Debate between Libertarianism and Compatibilism

2016

Chapter

Free Will and Theism Connections, Contingencies, and Concerns

What is this thing called the Philosophy of Religion?

2015

Chapter

What is this Thing Called Philosophy?

There is great clarity and intellectual commitment in the writing – a fine resource for anyone new to philosophy. ... Both deep and lively, it introduces the main contemporary issues in the major areas of philosophy and will no doubt be of great ...

Philosophy

The Meaning of Life and God's Purpose for Us

2015

Journal article

Dialogue

The Cognitive Science of Religion and the Rationality of Classical Theism

2014

Chapter

The Roots of Religion

Benjamin C. Jantzen An Introduction to Design Arguments. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014). Pp. xvi+335. $29.99 (Pbk). ISBN 978 0 521 18303-1.

2014

Journal article

Religious Studies

God and Evidence: Problems for Theistic Philosophers. By ROB LOVERING.

2014

Journal article

The Journal of Theological Studies

God in the Age of Science? by Herman Philipse.

2014

Journal article

Mind

Praying for outcomes one knows would be bad

2013

Journal article

Religious Studies

Praying for outcomes one knows would be bad

2013

Journal article

Religious Studies

AbstractIn this article, I consider what states of knowledge of the value of outcomes are consistent with a classical theist's praying to God that He bring about those outcomes. I proceed from a consideration of the cases which seem least problematic (the theist knows these outcomes to be ones which would be, at least after they've been prayed for, best or at least good), through a consideration of cases where the outcomes prayed for are ones the goodness and badness of which the theist is agnostic about, to consider finally praying for outcomes that the theist knows would be bad at the time he or she is praying for them. I conclude that even prayers of this last sort should, albeit only on rare occasions, be prayed.

Recent Work on the Meaning of Life and Philosophy of Religion

2013

Journal article

Philosophy Compass

Is Whether or Not There’s a God Worth Thinking About?

2013

Chapter

Ethics and the Challenge of Secularism: Russian and Western Perspectives

Theological Determinism

2012

Journal article

Dialogue a Journal of Religion and Philosophy

Substance Dualism

2011

Journal article

Philosophy

The Errors of Atheism. By J. ANGELO CORLETT.

2011

Journal article

The Journal of Theological Studies

Charles Taliaferro & Chad Meister (eds) The Cambridge Companion to Christian Philosophical Theology. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010). Pp. xiv+265. £50.00, $88.99 (Hbk). £17.99, $27.99 (Pbk). ISBN 9780521514330 (Hbk), 9780521730372 (Pbk).

2011

Journal article

Religious Studies

Free Will

2011

Chapter

Free Will

Philosophy

Free Will: A Guide to the Perplexed

2011

Book

Philosophy

Explaining the Fine Tuning of the Universe to Us and the Fine Tuning of Us to the Universe

2011

Journal article

Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement

Substance Dualism

2011

Chapter

The Bloomsbury Compantion to Philosophy of Mind

Theodical Individualism

2011

Journal article

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Sources of Dissatisfaction with Answers to the Question of the Meaning of Life

2010

Journal article

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Praying to Stop Being an Atheist

2010

Journal article

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion

The Ethics of Believing in God

2010

Journal article

Think: Philosophy for Everyone

Mill's Argument against Religious Knowledge

2009

Journal article

Religious Studies: an international journal for the philosophy of religion and theology

Morality and Religion

2009

Journal article

Philosophy Compass

Knowledge of God * By ALVIN PLANTINGA AND MICHAEL TOOLEY *

2009

Journal article

Analysis

Nature Red in Tooth and Claw: Theism and the Problem of Animal Suffering, by Michael Murray.

2009

Journal article

Mind

Timothy O'Connor Theism and Ultimate Explanation: The Necessary Shape of Contingency. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008). Pp. xiii+177. £40.00 (Hbk). ISBN 9781405169691.

2009

Journal article

Religious Studies

Why is there anything at all?

2009

Chapter

New Waves in Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy

Divine eternity

2008

Journal article

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion

I argue that Open Theism leads to a retreat from ascribing to God 'complete omniscience'. Having surrendered this ground, the Open Theist cannot but retreat from ascribing to God complete omnipotence; the Open Theist must admit that God might perform actions which He reasonably expected would meet certain descriptions but which nevertheless do not do so. This then makes whatever goodness (in the sense of beneficence, not just benevolence) God has a matter of luck. Open Theism is committed to a partially ignorant God, one who is subject to the vagaries of luck for the efficacy of at least some of His actions and for His goodness. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

The Euthyphro Dilemma

2008

Journal article

Think: Philosophy for Everyone

The Rational Inescapability of Value Objectivism

2008

Journal article

Think: Philosophy for Everyone

Praying for Known Outcomes

2007

Journal article

Religious Studies: an international journal for the philosophy of religion and theology

Harriet A. Harris and Christopher J. Insole (eds) Faith and Philosophical Analysis: The Impact of Analytical Philosophy on the Philosophy of Religion (Ashgate, 2005). Pp. vii+201. £50.00 (Hbk), £16.99 (Pbk). ISBN 0 7546 ...

2006

Journal article

Religious Studies

God's body

2006

Journal article

Heythrop Journal - Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology

On Classical Theism, God is ontologically distinct from the physical universe which He has created; He needn't have created any universe at all; and He could exist even if the universe didn't. By contrast, the universe couldn't have existed if God didn't and it needs God to sustain it in existence from moment to moment. Classical Theism is thus committed to the universe not being identical to God. I shall argue that Classical Theism is committed to seeing the universe as God's body (or a part of His body if there are parallel universes). It follows that it is also committed to the falsity of theories which identify people with their bodies or state that of necessity people depend on their bodies for their continued existence. © The author 2006.

‘Byrne’s’ religious pluralism

2005

Journal article

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Creation out of Nothing, A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration By Paul Copan and William Lane Craig. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004, 277pp.

2005

Journal article

Philosophy

How can I know I’ve perceived God?

2005

Journal article

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Freedom, human and divine

2005

Journal article

Religious Studies

In this paper I seek to show how God's freedom is not reduced or His power diminished by His inability to be less than perfectly good even though ours would be. That ours would be explains why it might prima facie appear to us that there is a ‘conceptual tension’ between some of the claims of traditional theism and reveals some interesting (well, to me anyway) differences between human freedom and divine freedom.

Belief in God An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion

2005

Book

For example: If you're reading this book, then there is a God. You are reading this book. Therefore, there is a God. If there's a God, then whether or not you're reading this book there's a God, so it's certainly true that if you're reading this book, ...

Philosophy

Morpheus and Berkeley on Reality

2005

Chapter

Philosophers Explore the Matrix

Religions, truth, and the pursuit of truth: a reply to Zamulinski

2004

Journal article

Religious Studies

This paper provides a comment on Brian Zamulinksi's article in Religious Studies, 39 (2003), 43–60. Contrary to Zamulinski's claim that religions are not truth-oriented but function as fictions, it is contended that they could not serve the purpose he assigns them unless their adherents regarded them as true. Religions must therefore be truth-oriented. The substantive question is whether any of them are true, and Zamulinski's paper provides no new method for addressing this question.

The possibility of a free-will defence for the problem of natural evil

2004

Journal article

Religious Studies

In this paper, I consider various arguments to the effect that natural evils are necessary for there to be created agents with free will of the sort that the traditional free-will defence for the problem of moral evil suggests we enjoy – arguments based on the idea that evil-doing requires the doer to use natural means in their agency. I conclude that, despite prima facie plausibility, these arguments do not, in fact, work. I provide my own argument for there being no possible world in which creatures enjoying this sort of freedom exist yet suffer no natural evil, and conclude that the way is thus open for extending the free-will defence to the problem of natural evil.

Jamie Mayerfeld Suffering and Moral Responsibility. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). Pp. xiii+237. £16.99 (Pbk). ISBN 0 19 515495 9.

2003

Journal article

Religious Studies

How a single personal revelation might not be a source of knowledge

2003

Journal article

Religious Studies

Many of those who come to a belief in the God of classical theism do so solely as a result of having had an experience which they believe it is reasonable for them to interpret as a revelation of His existence directly and graciously given to them by God Himself. I shall argue that – at least in the first instance – such people should probably not think of themselves as knowing that there is a God if they are also traditional libertarians and believe in Robert Nozick's theory of knowledge.

God's creation of morality

2002

Journal article

Religious Studies

In this paper, I argue that classical theists should think of God as having created morality. In form, my position largely resembles that defended by Richard Swinburne. However, it differs from his position in content in that it evacuates the category of necessary moral truth of all substance and, having effected this tactical withdrawal, Swinburne's battle lines need to be redrawn. In the first section, I introduce the Euthyphro dilemma. In the second, I argue that if necessary moral truths are seen as analytically/logically so, then, pace Swinburne, they cannot be regarded as substantive principles. Thus, seeing necessary moral truths as analytically/logically necessary and independent of God does not threaten God's power or sovereignty and leaves open the possibility that all value is contingent upon His will. In the third section, I turn to consider how the claim that all value is contingent upon God's will might best be understood, arguing that classical theists will want to commit themselves to a relatively strong form of objectivism about moral value (even though this is not needed in order to solve the Euthyphro dilemma). I then give and defend an account of God's creation of contingent moral truths which coheres with what I argue is the most plausible form of this commitment. In the following section, I argue that this account avoids the charge that God is arbitrary in His choice of values and, finally, I argue that it avoids the charge that God may not be said to be good without vacuity. Thus, I conclude that the Euthyphro dilemma does not threaten classical theism. © 2002 Cambridge University Press.

Omnipotence and necessary moral perfection are compatible: A reply to Morriston

2002

Journal article

Religious Studies

In this paper, which is a reply to Wes Morriston's 'Omnipotence and necessary moral perfection: are they compatible?', I argue that, contrary to what Morriston suggests, a classical theist need not admit that omnipotence and necessary moral perfection are incompatible. Indeed, I shall argue that a classical theist can show that an omnipotent being is of necessity morally perfect. © 2002 Cambridge University Press.

Mill's proof

2002

Journal article

PHILOSOPHY

ETERNAL TRUTHS AND CARTESIAN CIRCULARITY

2001

Journal article

British Journal for the History of Philosophy

Miracles and laws of nature

2001

Journal article

Religious Studies

In this paper, I argue that miracles should not be defined as involving violations of natural laws. They should be defined as signs of particular volitions of the deity or of other supernatural agents. I suggest that one may, without any prior belief in the existence of such supernatural agents, reasonably come to believe that one has witnessed miracles. © 2001 Cambridge University Press.

The problem of evil and moral indifference

1999

Journal article

Religious Studies

In this paper, I argue that if the libertarian free will defence were seen to fail because determinism were seen to be true, then another solution to the problem of evil would present itself. I start by arguing that one cannot, by consideration of agents' choices between morally indifferent options, reach any conclusion as to these agents' moral qualities. If certain forms of consequentialism were false, determinism true, and if there were a God who chose to create this universe, then His choice would have been between such options. Consideration of the general nature of the universe God putatively chose to create would not then license any conclusion as His moral qualities.

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T J Mawson: List of publications

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