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84A New Logical Problem of Evil RevisitedFaith and Philosophy 35 (4): 464-472. 2018.In this article I state concisely the central features of a new logical problem of evil developed elsewhere and take account of a response to this problem recently published in this journal by Jerome Gellman. I also reflect briefly on how theology can play a role in such philosophical discussions.
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21Religion After Science: The Cultural Consequences of Religious ImmaturityCambridge University Press. 2019.In this provocative work, J. L. Schellenberg addresses those who, influenced by science, take a negative view of religion, thinking of it as outmoded if not decadent. He promotes the view that transcendently oriented religion is developmentally immature, showing the consilience of scientific thinking about deep time with his view. From this unique perspective, he responds to a number of influential cultural factors commonly thought to spell ill for religion, showing the changes – changes favorab…Read more
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946The Epistemology of Modest AtheismEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 7 (1): 51--69. 2015.Distinguishing between the old atheism, the new atheism, and modest atheism, and also between belief and acceptance, and belief and acceptance tokens and types, I defend the disjunctive view that either modest atheistic belief or modest atheistic acceptance, construed as type, is today epistemically justified in the context of philosophical inquiry. Central to my defence is a deductive version of the hiddenness argument and an emphasis on the early stage of philosophical inquiry that we presentl…Read more
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38Taking Intellectual Humility to the Next Level: Species-Based Importance, Human Maturity, and Deep TimeRes Philosophica 93 (3): 653-668. 2016.In this paper I distinguish two levels of intellectual importance, derived and underived, showing how the former can be species-based. Then I do four things: first, identify a neglected way, stemming from perceived human intellectual maturity, in which many of us are vulnerable to a sense of species-based importance; second, show—in part by appealing to facts about deep time—that we have no right to this sense and so evince a failure of intellectual humility if we acquiesce in it; third, defend …Read more
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1327God, free will, and time: the free will offense part II (review)International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 73 (3): 1-10. 2013.God, free will, and time: the free will offense part II Content Type Journal Article Category Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s11153-011-9328-z Authors J. L. Schellenberg, Mount Saint Vincent University, 166 Bedford Highway, Halifax, NS B3M2J6, Canada Journal International Journal for Philosophy of Religion Online ISSN 1572-8684 Print ISSN 0020-7047
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57Schellenberg's Newman Lecture on Contemporary Philosophy of Religion: Responses and ReplyToronto Journal of Theology 26 (1): 2010. 2010.
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8ConclusionIn The will to imagine: a justification of skeptical religion, Cornell University Press. pp. 251-254. 2009.
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24The sounds of silence stilled: a reply to jordanGod or Blind Nature? Philosophers Debate the Evidence. 2008.
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101Pluralism and probabilityReligious Studies 33 (2): 143-159. 1997.In this paper I discuss a neglected form of argument against religious belief -- generically, 'the probabilistic argument from pluralism'. If the denial of a belief is equivalent to the disjunction of its alternatives, and if we may gain some idea as to the probabilities of such disjunctions by adding the separate probabilities of their mutually exclusive disjuncts, and if, moreover, the denials of many religious beliefs are disjunctions known to have two or more mutually exclusive members each …Read more
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56Challenges to Moral and Religious Belief: Disagreement and Evolution, edited by Michael Bergmann and Patrick KainInternational Journal for the Study of Skepticism 7 (1): 62-67. 2017._ Source: _Page Count 6
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54How to be an atheist and a sceptic too: response to McCreary: J. L. SCHELLENBERGReligious Studies 46 (2): 227-232. 2010.Mark McCreary has argued that I cannot consistently advance both the hiddenness argument and certain arguments for religious scepticism found in my book The Wisdom to Doubt . This reaction was expected, and in WD I explained its shortsightedness in that context. First, I noted how in Part III of WD , where theism is addressed, my principal aim is not to prove atheism but to show theists that they are not immune from the scepticism defended in Parts I and II. To the success of this aim, McCreary'…Read more
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185The Hiddenness Argument RevisitedReligious Studies 41 (3): 287-303. 2005.In this second of two essays responding to critical discussion of my " Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason," I show how an ' accommodationist ' strategy can be used to defuse objections that were not exposed as irrelevant by the first essay. This strategy involves showing that the dominant concern of reasons for divine withdrawal can be met or accommodated within the framework of divine - human relationship envisaged by the hiddenness argument. I conclude that critical discussion leaves the argum…Read more
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201Divine Hiddenness and Human ReasonCornell University Press. 1993.In Part 1 of this book, the first full-length treatment of its topic, J. L. Schellenberg argues that when we notice how
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Reply to Moser.”In Michael L. Peterson & Raymond J. VanArragon (eds.), Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion, Blackwell. pp. 54--56. 2004.
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46A modest solution to the problem of religious disagreementInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 82 (3): 273-288. 2017.In this paper I develop a new recipe for solving the problem of religious disagreement suggested by the injunction to cultivate intellectual humility conjoined with awareness of human immaturity in deep time. The ingredients brought to the table include such things as noticing the full breadth and texture of the religious propositional field, observing the previously hidden areas of agreement this exposes, making a differential judgment of importance in relation to religious propositions, applyi…Read more
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110Prolegomena to a philosophy of religionCornell University Press. 2005.Providing an original and systematic treatment of foundational issues in philosophy of religion, J. L. Schellenberg's new book addresses the structure of..
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95The wisdom to doubt: a justification of religious skepticismCornell University Press. 2007.The Wisdom to Doubt is a major contribution to the contemporary literature on the epistemology of religious belief.
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342The atheist’s free will offenceInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 56 (1): 1-15. 2004.This paper criticizes the assumption, omnipresent in contemporary philosophy of religion, that a perfectly good and loving God would wish to confer on finite persons free will. An alternative mode of Divine-human relationship is introduced and shown to be as conducive to the realization of value as one involving free will. Certain implications of this result are then revealed, to wit, that the theist's free will defence against the problem of evil is unsuccessful, and what is more, that free wil…Read more
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19ContentsIn The will to imagine: a justification of skeptical religion, Cornell University Press. 2009.
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37Review of Michael Martin (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007 (6). 2007.
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2639Divine HiddennessIn Paul Draper & Charles Talliaferro (eds.), A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, 2nd ed., Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
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7Part. I. Purifying Faith Why the Best Religion Is the Most SkepticalIn The will to imagine: a justification of skeptical religion, Cornell University Press. pp. 11-66. 2009.
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20Challenges to Moral and Religious Belief: Disagreement and Evolution (review)International Journal for the Study of Skepticism 7 (1). 2017.
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IntroductionIn The will to imagine: a justification of skeptical religion, Cornell University Press. pp. 1-10. 2009.
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Metaphilosophy |
Philosophy of Religion |
Areas of Interest
Aesthetics |
Normative Ethics |
General Philosophy of Science |