Skip to main content

Concept of God in Contemporary Philosophy of Religion

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions
  • 326 Accesses

According to some definitions, the phenomenon of religion is characterized by the belief that there is a God or several gods. Belief in the existence of God or gods is, according to such definitions, the distinctive feature of religion. Such definitions underline the importance of the concept of God within the phenomena that we call religions. The concept of God plays a central role – perhaps the central role – within a religious tradition. Therefore, philosophers of religion take an interest in analyzing the concept of God and its use in different religious traditions.

What one understands to be a philosophical problem in relation to the concept of God partly depends on what philosophical tradition one belongs to. Philosophical reflection on the concept of God, engaged in by contemporary philosophers of religion, can be described in relation to the various philosophical traditions that influence this work since those traditions impact on the formulation of philosophical problems...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 1,600.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 1,399.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anderson, P. S. (1998). A feminist philosophy of religion. The rationality and myths of religious belief. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coakley, S. (1997). Feminism. In P. L. Quinn & C. Taliaferro (Eds.), A companion to philosophy of religion. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filosofilexikonet. (1988). “religionsfilosofi”, Filosofer och filosofiska begrepp från A till Ö. Stockholm: Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyman, J. (1997). Wittgensteinianism. In P. L. Quinn & C. Taliaferro (Eds.), A companion to philosophy of religion (pp. 150–157). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jantzen, G. (1995). Feminism in the philosophy of religion. In P. Byrne & L. Houlden (Eds.), Companion encyclopedia of theology (pp. 490–508). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johhannesson, K. (2007). God pro nobis. On non-metaphysical realism and the philosophy of religion (pp. 232–233, 245). Leuven: Peeters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, D. Z. (1988). Faith after foundationalism (pp. xvi–xvii, 11–12, 55, 80, 113,195, 201, 206, 209, 238, 264, 308, 317, 321). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, H. (1978). Meaning and the moral sciences. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, H. (1981). Reason, truth and history (p. 49). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, P. L. (1995). Philosophy of religion. In Audi Robert (Ed.), The Cambridge dictionary of philosophy (pp. 607–611). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swinburne, R. (1993). The coherence of theism, (Rev. ed., p. 1), Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karin Johannesson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Johannesson, K. (2013). Concept of God in Contemporary Philosophy of Religion. In: Runehov, A.L.C., Oviedo, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_243

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_243

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8264-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8265-8

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

Publish with us

Policies and ethics