God and Goodness - More Information

God and Goodness takes the experience of value as a starting point for natural theology. Mark Wynn argues that theism offers our best understanding of the goodness of the world, especially its beauty and openness to the development of richer and more complex material forms.
We also see that the world's goodness calls for a moral response: commitment to the goodness of the world represents a natural extension of the trust to which we aspire in our dealings with human beings.
Wynn argues that the goodness of the world provides a glimpse into what we should mean by 'God'. Here, he seeks to recover the mediaeval sense that the goodness of the world offers an image of the goodness of God, not simply in relation to the world, but in itself.
This book will be an invaluable read for those interested in natural theology and philosophy of religion.

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Table of contents : Preface Introduction The goodness of the world as its reason for existence Some approaches to the rationality of religious belief Two objections to natural theology
Part I The goodness of the world as its reason for existence
1. Providence and Beauty The argument from design Tennant's argument Human responses to Tennant The sociobiological critique Conclusions 2. The world as a source of value Introduction Swinburne's argument from consciousness Haldane's argument from concept use The world as a generator of value Conclusions
Part II Disvalues and the goodness of the world
3. Providence and evil Introduction How good is good enough? An example of the integral whole approach Divine inscrutability and divine power Some applications Conclusions 4. Theodicy in an ecological mode Introduction Towards an ecological theodicy Failing to see the value of the world Conclusions
Part III Moral Commitment to the goodness of the world
5. A non-epistemic case for trusting in the goodness of the world Introduction A moral, communitarian case for religious belief Relationship to God as a trust relationship Conclusions
Part IV The goodness of the world and the concept of God
6. Worship and the concept of God Introduction The religious adequacy of the individualistic model The anthropological basis of the proposal Conclusions 7. Salvation and the concept of God Introduction The world's resemblance to God A Teilhardian account A final approach: the relation of necessary complement Conclusions
Conclusion Between Cleanthes and Demea Re-enchanting the world Bibliography

Quotes

“...a most attractive as well as quite a persuasive book.” - Hugo Meynell, The Heythrop Journal, Vol. 42 No. 2, April 2001