Synopsis

Is God a Delusion? addresses the philosophical underpinnings of the recent proliferation of popular books attacking religious beliefs.

• Winner of CHOICE 2009 Outstanding Academic Title Award
• Focuses primarily on charges leveled by recent critics that belief in God is irrational and that its nature ferments violence
• Balances philosophical rigor and scholarly care with an engaging, accessible style
• Offers a direct response to the crop of recent anti-religion bestsellers currently generating considerable public discussion

Publishers Weekly

Atheism-and contra-atheism-is a much overpublished topic, and Reitan, a professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University, is late to the party. Nonetheless, he makes an elegantly argued response to Christopher Hitchens et al. that is refreshing in several respects. Neither polemical nor defensive, he writes primarily as a logician, rather than a believer. He brings into the contemporary fray many philosophers who reasoned well about God long ago: Anselm, Aquinas, Leibniz, Schleiermacher. He explains so many arguments so clearly that the book could function as an introductory philosophical text on the perennial subject of God's existence. He also looks squarely in the face of the contemporary horrors that many have used to argue for God's non-existence and still comes off the theodicy battleground with a sense of God as ethico-religious hope, "the substance of things hoped for." The clarity of his presentation should make this book useful after atheism has finished its moment in the sun. (Dec.)

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Biography

Eric Reitan is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Oklahoma State University with more than thirty articles published in professional journals. In 2004 he was the recipient of Oklahoma State University's Junior Faculty Award for Scholarly Excellence.