I have decided to take the Ultimate Truth-Seeker Challenge, or at least a variation of it. I have combined the hard and easy versions and I'm throwing in some other books. Here is what I plan on reading, in the following order:
Paul Copan & others: Contending with Christianity's Critics
Guy P. Harrison: 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God
Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli: Handbook of Christian Apologetics
John Loftus & others: The Christian Delusion
William Lane Craig: Reasonable Faith
Richard Swinburne: Is There a God?
C. Stephan Layman: Letters to Doubting Thomas
John Loftus: Why I Became an Atheist
Greg Boyd & Paul Eddy: The Jesus Legend
Bart Ehrman: Jesus, Interrupted
Edward Feser: The Last Superstition
Richard Carrier: Sense and Goodness Without God
J.P. Moreland & William Lane Craig: Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview
Michael Martin: The Case Against Christianity
J.P. Moreland: Scaling the Secular City
Robin Le Poidevin: Arguing for Atheism
James F. Sennett & others: In Defense of Natural Theology
Richard Swinburne: The Existence of God
Gregory Dawes: Theism and Explanation
Nicholas Everitt: The Non-Existence of God
J.L. Mackie: The Miracle of Theism
Michael J. Murray & others: Reason for the Hope Within
Michael Martin: Atheism: A Philosophical Justification
Paul Copan & others: The Rationality of Theism
Graham Oppy: Arguing About Gods
William Lane Craig & others: The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology
John Howard Sobel: Logic and Theism
Alvin Plantinga: Warranted Christian Belief
I will allow myself to expand or rearrange this list, but not subtract anything from it. I will read every single one of these books or die trying. And I'll probably add others as I go along. And then, even when (and if) I get to the end of this list, I hope to find even more books to read.
Simultaneously I'm educating myself in philosophy generally, and I have another list of books (far too long to list here) to further that end that I am working through currently and I plan on reading for years to come. So most likely I'll be commenting on some of that as well, if I think it's relevant.
Then there are debates. I'm a sucker for just about any debate between theists and atheists. As luck would have it, Luke Muehlhauser (the creator of the Ultimate Truth-Seeker Challenge) has assembled a list of over 500 such debates (what a useful guy!). More than likely my thoughts on several of these debates will make their way to this blog as well.
So you might wonder where I start, as I begin this enormous undertaking. Do I believe in God? No. I am an atheist. But even so, will I at least admit the possibility that I'm wrong, and that God exists? Of course. Why else would I be doing this? I must say, though, that right now it looks overwhelmingly as though God does not exist, and if we're being completely honest (which is something I suggest we all get in the habit of doing, and something I will strive to do on this blog), I sincerely doubt that by the end of this adventure I will have changed my mind. I will certainly develop a more nuanced view of many aspects of the philosophy of religion, but the odds of a full conversion to theism are extremely low. We will see.
And who is my target audience? Really just myself. I encourage others who are interested in the topic to read and comment on my thoughts, but even if no one does, I don't mind. This is entirely for myself. Please do comment, though, if you have something substantive to say. I seriously care about the truth of the matter, and that's why I'm doing this. Your comments, criticisms, and insights will surely improve my efforts to figure out what's what, because you will think of things that I never could, and point me to other thinkers that will do the same. So thank you in advance to all who do comment.
What am I waiting for? Let's begin.
Ry! I just found your blog and will read it. May I suggest that you throw in books like the Quran, Book of Mormon, Bible, Torah, and such books that religions who believe in God use as well.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea. Once I figure out which religious texts I want to read for this project and where in this list I want to insert them, I'll be sure to add them.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you bring up the very good point of investigating religions other than Christianity. I should probably see if there are any books that I should read by non-Christian authors who argue for the existence of God. I'll do some looking.
By the way, Melissa, thanks for promising to read my blog. I likewise promise to actually post something for you to read. As you can see, I posted this initial entry in February, and it's now June. That's not a sign that I've given up. That's just a sign of how slowly I write. I have some stuff written that I will post soon, but I don't yet have it quite to the point where I want it yet.
ReplyDeleteIt's coming, though. I promise.