Critiques of God

by Peter A. Angeles (Editor)

As the only collection of essays to present, in a comprehensive way, the case against belief in God, this classic volume rejects the niew that moral values and human purpose require divine sanction. The arguments for God's existence, the validity of mystical experience, and the importance of the God concept for the development of morality and meaning in life are critically evaluated by sixteen well-known philosophers and psychologists. Included are works by Kurt Baier, John Dewey, Paul Edwards, Antony Flew, Sigmund Freud, Erich Fromm, Sidney Hook, Walter Kaufmann, Corliss Lamont, Wallace I. Matson, H.J. McCloskey, Ernest Nagel, Kai Nielsen, Richard Robinson, Bertrand Russell, and Michael Scriven. Included are discussions of the meaning of the existence of God, the relationships between faith and mysticism, reason and science, fate, the problem of evil, ethics without God, and immortality.

Genres: Philosophy, Religion, Atheism, Nonfiction

390 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Peter A. Angeles received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, New York. He has taught philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, Canada; Albert Schweitzer College, Switzerland; the University of California at Santa Barbara; Northern Arizona University, Yavapai College, Mesa College, Scottsdale College, and the University of Phoenix.

He is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Santa Barbara City College, where he taught and was Chairperson of the Department of Philosophy from 1970 to his early retirement in 1990.

He is the author of an Introduction to Sentential Logic; The Possible Dream: Toward Understanding the Black Experience; The Problem of God and Critiques of God (ed.); Dictionary of Christian Theology; When Blind Eyes Pierce the Darkness; and numerous articles in scholarly journals.

He lives in Santa Barbara, California and has produced a series of 52 half-hour weekly children's stories for his radio show The Children's Story Time.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there is a single source for the best arguments for atheism, this is it. Although some of the pieces in the compilation are a bit dated, they are nevertheless benchmark works by some of the brightest minds of the twentieth century. Atheism is currently seeing a resurgence and any interested reader would do well to investigate its intellectual underpinnings offered here.

[Skymeson Rolnick]

This book is a must have for atheist. Very good critique of all those f**k'n morons that still believe the bible was written by the hand of god!

[Michael Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

While some of the essays are timeless others show their age. On balance though, a worthwhile read.