ECPA Gold Medallion Award

Chicago Book Clinic Award of Excellence

What is real? What is truth? What can we know? What should we believe? What should we do and why? Is there a God? Can we know him? Do Christian doctrines make sense? Can we believe in God in the face of evil?

These are fundamental questions that philosophy answers. And the answers we give to these kinds of questions serve as the foundation for constructing our worldview.

In this updated and expanded second edition, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview by J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig offers a comprehensive introduction to philosophy from a Christian perspective. With characteristic clarity and incisiveness, Moreland and Craig outline clear arguments and present rival theories with fairness and accuracy. They introduce readers to the principal subdisciplines of philosophy including epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, ethics, and philosophy of religion.

In this book, Moreland and Craig show how philosophy



- aids Christians in the tasks of apologetics, polemics, and systematic theology;

- reflects that we are made in the image of God;

- helps us to extend biblical teaching into areas not expressly addressed in Scripture;

- facilitates the spiritual discipline of study;

- enhances the boldness and self-image of the Christian community;and

- is requisite to the essential task of integrating faith and learning.



This textbook is a lively and thorough introduction to philosophy for all who want to understand reality. This second edition includes enhanced arguments, updated bibliographies, and new chapters on atonement and the mind-body problem. With Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, get a clear and comprehensive guide for understanding philosophy from a Christian worldview.



J. P. Moreland (PhD, University of Southern California) is distinguished professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, in La Mirada, California. He has written or contributed to over ninety-five books, including The God Conversation,Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, In Search of a Confident Faith, and Love Your God With All Your Mind. Throughout his career Moreland has co-planted three churches, spoken and debated on over 200 college campuses around the country, and served with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) for ten years. He was selected in August 2016 by The Best Schools as one of the 50 most influential living philosophers in the world.



William Lane Craig (PhD, University of Birmingham, England; DTheol, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany) is professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and at Houston Baptist University. In 2016 he was named by The Best Schools as one of the fifty most influential living philosophers. Craig has authored or edited over forty books, including The Kalam Cosmological Argument; Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom; God, Time, and Eternity; and God and Abstract Objects, as well as over 150 articles in professional publications of philosophy and theology, including The Journal of Philosophy, New Testament Studies, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, American Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy, and British Journal for Philosophy of Science.



Preface



Outline of the Book



An Invitation to Christian Philosophy

Part I: Introduction



1 What Is Philosophy?



2 Argumentation and Logic

Part II: Epistemology



3 Knowledge and Rationality



4 The Problem of Skepticism



5 The Structure of Justification



6 Theories of Truth and Postmodernism



7 Religious Epistemology

Part III: Metaphysics



8 What Is Metaphysics?



9 General Ontology: Existence, Identity, and Reductionism



10 General Ontology: Two Categories?Property and Substance



11 The Mind-Body Problem Part IA: Consciousness and Property Dualism or Mere-Property Dualism



12 The Mind-Body Problem Part IB: Alternatives to Property Dualism or Mere-Property Dualism



13 The Mind-Body Problem Part IIA: Arguments Regarding and Versions of Substance Dualism



14 The Mind-Body Problem Part IIB: The Main Physicalist Alternatives to Substance Dualism



15 Free Will and Determinism



16 Personal Identity and Life After Death

Part IV: Philosophy of Science



17 Scientific Methodology



18 The Realism-Antirealism Debate



19 Philosophy and the Integration of Science and Theology



20 Philosophy of Time and Space

Part V: Ethics



21 Ethics, Morality, and Metaethics



22 Ethical Relativism and Absolutism



23 Normative Ethical Theories: Egoism and Utilitarianism



24 Normative Ethical Theories: Deontological and Virtue Ethics

Part VI: Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology



25 The Existence of God I



26 The Existence of God II



27 The Coherence of TheismI



28 The Coherence of Theism II



29 The Problem of Evil



30 Creation, Providence, and Miracle



31 Christian Doctrines I: The Trinity



32 Christian Doctrines II: The Incarnation



33 Christian Doctrines III: Atonement



34Christian Doctrines IV: Christian Particularism



Suggestions for Further Reading



Name Index



Subject Index



Scripture Index



"The first edition of Moreland and Craig's Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview was both formational and transformational in my development as a young academic philosopher. Their careful (and faithful) thinking, along with their fair (and firm) engagement with the strongest scholarship from all worldview perspectives serves as an excellent model and guide. The additional chapters on atonement and physicalist versus dualist conceptions of human persons strengthen an already-comprehensive tome. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview is far from an easy read, but the challenge reaps rich intellectual reward."



"Addressing some of the most important questions concerning the relationship between faith and reason, Craig and Moreland provide the serious student of philosophy a coherent and tightly argued account of the intellectual credentials of Christian belief. Although I sometimes find myself disagreeing with them (e.g., on divine simplicity and timelessness), their mastery of philosophical argument is impressive."



"Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview has been the book I most frequently recommend for those desiring a clearly-written, distinctively Christian overview of the key subdisciplines of philosophy. So I am pleased that this volume is now in an updated second edition, written by two influential Christian philosophers whose academic work, personal integrity, and warm friendship have had an impact on my own life and writings over the years."



"Moreland and Craig have taken a great text and made it even better. Since the original publication of Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview in 2003, it has risen to the top of the pyramid as a resource for Christian students and scholars in expounding and defending the philosophical basis for the Christian worldview. The comprehensiveness of this text is overwhelming and now has been made even better with updates including new chapters on substance dualism, new evidence for the Kalam argument and the fine-tuning argument, an updated section on divine aseity, and a whole new chapter on the atonement. While accessible to the new student, it also offers the depth required for the graduate philosophy student. As the authors themselves affirm, 'This is no bedtime reading!' It will require hard work but pays off like no other philosophy book I am aware of."



Moreland and Craig present a comprehensive introduction to philosophy from a Christian point of view. Both theologically and philosophically engaging and stimulating. Moreover, the book is structured in such a way that prior knowledge in philosophy is not necessarily required to understand it. I highly recommend it.