The Existence of God (book)

The Existence of God
Second edition cover 2004 (Hardcover)
AuthorRichard Swinburne
LanguageEnglish
Subjectthe existence of God, philosophy of religion, theology, rational theism
Genretreatise
Publisherfirst edition Oxford University Press, second edition Clarendon Press
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Published in English
First edition: 1979
Reissued with appendices: 1991
Second edition: 2004
Pagesviii + 363
ISBN0-19-927167-4

The Existence of God is a 1979 book by British philosopher of religion Richard Swinburne,[1][2] claiming the existence of the Abrahamic God on rational grounds. The argument rests on an updated version of natural theology with biological evolution using scientific inference, mathematical probability theory, such as Bayes' theorem, and of inductive logic.[3] In 2004, a second edition was released under the same title.[4][5][6][7]

Swinburne discusses the intrinsic probability of theism, with an everlastingly omnipotent, omniscient and perfectly free[a] God. He states various reasons for the existence of God, such as cosmological and teleological arguments, arguments from the consciousness of the higher vertebrates including humans, morality, providence, history, miracles and religious experience. Swinburne claims that the occurrence of evil does not diminish the probability of God, and that the hiddenness of God can be explained by his allowing free choice to humans. He concludes that on balance it is more probable than not that God exists, with a probability larger than 0.5, on a scale of 0.0 (impossible) to 1.0 (absolutely sure).

Swinburne summarised the same argument in his later and shorter book Is There a God?, omitting the use of Bayes' theorem and inductive logic, but including a discussion of multiple universes and cosmological inflation in the 2010 edition.[4][9][10]

  1. ^ Swinburne, Richard (2004). "The Existence of God. Second Edition (full text pdf, 374 pages)" (PDF). aprender.ead.unb.br. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  2. ^ Sturch, R. L. (April 2006). "The Existence of God. Second edition. By Richard Swinburne". The Journal of Theological Studies. 57 (1): 401–405. doi:10.1093/jts/fli242. Retrieved 30 November 2021. Review.
  3. ^ "Is There a God? Herman Philipse & Richard Swinburne. An academic debate of Veritas Forum Amsterdam: Religious Belief in an Age of Science (YouTube video, from 17:30)". www.youtube.com. Het Veritas Forum. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  4. ^ a b Tam, Josaphat C. (June 2013). "An Update on Swinburne's Two Handy Books on God". The Expository Times. 124 (10): 516–517. doi:10.1177/0014524613489640n. S2CID 202961031. Retrieved 19 November 2021. Also available at: Tam, Josaphat C. (June 2013). "copy of: An Update on Swinburne's Two Handy Books on God". researchgate.net. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  5. ^ Braunsteiner-Berger, Julia (September 2014). "Swinburne's argument for the existence of God: a critical comment on conceptual issues". Religious Studies. 50 (3): 359–378. doi:10.1017/S003441251400002X. JSTOR 43658446. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  6. ^ Prevost, Robert (1985). "Swinburne, Mackie and Bayes' Theorem". International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. 17 (3): 175–184. doi:10.1007/BF00134543. JSTOR 40021213. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  7. ^ Smith, Quentin (March 1998). "Review: Swinburne's Explanation of the Universe. Reviewed Work: Is There a God? by Richard Swinburne". Religious Studies. 34 (1): 91–102. doi:10.1017/S0034412597004228. JSTOR 20008142. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  8. ^ Swinburne 2004, p. 7, 98, 105, 335.
  9. ^ Swinburne, Richard (1996). Is There a God (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.
  10. ^ Swinburne, Richard (2010). Is There a God (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.


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