Publisher Description

Paul Helm is a distinguished philosopher, with particular interests in the philosophy of religion. His work covers some of the most important aspects of the field as it has developed in the last thirty years with particular contributions to metaphysics, religious epistemology, and philosophical theology. In celebration of Helm's life's work, Reason in the Service of Faith brings together a range of his essays which reflect these central concerns of his thought.Over thirty of Helm's selected essays and four unpublished articles are gathered into five parts: Metaphilosophical Issues; Action, Change, and Personal Identity; Epistemology; God; and Creation, Providence, and Prayer. The volume is prefaced with a short editorial introduction, and ends with an extensive bibliography of Helm's published works.Demonstrating the important connection between Helm's theological and philosophical interests across his body of work, this collection is a remarkable resource for scholars of religion, philosophy, and theology.

Author Biography

Paul Helm is Emeritus Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion at King's College, London, UK. He has also taught at Regent College, Vancouver; Highland Theological College, Scotland; and the University of Liverpool, UK.Oliver D. Crisp is Principal of St Mary's College and Head of the School of Divinity, University of St Andrews, UK.Daniel J. Hill is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool, UK, and is the Chair of the Tyndale Fellowship's Study Group in Philosophy of Religion.

Table of Contents

Preface Editor's Introduction Part 1. Metaphilosophical Issues 1. On Pancritical Irrationalism 2. Understanding Scholarly Presuppositions 3. The Perfect and the Particular 4. A Plea for Objectivity 5. Anthropomorphism Protestant Style: Two Current Approaches Part 2. Action, Change and Personal Identity 6. Pretending and Intending 7. Pike on Prior on Action 8. Are 'Cambridge Changes' Non-events? 9. Detecting Change 10. A Theory of Disembodied Survival and Re-embodied Existence 11. Locke's Theory of Personal Identity Part 3. Epistemology 12. Revealed Propositions and Timeless Truths 13. Locke on Faith and Knowledge 14. Does the Authority of a Tradition Exclude the Possibility of Change? 15. Two Ideas of Revelation 16. Speaking and Revealing 17. The Indispensability of Belief to Religion 18. Wittgensteinian Religion and 'Reformed' Epistemology 19. Why was Thomas Reid not a 'Reformed' Epistemologist? 20. Faith, Evidence and the Scriptures Part 4. God 21. God and Whatever Comes to Pass 22. Grace and Causation 23. God and Spacelessness 24. The Impossibility of Divine Impassibility 25. Omniscience and Eternity 26. Divine Timeless Eternity 27. The Augustinian-Calvinist View 28. Eternal Creation 29. The Problem of Dialogue 30. Divine Causation and Analogy Part 5. Creation, Providence and Prayer 31. Universalism and the Threat of Hell 32. Asking God 33. Prayer and Providence 34. Preserving Perseverance 35. Providence and Compatibilism 36. The Plan of God 37. Starting to Be and Ceasing to Be 38. Can God Love the World? 39. All Things Considered: Providence and Divine Purpose 40. Of God's Eternal Decree Bibliography: Publications of Paul Helm Index

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