As the editors note in their introduction, this substantial and beautifully produced volume reflects a major intellectual change. Not so long ago the divorce between theology and philosophy, especially in the analytic tradition, seemed complete. Now, some of the sharpest minds in a largely new philosophical generation take an intense interest, not just in philosophy of religion, but in the traditional topics of Christian theology – the authority of scripture, revelation, the divine attributes, providence, prayer, atonement, the incarnation, the resurrection, the eucharist and the doctrine of the Trinity. A philosopher who wrote on any of these topics forty years ago would have been thought to be working in an alien and/or peripheral area. All of them are assigned chapters in this Handbook, and most of these chapters are written by well-established and highly respected philosophers.
As my list of topics suggests, this resurgence of philosophical interest is largely focused on Christian theology though, in a concluding section of the book, three essays explore philosophical theology in Judaism, Islam and Confucianism. It is hard not to read the inclusion of these as something of a gesture. Almost all the Christian essays contain some fresh attempt to solve traditional problems and thus contribute to current debates. By contrast, the three concluding essays are expository and, being broadly speaking historical, do not convey very much sense that these other traditions have undergone anything like a similar change. The fact is that the sort of philosophical theology now often called ‘analytical theology’ is a decidedly Christian enterprise (as indeed the title of the corresponding ‘Companion’ from Cambridge University Press expressly acknowledges).
This does not detract from its intellectual interest, of course, and in any case, alongside the chapters on Christian doctrine, there are chapters devoted to topics in which philosophers never quite lost interest, even in the most analytically austere times – mystery, evil, God and morality, heaven and hell. These too are written by prominent contemporary contributors to the field, and in general the editors are to be congratulated on assembling a very fine list of authors. There are no essays here that could not be read with profit, and many that can be read with very great profit indeed. Such questions as the publication of this volume might prompt are of a broader nature.
To begin with, the volume joins two other closely related Oxford Handbooks: Philosophy of Religion (2005) and Systematic Theology (2007). The question naturally arises as to whether this does not amount to overprovision. It is undoubtedly true that quite a number of topics have chapters devoted to them in two of the Handbooks, and some in all three, notably religion and science. There is also some overlap of contributors. On the other hand, this volume has a different feel to the other two, and interestingly this suggests to me that there is still a significant intellectual gap between the kind of people who will turn to this volume and those who will prefer the volume on systematic theology. It may be that the welcome resurgence of interest in Christian doctrines amongst analytical philosophers will not easily find common conversational ground with theologians who have long been schooled to ignore and/or fear analytic philosophy.
Of course, it might be said that this does not matter if what we have represented in this volume is a vigorous new ‘hybrid’ which stimulates people to think hard about the creedal elements of their faith beyond the confines of regular theology. Yet this suggests to me another doubt one might have. In his famous Gifford Lectures, The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James devotes a lecture to ‘Philosophy’. In it he is scathing about the contribution that philosophers can make to real religion. ‘From the point of view of practical religion’, he roundly asserts ‘the metaphysical monster which they offer to our worship is an absolutely worthless invention of the scholarly mind’, a manifestation of ‘the intellectualism in religion which I wish to discredit’.
We can dissent from this very severe judgement while acknowledging that James puts his finger on a point of some importance. It is incontestable that theology has been marginalised in the contemporary world of the intellect, in part because of its capitulation to the worship of science on the one hand, and the dogmas of postmodernism on the other. Restoring intellectual vitality to the Christian religion in a wider cultural context is not likely to be accomplished by a new kind of philosophical theology, however. Even if it is more vigorous, it is likely to be no less isolated than theology itself. What is required is a different kind of philosophy of religion – the kind of exercise (for instance) in which Schleiermacher was engaged when he wrote his speeches to the cultured despisers of religion.
Of course, the editors and contributors to this volume might reasonably protest that they had no such ambition. They meant to do what they are qualified to do, both comprehensively and well. Judged on these terms, it seems to me, no one could fault them.
