5.7 Chapter Glossary
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Chapter Glossary |
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| Agnosticism | The choice to not think about whether or not one believes in God. |
| Atheism | The denial of the existence of a god or gods or any type of divine reality. |
| Contingent Being | A being whose existence logically depends upon the existence of something other than itself; a being that could logically not exist as well as exist. This applies to everything in the physical universe. |
| Cosmological Argument | An argument for the existence of God based upon observed properties in the natural world like causality and contingency. |
| Epicurean Paradox | An early expression of the Problem of Evil. |
| Forced Option | For James, a choice that is unavoidable. |
| Free Will Defense | An argument that attempts to explain the existence of evil as necessary for human freedom. |
| Genuine option | For James, a choice that is forced, living and momentous. |
| Greater Good Defense | An argument that attempts to explain the existence of evil as necessary for leading to a greater good for all. |
| Kalam Argument | A cosmological argument for the existence of God stressing that the universe must have a first cause. |
| Living Option | For James, a choice that is still available to you. |
| Momentous Option | For James, a choice that has huge consequences. |
| Monotheism | The belief in the existence of only one God that created yet transcends the universe. |
| Moral Evil | The evil caused by human beings. |
| Natural Evil | The evil caused by forces of nature. |
| Natural Theology | The effort to use reason alone, without appeal to scripture, to make claims about the divine. |
| Necessary Being | A being whose existence logically depends upon nothing other than itself for explanation; a being that cannot “not” exist. |
| Non-evidentialism | The philosophy that acknowledges that proofs of God’s existence come short but stresses the inevitability of having to choose for or against God nonetheless. |
| Omnibenevolence | The claim that God is all good. |
| Omnipotence | The claim that God is all powerful. |
| Omnipresence | The claim that God is everywhere. |
| Omniscience | The claim that God is all knowing. |
| Ontological Argument | An argument for the existence of God based not upon observation but using only deductive reasoning from principles. |
| Ontos | Greek for pure being or existence. |
| Predicate | An attribute or characteristic of something. |
| Principle of Sufficient Reason | The claim that everything that exists must have an explanation for why it exists. |
| Result of Sin Defense | An early attempt to explain evil and suffering as a consequence of human sinfulness. |
| Spiritual Purification Defense. | An argument that attempts to explain the existence of evil as necessary for the pursuit of virtue and character. |
| Teleological Argument | An argument for the existence of God based upon apparent design or purpose in the universe. |
| Theism | The belief in the existence of a god or gods. |
| Theophany | An argument that attempts to explain the existence of evil in the world, especially if God is claimed to both exist and be all powerful and be good. |
