Overview

You can argue about God forever, and not change your mind. Believers and non-believers often talk at cross purposes, both failing to grasp what is really going on when we argue about God. So where do we go when the facts run out? Philosophy. Braiding the thought of the Stoics, Spinoza, Kant and other leading philosophers together with meditations on religious experience, Christopher Insole takes us beyond the limits of reason to a place where we might find empathy and reverence for our fellow persons, all trying to get by. God might be the answer to a yearning for justice, or harmony, significance or freedom. Or God might be the answer to the shadows where our intellect cannot go. In these arguments about God, we might understand ourselves and others better, as the vulnerable, mortal creatures we are.

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9781836432159

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Reviews

'Could any book be as good as the title of this one? Yes! Reading this book is like having a really interesting conversation with a wise, learned man, by turns dense and learned, by turns light and humorous. It addresses the deepest questions we could ever ask ourselves; it draws on a profound knowledge of the great philosophers, especially Kant; and it is warm and loving. I know that I shall often return to it.' A. N. Wilson

'Could any book be as good as the title of this one? Yes! Reading this book is like having a really interesting conversation with a wise, learned man, by turns dense and learned, by turns light and humorous. It addresses the deepest questions we could ever ask ourselves; it draws on a profound knowledge of the great philosophers, especially Kant; and it is warm and loving. I know that I shall often return to it.' A. N. Wilson 'Philosophy as it ought to be done: thoughtful, modest, many-sided, engaging, deeply learned and absolutely accessible.  Christopher Insole won’t try to tell you what to think or how to feel, about God or anything else, but reading this book will surely open up new ways of thinking about belief, unbelief and much besides. The fruits of decades of learning and thinking are  offered here with a light touch, with humility, and with enormous generosity.' Karen Kilby, author of God, Evil and the Limits of Theology

'Could any book be as good as the title of this one? Yes! Reading this book is like having a really interesting conversation with a wise, learned man, by turns dense and learned, by turns light and humorous. It addresses the deepest questions we could ever ask ourselves; it draws on a profound knowledge of the great philosophers, especially Kant; and it is warm and loving. I know that I shall often return to it.' A. N. Wilson 'Philosophy and theology are not there to dispel the mysteries of life – even the frightening ones – but to lead us deeper into them. But for that, we need friends. This book is full of knowledge and love of philosophers and theologians of all stripes, and shares them generously. But above all, it befriends us, in our many fears and yearnings; and doing so, it gives us courage to figure out what our questions are.' Judith Wolfe, author of The Theological Imagination 'Philosophy as it ought to be done: thoughtful, modest, many-sided, engaging, deeply learned and absolutely accessible.  Christopher Insole won’t try to tell you what to think or how to feel, about God or anything else, but reading this book will surely open up new ways of thinking about belief, unbelief and much besides. The fruits of decades of learning and thinking are  offered here with a light touch, with humility, and with enormous generosity.' Karen Kilby, author of God, Evil and the Limits of Theology 'Powerfully felt, personally engaged, and lucidly presented, Insole’s fascinating study uncovers surprisingly different ways of believing or disbelieving in God, and helps us understand what such belief or disbelief really amounts to.' John Cottingham, author of In Search of the Soul 'Intelligent, compelling but above all compassionate, If God is the Answer, What is the Question? is a remarkable and necessary book for our troubled times. Writing with elegance, and wearing his erudition lightly, Insole offers a profound reconsideration of our connectedness to each other – and something we need even more: hope.' Anna Beer, author of Eve Bites Back 'We have forgotten just how capacious the concept of God can be. Breaking free from the procrustean argumentative bed that is standard academic philosophy of religion, Insole invites readers into a space of curiosity and empathy. We wave at past and future selves, listen to stories of love and loss, and encounter understandings of God as diverse as the mysterious deep order and harmony of the world, the necessary totality of everything, and the transcendent reality of freedom and reason. God can be much more and quite other than a supernatural being. An irresistibly winsome volume.' Jennifer A. Herdt, author of Assuming Responsibility 'This book is the clearest demonstration today of why philosophy matters. Surprisingly funny and deeply moving, If God is the Answer, What is the Question? is a book about God that is really about us: the different ways we get by, and how to see each other across those differences.' Lexi Eikelboom, author of Rhythm: A Theological Category 'Drawing beautifully on an array of first personal experiences, including his own, Christopher Insole develops a powerful vision of how we might converse about God, in ways that give due recognition to the rootedness of the language of God in the flow of life.' Mark Wynn, author of Spiritual Traditions and the Virtues: Living Between Heaven and Earth  'At the heart of Insole’s book is a story about faith. Not one that tells you what to believe or who, if anyone, to believe in, but one that yearns to discover the horizons of the life we live together. Insole reminds us that if God is the answer, then the question is one we must each discover.' Benjamin deSpain, author of Thinking Theologically about the Divine Ideas

Author Information

Christopher Insole is Professor of Philosophical Theology and Ethics at the University of Durham. He is the author of Negative Natural Theology as well as two major works on Kant’s thought: Kant and the Divine and The Intolerable God.

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