Selected great figures in the
history of philosophy of religion
Dates in medieval Indian philosophy are often, like those asterisked here,
approximate.
St Anselm [1033–1109 CE] One might begin with his Monologium and
Proslogium which center on the notion of God as that being than whom no greater
can be conceived and the ontological argument.
St Thomas Aquinas [1225–1274 CE] One might begin with Of Being and
Essence and then dip into Summa Theologica [Part I, Question 2, Articles 2, 3
contain his “Five Ways” or arguments for God’s existence] and Summa Contra
Gentiles (I, 12, 13 contains a fuller discussion of the argument for God’s existence).
Aristotle [384–322 BCE] One might begin by considering his discussion of God
or the Unmoved Mover in Metaphysics 12.
Augustine [354–430 CE] One might begin with his discussion of God and time
in Confessions, Book 11; The City of God is his longest and greatest philosophical–
theological work.
Averroes [1126–1198 CE] One might begin with The Incoherence of the
Incoherence which criticizes both Avicenna and Al Ghazali.
Avicenna [980–1037 CE] One might begin with the discussion of God as a
necessary being in The Metaphysica of Avicenna.
Samuel Clarke [1675–1729 CE] One might begin with A Demonstration of the
Being and Attributes of God; Part II contains a version of the cosmological
argument.
René Descartes [1596–1650 CE] One might begin with his Meditations on First
Philosophy.
Al Ghazali [1058–1111 CE] One might begin with The Incoherence of the
Philosophers which attempts to refute twenty philosophical propositions.
David Hume [1711–1776 CE] One might begin with his Natural History of
Religion and go on to the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Immanuel Kant [1724–1804] One might begin with his Prolegomena to Any
Future Metaphysic, and go on to the Critique of Practical Reason, and Religion
within the Limits of Reason Alone; the Critique of Pure Reason is his most
difficult work and most influential relative to the philosophy of religion.
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz [1646–1716 CE] One might begin with the
Principles of Nature and Grace and The Leibniz–Clarke Correspondence.
Madhva [1238–1317 CE]* One might begin with his Brahma-Sutra-Bhasya.
Moses Maimonides [1135/8–1204 CE] One might begin with his Guide for the
Perplexed, I, 71–II, 31, where he considers arguments for the existence of God, and