Book Review Example: The Existence of God

Richard Swinburne is considered to be a formidable force in the field of religious philosophy. He has written numerous books and covered a variety of arguments and explanations based on religion.

Introduction

In seeking completion, the existence of God provides the answers to all mysterious phenomena experienced by a man and that cannot be explained scientifically. The explanations and justifications cover all aspects of life such that the existence of God provides answers even to the most mysterious of occurrences. The Existence of God is the second installment in Swinburne’s religious philosophy in which he seeks to ascertain the probability of God’s existence. The first part of the trilogy is The Coherence of Theism and the last part is Faith and Reason.

As one of the greatest proponents of theism, Richard Swinburne’s arguments in The Existence of God are considered as the strongest and most believable in the history of the theism debate. While he has had several criticisms on his arguments, the thoroughness with which he addresses all the existing counterarguments on the subject is simply unrivaled. This paper reviews the piece from the author’s approach, summarizing it and providing an insight on its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the possible effect on the reader.

Background Information

As an argumentative piece, The Existence of God examines the traditional and scientific arguments used for and against God’s existence. While the author does not state for a fact that God exists, he uses the arguments to prove that there is a larger probability of His existence than  non-existence. In the traditional arguments for His existence, the author explores subjects such as cosmology, teleology, morality, providence, consciousness and miracles so as to build a cumulative argument on the probability of God’s existence. He, however, does not endorse any one of these arguments as a single sufficient proof that God exists. To justify his thesis, the author largely dwells on the available counter arguments and seeks to discredit them (Swinburne 46).

The one most thoroughly dismantled is the existence of evil. In some instances, the existence of evil has been used as a proof that God does not exist. The author herein explores the possibility that God actually allows evil to exist so that mankind can acknowledge His existence in His acts of healing, redemption and deliverance among other things. The author also uses religious experience as an argument for the existence of God given that all religious groupings experience the same kind of awe regardless of what they believe in as long as they acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being. He reiterates that religious experience provides the proof that theism is probable simply due to its explanatory simplicity.

In The Existence of God, there are a number of doubts that are radically cleared from an atheist’s mind. The approach taken by Richard Swinburne is one that is basic and easy to comprehend so that the reader may be swayed if they understand the author’s intent in precision.

Summary

The book begins with an introductory paragraph in which the author clearly states his intentions as not necessarily to prove that God exists but rather “to reach a conclusion about whether on balance the arguments indicate that there is a God or that there is not” (p 68). This may appear quite modest compared to the title of the book, but in the end he does just that, proving that the probability of God’s existence is much higher than that of His non-existence.

The first chapter of the book is based on inductive arguments that seek to establish the probability of God’s existence. The second chapter is on the other hand built on the available explanations that make God’s existence a clear possibility. Here, the author explores scientific explanations and puts them up against personal explanations and natural laws. He also puts forward the existing explanations about the actions of God. The end result of this extensive comparison is that the so called mysterious phenomena that are deemed unexplainable in science and other disciplines are found explainable in the personal explanation of existence of God. The third chapter then offers justifications on the numerous explanations and actions of God. The author goes all out to rationally put the pieces together for a clear picture on the position of God in a scientific world.

The rest of the chapters are dedicated to arguments that can supplement the explanation of God’s existence such as Baye’s Theorem, the traditional arguments on God’s existence and religious experience before concluding in a very neat chapter that ties all these ideas together. Generally, The Existence of God is interesting to read and could be very informative and possibly life changing for an atheist.

Evaluation

The author uses arguments that are easy to understand and explain. In basing his work on existing arguments and counterarguments, Swinburne makes his entire work familiar to the reader and thus easy to read and understand. The strengths of this book are thus mainly on the arguments applied.

First, the existence of evil is the one most exploited argument against the existence of God. In dismantling this argument and proving its shaky basis, the author manages to tip the scales in favor of his thesis. He makes it easier for the reader to consider the existence of evil from a ‘good’ side where evil is only used to strengthen ‘good’, just as the light is more appreciated by people who have known darkness (Swinburne 74). Here the argument is that God allows evil to exist so that He can gift His goodness to mankind and they can notice and appreciate Him. Evidently, this argument makes sense even in the practical life of an atheist. One only appreciates the positives if they have encountered the negatives, whether directly or otherwise. This is a rational explanation on the actions of God, and it justifies the existence of evil despite its nature being parallel to God’s. 
    Another main strength herein is the manner in which the author explores the subject of religious experience. There are numerous religions, and some with conflicting ideas on the presence and nature of God. They all, however, have some experiences that are largely identical and can only be attributed to the existence of one God. It implies that all the religions subscribe to one Supreme Being based on their different perceptions and constructions of what He wants and expects of them. Given the simplicity engaged in explaining this religious experience, the probability of God’s existence becomes more realistic. 
    The author also explores a number of subjects that are popular in the arguments for and against the existence of God. For his tackling of Baye’s Theorem and other significant traditional and common arguments, he applies methods such as inductive reasoning, confirmation theory, moral realism, substance dualism and intrinsic probability for simple hypotheses. All these methods, in one way or the other, make his thesis more believable and certainly very intriguing.

Weakness

The one major and possibly only weakness in this book is the use of philosophical jargon. For a first time reader, this book may be extremely confusing especially if the reader is not familiar with philosophy. The author appears to be writing for an audience that is well versed with the arguments on atheism. For a theist individual, the arguments may be considered insufficient but for an atheist, they would be enough to plant sufficient doubts on the reality of the arguments that are against God’s existence. The author dwells more on tearing apart the counterarguments used by atheists and he thus neglects to fortify the arguments that are for God’s existence. Nevertheless, the book is meant to show that the probability of God’s existence is higher than that of His non-existence, implying that the book is specifically meant for the atheists.

Conclusion

In The Existence of God, the author seeks to establish that God is more likely to be real in terms of His existence given a higher probability shown in most natural phenomena and experiences. In this book, the author explores well known subjects and methods so as to highlight arguments that are not only believable but also sufficient in their own ways. The author applies a cumulative approach in bringing all the traditional arguments under one umbrella and dismantling the counterarguments in so much detail that it becomes unrecognizable in the end.

As a book intended to change the mind of an atheist, The Existence of God is not only effective but also very convincing in its subject handling and structure. As opposed to evasiveness, the author takes on the counterarguments with so much confidence and preparedness that they actually pave a way for the arguments used in the book’s thesis. As a philosopher in religion, Richard Swinburne takes on a controversial subject and gives it the light it deserves, possibly managing to expose the shaky grounds on which atheism is based on.

Work Cited

Swinburne, Richard. The Existence of God, 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2004. Print.