Existential Reasons for Belief in God: A Defense of Desires and Emotions for Faith
by Clifford Williams
ISBN 978-0-8308-3899-8
IVP Academic
Reviewed by Clint Walker
I have to admit. I am not impartial about anything written or said by Dr. Clifford Williams. Dr. Williams my professor in my Honors Introduction to Philosophy class my freshman year at Trinity International University. He was, infact, the teacher of the first class I ever took in college. His class was wonderful. It led a friend of mine to decide he was going to major in philosophy. And it taught us all how important it was to bring together the life of the mind and the life of faith.
It is no wonder that the first book of his that I have ever gotten to read is Existential Reasons for Belief in God: A Defense of Desires and Emotions for Faith. In this fine book Williams attempts to deconstruct the dualism between Emotions and Reason, Faith and the Intellect. He specifically does this in relation to decisions of faith, arguing that there is nohting irrational or immoral about having faith decisions generated by both our intellectual and emotional lives. In fact, as responsible humans, the realities of our emotional selves and our reason-driven selves should both be factored in to making wise, true, and ethical decisions. This is especially true regarding decisions about ultimate reality.
Existential Reasons for Belief in God is very deliberate and methodical in how it makes its case. It begins by setting the scene of arguments for faith in the world of philosophy, defining terms, and familiarizing his readers with the issues that need to be addressed. Then, it makes a well-reasoned argument in favor of "existential" arguments for faith in God. Next, Dr. Williams spends several chapters addressing objections to his thesis.
In addressing objections, Dr. Williams, true to his character, does not set up straw men to knock down. Instead, he addresses intelligent and thoughtful concerns with a lot of grace and equal measure of strong reason.
Next, Existential Reasons for Belief in God takes a few more chapters to further commend the importance of both existential and intellectual paths to a life of faith.
The result is a wonderful resource, and a treasured book to be kept on my shelf for many years.
All in all, I enjoyed this book. I would not commend it to everyone, as it is pretty heavy reading for the average person. But, to those who love the world of ideas, and love doing a lot of in-depth reading, I would recommend this book heartily. Happy Reading.
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