Theism and Atheism

Published 8 March 2019

Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy is a peer-reviewed, academic volume that has two separate editors in chief, with their respective editorial boards. The atheism side is led by Graham Oppy (Australian philosopher, Monash University). The theism side is led by Joseph Koterski, S.J. (American philosopher, Fordham University) and includes Christian, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers.


The two editorial boards worked together to identify twenty key topics in philosophical debates regarding arguments for and against the existence of God (e.g., Religious Experience, Miracles, Our Universe, Human Beings, Science, Religious Diversity, etc.). The single volume is composed of forty total chapters. The format is such that an author taking the side of theism composes a chapter on a topic, followed by an atheism author covering the same topic (e.g., "Miracles: Theism" followed by "Miracles: Atheism").

The title presents complex philosophical counter perspectives in a lucid manner. It grapples with issues that have occupied philosophers for more than two millennia. These include the sufficiency/insufficiency of an empirical explanation for the existence of the universe; the capacity/incapacity of the empirical sciences to draw conclusions about a possible infinite being; the validity/invalidity of philosophical arguments regarding the existence of an infinite being; various notions of infinity; the "problem of evil," and so on.