Review by Choice Review
This book is a collection of essays in metaphysics and philosophy of religion. The contributors include many prominent analytic philosophers, most of whom happen to be theists--e.g., Robert Adams, Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, and Peter van Inwagen. Their essays are organized around the theme of the nature of persons both human and divine, as the title indicates. The book is divided into five sections: "Idealism," "Dualism," "Materialism," "Embodiment and the Value of Persons," and "Personhood in Christian Doctrine." Some of the essays have direct application to theistic concerns (e.g., Plantinga's "Materialism and Christian Belief"), whereas others (e.g., van Inwagen's "A Materialist Ontology of the Human Person") seem to be pure metaphysics. In his introduction, Zimmerman laments the fact that practitioners of analytic philosophy and of theology/religious studies have drifted apart, a phenomenon that he traces back to the mid-20th century, when positivism and ordinary language philosophy, both hostile to theology, reigned in analytic philosophy. He argues that this book is evidence that times have changed, reconciliation is in order, and research such as this in analytic philosophy should be of great interest to theologians. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. J. Hoffman University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
