This book discusses five broadly historical phases of the philosophy of religion. Christianity, Judaism and Islam are the religions that have been entangled with Greek philosophy and are such the main religious subjects of the book. If one sees one of the main purposes of religion as the resolution of the problem of the scope of human reason (a reasoning man has evolved driven by limited environmental experience but by that evolved reason he thinks he can understand his life and the universe), then Plato’s philosophy of religion brings the solution back into the problem and as such was a huge mistake. From this perspective, Max Charlesworth’s book can be seen as the history of a gradual retreat of philosophy from the sphere of religion, a gradual reversal of Plato’s big mistake.

Criticisms? I was going to raise a few objections here to some of the arguments put foreword in the book but I have reconsidered. A review is not really the place for a debate. I will say that the reader should read this book critically, carefully and thoughtfully. The frustrating thing about a book like this is that you can’t sit down with the author and discuss it. I was reading this book on my daily train trip to work and several of the trips were done while I pondered a single page.

I will say that I was a little disappointed with the conclusion. The conclusion is a short chapter discussing some very good reasons for the book having no conclusions. I think even academic readers would have forgiven the author for some unsupported personal opinion here.

As a Zen Buddhist (why would a Zen Buddhist read a book entitled “Philosophy and Religion”? you may well ask) I found some surprising echoes in Kant’s Practical Reason and in the later sections of the book. I have had some informal exposure to Western Philosophy but I had somehow failed to understand the deeply spiritual project of Kant’s work and which is really continued in post-modernists like Derrida.

To readers confronted by the pseudo-rational skepticism and atheism of recent years, this book will arm you.

This is a superb book. 5 stars. ( )