E-Book Content
Int J Philos Relig (2008) 63:1 DOI 10.1007/s11153-007-9156-3
Acknowledgments
Published online: 11 December 2007 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007
Six of the articles published here were products of the 2007 Claremont Conference on the Philosophy of Religion organized by D. Z. Phillips and held in Claremont Graduate University in February 2007. Regrettably, Phillips’ sudden death on July 25, 2006 prevented him from participating in the conference, adding his voice and publishing the proceedings as he had done in previous years. This publication would not have been possible without the efforts of many persons, beginning with Patrick Horn, one of Phillips’ doctoral students and now Associate Dean and Assistant Professor in the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. It is a privilege to welcome him as co-editor. I also wish to acknowledge the generous financial support given to the conference by Claremont Graduate University, Pomona College and Claremont McKenna College and the authors of the essays who contribute to the funding of future conferences by waiving their claims to royalties. In Swansea, Helen Baldwin was instrumental in facilitating correspondence with the conference participants. In Claremont Jacquelyn Hunter managed most of the conference logistics and finances and Ray Bitar assisted with correspondence and the coordination of the work provided by graduate students during the conference. In South Carolina Margaret Weck facilitated correspondence and organized the papers for publication. Thanks to all of these persons whose expertise and cheerful assistance helped in significant ways to make the conference and this publication possible. Eugene Thomas Long
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Int J Philos Relig (2008) 63:3–6 DOI 10.1007/s11153-007-9155-4
Ethics of belief: introduction Eugene Thomas Long
Received: 19 October 2007 / Accepted: 19 October 2007 / Published online: 28 November 2007 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007
This volume is presented as a tribute to the life and work of D.Z. Phillips. Six of the articles were originally presented at the annual conference on the philosophy of religion organized by Phillips and held at Claremont Graduate University, February 9–10, 2007. Unfortunately, Phillips did not live to participate in the conference itself. He died unexpectedly July 25, 2006 in the library of his beloved University of Wales, Swansea. Previously published volumes of essays, based on conferences organized by Phillips in Claremont, included a chapter entitled, “Voices in Discussion,” in which Phillips provided his own reactions to the discussions written almost immediately after the conference. Sadly, this volume appears without the addition of his voice. Born in Morriston, near Swansea, Phillips was a Welsh speaker, a strong supporter of Welsh speaking schools and the author of many works in philosophy and literature in Welsh and English. Known widely as the leading representative of the movement in the philosophy of religion called Wittgensteinianism, Phillips spent much of his effort challenging the tendency of philosophers to elevate one kind of discourse to the point where it becomes the norm by which other forms of discourse are to be judged. He argues that many contemporary philosophers of religion are obsessed by what they call the reality of God or the so-called real existence of God where real existence means existing in the manner of humans and physical objects. On Phillips’ view, coming to see there is a God is not like coming to see that an additional being exists, not even an absolute being. On his account, both idealists and empirical realists miss the point. To speak of God as a religious reality is to speak not theoretically, but from the religious context of a life of struggle and hope, of life transformed and absolutely grounded by grace