Recommended Philosophical and Theological Works

Dr. Jonathan M. Gold

 

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Topic

Author

Title

Gold Comments

 

Husserl, Edmund

The Crises of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology

“a great book by a great philosopher”

Advanced Logic

Fitting and Mendelsohn

First-Order Modal Logic

 

Advanced Logic

Girle, R.

Modal Logics:  Modal Logics and Philosophy 

 

Arminian Systematic Theology

John Miley

Systematic Theology

best one

Barth

Bromily, Geoffrey

Introduction to the Theology of Karl Barth

This book surveys the church

dogmatics as well as any could.  It will give you an idea of the lay of the

land like a road map

Barth

George

Hunsinger

How to read Karl Barth:

The Shape of His Theology

an excellent book and most of the book tests out

his claims about the patterns in Barth’s Theology in terms of the many sidedness

of Barth’s concept of truth!!!!!!!

Barth

Ramm, Bernard

After Fundamentalism

Bernard Ram, "After Fundamentalism" a book written to

recommend Barth to evangelicals not only as a great

theologian but as an Apologist!!

Being

Emonet, Pierre-Marie

The Dearest Freshness Deep Down Things: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Being

Each of these  books is under 150 pages. He uses meditation, poetry, Aristotle, Aquinas, Maritain and plenty of description of beings in order to get the reader to see Being in the way that I write about it.  I am using these books in my morning devotions, right now and getting great joy.  These books and then Sweeney's more technical but also very rooted in experience metaphysics would give you a solid basis for understanding being.  You will see then, I hope, that much of the philosophical task is description of what we experience.  This is basic data to deal with and to seek to thematically study and know better, if we want to learn from reality rather than impose untested ideas and theories on reality [as does modernism and postmodernism] while failing to listen to our own being, the being of other people, the being of knowing and the being of the known and the being of God who is omnipresent in all things etc.

Being

Emonet, Pierre-Marie

The Greatest Marvel of Nature: An Introduction to The Philosophy of the Human Person

 

Being

Emonet, Pierre-Marie

God seen in the Mirror of the World: An Introduction to the Philosophy of God

 

Being

Gilson, E

Being and Some Philosophers

 

Being

Gilson, E

The Unity of Philosophical Experience

He shows how the departure
from the study of being in Modern philosophy led to the shipwreck and How the
metaphysics of Being always buries its undertakers!!! 

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Calvin, John

Institute of the Christian Religion

in a class by itself!

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Turretin

Institutes of Elenctic Theology, 3 Volumes

a classic

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Hodge, AA

Outlines of Theology

also very helpful

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Gill, John

The Body of Divinity

 

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Gill, John

Cause of God and Truth

 

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Owen, John

Anything!

 

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Edwards

A Strict Inquirty into the Freedom of the Will

 

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Cunningham

Historical Theology

Solid systematic considerations

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Reymond, R

A New Systematic Theology

 

Calvinistic Systematic Theologies

Pink, Arthur

Almost everything he wrote!

 

Coherence Truth

Rescher, Nicholas

The Coherence Theory of Truth

Perhaps the best book
ever written on coherence truth

Epistemology

Husserl, Edmund

Transcendental and Formal Logic

this book displays “a tremendous sense of finitude of the intellect and the finitude of our knowledge while still holding on to absolute truths where they are legitimate and justified as such”

Epistemology

Clouser, Roy

The Myth of Neutrality: An Essay on the Hidden Role of Religious Belief

in Theories

“This is a great book by a very clear and passionate writer who is a committed

Calvinist and analytical philosopher.”

Epistemology

Clouser, Roy

Knowing with the Heart: Religious Experience and Belief in God.

 

Epistemology

Dooyeweerd, Herman

A New Critique of Theoretical Thought

“The monumental work of Christian Philosophy in the 20th Century”

Epistemology

Grossmann, Reinhardt

The Fourth Way

“one of the most exciting books in Epistemology that I have ever read”

Epistemology

Mensch, James

Knowing and Being:  A Postmodern Reversal

Mensch is with it! Grounded in premodern, modern, and postmodern thought, he is doing creative retrieval of premodern ways of being and areas of being for postmodern folk in the 21st century!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Epistemology

Mensch, James

After Modernity:  Husserlian Reflections on a Philosophical Tradition

 

Epistemology

Owens, Joseph

Cognition  An Epistemological Inquiry

“a Thomistic

approach to knowledge which I basically share”

Epistemology

Torrance

Theological Science

 

Epistemology

Torrance

Reality and Evangelical Theology

 

Both of these books are Theological and Christian epistemology of the

highest

order!    He is a Barthian  but an original thinker as well and he

makes

major

points of great value for any person who wants a Christian Epistemology

that

can

be Postmodern without the bad points.  I will call this "responsible

postmodernism."

- well it would give you a new paradigm for Christian epistemology which you

will not get from philosphers.  Why not do that next.  Better than all of Van

Til and Bahnsen, or so I think

 

Foundationalism

Heidegger, Martin

Being and Time - Macquarrie and Robinson Translation

“a great book” and “a direct response to the dead end of Carteisianism and its obliviosness to the being of the "am" in the "I think therefore, I am."”

One of the Great Philosophy Books of 20th Century

 

Radically opposed to Cartesian Foundationalism and providing a new kind of Foundationalism in a contextualized theory of Being and Human Being

Foundationalism

McGrew, T

A Defense of Foundationalism

 

Foundationalism

Fales, Evan

The Given

 

Foundationalism

Kelly, D

The Evidence of the Senses

 

Foundationalism

Pols, Edward

Radical Realism

Radical Realism

Showing we are  always beyond our conceptual and linguistic frameworks and not imprisoned in them at all!

Foundationalism

Rasmussan

The Triumph of Realism

Same as RR above

Free Will

Edwards, Jonathan

A Strict Inquiry into the Freedom of the Will

 

Free Will

Pink, Arthur

Total Depravity

 

Free Will

Pink, Arthur

Man’s Spiritual Impotence

 

Free Will

Fischer, John Martin

The Metaphysics of Free Will

 

Free Will

Helm, Paul

The Providence of God

 

Free Will

White, James

The Potter's Freedom: A Defense of the Reformation and a Rebuttal of Norman Geisler's "Chosen But Free

 

Free Will

Pink, AW

The Sovereignty of God

a consideration of Pink's arguments would be a very solid exercise in coming to know what the Bible says about God, sin and its effects, and Grace in salvation

Free Will

Owen, John

A Display of Arminianism

an old but not dated look at the presuppositions and arguments of Arminianism

General Philosophy

 

A Great Introduction to Philosophy for new beginners and perpetual beginners!

Scruton, Roger

Modern Philosophy

“an excellent introduction from an excellent

analytical philosopher” & “informative,clearly written and has very informative study guides and bibliography for each

chapter”

Heidegger

Gelvin, Michael

Commentary on Being and Time

A

commentary that I first used in 1970 and then two years ago, is Michael Gelvin

Commentary on Being and TIme.  Very good!  Both are in PB.]

 

Heidegger

Polt, J

title not known – an intro to Heidegger

He has written a very good introduction to Heidegger and what he is

about and most of the book is a about "Being and Time."  Excellent help.

History of  Analytic Philosophy

Passmore, John

The last Hundred Years in Philosophy

Dr. Gold recommends this book on the history of philosophy

History of Philosophy

Copleston, Frederick C

History of Philosophy

“probably the best multi-volume history of philosophy”

History of Philosophy

Edwards, Paul

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy

“a great help”

History of Philosophy


Hamlin, D. W.

 

The Pelican History of Western Philosophy


Hamlin is “an excellent philosopher”

Informal Logic

Mullen

Hard Thinking

a direct assualt on relativisms and pomo type thinking

Intellectual Virtues

Moreland, JP

Discipleship of the Mind

 

Jonathan Edwards

Jenson, Robert

Jonathan Edwards: A Recommendation. 

“I recommend Robert Jenson, a famous and contemporary Lutheran Theologian's book, "Jonathan Edwards: A Recommendation.  Jenson wrote that book about 20 years ago for the purpose of waking up sleeping wishy washy Christendom to the real Christianity of the Bible.  He recommends Edwards because Edwaerds is very Bible based and counter cultural to the baptized lion clubs  that make up so much of Christendom.”

Language

Hale, Robert  and Crispin Wright

A Companion to the Philosophy of Language (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy)

 

Logic

Allen and Hand

Logic Primer

Best natural deduction system, this book was designed to be used with a teacher

Logic

Bergmann, Moor, and Nelson

The Logic Book

Best all around book for standard logic

Logic, History of

Bochenski’s, IM

A History of Formal Logic

 

Open Theism

Frame, John

No Other God:  A Response to Open Theism

 

Open Theism

Ware, Bruce

God’s Lesser Glory:  The Diminished God of Open Theism

 

Open Theism

Wright, RK McGregor

No Place for Sovereignty:What is wrong with Freewill Theism

 

OT

Birch, Brueggeman, Fretheim, Petersen

A Theological

Introduction to the Old Testament

 

OT, pomo, epistemology

Walter Brueggermann

Theology of the Old Testament

I want to recommend to you, in terms of postmodernism and Bible studies,

the first self-consciously Postmodern Old Testament Theology.  I have

just spent two hours from 4Am to 6AM reading it and it is a wonderful

book!

 

Walter Brueggemann  Theology of the Old Testament!  This book is very

relevant to your concerns about postmodernism and epistemology.

 

Philosophy of Religion

Ross, James

Philosophical Theology

“a great book”

Philosophy of Religion

Ross, James

Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion

“an excellent

short introduction to philosophy of religion”

Polanyi

Torrance

Belief in Science and in Christian Life: The Relevance of Michael

Polyani's

Thought for Christian Faith and Life

 

Postmodernism

Johnson, William S.

The Mystery of God: Karl Barth and the PostModern Foundations of

Theology"

 

Presuppositional Apologetics

Bahnsen, Greg

Van Til's Apologetic : Readings and Analysis

“…over half of it is the writings of Van Til, judiciously selected by Bahnsen and illuminated by his commentary; [This book] is the place to begin a study of both Van

Til and Bahnsen.”

Realism

Devitt, Michael

Realism and Truth

“excellent book”

Realism

Devitt, Michael

Realism and Truth

 

Realism

Wild, John

Introduction to Realistic Philosophy

[Incidently, what I am calling premodern is

also called “classical realism.”  If you want a reliable introduction to

classical realism, the book to get is John Wild “Introduction to

Realistic Philosophy.”

Realism

Devi

 

 

Reality

Brunner, Emil

Christian Dogmatics (esp., 3)

In both books he makes a big deal about how the church objectivised

itself

because it fell into propositionalism as the necessary effect of

falling

away

from moment by moment communication with the Lord.

Reality

Brunner, Emil

Truth as Encounter

 

Reformed Epistemology

Plantinga, Alvin

Warrant: The Current Debate

“simply a great philosopher” & “His work in Epistemology is must reading”

Reformed Epistemology

Plantinga, Alvin

Warrant and Proper Function

 

Reformed Epistemology

Plantinga, Alvin

Warranted Christian Belief

 

Thinking

Sertillanges, AG

The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods

Hard intellectual work
does not mean reading many books!  It means acquiring the skills and the habits of intellectual work!   Best book on this topic 

 

 

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