Bøker av Peter Kreeft

In Letters to an Atheist, esteemed philosopher and author Peter Kreeft corresponds with a young atheist who is wrestling with the question of God. Together they work through some of the primary reasons people don¿t believe in God, including violence committed in the name of religion, the problem of evil, and more. They also discuss many of the reasons for belief, including love, miracles, and the relationship between religion and science.The debate between atheists and theists today is often strident and angry, and understandably söthe debate encompasses fundamental questions about how we live our lives. As Kreeft writes, ¿if God does not exist, then religion is the biggest hoax, the biggest myth, the biggest lie in the history of the world.¿ However, Letters to an Atheist showcases a respectful exploration of some of life¿s biggest questions, trying to understand the opposing point of view. With characteristic warmth and clarity, Kreeft¿s letters offer believers and non-believers alike much to consider.

'"This book almost didn't exist. I was about to write a serious, heavy book entitled How To Save Western Civilization, as a sequel to my book How To Destroy Western Civilization and Other Ideas from the Cultural Abyss. But writing it was not making me happy, and reading it was not going to make anybody else happy either. And then I stopped just long enough for my guardian angel to squeeze through that tiny window of opportunity that I had opened up by my silence and to whisper this commonsense question into my subconscious: "Why not make them happy instead?" I started thinking: Western civilization is neither healthy, happy, nor holy. Humor is all three. Humor is not only holy, it's Heavenly. And if you are surprised to be told that humor is Heavenly, you need to read this book because you reveal your misunderstanding of both humor and Heaven. If you ask, 'Is there laughter in Heaven?' my answer is: 'You can't be serious!'"-- Back cover.

Peter Kreeft's Socrates enters the debate on abortion, considering the arguments of psychology, medicine and philosophy.

Peter Kreeft has finally produced his own Summa. His admirers have been waiting for it for years without quite knowing what they were waiting for. Kreeft asks all the basic questions. He answers them, an even greater feat. Nothing is more needed in our academic world than a systematic working through of all the most important questions - both the ones we ask and the ones we should ask. Not only are the questions here but also the most sensible answers. No one else could do this welcome intellectual service quite so well or with quite so much wit and wisdom. The "reason" of the faith shines nowhere more clearly or more persuasively than in the work of Peter Kreeft. With this book, we have his finest gift to us, an account of the intelligibility of things, one that both makes sense and makes us aware of the vast wisdom that lies in the human mind and in the revelation addressed to it. - James V. Schall, s.j., Georgetown UniversityFirst, Peter Kreeft imitated the Socratic dialogue form to put Socrates in conversation with Jesus, Hume, Descartes, Kant, and Machiavelli. Now, in Summa Philosophica, Kreeft employs the medieval quaestio debate format used so successfully by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae. This tour-de-force takes up 110 perennial questions asked through the centuries. Kreeft covers questions about metaphysics, knowledge, and ethics, including, "Does evil disprove God's existence?", "Is time travel possible?", "Is the soul immortal?" and "Whether institutional religion has done more harm than good?" If you want a summary of all the most important questions in philosophy, as well as the most convincing answers to these questions, this book is the single most reliable and enjoyable guide available. - Christopher Kaczor, Loyola Marymount, is author of How to Stay Catholic in College and The Ethics of Abortion.

This new and revised edition of Peter Kreeft's Socratic Logic is updated, adding new exercises and more complete examples, all with Kreeft's characteristic clarity and wit. Since its introduction in the spring of 2004, Socratic Logic has proven to be a different type of logic text: . (1) This is the only complete system of classical Aristotelian logic in print. The "old logic" is still the natural logic of the four language arts (reading, writing, speaking, and listening). Symbolic, or "mathematical," logic is not for the humanities. (How often have you heard someone argue in symbolic logic?) (2) This book is simple and user-friendly. It is highly interactive, with a plethora of exercises and a light, engaging style. (3) It is practical. It is designed for do-it-yourselfers as well as classrooms. It emphasizes topics in proportion to probable student use: e.g., interpreting ordinary language, not only analyzing but also constructing effective arguments, smoking out hidden assumptions, making "argument maps," and using Socratic method in various circumstances. (4) It is philosophical. Its exercises expose students to many classical quotations, and additional chapters introduce philosophical issues in a Socratic manner and from a common- sense, realistic point of view. It prepares students for reading Great Books rather than Dick and Jane, and models Socrates as the beginner's ideal teacher and philosopher.

Looking at Jesus as a complete human being and philosopher, explores the most radical revolution in the history of philosophy--the differences Jesus made to metaphysics, epistemology, anthropology, and philosophical ethics and politics.

"No philosopher since Augustine had more strings to his bow than SK."

Humorous, frank, and insightful, this book challenges the reader to step in and take hold of what is right and to cast away what is wrong. Topics covered included such varied subjects as private property, the individual, the Three Philosophies of Man, women, individualism, and more. A wonderful introduction to philosophy for the neophyte, and a joy for the experienced student of thought. "Imagine two of the most influential thinkers of all time, and two of the most diametrically opposed, thrust together in a no holds barred debate about some of the most important questions: Does man move the world or is he only a puppet of forces beyond his control? Is there a human nature or only market forces? Is Communism the liberator of mankind or a deadly scourge? In Peter Kreeft's Socrates Meets Marx, the father of philosophy cross examines the founder of communism using the Communist Manifesto, details from the life of Marx himself, and the witnesses of history as evidence to be considered for judgment. If only every edition of the Communist Manifesto would have been bound together with a copy of this book, the world would be a much saner place." - Christopher Kaczor, author of Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition

This book is designed for three classes of people: Beginners who want an introduction to philosophy;Those who have already had an introduction to philosophy and who would like to see it in action now applied to a great book written by a great philosophy, but who have never read Plato's Republic, the most famous and influential philosophy book ever written;Those who have read Plato's Republic before but did not understand its deepest significance. Why is Plato the best introduction to philosophy? Peter Kreeft has taught philosophy for over 50 years, including one section of a course for beginners every semester. He has tried just about everything possible, and a few new things that are impossible. He has experimented with every one of the many alternative methods available for teaching beginners. (He has A.D.D., so he easily gets bored and likes to try new things all the time.) But he has never found anything nearly as successful as Plato. Plato is the best writer in the history of philosophy. Most philosophers are dull, undramatic, abstract writers. (There are a few other exceptions besides Plato: Augustine, Pascal, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard.) But Plato wrote dramatic dialogues, in which Socrates, his famous teacher, interacts with a great variety of fools. These dialogues are like intellectual swordfights, and even though you know Socrates is going to win, they are exciting because you see his ideas come alive, like a sword in the handoff a master. Plato is a great dramatist, a great poet, and a great psychologist as well as a great philosopher. Nobody else who ever lived combined those four talents as well as Plato did. Apprenticeship to a great master is the best way to learn any art. The student will understand what philosophy is better by watching a master do it than by reading abstract definitions of it from a second-rate philosopher, or by a mere scholar. Concrete examples are always the easiest way to learn things. Plato's dialogues are the world's first, and still the best, concrete example of philosophizing. Kreeft introduces his students to this love affair through a great matchmaker, Plato, who is a better teacher than the student will ever meet in the land of the living. In fact, Plato still is in the land of the living. He's still alive and kicking in his dialogues. He rubs off on those who are wise and humble enough to become a student.

Jesus Shock is the second in a series of short works on seminal concerns of the impact that Jesus Christ made in the world. The first work, The Philosophy of Jesus (St. Augustine's Press, 2007), explored philosophy in light of Jesus, rather than the other way around. The present work investigates the reception Jesus received both in His lifetime and continuously to the present time, not only from His enemies, but from His friends, a reception of shock, astonishment, even disgust. Perhaps a few remarks from the book best explains it: The point of the book: The point of the title: Imagine a storm has downed a telephone wire so that everyone who touches it is shocked in every cell of his body. Well, the storm of God's crazy love has "downed" (incarnated) Jesus, and everyone who touches this "live wire" is shocked in every cell of his soul. The question of the book: Why is "Jesus" the most non-neutral, the most controversial, the most embarrassing name in the world? Why is talking about Jesus like talking about sex? This whole book is really about a single movie line, the greatest line in the greatest movie in history. Bet you know what it is. Jesus-Shock is about the Real Presence of Christ in the Gospels and in the Eucharist. It is not about the theology of the Real Presence, but about the experience of Him there, and about the experience of everyone in the Gospels who met Him. What was the bitterest controversy of the Protestant Reformation, both between Protestants and Catholics and between different Protestant denominations, the one that had both sides calling the other not just heretics but devils? Answer: It was not Justification by Faith, the hallmark of the Reformation, even though that question is about nothing less momentous than how to be saved, how to get to Heaven. It was not the relation between religion and politics, even though that was a matter of life or death (literally, on battlefields and at guillotines and hangings) and not just a matter of truth or falsity, or of good or evil. It was not about the sufficiency of the Bible, or the corruption in the Church, or the relation between the Bible and the Church. It was not about the Pope, and the governance of the Church. It was not about Mary or saints or angels or Purgatory. It was not about the Incarnation or the Trinity or the Atonement. It was about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Jesus-Shock, in addressing this controversy forcefully and faithfully, shows the reasons why to this day the name of "Jesus" stirs up controversy, even revulsion, in polite society. In the true spirit of ecumenism, it also points the way toward a true rapprochement among His modern-day disciples.

In Before I Go, Kreeft presents lessons learned about life, faith, morality, priorities, marriage, and more, as his legacy to his children-and to readers. He shares his practical wisdom, as well as his concern for truth and goodness, in a warm and readable way.