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The Kalam Cosmological Argument Library of Philosophy and Religion

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The Kalam Cosmological Argument Library of Philosophy and Religion THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT LIBRARY OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION General Editor: John Hick, H. G. Wood Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham This new series of books will explore contemporary religious understandings of man and the universe. The books will be contributions to various aspects of the continuing dialogues between religion and philosophy, between scepti­ cism and faith, and between the different religions and ideologies. The authors will represent a correspondingly wide range of viewpoints. Some of the books in the series will be written for the general educated public and others for a more specialised philosophic<tl or theological readership. Already published William H. Austin THE RELEVANCE OF NATURAL SCIENCE TO THEOLOGY Paul Badham CHRISTIAN BELIEFS ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH William Lane Craig THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGU­ MENT Lynn A. de Silva THE PROBLEM OF THE SELF IN BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY Padmasiri de Silva AN INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY Ramchandra Gandhi THE AVAILABILITY OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS J. C. A. Gaskin HUME'S PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION Hywel D. Lewis PERSONS AND LIFE AFTER DEATH Hugo A. Meynell AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOS­ OPHY OF BERNARD LONERGAN F. C. T. Moore THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF MORAL­ ITY Dennis Nineham THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE BIBLE Bernard M. G. Reardon HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION John J. Shepherd EXPERIENCE, INFERENCE AND GOD Robert Young FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY AND GOD Patrick Sherry RELIGION, TRUTH AND LANGUAGE­ GAMES Further titles in preparation THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT William Lane Craig ©William Lane Craig 1979 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1979 978-o-333-24809-6 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First published 1979 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in Delhi Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melbourne New York Singapore Tokyo Typeset in Great Britain by SANTYPE INTERNATIONAL LTD and printed by Billing & Sons Ltd Guildford, London and Worcester British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Craig, William Lane The Kalli.m cosmological argument. (Library of philosophy and religion). 1. Islamic theology I. Title II. Series 297'.211 BPI66 ISBN 978-1-349-04156-5 ISBN 978-1-349-04154-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-04154-1 TO MY WIFE JAN This book is sold subject IN to the standard conditions LOVE AND APPRECIATION of the Net Book Agreement Contents Preface lX PART I: HISTORICAL STATEMENTS OF THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT Introduction 3 al-Kindi I9 Saadia 37 al-Ghazali 42 ~~ ~ PART II: A MODERN DEFENCE OF THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT 6I Proposed Formulation of the Argument 63 Second Premiss: The Universe Began to Exist 65 First Premiss: Everything that Begins to Exist Has a Cause of Its Existence I4I Conclusion: The Universe Has a Cause of Its Existence I 49 N~~ I~ APPENDIX I: THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGU- MENT AND ZENO'S PARADOXES I75 APPENDIX 2: THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGU­ MENT AND THE THESIS OF KANT'S FIRST ANTINOMY I89 Index 207 Preface Does God exist? Most people today would probably regard this question as having great existential import, but as one to which rational arguments are irrelevant. But historically, this has not been the case. Ever since Plato, great thinkers have, until recently, regarded this as an issue central to rational philosophical inquiry, and they sought to prove or to disprove to the best of their ability that God exists. In this book, I seek to examine one particular proof for the existence of God: the kalam cosmological argument. Although its roots go even further back, the kalam argument as a proof for God's existence originated in the minds of medieval Arabic theologians, who bequeathed it to the West, where it became the centre of a hotly disputed controversy. Great minds on both sides were ranged against each other: al-Ghazali versus ibn Rushd, Saadia versus Maimonides, Bonaventure versus Aquinas. The central issue in this entire debate was whether the temporal series of past events could be actually infinite. Proponents of the kalam argument contended that it could not and that the universe therefore had an absolute beginning; but since the universe could not have sprung into existence uncaused out of nothing, there must exist a Creator of the universe, or God. In the first part of this book, I exposit the kalam arguments of al-Kindi, Saadia, and al-Ghazali, whose proofs for the existence of God constitute exemplary models of the historical kalam cosmological argument. In the book's second part, I attempt to assess the worth of the argument in light of modern developments in philosophy, theology, mathematics, and science. Here we con­ front some of the most baffling and, at the same time, exciting problems that have ever stretched the human mind: the nature of infinity, the beginning of time, the origin and destiny of the universe, the existence and nature of God. I would like to thank John Hick and Anthony Kenny for their reading of the text. I also wish to thank my wife Jan for her partnership in this enterprise, especially in the production of the typescript. I especially thank Mr Hugh Andersen and Mr and Mrs F. C. Andersen of the Andersen Foundation of the Baywood Corporation for their generous grant that made this research possible. WILLIAM LANE CRAIG Albertville, France .
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