This section includes brief biographies of some of those modern thinkers that have contributed most to the philosophy of religion.

Among those included is Alvin Plantinga. Plantinga’s work on reformed epistemology has had a major impact on Christian philosophy, and his application of modal logic to the ontological argument also received much attention.

Perhaps the most influential Christian philosopher, though, is Richard Swinburne. Swinburne’s Existence of God, among the most important recent works in the field, constructed a cumulative case for God’s existence by combining various theistic proofs, rather than treating them individually. Though most of his works are quite technical, he recently wrote a more accessible summary of his position, Is There a God?

William Lane Craig is another theist that has participated in the recent philosophical revival. A skilled public debater, Craig’s favoured argument is usually the kalam cosmological argument.

On the other side, Richard Dawkins and Michael Martin have presented powerful critiques of religion. Dawkins writes as a scientist, offering evolution as a sufficient explanation of phenomena often taken to require a God to create them. His work on religion and memetics is particularly critical of Christianity. Martin’s Atheism: A Philosophical Justification is an excellent defence of an atheistic world-view.

One atheist champion, however, Antony Flew, recently recanted, citing scientific developments and the argument to design as persuasive evidence for the existence of God. Flew still maintains that life after death is impossible, and continues to reject all purported special revelation, but now describes himself as a kind of deist.