This book is pretty useful in introducing the subject of Philosophy of Religion as separate to Theology or Religion itself. It covers most of the major problems pertaining religion. For a neophite in these like myself, it gave me quite a broad understanding of the major issues concerning the philosophy of religion. It also contains a list of books to review the subject in more depth. I like the last chapters, the first chapters are different proofs of the existence of God, and they may become somewhat tedious.

I would just like to join the chorus of praise offered by the other reviewers: Rowe's presentation of the standard topics in the philosophy of religion is remarkably clear. He manages to make the logical structure of these issues brilliantly explicit, even for philosophical novices. Anyone who has to teach these topics should consult Rowe's book as an aid to the preparation of lectures and hand-outs, even if they do not choose to use it as a course-text.

The first edition of Rowe's introductory text, PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, was one of my textbooks as an undergraduate. Rowe's presentation of the issues is great for beginners. I was also impressed by the balance in his treatment. This was nowhere more evident than in his discussion of the problem of evil: although Rowe pioneered the influential 'evidential' form of the argument from evil for atheism, he carefully and fairly lays out the issues in the debate over that argument.

I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in the phil. of religion.

This is a good text although I suspect that any students lower than higher-intermediate or advanced undergraduate levels would find it very difficult. I found it to often presuppose that the reader was already fairly philosophically sophisticated, so I suspect the introductory student would get quite lost (and bored), unless the class were going at a quite slow speed (which is often the speed that good philosophy is done). So, I don't think I'd recommend this book to students without much philosophy background. It'd be good for more advanced students though.

The 'Notes' and 'For Further Reading' sections were full of good sources for scholars and students to track down.

Many philosophers are struck with the unbearable "long-windedness", which is in fact surprising when you consider their aim of rationality. Wainwright's Philosophy of Religion deals beautifully with the dreaded long-windedness through concise exegeses and a thoughtful introduction to many of the pressing topics in this field. This is definitely the book to get for beginners.