Great Throughts Treasury
This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
D. Z. Phillips, fully Dewi Zephaniah Phillips
Academician, Leading Proponent of Wittgensteinian Philosophy of Religion, Danforth Chair in Philosophy of Religion at Claremont Graduate University, California and was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Swansea University
"The prayer is an attempt at influencing the divine will. In short, one is back in the realm of superstition. It is true that love of god’s will can be found in whatever happens, but the prayer of petition is best understood, not as an attempt at influencing the ways things go, but as an expression of, and a request for, devotion to God through the way of things."
"Clearly a man’s commitment to God shows itself in the language he uses, not only about God, but about the world and his general behavior."
"Disinterested inquiry doesn’t mean not interested."