Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God: Traditional Arguments, Criticisms, and New Direction

This book defines the cosmological argument and a brief overview of the history of the history of the argument is examined. The three traditional forms of the argument are reviewed with the Thomist, kalām, and Leibniz-Clarke versions as representative of those forms. In the main body of this work, ten criticisms of the argument are briefly surveyed followed by an overview of nine contemporary versions of the argument with the purpose of reworking and reframing it. Eight of those new versions are theistic and one is an atheistic form of the argument. The criticisms and new forms of the argument are not exhaustive but rather are a representative cross-section of the work that has been done on the cosmological argument. The conclusion reviews some recent cosmological and astrophysical discoveries of the last century that have strengthened the argument. Finally, the importance of the cosmological argument and future challenges for theists to improve and strengthen the argument are made.