Includes bibliographical references and index.

Butler and deism / David Brown -- Deus absconditus : some notes on the bearing of the hiddenness of God upon Butler's and Pascal's criticism of deism / Albino Babolin -- The 'spiritual sovereign' : Butler's episcopate / Christopher Cunliffe -- Bishop Butler and the Zeitgeist : Butler and the development of Christian moral philosophy in Victorian Britain / Jane Garnett -- Butler as a Christian apologist / Basil Mitchell -- Butler and human ignorance / Terence Penelhum -- A God most particular : aspects of incarnation in Butler's morality / Gordon Kendal -- Butler and immortality / T.A. Roberts -- Our knowledge of ourselves / Anders Jeffner -- Butler on conscience and virtue / Brian Hebblethwaite -- Conscience as self-authorizing in Butler's ethics / Stephen Darwall -- Butler on self-love and benevolence / R.G. Frey.

Butler on benevolence / David McNaughton -- Butler on God and human nature / Alan Millar.

The essays in this book mark the tercentenary of the birth of Bishop Joseph Butler, the leading theologian of the Church of England in the 18th century and also an important moral philosopher. Thirteen distinguished contributors cover the full range of Butler's theological and philosophical writings--from his Christian apologetic against the deists to his discussion of the role of conscience in the moral agent--as well as setting them in their historical context and suggesting their relevance to contemporary religious and philosophical issues. At a time when there is a renewed interest in Butler's thought as well as in the theological positions he was opposing, it is both timely and appropriate that these detailed studies should not be made available. The Bishop of Durham has written a Foreword introducing the volume.