“on Love of all subjects, writing can carry conviction only if it is born of everything that a man has in him to say about it.” John Cottingham’s Philosophy of Religion made me think often of this remark by Bernard Williams. Writing in his characteristically clear, thoughtful and gently passionate style, Cottingham carries conviction precisely because he exercises this kind of generosity. And there is implicit in the book a modest exhortation to the reader to do likewise. By the end, even the most sceptical would have to acknowledge that to think seriously about the philosophy of religion requires not less than everything a person has in them.The book’s subtitle, “towards a more humane approach”, can perhaps best be understood as a combination of openne