ABSTRACT
The literature in philosophy of religion and theology is full of discussions of realism. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The debates between theological realists and theological anti-realists generate more heat than light. We need the distinction because people must allow that some may think it apt to give a realist interpretation of the fundamental claims or concepts of a theistic tradition such as Christianity while denying this interpretation to the adumbration of these claims in theological reflection. The first distinction we need is between types of realism and the various objects of realist/anti-realist analysis. An account of what it is for a system of thought to have a providential picture of the relation between a putative theos and the world can be given by exploring the relation between religion and the notions of good and evil.
