"Will be of interest to anyone who takes the meaning of life question seriously. But Masterson's style is non-polemical, so it could appeal to religious people as well as atheists. I'm unaware of another book that does these things."
~Joseph G. Trabbic, Ave Maria University
"Patrick Masterson has done it again. Masterson is a master of making classical texts come alive and entering them in dialogue with the prevailing savants---here the views of humanists, naturalists, and phenomenologists---and then graciously correcting them by means of the perennial wisdom of Thomas Aquinas. The prose is elegant, the arguments lucid, the assessments judicious, and all cast in a touchingly personal story of love and emergence. What else can I say--except read it!"
~John D. Caputo, author of I n Search of Radical Theology: Expositions, Explorations, Exhortations
"A multilayered and, in its relatively short span, a remarkably ambitious book. Exposing the failure of scientific naturalism to face questions of ultimate meaning, Masterson offers a stout defense of traditional metaphysics. The result is a rare kind of book that will richly reward philosophers and theologians-- and, not least, nonspecialist readers searching for that wisdom which is the fruit of imaginative and disciplined inquiry seasoned by a long, fully lived life."
~Joseph Dunne, Dublin City University
"Patrick Masterson consolidates a lifetime’s work in philosophy to shape a compelling argument in support of the Christian claim that love is stronger than death. Written with intellectual generosity, characteristic lucidity, wit, and humility, Masterson’s work traces diverse trajectories of contemporary thought to demonstrate an ongoing need for a realist metaphysics in the philosophy of religion. In Reasonable Hope is addressed to the educated lay reader seeking to make sense of life in dialogue with contemporary philosophy and theology."
~Robyn Horner, Australian Catholic University
"Patrick Masterson goes for the big questions. Boldly taking on the most recent arguments of phenomenology, linguistic philosophy, and scientism, the author reengages the perennial enigmas of western metaphysics---ontology, theism, love. And the greatest of these is love. A masterful testimony to a life of deep thinking, teaching, and writing."
~Richard Kearney, Boston College
"A masterpiece of insight and erudition, the fruit of a lifetime’s profound reflection. Challenging the limits of linguistic and phenomenological approaches to questions of ultimate meaning, Masterson makes a compelling case for the perennial value of classical realist metaphysics. His account goes beyond traditional arguments for immortality and the existence of God, to discern in the enduring love of the beloved the reasonable promise of both. More than a theoretical treatise, In Reasonable Hope is a vibrant and mindful discourse straight from the heart, something rare in philosophy today."
~Fran O'Rourke, University College Dublin
"Masterson’s new book is unique in so many ways, above all in its intellectual generosity. It is at once a plea against materialist reductivisms and a defense of the place of reason within faith’s exploration of the divine, and then so much more. For it is also an apologetic for Christian faith by way of an apologia pro vita sua, mediated through recollections of his wife,Frankie, that has resonances of Dante’s love for his Beatrice. It is a work of reason and beauty."
~Denys Turner, Yale Divinity School
" In Reasonable Hope is an eloquent orchestration — in lucid and flowing prose — of philosophical motifs, trends, and figures which are rarely brought into play in one book."
~The Furrow
"[Masterson] writes beautifully and describes complex philosophical and theological concepts with remarkable clarity. One gets a clear sense of the author as someone who is both fiercely intelligent and deeply motivated by love. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the philosophy of religion."
~University College Dublin Today
"Masterson’s books are always a cause for rejoicing. As much triumphs of style as of substance, so thoroughly has he built up his research over many years that he is able to marry a penetrating insight and iron discipline with a most ingratiating manner that introduces his major theme almost casually and manages each transition with a clarity and sense of inevitability in the natural unfolding of his subject matter that the reader is surprised and flattered to be so well treated by an author who has gone to considerable lengths to ease the reader’s way but also to conceal the art and skill involved in doing so."
~Heythrop Journal
