The book that I am using is Louis Pojman’s and Michael Rea’s ‘Philosophy of Religion’ anthology, 4th ed, by Thomson and Wadsworth, 2008. It is an alright book, but I preferred the older editions that were prior Rhea.
Anyway, the book’s selections have plenty of non-technical but philosophical texts, such as James’ ‘Will to Believe’ and Russell’s ‘Free Man’s Worship,’ along with technical essays such as Plantiga’s defenses of evil and free will.
A strategy I employed in teaching across the board, initially, was to have one class per week dedicated to the discussion of the texts, then a lecture. However, the community college environment usually means that there are not enough people willing or ready to dive into a critical analysis of the technical works. Meanwhile, lectures, while useful in both cases, have their greatest strength while discussing technical works. Therefore, in the next semester, I will try to have discussions solely on non-technical pieces, while lectures more devoted to the technical pieces. However, there will be cross-over, as the technical pieces should still be discussed by students. But perhaps using the discussion after the lecture, while presenting them with a specific problem to solve as a group, will be the most effective way to prepare them for that discussion (generally, we discuss first to stimulate curiousity and cultivate students’ opinions, then follow that with a lecture).
Natural Causes 