Just got back from the Open Theology and Science conference held April 10-12, 2008 at Asuza Pacific University. It was quite a fun conference. My wife and baby daughter accompanied me, and we all had a good time. Baby Janelle was a big hit with the other participants. Unfortunately, one of the presenters, Bill Hasker,… Read More »
The next four days I’ll be at an “Open Theology and Science” conference at Azusa Pacific University in California. While there, I’ll be reading a paper entitled “The Fourfold Openness of the Future” in which I distinguish between four different ways in which the future may be thought of as “open” – causal, ontic, alethic,… Read More »
A couple weeks ago, right around Easter, my daughter Janelle had her first quarter-birthday. Here are four of my favorite pictures. (click to enlarge) Proud Father Porcelain Doll Wide Eyed Say What?
A couple weeks ago I was offered a one-year postdoc position at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for the Philosophy of Religion. It’s a great opportunity that my wife and I are both excited about. While there, I’ll be working on a book project. Tentatively entitled “The Openness of the Future and the Openness… Read More »
I am of the opinion that God cannot have infallible foreknowledge of creaturely libertarian free choices. I’d like to try to explain why I think this. First, I should define my terms. By ‘infallible’ I mean the impossibility of error. By ‘foreknowledge’ I mean knowledge of an event that is temporally prior to that event.… Read More »
One of this week’s reading is Theodore Drange’s article “Incompatible-Properties Arguments: A Survey”, in which he presents several arguments aimed at showing that various attributes of God that many theists affirm result in contradictions. In my view, most of these alleged contradictions are fairly easy for a careful theist to avoid. Others are more challenging.… Read More »
I’d like to offer some thoughts comparing three different models of divine providence in relation to the problem of evil. The models I want to discuss are (1) theological determinism (hereafter ‘Calvinism’), (2) Molinism, and (3) open theism. [Full disclosure: My sympathies are with (3).] By ‘Calvinism’ I mean the view that God has meticulously… Read More »
This is an example of why theological claims ought to be taken seriously as objective truth claims and not, as the counselor in this scene suggests, as simply matters of perspective (“It’s up to each one of us to interpret what God wants”). Francis Beckwith’s comments on this scene are apt: He is guilty, and… Read More »
This week we’re looking at the problem of evil, so here’s something to think about. Atheist B.C. Johnson in The Atheist Debater’s Handbook argues that it is unlikely that God is all good, and hence unlikely that God exists (b/c theists universally suppose God to be all-good). Johnson begins his case with an illustration. Imagine… Read More »
In class today I described the cosmic fine-tuning version of the design argument and the standard “many universes” counter-hypothesis. I also described how each side can appeal to Ockham’s Razor (don’t complicate explanatory hypotheses more than necessary) as a tie-breaker. The problem with such appeals, I said, is that Ockham’s Razor can be wielded in… Read More »