Plantinga responds to Dawkins’ _The God Delusion_

Now that it has officially been released, here is Plantinga’s review of Dawkins’ most recent book.

“A rational foe is better than an ignorant friend.”

-from Al-Ghazali, The Incoherence of the Philosophers, trans. and annotated by Michael Marmura (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young Univ., 1997), p. 6.

Paradoxes and Christian Faith: an apologetic concern

Just back from the weekend’s Greer-Heard Conference, I’d like to say a few things about a paper given there by my friend Dr. David Bertch. David is a committed Christian and a clear thinker whom I respect greatly. His paper, “The Future of Atheism Continually Confounded by the Paradoxes of the Faith,” was on paradoxes and how we should embrace them, or at least not fear them. Handouts were not available, so I’m going by memory and notes I took (though he invited anyone interested in a copy to email him [see link above]). If I’m guilty of misrepresenting his position, I deeply apologize.

After an interesting historical survey of thinkers (especially philosophers) and the paradoxes they have embraced, David turned to the relationship between Christian faith and paradoxes. He named two examples of such paradoxes: the Trinity and the Incarnation of Christ. Having earlier set up a distinction between logical paradoxes (I suppose he had in mind such things as Zeno’s paradoxes of motion) and other paradoxes (there was unfortunately no title given to this second category), such as the two named examples, David explained that Christians should not be troubled by the latter. There was no discussion of the first category there, so we’ll limit discussion here to the latter, as well.

Alvin Plantinga on “Religion and Science”

Alvin Plantinga has recently contributed the “Religion and Science” entry to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online).

HT: Trent Dougherty at The Prosblogion.

Stuffed Animal Rights?

Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary, has a hilarious post on his blog. You definitely need to check it out!

Amazing Grace: a movie about William Wilberforce

To see the trailer for this movie about the work of William Wilberforce to end slavery in his country, go here. This movie looks really good. Please comment if you see it and have any critiques or adulations. I believe it comes out in theatres on the 23rd of this month.

Farewell, Bruce Metzger

Keith informed me earlier today of the recent passing of the Princeton New Testament scholar Bruce Metzger.  Those of us who have gone through the rigors of learning New Testament greek have some fond memories of reading Metzger (I say “fond memories”, but that is only for those who liked Greek.  For the rest, it was sheer horror).  I still use my UBS 4 Greek text which he edited.  It’s covered with duct tape but it still works.  Metzger was also involved in editing the NA27 critical text which came with a more exhaustive text-critical aparatus. 

I say “New Testament scholar”, but Bruce Metzger is also noted for his work on the the Apocrypha, the Old Testament, the RSV translation and several commentaries.  He has written classics such as his Text of the New Testament as well as his more obscure Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek. 

The man was a true scholar.  Farewell my friend.

To Divorce Or Not To Divorce…That is the Question.

Having come from a family where my parents were divorced, this question is particularly interesting to me. Under what circumstances can someone legitimately be divorced from a biblical perspective? Consider the following verses:

Mark 10:2-12 (New International Version)

2Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

3“What did Moses command you?” he replied.

4They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

5“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’^[a] 7‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,^[b] 8and the two will become one flesh.’^[c] So they are no longer two, but one. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

1 Corinthians 7:10-15 (New International Version)

10To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

15But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.

Are there any cases in which either of these two commands would not apply. Could it be argued that there are instances which these two passages do not speak to? If so, what are they?

Happy Darwin Day 2007!

For information on Charles Darwin, who some call the “emancipator of the human mind”, go here. Let us strike up a conversation today with our old friend. Go to the website…view the polemical information…and tell me what you think.

Personal Salvation and Social Justice

We deplore the tendency of Evangelicals to understand salvation solely as an individual, spiritual and otherworldly matter to the neglect of the corporate, physical and this-worldly implication of God’s saving activity. Therefore we urge Evangelicals to recapture a holistic view of salvation. The witness of Scripture is that because of sin our relationships with God, ourselves, others and creation are broken. Through the atoning work of Christ on the cross, healing is possible for these broken relationships. Wherever the church has been faithful to its calling, it has proclaimed personal salvation; it has been a channel of God’s healing to those in physical and emotional need; it has sought justice for the oppressed and disinherited; and it has been a good steward of the natural world.

-Chicago Call, 1977

[this quote was taken from One Faith by J. I. Packer and Thomas C. Oden]