podcast 149 – Dr. Larry Hurtado’s Destroyer of the gods – Part 1
Why did Roman rulers and polemicists find early Christianity so alarming, rather than just another religion?
Why did Roman rulers and polemicists find early Christianity so alarming, rather than just another religion?
An interesting little exchange between Origen and the pagan critic Celsus about the god of Christians.
How widely has God’s spirit been active in the world?
Applying the methodology… can we answer the question?
Two philosophers give us a sort of recipe for answering this question.
Just got this in the mail; a very thorough symposium on Dr. Keith Ward’s Christ and the Cosmos,
The terms “atheism,” “monotheism,” and “polytheism” seem straightforward enough… BUT important ambiguity lurks in the root term “theism.”
My paper “On Counting Gods” has just been published in the new TheoLogica journal.
What if you believe in Christianity, and it’s false? Have you lost much, really?
In this second part of my conversation with Dr. Larry Hurtado about his book Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World, we discuss the distinctive “bookishness” of early Christianity
I am making slow (but sure) progress on The Same God? Reference and Identity in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Scriptures. My background is in the philosophy of language, and particularly the theory of reference and singular terms. The research for this book has taken me to some strange places I never expected to visit (and never really knew about before). One of those is hermeneutics,… Read More »Exegetical neutrality
What if the official god of your theology isn’t the one who actually gets his way in your life?
I say that we should distinguish between four questions which have arisen in this “same god” controversy.
In this second part of my discussion with Dr. William Vallicella, I give an argument that when Muslims use the word “Allah” they are referring to the same being Christians refer to when they say “God,” namely, the god of Abraham.
Awhile back I provided links to some good, thought provoking commentary by Christian philosophers. Now, some other excellent pieces I’ve read, by philosophers and not. I think Christian philosopher Dr. Kelly James Clark hits the nail on the head: …many Christians mistakenly assume that two people worship the same God only if they have identical or nearly identical descriptions of God. This assumption, which may… Read More »another Doc Hawk / “one god” Wheaton controversy round-up
I think that Dr. Larycia Hawkins did the right thing in making public her theological discussion with her boss at Wheaton College. Here are some brief thoughts on reading it. After affirming that she agrees with Wheaton’s creed, including its very vague (but typical) affirmation of “one sovereign God, eternally existing in three persons,” she engages a challenge by her boss Dr. Stan Jones. (You can read… Read More »some thoughts on the Hawkins-Jones discussion
Do Christians and Muslims worship the same god? Many are inclined to think that trinitarian Christian and Islamic theologies are just too different for the two groups to even be referring to the same being. But as many have pointed out, be careful with that argument! For one thing, it may give you the unwanted conclusion that various Christian groups aren’t talking about the same god.… Read More »the “same god” controversy and Christian commitment – Part 2
In this episode I’m joined by Dr. William Vallicella, aka “The Maverick Philosopher” to discuss the recent controversy
A number of Christian academic bloggers have weighed in on the Wheaton controversy about Dr. Larycia Hawkins, specifically her statement that Christians and Muslims worship the same god. If you haven’t been following the whole thing, blogger Fr. Alvin Kimel summarizes it well in this post at Eclectic Orthodoxy. There, and in a follow-up post, like me he gives an affirmative answer – yes, Christians… Read More »“same god” controversy round-up