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Dr. Randal Rauser interviews Dr. Michael C. Rea on the Trinity

Here. It’s an excellent, substantial discussion, posted in December 2014. If you don’t know who Dr. Rea is, he’s a leading Christian philosopher, specializing in metaphysics, and co-coiner of the useful term “analytic theology.” Here’s a rough guide to the interview, in case you want to skip around, or review after the fact, with a few sparse comments in italics. 1-12:20 Randal reads quotes about how difficult a… Read More »Dr. Randal Rauser interviews Dr. Michael C. Rea on the Trinity

Word and Spirit: the “Everlasting Arms” of God

This is a guest post by Mr. Mario Stratta, a frequent commenter on this blog. He works in electronic engineering in Italy, and blogs on theological topics as “Miguel de Servet” at beliefnet. – Dale In the OT we find an obscure reference to the “eternal arms” of God: “The everlasting God is a refuge, and underneath [you] are [his] eternal arms …” (Deut 33:27)… Read More »Word and Spirit: the “Everlasting Arms” of God

podcast 69 – James Lee on the Trinity and Ontological Pluralism

In this episode we hear Mr. James Lee (PhD student in Philosophy at Syracuse University) present his paper “His Ways (of Being) Are Not Our Ways” at the Society of Christian Philosophers meeting on November 8, 2014 at Niagara University.

a new proof of God’s existence, with an assist from Dr. Bart Ehrman?

In the last week of my recent Introduction to Philosophy class, two teams of students debated the existence of God in front of the class. After the debate the rest of the students wrote a short response to the debate. While the pro-God side had offered versions of the design and ontological arguments, one student opined in his written response that they had overlooked the obvious.… Read More »a new proof of God’s existence, with an assist from Dr. Bart Ehrman?

Did Jesus have faith in God? – Part 5

Continuing the conversation, apologist Tom Gilson stands by his claim that the NT doesn’t teach that Jesus had faith during his earthly life, and indeed, tellingly declines to say that. He says, in part, So the NT clearly comments on, and specifically names, many of Jesus’ virtues. If Dr. Tuggy is right, and the reason Jesus’ faith is not named as such is just because… Read More »Did Jesus have faith in God? – Part 5

Jay Smith and David Wood on religious confrontation vs. dialogue

We mustn’t offend people in other religions, right? That’s a standard of behavior many present-day Americans, Europeans, Indians, and others accept. And it’s a standard assumed as obvious in many academic contexts. But is it consistent with Christian values? The two bold apologists in the video below argue that it is not, citing New Testament precedents. We could also ask whether this no-offense standard is… Read More »Jay Smith and David Wood on religious confrontation vs. dialogue

a real scholar on the so-called “Lost Gospel”

Leading scholar Dr. Richard Bauckham has done a public service by chewing  thoroughly through the “Lost Gospel”: Dr. Mark Goodacre has posted Dr. Bauckham’s article(s) here. Let’s just say, he determines that it is all bun and no meat. A few teasers: They seem to be proposing a unique genre of ancient literature. Why should we believe them? It seems to be simply a way of getting… Read More »a real scholar on the so-called “Lost Gospel”

Simeon says…

Who was born on the first Christmas? According to Luke, God revealed this information to a Jewish prophet named Simeon: Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see… Read More »Simeon says…

podcast 67 – Is Christmas a pagan holiday?

Is it a sin to celebrate Christmas, because Christmas is pagan in origin? In this episode I discuss this disputed question, and what I believe the apostle Paul would have to say about this ongoing dispute between Christians.

Did Jesus have faith in God? – Part 1

In “How Jesus’ Not Having Faith In God Affirms His Deity” at the Thinking Christian blog, Tom Gilson argues that the New Testament, by not teaching that Jesus had faith in God, implies that Jesus is God himself. Thus, even the synoptic gospels implicitly teach that Jesus is God. Here, I’ll comment on his first post in the series; next time, his second post. In… Read More »Did Jesus have faith in God? – Part 1

Beyond Belief on Avatars vs. Incarnation

Here, from BBC4’s Beyond Belief podcast, is an interesting and wide-ranging discussion of avatars in Hinduism vs. catholic Incarnation claims, and also avatars in science fiction. (Alternate link, stitcher) How, you ask, does an avatar differ from an incarnation? (This is me talking now, though they say most of this in the episode.) An avatar is supposed to be God himself (Vishnu, thought of as… Read More »Beyond Belief on Avatars vs. Incarnation

podcast 66 – Before Abraham was… what?

“Before Abraham, I am.” What did Jesus, or the author of the fourth gospel, mean here? In this episode we hear how some ancient authors interpreted John 8:58, including the famous North African bishop Augustine of Hippo.

religious diversity, pluralism, and tolerance

I’ve been thinking lately about theories about religious diversity lately, because I’m trying to finish up an article on that topic. One family of theories about religious diversity is what philosophers call religious pluralism – the idea that many religions are equally good in some way(s). This idea gets a lot of lip service in modern Hinduism. A number of modern-era Hindu thinkers, notably Gandhi,… Read More »religious diversity, pluralism, and tolerance

so you’ve discovered podcasts

Like millions of others, you’ve discovered the true-crime podcast Serial. And now you realize that you’ve been missing out on a whole universe of high-quality media which is more convenient than radio, television, or web surfing. Welcome to the revolution! At the beginning, podcasts were all done by geeks with cheap microphones. The domain is now being dominated by big media players; Serial, for instance,… Read More »so you’ve discovered podcasts

podcast 65 – Dr. Joshua Blander on John Duns Scotus on Identity and Distinction

John Duns Scotus (d. 1308), nicknamed by tradition “the Subtle Doctor,” was one of the most important medieval Christian philosophers, and was notorious for the difficulty of his thought. In this episode, we hear a specialist in medieval philosophy give a conference presentation on Scotus’s views on identity (sameness) and distinction (difference). Nowadays most philosophers and logicians recognize qualitative sameness (aka similarity), which comes in degrees,… Read More »podcast 65 – Dr. Joshua Blander on John Duns Scotus on Identity and Distinction