podcast 160 – Dr. Graham Oppy on the Conflict between Christianity and Philosophy

Do Christian claims clash with Philosophy? This is the view of leading philosopher of religion Dr. Graham Oppy. Editors Dr. Paul Gould and Dr. Richard Davis called on him to defend a “conflict” model of the relation between Christianity and Philosophy in their new book Four Views on Christianity and Philosophy (kindle).

In this wide-ranging interview Dr. Oppy and I discuss:

his own background, and how he got into philosophy of religion
his preferred way to understand the terms “atheism,” “irreligion,” and “metaphysical naturalism,” and where “minds” fit into this last
the relevance of evil and arguments from evil to making a case for atheism or for naturalism
some criteria for evaluating competing worldviews
his view that trinitarian theology is overall a “cost” of Christian theism as compared with naturalism
his commitment to Aristotle-style virtue ethics, and the fit of this with his naturalism
his definition of Philosophy
whether one can know any philosophical claim, such as atheism or metaphysical naturalism
his view that there is a first state of the cosmos which is metaphysically necessary
his way of approaching modality (truths about what is metaphysically possible, impossible, or necessary)