When I was in Baltimore last November I caught up with fellow theologian and blogger Randal Rauser. Randal is professor of Theology at Taylor Seminary in Edmonton Canada. Randal and I have had some spirited but cordial exchanges in the past, including a panel discussion at the Society of Biblical Literature in 2010.While we do not […]
Entries Tagged as 'Divine Command Theory'
Dialogue with Randal Rauser
March 13th, 2014 1 Comment
Tags: Baltimore · Canaanites · Divine Command Theory · Old Testament Ethics · Randal Rauser
Matt to speak at the EPS Apologetics Conference in Baltimore on Morality and God’s Commands
November 12th, 2013 Comments Off on Matt to speak at the EPS Apologetics Conference in Baltimore on Morality and God’s Commands
This blog’s Matthew Flannagan has been invited to speak at the 12th Annual Apologetics Conference of the Evangelical Philosophical Society in Baltimore, USA. The theme of this year’s conference is Reasonable Faith in an Uncertain World. Matt’s talk is titled “Morality and God’s Commands: Answering Common Objections.” The blurb for Matt’s talk is as follows: “It is […]
Tags: Apologetics · Baltimore · Divine Command Theory · EPS Apologetics Conference · God and Morality
Is a Divine Command Theory Psychotic? Sam Harris on Divine Commands Part III
November 5th, 2013 2 Comments
In Sam Harris on Divine Commands Part I I criticised Harris’ characterisation of divine command meta-ethics. I refuted Harris’ contention a divine command theory is pscyopathic in Is a Divine Command Theory Pscyopathic? Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part II. In this last post in this series, I will address Harris’s contention that a divine command theory reflects […]
Tags: Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural? · Religion and Violence · Sam Harris · William Lane Craig
Published in Philo: Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
July 11th, 2013 13 Comments
Jeffery Jay Lowder has informed me that my article “Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong” was published in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Philo. The abstract is below: “In many of his addresses and debates, William Lane Craig has defended a Divine Command Theory of moral obligation (DCT). In a […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Publications · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong · William Lane Craig
Is a Divine Command Theory Pscyopathic? Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part II
June 25th, 2013 11 Comments
In my last post, Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part I, I criticised Sam Harris’ characterisation of divine command meta-ethics. In this post I want to turn to his second line of criticism of a Divine Command Theory. In Harris’ debate with William Lane Craig at Notre Dame, transcript here, Harris stated: “I’m glad he raised the […]
Tags: Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural? · Religion and Violence · Sam Harris · William Lane Craig
Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part I
May 24th, 2013 7 Comments
In a previous post, Divine Commands and Pyschopathic Tendancies, I said I would look in more detail at Sam Harris’ charge that Divine Command Theories (“DCT”) of meta-ethics are psychopathic. In this, and in several forthcoming posts, I will attempt to deliver on that promise. In Harris’ debate with William Lane Craig at Notre Dame, transcript […]
Tags: Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural? · Religion and Violence · Sam Harris · William Lane Craig
Divine Commands and Psychopathic Tendencies
February 2nd, 2013 214 Comments
There has been some interesting debate in the blogosphere over Sam Harris’ contention that a divine command theory of ethics manifests “a psychopathic and psychotic moral attitude.” Randal Rauser responded to Harris’ contention noting that “if you read through the twenty traits on the Psychopath Checklist you’ll find qualities like callousness, shallow effect, grandiose sense of […]
Tags: Christopher Hallquist · Divine Command Theory · Randal Rauser · Sam Harris
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
