I am a Theologian with a strong background in Philosophy; apart from Philosophical Theology, my particular area of interest is Ethics. Given this, I often publish my thoughts and reflections on moral issues, of various persuasions, in various media. I have written on the morality of warfare, whether it is sometimes permissible to lie, the […]
Entries Tagged as 'Philosophy of Religion'
Contra Mundum: “Bigoted Fundamentalist” as Orwellian Double-Speak
November 2nd, 2009 16 Comments
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Contra Mundum · Fundamentalism · Investigate Magazine
Guest Post: Dan Brown’s History of Science
October 23rd, 2009 135 Comments
This guest post was submitted by Dr James Hannam. Dr Hannam is a UK based historian with degrees in physics and history from the Universities of Oxford and London and a PhD in the history of science from the University of Cambridge. He blogs at Quodlibeta. The film adaptation of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons […]
Tags: Christian History · Dan Brown · Faith and Reason · Guest Post · James Hannam · Religious History · Science and Religion
Common Historical Myths About the Church
October 19th, 2009 5 Comments
This post is part update, part recycle. Earlier on in this blog’s life, I ran a small series of posts last year on common historical myths about the Church that are so pervasive in society that most Christians fall for them. Anyway, after receiving some correspondence, I have updated this post, More on the “Dark […]
Tags: Christian Blogs · Christian History · Dark · Dark Ages · Faith and Reason · Science and Religion
Sunday Study: Paul on Freedom of Conscience – Romans 14
October 5th, 2009 3 Comments
In the 14th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans there is an interesting discussion of strictures relating to the eating of meat. The discussion is interesting because it brings up issues which have application beyond the context Paul addressed. Specifically, Paul affirms in these passages the existence of a prima facie right to freedom […]
Tags: Alan Donagan · Aquinas · Augustine · Freedom of Conscience · Sunday Study
Contra Mundum: God, Proof and Faith
October 1st, 2009 11 Comments
Since the 17th century one of the most common sceptical objections to the Christian faith is the claim that belief in God is irrational because his existence has never been successfully proven. For centuries theologians and philosophers have proposed a range of arguments for the existence of God; sceptics not only contend every one of […]
Tags: Antony Flew · Contra Mundum · Faith and Reason · Investigate Magazine · John Mackie · Kai Neilsen · Roy Clouser
Sunday Study: The Bible and Rape – A Response to Michael Martin
September 27th, 2009 9 Comments
A little while ago I wrote a post criticising Michael Martin’s contention that the Bible commands a rape victim to marry her rapist, Does the Bible Teach that a Rape Victim has to Marry her Rapist? To summarise briefly, Martin cited Deuteronomy 22:28-29 and interpreted it as, Here the victim of rape is as treated […]
Tags: Bible · Ethics · Hermeneutics · Michael Martin · Old Testament Ethics · Rape · Sexual Morality · Sunday Stu · Sunday Study · Theology
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Infantile Religious Morality
September 24th, 2009 71 Comments
In “Why Traditional Theism Cannot Provide an Adequate Foundation for Morality” Walter Sinnott Armstrong criticises William Lane Craig’s contention that theism, if true, provides an adequate foundation for morality. Armstrong contends that Craig’s position is “incredible”[1] and subject to a “cavalcade of devastating objections.”[2] He goes on to conclude that his criticisms do not just […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethics · God and Morality · Patrick Nowell Smith · Philosophy of Religion · Richard Mouw · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
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.
