MandM header image 5

Entries Tagged as 'Philosophers'

Mark Murphy Reviews Walter Sinnott-Armstrong.

April 30th, 2012 3 Comments

Those who have followed my recent discussions of Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s writings on God and Morality. Might be interested in this review of Armstrong’s book “Morality without God”  by Mark Murphy in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. Mark  is a lecturer in moral philosophy at Georgetown University. He is is one of the leading critics of divine command ethics [...]

Tags:   · · ·

Is Ethical Naturalism More Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong: Part II

April 26th, 2012 7 Comments

This is the second part of the paper I presented to the Naturalisms in Ethics Conference at Auckland University last year. In my previous post, I noted that Robert Adams has argued that if God exists, then divine commands “best fill the role assigned to wrongness by the concept”.[1] He argues that if moral obligations are [...]

Tags:   · · · · ·

Jesus, Hot Cross Buns, Easter Eggs, Ishtar and Constantine: Is Easter Pagan? Tim McGrew says No!

April 6th, 2012 24 Comments

Easter can be annoying.  My kids all want chocolate, hot cross buns sold out and Matt brought crumpets home from the supermarket instead, people who don’t normally have any time for Christianity normally suddenly must go to church whilst some of my Christian friends refuse to let their children eat chocolate or even celebrate because [...]

Tags:   · · · · ·

Contra Mundum: After Birth Abortion

April 5th, 2012 4 Comments

“What we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn baby) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.” These words, published in the prestigious “Journal of Medical Ethics” by ethicists Dr Francesca Minerva and Dr Alberto Giubilini, sparked outrage around the world. After-birth abortion is, of [...]

Tags:   · · · · · · ·

Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics – Available on Kindle or Pre-Order the Book, Feat. William Lane Craig, Paul Copan, JP Moreland, Gary Habermas, Matthew Flannagan et al.

March 22nd, 2012 12 Comments

The kindle edition of Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics, published by B&H Academic, edited by William Lane Craig and Paul Copan and featuring Craig, Copan, JP Moreland, Gary Habermas, Craig Keener, Mary Jo Sharp, this blog’s Matthew Flannagan, and others, with the foreword written by Rick Warren, is now available at the [...]

Tags:   · · · · · · · · ·

True Reason: Christian Responses to the Challenges of Atheism – on Kindle Feat. William Lane Craig, Sean McDowell, Matthew Flannagan, et al.

March 21st, 2012 62 Comments

The kindle edition of new book featuring responses to the New Atheists, aimed to be readable at the popular level entitled True Reason: Christian Responses to the Challenges of Atheism is now available on Amazon. This blog’s Matthew Flannagan contributed to a chapter in it alongside William Lane Craig, Sean McDowell and others. Matt’s chapter [...]

Tags:   · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Part I

February 7th, 2012 9 Comments

This is  first half of the paper I presented to the Naturalisms in Ethics Conference at Auckland University last year. In many of his addresses and debates William Lane Craig has defended a Divine Command Theory of moral obligation (“DCT”). In a recent article Walter Sinnott-Armstrong has criticized this contention.[1] Armstrong contends that even if [...]

Tags:   · · · ·

More Mistakes: A Rejoinder to Randal Rauser

December 3rd, 2011 157 Comments

For those who aren’t aware, there has been something of a “debate”, but what I’d prefer to refer to as an “in house discussion” between Randal Rauser (Professor of Historical Theology at Taylor Seminary) and myself. The discussion so far can be found here: My initial article was Randal Rauser’s Mistake: A Defense of Calvin’s Doctrine [...]

Tags:   · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

Divine Commands Post 9/11

September 12th, 2011 43 Comments

The night of September 11, 2001, was a night we did not get much sleep in. By 4am September 12 (New Zealand time) our two-week old son and 14 month old daughter had woken us twice already. Frustratingly, I awoke again sometime after 4am to a different noise coming from the lounge; it turned out [...]

Tags:   · · · · ·

Freedom of Religion in a Secular Society @ Auckland University this Monday

September 8th, 2011 No Comments

As part of AUSA’s Human Rights week at the University of Auckland, and in association with Thinking Matters, Matt and I will be giving a free public lecture with Q&A on the topic “Freedom of Religion in a Secular Society” on Monday 12 September from 7-8.30pm in Clock Tower Lecture Room 032. The Facebook page for [...]

Tags:   · · · · · · ·