The Auckland Reason and Science Society have invited Matt to speak on Divine Command Theory at an upcoming meeting: What: Divine Command Theory with Dr Matthew Flannagan Date: Friday 4 February 2011 Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm Location: Auckland University – Room to be advised From the Facebook event page: “Venturing back into ethics and […]
Entries Tagged as 'Theology'
Hear Matt Speak on Divine Command Theory @ Auckland Uni
January 17th, 2011 4 Comments
Tags: Events · Reason and Science Society
God and the Genocide of the Canaanites Part III: Two Implications of the Hagiographic Hyperbolic Account
January 16th, 2011 21 Comments
This three-part blog series is a modified version of what I presented to the Evangelical Philosophical Society meeting in November 2010. In a recent Conference at Notre Dame Alvin Plantinga suggested that the commands to wipe out the Canaanites, recorded in the book of Deuteronomy, might be hyperbolic; they should be understood more like how […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Canaanites · Christopher J H Wright · Genocide · Gordon Wenham · Hagiography · Hermeneutics · Hyperbole · J McConville · J P U Lilley · Joshua · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Old Testament Ethics · Paul Copan
NT Wright on Myth in Genesis
January 15th, 2011 65 Comments
If certain passages in Genesis are of the genre ‘myth’ it does not necessarily entail that they are therefore untrue or lacking in authority. This was the argument in Matt’s post Myth, Truth and Genesis 1-11 and it is also NT Wright‘s point in this short video made by the Biologos Forum, Hat Tip: Ropata
Tags: Biologos Forum · Genesis · Myth · NT Wright
Did Hannibal of Carthage Exist?
January 12th, 2011 11 Comments
Historian James Hannam has written an entertaining article called “Satirising the Christ Myth.” The piece uses similar methods employed by those seeking to make the case for the claim that Jesus never existed to show that Hannibal of Carthage did not exist either. It is written in Hannam’s classicly witty yet accurate style; Did Hannibal Really Exist? To ask […]
Tags: Carthage · Christ Myth · Hannibal · James Hannam
The Importance of Critical Engagement
January 11th, 2011 45 Comments
“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37) “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’” (Luke 10:27) “Test everything, hold on to the good.” (1 Thess 5:21) “See to it that […]
Tags: Apologetics · Critical Engagement · Drew Dyck · Faith and Reason · Michael Murray · Nancy Pearcey · Timothy Keller
God and the Genocide of the Canaanites Part II: Ancient Near Eastern Conquest Accounts
January 10th, 2011 14 Comments
This three-part blog series is a modified version of what I presented to the Evangelical Philosophical Society meeting in November 2010. In my previous post, God and the Genocide of the Canaanites Part I: Wolterstorff’s Argument for the Hagiographic Hyperbolic Interpretation, I expounded and adapted Nicholas Wolterstorff’s argument for a hagiographic hyperbolic reading of the book […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Canaanites · Genocide · Hagiography · Hermeneutics · Hyperbole · J Van Seters · James K. Hoffmeier · John Goldingay · Joshua · K Lawson Younger · Kenneth Kitchen · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Old Testament Ethics · Richard Hess · Thomas Thompson · Ziony Zevit

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.





Progressive Enslavement: The Seductions of Scientism
January 18th, 2011 138 Comments
One of the silly characteristics of our age is the credulous and naive veneration of science. It has led to the emergence of what we call scientism–faith in science as the ultimate source of truth and wisdom. This faith is pervasive. How many social issues or ethical questions are falsely claimed to be resolved by […]
Tags: J Judd Owen · John Dewey · R J Rushdoony · Science and Religion · Scientism · Stephen Prickett