We moved house recently but before we got the telephone services disconnected at our old house we rescued this answer-phone message left by our then 9 year old son Noah for Matt – note the attempted American accent: Alvin Calling (Noah had no idea how we worked out it wasn’t really Alvin Plantinga.)
Entries Tagged as 'Alvin Plantinga'
In Defense of Reasonable Disagreement
May 30th, 2011 39 Comments
At the close of his 1967 book “God and Other Minds”, Alvin Plantinga argues that if theistic belief is to be dismissed as “irrational”, or in some sense “epistemically sub-par” on the basis that it lacks a rationally compelling argument, then likewise we should also reject belief in other minds, since the best argument for [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Analogical argument · Disagreement · God and Other Minds · Rationality · Reformed Epistemology · Religious Epistemology · Richard Feldman · Theism · Theists
Contra Mundum: Why Does God Allow Suffering?
April 4th, 2011 29 Comments
22 February 2011 “may well be New Zealand’s darkest day”; these were the words of Prime Minister John Key in the aftermath of the earthquake which devastated the South Island’s largest city Christchurch. The death toll is expected to be over 200, many more have been injured, have lost property and now live in fear [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Christchurch Earthquake · Daniel Howard-Snyder · Problem of Evil
God and the Genocide of the Canaanites Part III: Two Implications of the Hagiographic Hyperbolic Account
January 16th, 2011 20 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
God and the Genocide of the Canaanites Part II: Ancient Near Eastern Conquest Accounts
January 10th, 2011 12 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
God and the Genocide of the Canaanites Part I: Wolterstorff’s Argument for the Hagiographic Hyperbolic Interpretation
January 7th, 2011 42 Comments
Around this time last year I wrote two posts Joshua and the Genocide of the Canaanites I and Joshua and the Genocide of the Canaanites II. These posts attracted a fair amount of attention and debate. I got offers to publish my ideas in several upcoming books and present them before both the Evangelical Philosophical [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Canaanites · Genocide · Hagiography · Hermeneutics · Hyperbole · Joshua · Kenneth Kitchen · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Old Testament Ethics · Selection
In Atlanta
November 18th, 2010 24 Comments
I have a few snaps of Matt in Atlanta, this first one had our kids excited when they saw it [which should tell you everything you need to know about just how much Matt is a fan of Dr Alvin Plantinga - LOL!] Fellow kiwi Rodney Lake of Thinking Matters Tauranga, also in Atlanta attending the conferences, took [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Atlanta · Craig Hazen · EPS · Francis Beckwith · Georgia · JP Moreland · Mary-Jo Sharp · Mike Licona · Paul Copan · Rodney Lake · SBL · William Lane Craig
Matthew Flannagan’s Opening Statement: Bradley v Flannagan Debate
August 7th, 2010 11 Comments
On Monday 2 August at the University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Dr Raymond Bradley and Dr Matthew Flannagan (of this blog) debated the topic “Is God the Source of Morality? Is it rational to ground right and wrong in commands issued by God?” For the benefit of those who could not be there, who [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Canaanites · Capital Punishment · Chris Tucker · Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · J J Finkelstein · Joe M Sprinkle · K Lawson Younger · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Quinn · Raymond Bradley · Raymond Westbrook · Robert Adams · Walter Kaiser
Contra Mundum: Did God Command Genocide in the Old Testament?
August 1st, 2010 138 Comments
Perhaps the most perplexing issue facing Christan believers is a series of jarring texts in the Old Testament. After liberating Israel from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites arrived on the edge of the promised land. The book of Deuteronomy records that God then commanded Israel to “destroy totally” the people occupying these regions (the Canaanites); [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Canaanites · Contra Mundum · Investigate Magazine · James K. Hoffmeier · K Lawson Younger · Kenneth Kitchen · Old Testament Ethics
